Tuesday 6 March 2012

Welcome To The Blog

Well, welcome to my Vocal Live Looping blog.

Ever since I saw Kid Beyond's famous youtube clip I've been fascinated with applying looping technology to the voice. I'd seen loop based artists a couple of times before, but that clip really captured my imagination.

I've been singing for years, but there's just something monastically cool about standing on stage with a mic and a controller and conjuring full musical arrangements out of thin air.

For those who haven't seen Kid Beyond, over the next few months I'll post  mini-bio's on him and many others who've inspired me in some way.

So, after picking my jaw up off the floor, I decided this was something I definitely had to do, and set about making my own looping rig.

My ideal rig would have to tick a number of boxes.

  • I wanted to develop a looping setup that was powerful in features and flexible in application.
  • I wanted to make my setup largely invisible to the audience, so as to avoid being the looper hunched over his rig, twiddling knobs. Technology is fun, but it can sometimes act as a barrier to performance.
  • I chose to limit myself to manipulating my voice only. This meant developing a broad enough sonic pallet to create an engaging and musically satisfying sound.
  • Of lesser importance, but still part of my thinking, was keeping things inexpensive. Some costs can't be avoided, but much of my setup is based around open source applications and relatively affordable hardware.
The has been plenty of trial and error involved. I've taken the scenic route to get to my current rig, and it remains in a constant state of flux. I doubt you ever really finish these things, so I'm always open to improvements (and there's room for plenty.)

This blog will primarily focus on the route I've taken into looping rather than the broader topic of looping in general. Hopefully you'll find it of some interest.

I'm no guru, but I've picked up a few things along the way and I figure you never stop learning, so feel free to join in the conversation.



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