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Deconstructing Vocal Looper Martin O.
Hi folks
I have seen the vocal looping artist Martin O. about a year ago. I must
say I was very impressed by his effective and seemingly simple use of
looping. He really put up an excellent and entertaining show the whole
evening.
For me, it was a very good learning experience because he was the complete
opposite of the stereotype looping artist hiding behind his rack and
pedals, too busy to interact with the audience because he's constantly
staring at the floor.
Example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtdIQ8joO-E
Here are my notes I took down on Martin O., in case you find it insightful:
- Simplicity of Setup
His very clear and simple setup gives him presence, vulnerability and
accessability on stage.
He communicates "hey, it's just me and a microphone".
- Octaver for Bass lines in vocal fx chain.
Used clever and very effectively. Octaver is added with a low pass filter
(I presume), so you hear it only during bass lines.
- Just ONE vocal setup, no FX tweaking
simplicity, no 50 buttons/knobs, just 1 clever vocal setup used effectively
- Keeps building layers interesting - and even entertaining!
His strongest feature. Uses gesture/posture/comedy/interaction/different
languages to keep building layers interesting or even entertaining, i.e.
approaching different (imaginary) mic stands. Or mimicking different
people when singing overdubs (i.e. italian macho, french insecure woman,
american dominant chick (sorry for the stereotypes;-) )
Yes, he's using humor.
- Uses the whole stage, showing presence
Doesn't stand around behind his rack/pedal castle. Walks around relaxed
_owning_ the place.
- Visual contact with audience - no blinking screens, no distractions
Actually looks at the _people_ - not on a pedal board or computer screen.
He is in touch with the audience constantly.
- Looping in mono only. But creates stereo impression with
gestures/posture.
I.e. " Autobahn" where cars are passing left/right (emphasized by moving
head). Or two guys are having a conversation. So, he changes position
left/right on stage, taking up the perspective of each guy.
- Perfectly choreographed songs & looping
For me, UNDO is the most important button. He didn't need it during the
entire show (does he even have one in his setup?)
- No multiply, only overdubs (as far as I could tell)
First loop is laying the ground with usually bassline + beatboxing. Often
2 bars but sometimes even loops of ca. 60 secs.
Amazing how precise his timing stays with long loops. Good beatboxer.
- Uses stage monitors, no IEM
Still, no bleeding on loops.
- Aside perfect choreography, also very good looping improvisor.
Picks random guy from audience and does vocal impro with him. Loops random
person in audience and makes own overdubs on top of it, actually building
a real story with the loops.
- Clever, elegant & minimalistic midi controller box on stage
A wooden(?) box with 6 buttons, I would guess, placed at waist height. You
don't see the whole board with buttons but only a tiny box from audience
perspective. From audience perspective, almost looks like he's pressing
the same button the whole time.
- 1-button controller box with long cable (all silver color) for off-stage
looping
He introduces the 1-button controller as his dog "fifi". Walks with it off
stage, to the audience to loop them directly.
- Also 1-button footpedal for Recording or stopping loop.
Used it for playing violin. Didn't like his violin looping much, overdubs
became too loud in sound mix.
- Effective presentation of loop ends
Presses pedal in advance (ca. 1 or 2 bar) and places himself away from the
looper when the loop is finally ending. Looks nice on stage.
- Setup
EDP (x2 I think). Vocal chain with Octaver. Custom midi controller. Uses
two parallel loopers in sync (mostly just one, presumably with NextLoop
though).
- Own soundman
Talks with him occasianally. Sound guy pretty much doesn't tweak FX though.
- Good entertainer and singer - also without a looper.
Buzap.
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