How Do I Use A Looping Station?
I just came back from a three night stand at the Attic in Santa Cruz, CA; a wonderful venue with extraordinary sound. (www.theatticsantacruz.com) I had a grand time singing and playing and Rio Tuatar joined me on harmonica for some really great jam time. I will be back there the last Sunday of every month for all of next year. Come down when you can.
I spent all day yesterday returning to Los Angeles by car, so I must apologize for not getting my Monday post up here. The price you pay for hanging with a touring musician.
I used my looping station (http://www.bossus.com/index.asp?pg=1&tmp=137 ) on the gig this past weekend, much more than I have in the past and got a lot of questions about it. I have also had several friends tell me that they wanted to pick my brain about using it. So let’s talk today about how to learn to use and how to use a looping station.
And for the uninitiated, a looping station is a foot operated effect pedal that allows you to record something and then record something over top of that (what use to be called Sound on Sound) ad infinitum. Tho the Roland Loop Station that I use has a twelve minute memory limit.
First and foremost is to be able to record the initial loop in perfect time. You need to punch in a nanosecond before the first beat and then punch out in exactly the same place at the end of the bar regardless of tempo. If you do that correctly then you get one bar, or however bars you have elected to play, cycling at exactly the same tempo and a groove is established. If you punch out at a different place than the exact place you punched in then you will create something slightly longer or shorter than a bar and the bar will lurch tempo wise and sound clumsy and awkward and be impossible to play along with.
I began my tutorial by practicing with a drum machine to ascertain that my sense of time was under my control. I then looked over the Loop Station and learned what all the pedals and knobs do from the booklet that comes with it. After that, I sat in my studio and played and played with the looping station until I could punch in and out and create a loop that grooved; which is simply a sequence that doesn’t lurch. It is smooth and it has that groove.
But at the nascency, the easiest way to learn is to put something in that is perhaps only two or four beats long. Some kind of simple motif that you can let go thru the song. That way, if you make a mistake, you just stop and start again. The stop pedal, when held down erases whatever was recorded. Get it right and then you can just play your chord progression over that as the motif repeats and repeats. Then you can start playing over that. And then punching in and out when ever you felt like it. Once the initial loop is established you can’t mess it up. And the Loop Station actually allows you to erase the later things you put in if they don’t work the way you want.
Tho you must erase each one before you attempt to put something else down. When you do that, the previous notes you put in there become embedded in the original loop.
Another thing, if you leave the effect in record, then when the sequence comes to the end, it simply repeats itself and also stays in record, so you can continue to play with your previously recorded additions, stacking and stacking. I do that at the end of Fairweather Town:
First I set a motif which repeats thru the whole verse and chorus (it is two bars long). (Granted you have to write something that will work with every chord in the progression. It took me a while to figure out something that always worked, but it gets easier the more you work with it). The only time I stop it is to sing the bridge, then I bring it back in.
At the coda of the song, I put it in record and let it repeat and repeat as I stack more and more notes on top of each other, playing a harmony with myself and then a harmony with that, and so on; a very effective way to have a finale when you are a solo player. I then leave it playing and take my bow and walk off stage, as the “band” continues to play til the sound man fades it.
So the points are:
- Develop a good sense of time
- Practice like crazy with it
- Write a little motif for one of your songs
- Start jamming with it. Harmonizing with yourself
- Wow the crowd.
james lee stanley
in Gear Tutorials
|
4 Comments
|
2 References
Share this: Digg | Add to sk*rt | Reddit | Stumble Upon | del.icio.us
Email Article to Friend
Reader Comments (4)
This lion picture you posted made me literally laugh out loud.
sheila, glad i could bring a little laughter into your life. the world conspires to keep that at a minimum lately.
thanks for the comment and for reading this far.
james lee
James, you da man! Thanks for this little tutorial. I was originally inspired to get a looping station from watching you. I'm sure as an effect, there's certainly the potential for overuse, but when it's used tastefully (as you do), it can sound absolutely awesome. I've had the unit for over a year, and not really done much with it. It's because I've identified a strange thing that operates within me: There's a part of me that half believes that if I just BUY a tool I need--some hot new piece of gear to accomplish some task--that task will somehow magically get done by itself! I often overlook that I have to learn to USE the tool, and then do the work, in order to achieve the goal I had in mind. As if just by joining the gym and paying the membership fees, the pounds will melt off your body! (You actually have to schedule time and work out!) That's kind of how I am with musical gear. I've had this looping station for over a year. It's high time I learned to use it and integrate it into my act. I shall practice diligently my friend. Have fun in Italy!
garret, best of luck with the unit. you'll find, if you practice with it, that ways of using it that are singular to the way you play will present themselves. you may start out copying someone else, but if you keep at it, you will find your own voice. by the way, a simple thing to begin with is some sort of two to four note motif and let it play thru, say your verses as you sing them, or just the chorus. dón't use it all the time or it becomes one dimensional.
all the best,
james lee