What is live looping?
Live looping is a new way to create music which can be used with any
style and instrument. The musician creates his own background by
recording bits of his playing during the music and has them looping
as long as he needs them or repeating whenever he calls them back.
The consequences are:
for the public:
One or two musicians can create the sound of a whole orchestra all live.
As opposed to a real orchestra or prerecorded/programmed music, you
can follow the way it is created, because all you hear is once the only
thing that is played in front of you, all the rest ist just the
repetition of it.
As opposed to a keyboard type of one man band, usually all sounds come
from real instruments, so you get the personal touch, the expression
from the heart to the string or skin or mouthpiece rather than a
computer that follows some algorithm.
There is a big range of musical styles being performed this way, but
usually loopers interpret in their own way. The music builds and
transforms more fluent, since it all comes out of the same brain.
There is a lot more space for improvisation, which means that loopers
are more flexible to adapt to a certain situation. Also, since the
player has support from the looping tool that keeps a base going out
of what he just played, he does not have the stress to keep playing.
Whenever he drops a stick, has a lack of inspiration or wants to sip
on his drink, the show goes on.
The result is a relaxed feeling of freedom and spontaneity that you
hardly could find in any other kind of music.
for the contractor:
Since Live loopers need some equipment to treat their sound, they
usually bring their microphones and mixers, so all you have to offer
is a stereo input to the house speaker system.
Since the music is bult electronically, it can be made almost at any volume.
Since most loopers play alone or in duo, the stage does not need to
be very big. They may need a space for a rack and maybe several
instruments.
for the studio:
Since looping can happen in the studio it is of little sense to record
what comes out of the looping tool, all on one (or two or three)
channels.
In turn, looping musicians have a lot of practice to react to any
background and to play their phrases in a way they can be copied and
pasted like samples in the computer later.
for the musician:
The live looping tools have to be learned to use like an instrument.
They work like an acoustic mirror, so the looper is much more used to just
listen to his music than a ordinary live performer. He continues
reacting to what he just did and thus goes alone through an intensive
process to search for the impact his expression has. It is like a self
therapy. So it is also interesting for musicians that do not want to go
out on stage and may not have virtuous skills on their instruments.
By repeating phrases, they can find their origins and meanings and have
fun and enlightenment with simple ideas and by composing in several
layers that they would not be able to play at once.
A typical shift is from chords to melodies: instead of seeking
sequences of chords, we rather overdub several melodies which then
end up in chords that can make more sense and be more complex than
what we could compose at once. Therefore, looping is also an excellent
tool for composing music which then can be written and executed the
traditional way. Often, the character of Live Looping music remains
in such composition although not performed this way. Terry Riley, one
of the pioneers in this technique, is a famous example.
for practicing traditional playing:
Many loop live at home to learn rhythmic precision which becomes
obvious in loops and practicing melodies over a loop of chords.
Teachers loop their pupils to show them where their oddities are and
make them aware of the expression they have.
... and so on...
--
http://Matthias.Grob.org
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