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Adventures in Fretless Looping
This afternoon was spent on Adventures in Fretless Looping, a working session of looping improvisations using my Fernandes fretless. The goals were fourfold:
The Fernandes is a very different instrument from my Pearl River. At this point I'm inclined to use the PR for a lead situation and the Fernandes in a broader setting, although I expect to explore both instruments in a variety of situations. The Fernandes is feeling better and I'm becoming more accurate on the glass fretboard. The Sustainer system is incredible in fretless applications and I used it extensively today.
The chain today was guitar -> DD-5 -> POD X3 -> DD-20 -> RC-50 Loop Station -> Pro Tools. I used the DD-5 in Eivind Aarset mode - unit engaged, level fully down, feedback fully up, and manually fading in the level to create swirling pads of whatever has been played. I split the amps settings on the POD with the second channel up an octave and feeding a cavernous reverb for an Edge-like shimmer effect. The DD-20 was set for a fairly long delay with a couple of repeats. The RC-50 had all three loops in unsync-ed mode for complete loop independence. This configuration will receive more attention, there's a lot of power there.
From the perspective of musical R&D, I explored several concepts which I intend to revisit. One approach was the use of the Sustainer system to create two-voice loops where one part remains stationary and the other moves during the loop. Two loops of this type today were particularly interesting. I also captured bursts of the DD-5 pads in the RC-50, looping the loops, if you will. This was fascinating, too. The approach was to establish a pair of unsync'ed loops, one each of both approaches, then to improvise over top of the loops. I played the Fernandes with clean, almost surf-y tones, overdriven tones, and Big Muff fuzzed-out tones with and without the Sustainer system.
With all that said, I recorded three sessions of 15, 15, and 30 minutes in length. Some of the R&D may live to fight another day. If nothing else, it was good to lose myself in looping again. It's been too long.
Now playing: Neal Morse, Lifeline
- use the new fretless in a work-like environment to more fully explore the instrument and its potential
- audition some concepts with the POD X3, Boss DD-5, and Boss DD-20 Giga Delay
- reacquaint myself with the Boss RC-50 Loop Station after a break from looping
- conduct some musical R&D for the next release.
The Fernandes is a very different instrument from my Pearl River. At this point I'm inclined to use the PR for a lead situation and the Fernandes in a broader setting, although I expect to explore both instruments in a variety of situations. The Fernandes is feeling better and I'm becoming more accurate on the glass fretboard. The Sustainer system is incredible in fretless applications and I used it extensively today.
The chain today was guitar -> DD-5 -> POD X3 -> DD-20 -> RC-50 Loop Station -> Pro Tools. I used the DD-5 in Eivind Aarset mode - unit engaged, level fully down, feedback fully up, and manually fading in the level to create swirling pads of whatever has been played. I split the amps settings on the POD with the second channel up an octave and feeding a cavernous reverb for an Edge-like shimmer effect. The DD-20 was set for a fairly long delay with a couple of repeats. The RC-50 had all three loops in unsync-ed mode for complete loop independence. This configuration will receive more attention, there's a lot of power there.
From the perspective of musical R&D, I explored several concepts which I intend to revisit. One approach was the use of the Sustainer system to create two-voice loops where one part remains stationary and the other moves during the loop. Two loops of this type today were particularly interesting. I also captured bursts of the DD-5 pads in the RC-50, looping the loops, if you will. This was fascinating, too. The approach was to establish a pair of unsync'ed loops, one each of both approaches, then to improvise over top of the loops. I played the Fernandes with clean, almost surf-y tones, overdriven tones, and Big Muff fuzzed-out tones with and without the Sustainer system.
With all that said, I recorded three sessions of 15, 15, and 30 minutes in length. Some of the R&D may live to fight another day. If nothing else, it was good to lose myself in looping again. It's been too long.
Now playing: Neal Morse, Lifeline
blog for the music of Loren Claypool
