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Really great thoughts, ideas and concepts Matt. Thank you!! Andy Owens 1-800-AndyOwens Sent from my iPhone So the typing might not be my best! On Jan 31, 2011, at 8:50 PM, Matt Davignon <mattdavignon@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi all, > > I'm totally on board with what most of what Rick says. I have a member > in one of my bands who attempted to use pre-recorded drum machine > tracks. It was banned by me, since when he kicked on his drum machine: > 1) The rhythm would be too dense - it jumped in sounding like a > completely recorded song rather than like a collaborator. > 2) The drum machine would be the only member of the band that was not > playing live - it was like having a drummer who was completely > ignoring the other musicians. > > I'd take it a step even further and say that many songs don't need to > have all the "rock band" elements (rhythm, bass, chord progression). I > agree with Mark that waiting for someone to build all the elements can > be just as tedious as listening. > > I often feel like my solo sets combine elements of magic shows and dj > sets. When I say magic shows, I'm not saying "the music is magic" - > rather, I'm trying to create illusions that I'm not using loops. I do > that by: > --Using non-rhythmic loops. > --If I use rhythmic loops, I don't loop in phrase repetitions of 4 for > a 4/4 song. Instead, I'll loop on repetitions of 5 or 7, so that that > the elements of the drum loop only fall in the same place every 4th > loop repetition. > --Playing occasional variations of the loop live. Say you have a drum > loop. You could occasionally play an occasional bass drum or snare on > top of the loop (not into the loop). Or even better, record 2 or 3 > spare non-sequitur snares and/or kicks on a separate looping device > that's cycling at a different interval. Voila - you have fills! Of > course, whether that actually sounds good depends on the musical > context. > > The DJ elements involve trying to keep an ear as to when a particular > element gets too repetitive. That's a clue that it's time to take it > out. One way I like is to shut off the loop and start playing that > part live again, then transition it to something else. Or play > something that complements it on a separate loop and take the first > loop away, making a transition into a different song. > > Another thing I often do to mask the task of me building up a pattern > is to quickly build a loop of something non-melodic/non-rhythmic for > the audience to listen to while you gradually build up the elements on > another channel. I usually try to imitate field recordings, loop it in > a non-predictable point, then start building rhythmic/melodic elements > on a different device. > > My ears got tired of many contexts of rhythmic looped music at about > the same time that rave music started getting old for me. I need my > variation. Strangely, I can listen to irregular loops (such as in the > much of the music of Rapoon) for much longer periods of time before I > get bored. It accesses a more passive portion of my attention span. > > -- > Matt Davignon > mattdavignon@gmail.com > www.ribosomemusic.com > Rigs! www.youtube.com/user/ribosomematt >