Super Loopy

I am hoping that the video below will explain (better than I can in words) the musical direction I am going in. Partcular attention should be given to the Electro Harmonix 2880 Super Looper this guy uses.

I should make it VERY clear that this video is not me! I stumbled on it over the weekend.

But the idea is similar to the way I am intending to work. I love using a computer to work on music, but it is only recently that I have realised that using a computer exclusively stifles me. Yes, you can get MIDI controllers to give some sense of 'hands on' control. But there is something about using a piece of hardware that... I can't explain it. It's as though with hardware you can 'touch' your music.

There are some things that a computer excels at. One would be audio editing. Being able to zoom in on the waveform of a recording and see it on a large screen... you can be so precise. And my new love, Renoise, is just so suited to working from a laptop.

So, here's the new plan. I am now working exclusively with 'field recordings' and 'found sounds' that I am recording myself. At the moment I only have a crappy old dictaphone, although to be honest that has a certain quality of it's own. Later this month I should get a portable digital recorder so I can get some clearer sounds. Then, I am editing the field recordings and sequencing/processing them with Renoise. The plan will then be to send the loops I make out of the laptop into a looping device (like that EH 2880 Super Looper in the video below) and screw about with them using some hardware effects (guitar pedals... whatever.)

The result is sure to be an unholy mess and terrible noise. But you wouldn't have it any other way, would you?