Technology which has changed music:
I have decided to research into music technology which is a very diverse area and a modern way to alter instrument sounds, as I am looking for different ideas to alter the trumpet in order to fit into different styles within my project. As this is a diverse area, I will be looking into different types of technology used in music which can relate to my trumpet playing. This links to where it said 'Technology nowadays can change the way musicians make music'. Therefore the idea that the use of technology can change the way musicians make music could link to the way that I aim to change my trumpet sound to play Latin jazz and dance-classical in a different way to just playing the natural trumpet sound.(Alexander, 2019)
I looked into website which talks about technology used in music
The first type of technology in music I will be looking into is the use of effect pedals. Effect pedals allow musicians to add effects to their music, including reverb, distortion and chorus to different components of tracks.
Effects for the guitar are grouped into different groups due to what they do. The first group that changes the sound by modulating, filtering or pitch alterations. These pedals can be known as chorus, flanger and phaser type of effects. The delay space-time effect pedals are known as the reverb and echo pedals.
This Boss DS-1 distortion pedal takes the guitar signal and distorts it, adding volume, crunch and sustain to sound which is a contrast to the sound of the actual guitar. It is often used in chorus in some songs as the volume allows the sound to build up and the guitar prominent. However this pedals effect on the guitar sound depends on the type of guitar used. This links to a chorus in pop music which contrasts to the verses due to the contrast in volume, change in lyrics,
In this video, a guitarist is demonstrating with this pedal and how it makes the guitar sound more 'aggressive'. This supports the idea of this pedal altering the sound of the guitar to make it sound louder and more crunchy.
This idea of altering the sound of the standard electric guitar to adding pedals to create distortion links to my project as I will be using technology in order to alter the sounds of the trumpet to take it away from classical music.
There is also a pedal for reverb and as stated on the website, this pedal would give an 'echo' effect and 'gives the guitar more weight'. Reverb links to the environment that the music is being played. For example, the sound when walking into a church or cave which is a large open space so that the sound 'reverberates off the walls'. Therefore to achieve the same effect with reverb according to the surroundings, the larger the room of reverb a musician would want, the more that the reverb would have to be turned up on the pedal.
Bibliography:
I have previously used reverb for a classical piece at it makes it sound as if the piece was recorded and played in a large concert hall. My 'Chanson Napolitaine', a classical grade 6 piece that I have done required reverb when mixing the track as recording in a large concert hall was not available to me. Therefore the effects that can be created on guitar pedals can also be created using digital software. I will look more into this as I aim to use technology in order to alter the sounds of my instrument.
Guitar pedals and style
Within rock music, there may be more of the use of guitar pedals than there would be in jazz- research into genre and guitar pedals.
Which styles will I make use of these pedals the most in the future
Another impact that technology has had on music is the use of MIDI files where you can link a computer with a midi controller to play electronic instruments simultaneously. An example on the site said 'With a midi controller, you can be playing piano one minute then shift to a guitar or harp without skipping a beat.'
In the future when I attend Middlesex university to continue my studies in styles and techniques with culture, I will use my knowledge of different pedals and their functions to adapt this to styles of music which require this kind of effect (with guitars). I aspire to play as part of different bands therefore I am constantly practicing my playing of different styles.
However, 'these effects can now be recreated digitally' (Alexander 2019).
I will now look into the way that a trumpeter uses technology in terms of effect pedals in their playing.I have been recommended to look into the trumpeter Sam Barton, from a tutor who knows this musician because this links to my project as he does something unusual with his instrument which is using guitar pedals on the trumpet which is unusual to me. This unusuality of playing the trumpet with guitar pedals is something I am looking into within this project as I am focusing on making use of the flugelhorn in fusions to explore a wider range of styles rather than playing classically as the trumpet was once just a classical instrument, this links back to my research into the history of the classical trumpet.
