the looping pool

tracks 1-5

Not too long ago I became fascinated and soon obsessed with looping and looping guitar pedals. I’m sure it’s an inner need for repetition- one that is satisfied through drum machines.

I began to research various looping solutions including tape, analog and digital. I listened to artists who have used these devices in performance and recording settings. While I did find innovative uses, most performer’s compositions, while accomplished and explore new sound territory, lacked depth and were generally modal. A person who is both a gifted performer and composer is a rarity.

I wanted to push the limits of the various guitar looping pedals and other audio processing devices I had spent months vetting. I was striving for both sonic clarity and sonic disasters.

I felt that within this research framework I was bound by the process of performance (and to a lesser extent the recording process), the strategic delimitations of the technology and the challenges of execution with improvised music.

As a result of these understandings, I commissioned William Pfaff, Matt Belzer and Adam Benjamin to compose pieces based on the instrument, pedal signal routing and subsequent processing. Alternative notation was encouraged once the sonic and range possibilities were clarified as the music and sound performed surpass the limitations of traditional nomenclature.

I provided for them a “5-String Piccolo Bass Performance Practice” guideline that provide a comprehensive list of all techniques possible (and by implication, impossible) within this setting.

These pieces were performed live, stereo, directly to Pro Tools.



vignettes

tracks 6-15

These ten looping vignettes represent further lo- and medium-fi experimentation and research into looping, sonic density, edges of distortions and improvised arrangements using a Steinberger 5-Sting Piccolo Bass.

The thresholds of distortion are approached and crossed; minimalism is patiently maintained; washes of sound and layers are forced then tamed, all in real time. Some compositions are pre-composed, some improvised, all are excerpts from extended performances. This content is distilled from 5 months of daily recording/performance.


Equipment used: 2 Boss DD7’s, Zvex Lo-Fi Loop Junky (for a warped, scratchy vinyl , vibrato/chorus/Leslie-like shimmer), Steinberger 5-String Piccolo Bass, Digi Tech Whammy, EH Bass Micro Synth, EH Freeze, EH Superego, Roland RE-201, E-bow