Tuesday 15 December 2020

David Ford - Loop Machine

The first person I saw using a loop pedal (and he's still the best I've seen) is David Ford.  He's a singer-songwriter from Eastbourne who sometimes plays live with other musicians but mostly solo using the loop machine.

 

Update:  David is actually mentioned on the Wikipedia Live Looping page as an artist 'known for their use or advocacy of the technique'.  So it's not just me....

 

To give you a feel for what's possible this video for 'Go To Hell' is a single take video & recording - it starts with layering percussion, then his voice and then adds in piano and guitar.  All done solo with a loop machine/pedal.

 

David Ford - "Go to Hell" Original Signal Recordings

 


 

 

The music may not be to your taste but you'll hopefully admire the craft.

 

But if you want to see him doing something more familiar, here's Hotel California

David Ford - Hotel California

 



 

Unfortunately this is a live recording standing too close to the speakers for great sound quality,  but it does give a great view of how he loops all the different instruments into the song.  This was part of a charity concert where every year he sets himself a challenge to play an 'impossible' cover song, solo & live - his 'Everest'.   And this is using more than one loop machine (see below)

 

He's still exploring and developing his looping - in 2019 he released an album showcasing the 'elaborate employment of this technique'

 

Every couple of years or so, I find myself taken by the urge to add a little more paint to my unfinished masterpiece. It’s a project that began around 2002 when I acquired my first loop pedal. These helpful little boxes allow solo performers such as myself to create more interesting musical arrangements than would otherwise be possible with just a single instrument and one pair of hands. Essentially they record little snippets of sound and play them back over and over. Then by adding the right parts at the right times, you can build a whole lot of noise without having to spend any time around other musicians. Looping soon became a major part of my live performances and much of whatever success I have had sprang from my early adoption and elaborate employment of this technique.

 

But I was never satisfied with the technology available. There has never been a machine that does all the things I need. I want to fill the stage with instruments, loop them all together, have them stay in time, be able to bring different parts in and out during the song, without sacrificing sound quality and without using computers. Once there’s a computer on stage, it becomes the smartest member of the band and the temptation is to let it handle more and more of the difficult and complicated work until eventually you wind up somewhere along the road to karaoke.

 

So I have taken it upon myself to go about modifying existing machines and building new ones. Every time I think I can go no further, I wake in the night struck by the notion that some obsolete piece of ‘90s technology might be re-purposed to allow me to play bass parts using my feet, thereby expanding the list of viable looper songs. And then I’m back in again, hunched over a soldering iron so that I might make the sound of a full band all by myself. These recordings represent my nearest attempt.

So far.

From <https://david-ford.bandcamp.com/album/one-man-live

 You can see these Heath Robinson machines on this thread -     https://twitter.com/davidfordisdead/status/1177506724946694144

 

Being totally unmusical but loving live music, I find it totally amazing that he can record all of those random bits of noise which slowly reveal themselves as a multi-layered song and then he keeps adding to it while singing along to the parts he's already recorded.  Mind blowing.

Sunday 15 August 2010

Day 401 - Store storage

Ern has built himself a great workbench (at Ern height) and shelves for storing all his DIY kit.

Friday 13 August 2010

Day 399 - Boys' Storage

The Lego storage takes shape....


I think the boys are pleased so far.  Because I've been using the spare bedroom at Ern's as my office, all the Lego has been stored in cratese and not very accessible so they're looking forward to having it all on show, ready to play with and with the space to spread it all out!

Thursday 29 July 2010

Day 385 - Blinds

We even have blinds!


To be fair we have blinds for most of the windows but only one set are up!



But aren't they lovely - and toning!

Day 385 - Carpentry

We are finally getting closer to moving in. After the builders have (mostly) finished we ended up with a list of carpentry type jobs, storage, boxing in etc.

Thanks to the wonder of Which Local  (a trade recommendation site for Which subscribers) we found Huw who is working his way through our list of jobs

So far he's built and fitted shelves for the airing cupboard in the main bathroom



Boxed in the UFH mainfold in my 'walk-in' closet


And boxed in the ethernet cables in the Den



We decided to get rid of the oversized metal cabinet that had been housing the patch panels. Instead Huw has boxed in and neatened where the cables come out of the wall and we'll position the panels inside a regular furniture unit.

Monday 12 July 2010

Day 367 - Awesome paint colour

I took this photo in an attempt to capture the wonder of the paint we finally chose. It may have taken no less than 34 sample pots (over 5 litres of paint) to find the right one - oddly the colour we chose was the only one I had bought 2 samples of - but we are so happy with how it turned out. The colour is modern, neutral but not bland and changes wonderfully with the light.

This picture is an attempt to show that - each of the three walls you can see (left, right and the sliver through into our bedroom) are the same colour but look pleasingly different.



Now, what to do with those 34 tester pots?! My gut feel is mix them all together in a big tin and paint Ern's kitchen with it!

Oh and notice the Day on the post title - we tipped over a year!!

Sunday 27 June 2010

Day 385 - Loft Shelving

Look what Ern made!

Fab shelving into the eaves in the loft


These *may* be used to store some of my magazine collection