At my gig at Alpine Wines in Driggs ID on August 4, I did a few pieces with the looper.  It was a new and different experience.  The main thing I like about those pieces is the cool sounds that result from layering the harps with the Digitech RP355 and the looper. 

I discovered on listening to the live recordings from that night that, unfortunately for the recording quality, singing close to the vocal mic caused the Zoom H4’s inputs to overload.  So my vocal performances really degraded the overall recording quality.  I still have stuff to sort out where the balance between instruments and setup for the recording gear is concerned.  In the meantime, I’m selecting excerpts from pieces where the recording quality is acceptable. 

Here’s an excerpt from “Key to the Highway”. The looper is repeating a bass line played on Bb harp (maybe an A?) in second position through a Fireball V mic into the Digitech RP355, which is running a patch that uses a 59 Bassman amp model plus a two-octave down pitch shift.  The lead harmonica is running a Blackface Deluxe amp model. 

Here’s an excerpt from “Lo Rider”.  The looper has two layers: a beatboxed percussion lick and the same double-octave down RP355 patch.  The lead harp is playing through the RP355, with a Bassman amp model and a rotary speaker effect. 

I think these are some cool sounds, and it’s amazing how big the sound is with only two layers of harmonica. 

Stay tuned for more.Â