Review Session: Looping with Alex Brubaker

Local musician, Alex Brubaker, was our special guest for group class last week. Here is a recap of the information he gave us about looping for those who missed the class or want to review:

Definitions

• Sample - A pre-recorded piece of audio. This can be music, spoken word, background noise, or any other sound that can be recorded.

• Sampling - The playback of pre-recorded audio.

• Loop - An audio sample that repeats after it has been played through.

• Looping - The playback of an audio sample that restarts after it is completed (like playing a song on repeat).

• Live Looping - The recording and playback of a looped audio sample in real-time.

• Overdub - playing over top of a loop.

Musical Examples

Listen to the following examples of sampling and looping. What do you hear? 

How is looping being used in the pieces?

First, here is part of Alex's live example to us at the group class:

Next he had us listen to three musicians using looping:

Theresa Andersson "Birds Fly Away"

(Listen for how she samples a drum beat in this piece.)

Aaron Collier creates a piece using the piano. Can you hear where he makes the sounds in the loop play backward (reversed loop)?

Alex gave us a summary of how to loop and what controls we might use. Here is what he said: