Warren Burt and Simon Edwards - Two New Improvisations - April 29, 2015

On April 29, Simon Edwards and I gave a Performance Seminar at Box Hill Institute, playing four new improvs for the students there, with question and answer periods between each improv.  I had a Zoom recorder going in the front row,and of the four pieces, two of them came out well enough that we felt it would be fun to share them with people.

The first one is called "72 Tone Guitar and 71 Tone iPad." It's played by Simon on my "Small Blue Guitar," which is restrung to all "e" strings, each of which is tuned 1/6th of a semitone above the previous one, yielding a guitar with about an octave and a half range that is tuned in 72 tone equal temperament, and by me on my iPad, using Thumbjam with an "Acoustic Guitar" sample set, tuned to 71 tone equal temperament.  Additionally, the Thumbjam patch is treated by a long delay, which I can turn on and off at will.  The 72 tone guitar is in the centre of the mix, and sounds slightly less treble-y than the iPAd, which seems to exist in a wider stereo spread, and has more high harmonics.  It's 7 minutes long, and we're quite pleased with it.  Enjoy.

72 Tone Guitar and 71 Tone iPad, by Warren Burt and Simon Edwards

The second piece is called "Launchpad and Electric Guitar with Pedals."  I'm playing the Novation Launchpad, which is controlling an iPad full of samples I made last September/October, mostly using graphic synthesis programs and the Bitwiz app.  These mostly make long spectrally changing sound masses.  Simon is playing his electric guitar which goes through a whole plethora of pedals, chief of which is the Electro-Harmonix Hog guitar synthesizer.  Simon makes long chords and textures, which I respond to with clouds of sound, which he responds to with other textures, which I respond to, etc.  We were very pleased with this version of this improv, and we hope you will be too.  It's 13 minutes long.  Enjoy.

Launchpad and Electric Guitar with Pedals by Warren Burt and Simon Edwards