Tech Log

Tech Log

Loop Pedal

Originally starting with the tape loop, involving magnetic tape used to create a repetitive musical pattern looping continuously, now comes an evolved version of the tape loop called a loop pedal.


A loop pedal is a digital sampler built into a foot switch-operated pedal which allows musicians (mainly guitarists) to be able to make their live performances more interesting by layering melodies and riffs over pre-recorded chords.


During my first year of college, I learnt how to use a loop pedal for my 10 minute solo performance where I performed Stevie Wonder's song Isn't She Lovely on my bass guitar. I recorded the chords first on the loop pedal then proceeded to play the bass line and afterwards the main melody.


There are a few limitations to a loop pedal when it comes to a live performance. A few of those limitations include the amount of loops that you are able to create. For example, if you wanted to create a song from scratch and your pedal is limited to 3 loops, you would have to prioritise what parts of the song would be most important to record. Another limitation is that although recording the loops in time is crucial for the song to sound good, it also makes the music sound somewhat robotic, the recording loses the 'human' element that would normally give the music life.


There are many ways to use a loop pedal effectively in a live performance. For example a solo musician/artist (e.g. Ed Sheeran), who can sing and guitar would be able to record vocal runs, guitar riffs, licks and melodic lines and play them at will over the original performance all with the push of a button on the pedal. Another way of using it effectively, which is very similar to the first reason, would be for a singer to record each element of a song acapella to create the a piece of music through just recording different sounds with their voice.


The link below shows an example of creating a song from scratch acapella:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6z5eAW3rvRA




Roland V-Drums TD-15K V-Tour Series

"V-Drums is a variety of electronic drums, drum brain modules, and related electronic percussion product manufactured and trademarked by Roland Corporation."1

Although I have not used the V-drums in a live performance, my classmates have played them in a few of the college performances and the drums have given a good sound to many of the songs including music of different genres.

The limitations of the V-drums are quite obvious, the main reason being that it is electronic and lacks the 'human' element as opposed to an acoustic drumkit even with all of the different added drum kit sounds.

There are many ways for an electronic drum kit to be used effectively in a live performance. For example, if there is a set list of songs of different genres, you are able to switch to different sounds on the drum kit (e.g. Latin drums, Djembe, Steel pans etc.) to cater for different genres of music.

Another way of effectively using the V-drums in a live performance could be to create your own sounds, sample songs and assign the sounds to different parts of the drum kit to create your own song from scratch.

The link below shows an example of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QR43J-Xb3AE


1 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_V-Drums

History of Electronic Music

Loop Pedals

A loop pedal is a digital sampler built into a foot-operated pedal which allows musicians, primarily guitarists, to be able to record a phrase of music and then loop it over and over again with the use of the foot pedal.
The loop pedal's origin came from tape looping, with the use of a reel to reel machine, recorded magnetic tape is cut end-to-end which then creates a loop which can then be played continuously. 
The sound that was looped however, was very short which, some musicians were fine with but other musicians would get two reel to reel machines and attach a longer piece of the magnetic tape in order to get a longer loop, which didn't actually create a longer loop but just created a giant echo. 
The modern method of looping however, is used with a loop pedal which is a much easier method than tape looping. 
Loop pedals can be a great asset to solo performers and one man bands who play the guitar or any instrument that requires an amplifier because it allows them to create layers of looped sound which can give them richer and deeper melodies and textures during their live performances.

There are various known musicians and artists who are known for using a loop pedal in their gigs/performances, here is a list of the known artists/musicians;

• Victor Wooten

Victor Wooten is a famous electric bass player who is known for his playing style, which includes techniques like slapping, muting, harmonics, tapping and playing chords on a bass guitar. In the video above, Victor is performing Isn't She Lovely by Stevie Wonder and demonstrates many of these techniques, he starts by looping the chords of the song then afterwards he loops the bass line. 

Now that the foundation of the song has now been looped, Victor continues to plays the main melody of the song as well as improvising with chords and harmonics. At  3:05, Victor erases the previous sounds that he had looped and replaces it with a simple bass line and then continues to improvise over it.

• Ed Sheeran 

Ed Sheeran is an English singer-songwriter who began his music career in 2005 and moved to London in 2008 to pursue it further. His debut album '+' features a variety of songs it is literally just him and his guitar which makes him quite a unique young artist. 

In the video above, Ed is performing his song You Need Me, I Don't Need You with the use of his guitar along with his acoustic style of playing which usually involves himself using a loop pedal that is plugged in to his guitar as well as his microphone which he uses for beatboxing as well as singing long and short phrases to add effect as shown in the video.

The differences between Ed Sheeran's uses of the loop pedal compared to Victor Wooten's is that Ed tends to use more percussive techniques for example, hitting the bottom end of the guitar and looping to serve as the pattern of the kick drum. A similarity between the two players which is more unusual for Victor would be that they both loop chords and then play the melody over it.

• KT Tunstall

KT Tunstall is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. She began her career in 2000 and like Ed Sheeran, is known to play the guitar and sing.
In the video above, she is performing her song Black Horse & The Cherry Tree, she starts by looping the vocals and the beat as well as using the tambourine to make the foundation of the song then soon afterwards she starts to play the guitar and the lead vocal melody.

Between Ed and Victor's playing style with the loop pedal, KT Tunstall is very similar to Ed's playing style in the sense that, they both use percussive techniques on the guitar and they both loop vocal phrases but also, at the same time they are both very different artists. 

Different loop pedals include;
Boss RC-3 Loop Station
Boss RC-50 Loop Station (Image Below)

Akai E2 Headrush

VOX VDL1 Dynamic Looper Pedal Processor

Bibliography:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tape_loop