Discovering the loop pedal...

I first discovered the looping concept back in 2009. A guitarist in my band bought the BOSS RC2 loopstation to experiment with. I think he wanted to attempt some of the impressive work by Tom Morello from Rage against the Machine. The pedal was hardly used and more appropriate effects pedals took its place swiftly. I however realised quickly that I could have a lot of fun with this disregarded toy. Whenever the band were taking a break, I'd plug a microphone into the pedal and begin building soundscapes, much to the irritation of my band mates. I'd grab tambourines and cymbals, often dangling the mic from my teeth in order to capture sounds and build layers in my soundscape. I loved building harmonies and choirs, then came trumpet instrument sounds which when harmonised built up convincing full brass sections. 

I think a lot of lads my age had experimented making silly noises at school. I certainly had and so beat boxing was already well rehearsed, although, I'd never considered myself able to beatbox. I'd played drums since the age of 12 however, so the structure of drum loops, and sections came easy. Most importantly drumming gave me a good solid sense of timing and tempo. This is crucial when using loop pedals because if you get it wrong, you have to start again otherwise everything from the first bar onwards will be out of time. My guitarist friends seem to struggle with timing and I'm sure the frustration they felt when the drummer could use a 'guitarists' effects pedal better than they could led to the loop pedal being discarded.

I was hooked. I wasn't allowed to jam on guitars much at band practices. This was frowned upon and I was instructed to stick to drums. The same went for singing and bass, so naturally I found it difficult to get my hands on the loop station. Every opportunity I got I'd tuck myself away, building crowded soundscapes that were completely crazy. Made worse by the fact I was probably playing through a guitar amplifier. I was so addicted that even at a house party whilst everyone else was downing shots in the kitchen, smoking in the garden and flirting with girls, I seized the opportunity to hide in the garage (which was our practice room) and play for hours building my own mad music. When a loop became so crowded I couldn't even hear another layer, I'd simply discard it and begin a new loop. 

I've touched upon the main problem with the BOSS RC 2 there. Once you've added layer upon layer to your track, music becomes too crowded. You can't add structure to a song. It can quickly become too busy and complicated. You can't take away the brass section or change the bass line, It simply builds up and builds up until you think ''ok! that's enough of that''. So, my interest in looping couldn't progress from there. It was fun and novel but not appropriate for live performance. Shortly after this fun period of time, I moved away for university, leaving the band behind and dedicating myself to my studies. I never stopped thinking about how to take looping further though. There had to be a way to add structure to a loop. Having 5 or more RC 2's linked together might help, but it was a messy concept and would have taken an almost impossible sense of timing and tempo to sync multiple loop stations. My looping ambitions would reside in my imagination for a while longer yet.