Drum and Guitar duo - how to do this?

[Robert]

Ok, here's the idea. My friend Brandon is a great drummer (original drummer in the band Nickelback) and we want to figure out a way to play as a "duo". The music will be improvised blues/jazz/funk - sort of a bit like what Scofield sometimes does.

The idea is to play with loops. I record some bass loops, perhaps with some rhythm guitar as well. There might be 2-3 different parts in the song, you know, the head, a bridge and a groove for soloing, for both of us. Maybe a separate loop just for the ending.

I would need a way to switch between the loops. After soloing for a while or playing the head, we'll give a signal to each other that it's time to go to the next loop. Then I press a pedal and it goes into the next loop. We stay on that one until we signal it's time for another loop, etc.

So, I could do this with my JamMan. There is a non-latching pedal accessory I can hook up to it.

The other idea is my MacBook Pro. Looping would be easy, but I don't know how to switch between loops with a foot pedal with the laptop.

The other issue here is that Brandon needs to hear a click through headphones, so that we can be sure to stay solidly in time with the loop. The question then becomes, how can I have 2 outputs, one with what the audience would hear through the mains, and another with a click added that only Brandon hears?

We probably would also need a 1 bar count-in for each song. Endings we could fade out perhaps with an expression pedal, or just have a final loop that is the actual ending.

 

[warren0728]

i think just some funky drums and guitar would be cool...minimalist kinda thing!

 

[tot_Ou_tard]

i think just some funky drums and guitar would be cool...minimalist kinda thing!

I was thinking the same thing.

Could also throw down some looper tracks live.

 

[luvmyshiner]

I can't help on the technical end Robert, but I'm with Warren and Tot on this one. I'd love to hear it.

 

[zeusse]

Problem solved Robert have Brandon be the only one hearing the click track and then have him stick click you in and then the audience won't hear the click track and you get the best of both worlds and it will sound more professional....its the easiest way I've dealt with this before I hope this helps

 

[Robert]

Well that's the question isnt it - how to get 2 tracks "out" - the laptop and the JamMan only have one out, so how can I give Brandon the click + track, and everybody else the regular loop?

 

[Ch0jin]

The Black Keys are just guitar and drums and I'm pretty sure they did all their own recrding and everything for their first couple of CD's (i.e. the good ones). Might beworth looking around the web for interviews articles on how they did it?

If you've not heard of them, fuzzed out blues would not be an innapropriate description.

Then of course there's the White Stripes, same deal really.

 

[tot_Ou_tard]

Well that's the question isnt it - how to get 2 tracks "out" - the laptop and the JamMan only have one out, so how can I give Brandon the click + track, and everybody else the regular loop?

Robert,

I think what we are saying is to just feed the click track to Brandon.

You can throw down some rhythm loops live & solo over that.

You could even pick up a bass & layer some of that on your JamMan.

Much cooler to have the texture added live layer by layer than to have prerecorded stuff.

Even cool to just have a guitar & drums live.

Maybe the drummer doesn't even need a click track with this set-up.

 

[warren0728]

Robert,

I think what we are saying is to just feed the click track to Brandon.

You can throw down some rhythm loops live & solo over that.
Much cooler to have the texture added live layer by layer than to have prerecorded stuff.

check this out....queen of on stage live looping...

Even cool to just have a guitar & drums live.

Maybe the drummer doesn't even need a click track with this set-up.
this is what i was originally thinking...

ww

 

[sunvalleylaw]

This is not really on Rob's topic, but I could learn a lot by watching her. I think I am going to start a new thread.

 

[warren0728]

This is not really on Rob's topic, but I could learn a lot by watching her. I think I am going to start a new thread.

i think it is on topic because he was thinking about live looping on stage....and she is great at it....just sayin'....

ww

 

[Spudman]

Zeusse has the right idea but the only way I've seen this done is with a keyboard.

One band I worked with would send just the click from the keys to a Hot Spot monitor that only the drummer could hear. In this case I think it was possible to program the keys to have the click on the left channel and program material on the right channel. This way all you would need would be a stereo splitter cable. Unfortunately I don't know how you can do this with the looper. Call Digitech.

A simpler solution might be to put your amp behind the drummer slightly or face it at him and play the looped tracks back loud enough that he can hear them well and then try not to cover them up with your live playing so that he can continue to hear the rhythm part well.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

i think it is on topic because he was thinking about live looping on stage....and she is great at it....just sayin'....

ww

Your post was fine. :AOK: But the questions I had as a result did not directly relate to Robert's question. I meant me only.

 

[Jipes]

Well that's the question isnt it - how to get 2 tracks "out" - the laptop and the JamMan only have one out, so how can I give Brandon the click + track, and everybody else the regular loop?

If you have an audio interface (like my mBox Pro Tools or M audio stuff) you might be able to do so. Directly from the laptop might be as well possible it exist some headphone blocks with several outputs but I dont know if you can plugged them directly without an audio interface

As for the music a great mix of The Meters numbers might be pretty funky :dude:

 

[tot_Ou_tard]

As for the music a great mix of The Meters numbers might be pretty funky :dude:

Oh yeah, The Meters!

 

[Lev]

The RC-50 supports multiple outputs I believe, expensive but it would solve all your plroblems.

 

[Katastrophe]

I don't know how you'd do this with the laptop, but I was in a band that played a lot of sequenced keyboards a while ago, and we just ran (like spud said) a click channel to the drummer, and used the other channel for the PA. It worked okay, but we played so loud that the drummer couldn't hear the click through his headphones.

I could imagine that you could record the backing / bass tracks onto the laptop, and dedicate a track for the click, but I don't know how you'd be able to route the signal to where only the drummer could hear it.

 

[t_ross33]

I could imagine that you could record the backing / bass tracks onto the laptop, and dedicate a track for the click, but I don't know how you'd be able to route the signal to where only the drummer could hear it.

Dual mono. Pan hard left for the BT and hard right for the click. Give the drummer a "stereo" signal to his headphones and send the left signal to the PA.

Interesting, and sounds like a lot of work to prep it, but it would sure be interesting to hear/see. I'm sure there are other technological work-arounds (sequencers, triggers, MIDI etc.) Good luck

 

[Robert]

That's exactly what I was thinking, Trev. It should work if the drummer gets the click channel and then use some Y-cord so he can hear that one channel in both headphone muffs.