According to my research into the use of guitar pedals, distortion pedals create a crunchy sound to the guitar and together with this, the effect of the distortion pedal on the guitar depends on the type of guitar. Therefore as this pedal relies on the type of guitar, on a completely different instrument, this could be altered further.
This interview to Sam Barton has come from my research into technology where I looked into the use of pedals on the guitar. The fact that Sam Barton makes use of a guitar pedal on the trumpet is relevant to my project as I am looking into ways of contrasting the sound of the natural trumpet. In the article I have read above, the way that the guitar is affected by these pedals is by which type of guitar it is. Therefore with a trumpet or flugelhorn, there could be a contrast in sound aswell.
Before carrying out the interviews by email and searching for the artist's contact details, I have decided to research into interview techniques which could help for my interviews to run smoothly.
The points which stood out to me were 'listing questions', 'having a practice or run through' (however this would only be relevant for in person interviews as I am writing an interview with the ability to edit anything necessary before it is sent) and keeping the questions to the topic of the research.
Instead of practicing or having a run through of my interview as it is n emailed interview, I will practice by writing out my email and changing anything by reading it out in my head.
There were few versions I created as drafts before sending the final email.
With an increase amount of detail to the first email, I asked "I would like to find out more about some of the styles you play and what do you do to achieve them(in terms of the pedals)".
Without mentioning the use of pedals, Sam Barton may not acknowledge that I was asking about his use of them.
Although my email was simple in terms of the structure and
This was the first email which I had sent to Sam Barton, comparing this to my previous email, this email consist of more detail. (At this point in my project, I hadn't re-worded my project from worldwide music to a fusion on the flugelhorn yet.) Therefore, I asked Sam Barton what he does to achieve a specific sound/effect (making use of his pedals). I asked this due to the research I had done into his use of pedals.
I did this so that my aims of the interview are clear to the person being interviewed and it does not go off topic. This is especially due to the interview being carried out online rather than in person where it's easier to converse about a topic.
"Firstly, I will be referring to one of your performances at the Moth Club, for my research which is linked below, what effects did you use and how did you make use of them?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V450eW
What effects set-ups are you currently running? Could you tell me what the pedals add to your original trumpet sound ?
ii will be asking Sam Barton which set-ups he is running at the moment and how they add to the original sound of the trumpet. By going into detail of the the functions of each of these pedals, this will increase my understanding of the effect of pedals on the flugelhorn/trumpet. Therefore, I will be able to look into pedals which could give me a similar sound to the
Also, could you let me know of the styles that you would regularly use these techniques ?
Such as jazz?
Does this help you to bend into the sound of the band?
What do you aim to achieve when adding different sounds to your trumpet ?
Do you also have a website where I could further some of my research ?
Microphone used for these effects:
Firstly, Sam states the microphone which he uses to add effects to while playing into the microphone. This is the SM57 microphones as shown in the image which I set up in the recording studio. The SM57 is a microphone frequently used for the trumpet Briefly stating the types of effects that are used, the digitech vocal 300 (multivocal effects unit), 2) Electro Harmonix Stereo Memory Man with Hazarai (delay unit) to 3) TC Electronic Ditto (looper) to 4) Boss RC 30 Loop Station (looper with saved content so effectively a sampler too) to 5) Boss TR-2 (tremolo) to 6) Electro Harmonix Oceans 11 (reverb).
The first is a pedal which is shown in the image to the right which is called the Digitech Vocal 300 and as evident it's a huge and cumbersome pedal. It has some pre-settings such as a monster, chipmunk or wizard sounds which he says result in interesting sounds when applied to brass instruments. However, Sam's use of this pedal has decreased slightly as there has been less necessity for these sounds in his new record. This can be shown in the example he has provided called 'I'd Rather, Jack'. I have attached and linked the video which can be listened to below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiQqjOrbA-8
I'd rather Jack is a single from the album 'Wraith', the bands album number 5, described as a delirious and party-starting track. It's driven by a continuous up-beat feel and a fanfare played by the bright sounds from the brass instruments and the electric guitars.
https://teethofthesea.bandcamp.com/album/id-rather-jack
Reading up on the albums specifics
From this, I can also gather that the effects made by this pedal aren't of much use in this version as stated by Sam Barton.
