ALMOST LIKE BEING THERE

Some pictures below from our weekend romp through Zoey's in Ventura and Metro Galleries in Bakersfield. The pics of Chris and I were taken by Jeff Kaiser, pics of Kaiser and Liebig were taken by yours truly. Stay tuned for more commentary, audio, and if we're lucky, some of Kaiser's photos from the after-gig hang at the Crystal Palace...

Also, local musician/composer James Sproul just posted a nice review of the Bakersfield show. Thanks, James!

RETURN TO ELECTRIC TRUMPETLAND

For this weekend's duo gigs with Chris Schlarb I am firing up Electric Trumpet Rig v3.0, which is looking like this:

Trumpet > Shure Beta 57 Mic > ART Tube MP Preamp >
BBE Wah Pedal > Ernie Ball VP JR > PreSonus Firebox >
MacBook Pro/MaxMSP > Firebox > PA

It's true, I tried to put this stuff behind me some time ago, and I'm not going to say that I am 100% optimistic about getting into this again. It has been two years since I last performed with live electronics, but I think that I may have come up with a solution that solves some of the basic issues I had with my previous attempts, first with a table full of analog effects pedals and then with just a laptop and MaxMSP software.

As I wrote back then, my issue with the pedal-driven setup was:

"...carrying all this heavy luggage to gig after gig, winding and unwinding cables, setting up tables and boxes and in all that hassle hoping you don't patch a cable to the wrong jack, drop a speaker on your instrument (or someone else's), or hit the wrong switch and release a torrent of feedback noise into the audience."

Having to deal with the sheer bulk of all that equipment made it nearly impossible to concentrate on actually playing an instrument as well; after nine gigs and two recording sessions I became more than a little annoyed that I never had the chance to warm up or prepare myself for the trumpet side of things (which is demanding enough without the extra equipment). To all of that, the laptop-only solution seemed simple, elegant and clearly superior. But I remained conflicted about it for quite some time, mainly due to the fact that performing with one hand on a trumpet and one hand on a mouse tended to make me a bit neurotic.

So for the past two years I've mulled over a setup that might offer the best of both worlds - the tactile maneuverability of a few foot pedals (allowing me to stand and play without the need for any knob-twisting), and the streamlined simplicity of a software rig with presets to accommodate basic EQ, reverb and compression along with simple key commands (which I prefer over adding a MIDI controller) to toggle the more "destructive" effects plugins on and off, so there is minimal need for mousing around. Basically I have tried to build something that feels transparent and as hands-free as possible, an extension (rather than an obstruction) of the horn.

The MaxMSP software I am using now is based on a VST host and integrated four-channel looper designed by Jeff Kaiser, with a few mods and design tweaks of my own:

I am actually quite happy with this. The pull-down menus allow you to select up to six VST plugins, and slots 1-4 can be rearranged in any order by clicking one of the number sequences on the right. Slots 5 and 6 are typically for reverb and compression at the end of the chain. All six plugins can be toggled on and off by hitting number keys 1-6. The ten PRESET buttons along the bottom each load a different combination of VSTs, basically different points from which to start because the plugins can also be switched out individually. Key commands for the presets are Shift + number keys 1-0. Kaiser's four-channel looper comprises the boxes A-B-C-D, and there are settings for forward/reverse, half/double speed, panning, etc. There are a few more bells and whistles, like the catastrophic blast of distortion that happens when you hit letter D...

Last night at Zoey's went well, so so far so good. I will update shortly with pictures, commentary, maybe some audio.

BLOGGING WILL RESUME

...eventually.

For now, more gig spam. Playing two electroacoustic ambient improv duo sets this weekend with friend/guitarist/composer/producer Chris Schlarb, in Ventura on Friday and at my series in Bakersfield on Saturday. We double bill with Jeff Kaiser + Steuart Liebig both nights.

Info on both shows is here, propaganda for the Bakersfield show below: