Re: Effects was Re: [Harp-L] Jason's organ

[Richard Hammersley <rhhammersley@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Buddha, Richard Hunter and Jason Ricci can make very alarming sounds  
emerge from their loudspeakers. Which is 'better' is a matter of taste  
and preference.
      However, I put it to you that one needs to be careful about  
huge screaming moothie sounds  (there was discussion a while back  
about the best name for the harmonica; I vote for moothie, not out of  
patriotism but because it catches the instrument in a way that 'harp',  
'tin sandwich' etc do not), or indeed guitar or synth sounds,  because  
often a little goes a long way for the listener and that "killer  
demonic death sound" rapidly becomes tiring to listen to. Of course it  
can be cool to annoy the audience, make them bleed from every orifice  
etc. and undoubtedly doing so will lead to many more gigs in the  
future than being tasteful or something. Yeah right, only if you play  
"Drone Metal" which is not everyone's pint of turpentine. Actually I  
find the extreme end of the effects experiments of all 3 of these guys  
sometimes a bit fatiguing on the ears. Not because I am against that  
sort of thing: I listen happily to some pretty way out there  
electronic music and post-jazz improvisers, including stuff that makes  
your ears ring for 24 hr if you play it at the proper volume. Last  
Exit anyone?
      Those seeking truly killer but aesthetic sounds; I commend to  
you Sun Ra meets John Cage, not especially for the John Cage bits, but  
because Sun Ra plays a Yamaha DX-7 in a manner that made me feel that  
hardly anyone else has any grasp or control over electronic sound live  
at all:
http://freealbums.blogsome.com/2006/01/15/john-cage-sun-ra-john-cage-meets-sun-ra/
    (No idea if this download is legal). I have played a DX-7 and I  
have absolutely no idea how you wring sounds like this out of it live.  
The above mentioned artists are going to dig it, if they haven't heard  
it before. Anyone who wants to hum the tune, don't bother.
      For moothie, I prefer to use effects to modest, er, effect  
rather than porking up the sound to the max or, as Buddha has  
advocated, trying to sound like another instrument. For simple  
colouring a multi-purpose effects box (I use a line 6 pod but have  
used a zoom in the past) works just fine. If I want synth sound then I  
will synthesise some and skip the moothie entirely. Also remember that  
the more bits of technology between you and the speaker cabinet, the  
more bits can fail. On the other hand, if the generic effects box  
fails, well you'll have to fall back on your own sound, or the quite  
good effects built into many amps nowadays. Also I think the lightly  
effected sound of the moothie fits really well into wild experimental  
music, although not all listeners to some of what I record would agree.
     Point is that used as light colouring it probably  doesn't  
matter that much about the maximum quality of the effects you are  
applying. Used heavily maybe it does. Can you get a sound we want to  
hear for more than a few seconds out of it? This can be a lifetime's  
work (think of the Edge's guitar sound). I respect these three moothie  
players for their work in expanding the instrument's sound. But most  
of the time the effects I use are either (a) nothing but my large  
living room with a hard floor which produces a nice recording ambience  
or (b) wee bit of echo, wee bit of reverb, wee bit of compression 'as  
one chooses'. But then I am a sick man who uses (sharp intake of  
breath through teeth) solid state amps!!!
Boogie on the moothie guys
Richard

Richard Hammersley
Grantshouse, Scottish Borders
http://www.last.fm/music/Richard+Hammersley
http://www.myspace.com/rhammersley
http://www.myspace.com/magpiesittingdown