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Re: Re: loops with a drummer?



I second the MIDI click thing as the backbone of the loop. You have to remember that there can only be one reference point for time in any given musical situation, and if there is a drummer involved, the drums are the reference point for the band. The question is if the drummer is playing to a click or not. If there is any kind of sequencing or looping going on, it MUST be synced to a master click that the drummer listens to, because it is the one reference point for time. This click however, must only be heard by the drummer, and not the band... because..... there can only be one reference point for time, and the band plays with the drummer. If the band hears the click, then there will be the two reference points of the drummer and the click, and the moment the drummer gets ever so slightly off-beat, a train wreck will happen right then and there. Loops can be more audibly forgiving than a click, so even in cases where the drummer gets a little behind or in front of the beat, the loop will still sound okay, and the band grooves on. Think of Keith Moon playing Baba O'Riley or Who Are You with the ARP Synth going on in the song. Moon gets off-time a little bit, but the songs still kicks ass. In more regimented situations where absolute precision is required, still the click is the master time, and only the drummer should hear it to give the musical impression that the loop and drummer are all in sync. The loop and the drummer both "listen" to the click.

On Apr 3, 2012 9:36 PM, "Rick Walker" <looppool@cruzio.com> wrote:
On 4/3/12 1:24 PM, Teddy Kumpel wrote:
The purpose of my post was to ask everyone if they knew a better technical way to feed a click to the drummer. I've been using the RC-50 for a while now and it's been fun, but I want more possibilities from the looper side of things. Is there a piece of gear that is not an RC-50 or a laptop that will do this (I already know how to do it with either of those things). Maybe the LP-1?
As long as you have a midi looper,  you can always syncrhonize a drum machine with
whatever sound you want as a click  (I prefer a lo agogo on the quarter note and
a high agogo, much quieter on whatever the subdivision of the 'Sub-Pulse" is
(8ths, triplet 8ths, 16ths, triplet 16ths)

then send only the mono out to the drummer making sure that they can
set their own headphone or monitor levels.

In fact, I would only have them wear headphones as the audience will hear the
metronome sound otherwise.

rick walker