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Looper's Delight
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Medford, OR.
Sometimes called Deadford (or Dreadford), Oregon (neither one in reference to an defunct rock band or a reagge hairstyle)
Occasionally also reffered to as Mediocreville, Mudburg, or Mid-fraud*, Oregon
[*For all the local good-ole-boy politicians and conmen (or am I being redundant?).]
Nothing good ever happens in Meford.
Ted
On Mon, Jan 17, 2011 at 9:20 AM, bill bigrig wrote:
Howdy,
I live in a cultural backwater too, (first, Lewis county, WA, now, Benton county, WA). Where's yours?
--- On Sun, 1/16/11, tEd ® KiLLiAn <tedkillian@charter.net> wrote:
From: tEd ® KiLLiAn <tedkillian@charter.net>
Subject: Re: Backing tracks: A confession
To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com
Date: Sunday, January 16, 2011, 4:36 PM
Hi there Mark,
Well if you were just playing to mere canned backing tracks
(sort of in in effect a instrumental "guitar karaoke" thing)
and doing covers of of other peoples' boring pop songs you
might get a ribbing or two from some folks here.
But the conceptual use of looping as "backing tracks for
something else doesn't bother me at all.
I've been on the list since early October of '96 (it began
only a couple of months before that in June or July).
And while I have heard some people express minor
disappointment from time to time here that so-and-so used
"canned" loops as opposed to "real" live looping, it hasn't,
as far as I know, really been a major axe to grind for
hardly anybody.
I've been doing live tape-loop, analog and digitalL looping
a long, long time.
But I have also been involved in so-called avant-garde
music longer than I have ever been doing "normal" music.
In modern "art music" the concept of "music concrete" has
enjoyed a long and wholly accepted tradition.
And, a little closer to mainstream, a good deal of Pink
Floyd's recordings and performances would not be what they
were if not for generous use of all sorts of pre-recorded
material (most of which along the lines of "music concrete"
or ambient/environmental sounds, or the signature cash
register sounds of "Money").
At some point in the mid '80s I thought it would be cool to
acquire a Roland sampling keyboard (even though I'm the
worst keyboardist in the world) simply so I could perform
with some longish canned loop samples from from various
sources - along with my "live" looping.
I've been doing it all along.
After the arrival on the marketplace of various kinds of
desktop "phrase" or "groove" sample players (first
from Akai then from Roland) I switched from the awkward
keyboard hardware to that format to augment my live
looping.
I never hid it, and I even sometimes brought that sort of
setup to some of the early Y2K fests with no complaints from
Rick.
Though I have largely NOT used canned loops for the past
few years, I am about to begin doing it again in my MaxMSP
laptop setup.
I have an eight track sample player in my new rig that can
link to a folder with literally hundreds and hundreds of
sound files in it and automatically pick and play a new
random sound file every few seconds . . . or every tiny
fraction of a second if I so chose.
I have all sorts of other controls over that content too,
but that's beside the point.
Is it "music" . . . ?
Is it "live looping" . . . ?
Am I playing it like an instrument . . ?
I don't know but I sure the heck like mucking around with
it and will continue to do so.
And let's face it, I (like yourself) am a guitar player.
Most of what I do with loops (canned or live) is to create
a "context" for my primary mode of self-expression on my
primary instrument.
I use and have always used those tools as "backing tracks"
for my guitar playing when other "contexts" (a band of other
musicians say) has not been available, or capable of
providing a compatible one for me.
Though I like to perform with others (it does get lonely
sometimes when you live in a cultural backwater) and will
ditch the loops and do so at almost any opportunity that
presents itself, I've always rather enjoyed being
self-sufficient too.
I have never been ashamed of that.
I don't lay in my bed at night dreaming of different new
ways to push buttons, and what those button pushes might
do.
What I dream, if my dreams are musical at all, is about
stuff I might play on the guitar.
If folks have a problem with that, it's their problem, not
mine.
The Keller Williams mode of doing live looping is fine.
The "looper as another instrument itself" mode of thinking
and working is just fine too.
But I'm with you on this (I think), I'm not really "there"
in either of those ways of thinking about looping.
And I am certainly not "there" in being a purist as to
what's live or not or what is a better way than another way
or not.
Musically, it's all just stuff.
We do what we do.
Hopefully we'll keep doing it a little longer before the
universe tells us to pack it in.
The point is, do you enjoy it?
Does it make your soul soar?
Anything that doesn't is a distraction or a waste of time.
Do what works for you, don't be ashamed of it or feel like
you must make excuses for it.
Life's too short.
Tell the critics to get stuffed.
:-)
Ted