ArtistInfo

Chad McCoy
Improvisations For Trombone And Electronics

Album US 2010 on TENDENCY RECORDINGS label
Electronic, Jazz and Classical (Ambient, Drone, Experimental, Minimal, Modern Classical, Musique Concrète, Noise, Free Improvisation)

"Improvisations For Trombone + Electronics" was recorded in California and New Mexico between 2005 and 2010. All tracks performed + recorded + produced by CM except: "Ordinary Dream" performed by CM and Jonathan Cram (Electronics) + recorded + produced by JC. "I, Electrombone" performed by CM and JC + recorded by JC + produced by CM. Cover photo by Jamie A/K/A "Captain America" Special thanks to Jonathan Cram "Although the title sounds clinical, IMPROVISATIONS FOR TROMBONE AND ELECTRONICS is meant to be an entertaining concept in sound creation. This album shows a process through years of playing, practicing and refining what I have learned about mixing trombone with live electronics. Every acoustic environment affects electronic sounds differently, and every trombone slide position creates a different set of acoustic environments within itself making spontaneous playing ever more possible. Rather than just using acoustic trombone to improvise a specific genre, amplification textures were added by using modules which are the main proponents of the "sound" for this album. The electronic "module", in this case, is the Yamaha Silent Brass System and when wired improperly can play a leading role in square waves, sine waves and no input feedback. I have used it this way for many years without any problems. When playing trombone improv (or with any acoustic set-up for that matter), this weird D.I.Y. module aesthetic blends, or depending on how you hear it, clashes with natural sound waves. This process of sound waves clashing and blending creates sound worlds that, very seldom ever sound the same way twice especially when performing from various live settings. When not playing directly into a microphone, I use the silent brass mute and button mics layered in the t-bone mutes. There are exceptions where I play directly into regular microphones, but really it's about utilizing the sound from different areas of the trombone and is a matter of personal preference for this album. So to reiterate over the course of these sessions: oscillators, equalizers "patched" creating saw and square waves were used in addition to recording techniques using effect pedals and synchronization of two separate audio sources binding together. In playing and mixing the album, button mics for additional feedback, and yes, even the old Wurlitzer Electric Piano was used with it's vibrato function running through the crackling input without assistance from me. I made sure that no matter how electrophonic "Improvisations" became, acoustic sounds were always being captured. Most of the performances on this record are a study in comparing and contrasting from impromptu playing and listening to recordings from those improvisations. It is my hope that these decisions, some even musical, have channelled the emotions and feelings I was after onto you, the listener. Tracks 1 through 6 and 10 are recorded live, while the others are recorded live and reconstructed using musique concrete and synchronization techniques utilized in aleatoric music when normally performing live anyway." CM https://tendencyrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/improvisations-for-trombone-electronics

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