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Re: Strategies to Cover Onstage Equipment/User Failure
On Sat, Jun 4, 2011 at 12:36 PM, andy butler <akbutler@tiscali.co.uk>
wrote:
> As Rick says, much 'equipment failure' turns out to be user error
> when it's analysed.
Oh so true! Here's the background to why I nowadays never fiddle with
settings before a gig:
I once forgot my Record Button in momentary mode instead of my usual
toggle mode. The concert was a very intimate setting, kind of big
living room style. I started out while two drummers were waiting to
join in after I had established a funky loop. Playing an alto flute
pitched down an octave I opened by playing without looping, trying to
get into a groovy riff like Zawinol + bass on Weather Report's Black
Market... you know. As I got the beat right I kicked the Record Switch
to start snagging a two bar loop. But woops... what happened was that
I snagged a loop of about 150 milliseconds length and it went
DANG-DANG-DANG-DANG-DANG... sounding like a pneumatic drill on loudest
volume. That was a scary moment. Luckily my face was already red and I
was sweating after having played that funky flute solo (flute is not
my premier instrument so my playing abilities suck quite a bit,
especially in the breathing technique department). I picked up that
machine beat DANG-DANG-DANG and danged along while pressing down the
record button in a momentary way instead - so I ended up with making a
completely different groove than was planned. The drummers could not
play to that horrible thing so I started to substitute chunks to make
it more musical. The facial expressions of the listeners were quite
funny, I guess they took it for "highly advanced experimental music
that you are supposed to dig if you are cool" ;-)) Some children did
cover their ears in panic. Always trust the children :-)
Greetings from Sweden
Per Boysen
www.boysen.se
www.perboysen.com
www.looproom.com internet music hub