After finding this out, I had the idea to listen to one of his albums which make use of this pedal and its effects.
Electro Harmonix Stereo Memory
A recent addition to his set before he went on tour is the Electro Harmonix Stereo Memory Man with Hazarai.
https://www.ehx.com/assets/instructions/stereo-memory-man-with-hazarai.pdf
Another digital delay pedal which he made use of was a Line 6 DL4. To begin, I will be outlining the advantages and disadvantages of using this type of pedal. Despite their 'greatness' said by Sam Barton, they cannot be kept for long period of time. Therefore, with this one, you would have to continually replace it which is one reason Sam Barton has discontinued his use of this pedal.
To research further into this pedal, I have gathered some videos from YouTube to gain knowledge into what this pedal does,
Line 6 - DL4 Delay pedal Reverb Demo
I have watched a video of Line 6 DL4 Delay Pedal | Reverb Demo.
In this video, the guitarist states some advantages of using this type of pedal which includes the ease of use when finding your ideal sound and maintaining it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wzITfXrpvo
Guitar Effects - Delay Pedals - Line6 DL4 Delay Modeler - Marty's Gear Thursday
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9A5mIjWEB0
The Electro Harmnis
The Electro Harmonis, which was lent to the band's guitarist which Sam eventually used for his trumpet. He says "It's great, really warm sound to the delay and very versatile"
It consists of 9 preset delays with 5 fully adjustable parameters for each plus a tap-tempo function (a must for a delay pedal for me so I can add rhythmic delays to tracks on the fly). This is demonstrated in the echo in his trumpet lines in the YouTube track which is linked down below called 'I had too much to Dream Last Night'.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-kVFfKezVo
The TC Electronic Ditto - this is the one I used afterwards
The TC Electronic Ditto is a very basic little loop pedal but it's very easy to use and also cheap (around £65) which are some of its many advantages.
Comparing this to the Boss RC-30 which he will talk about later, the Ditto is good for creating drones, atmospheric noises etc., basically anything that doesn't need to stay in time with a beat.
Boss RC- 30 - (research into this pedal later with the saxophone )
The Boss RC-30- a Loop station pedal where you can build and save loops. Sam Barton says that with this pedal, you can build a loop over 2 channels and mix the levels of each separately so it's a handy compositional tool as well as very versatile in a performance. The way Sam Barton makes use of this pedal is for anything which needs a rhythmic loop to stay in time, often prerecording & saving a section of it so that he knows that it will not to slip out with the programmed beats we use.
Due to the save function you can also basically build your own samples on it (eg on the track you sent over here I drop in some brass chord swells underneath the trumpet melody at around the 2 minute mark which were saved from the first time we wrote the tune). Ultimately though I'm looking at getting a midi-compatible Looper for this purpose - they are very expensive (£400 and upwards) and likely to take a fair bit of getting used to but should hopefully remove the risk factor of trying to trigger loops in time with drum machines, Ableton etc.
This pedal also has the function of creating a third of fifth for harmonies for the chosen instrument.
Link this to research into a saxophonist using the pedal:
Boss TR -2
Boss TR-2 - a very simple pedal that ranks among his favourite effects to use in music. A tremolo rhythmically reduces the volume of your signal in and out. With this pedal, you can also change the speed of the tremolo and the shape of the fade. Therefore this pedal doesn't have many functions. I like to run a loop through it then varispeed the tremolo manually so it slips in and out of time with the beat that's playing. The type what tremolo pedal used doesnt have a huge effect as they all fundamentally do the same thing and don't actually effect the quality of sound going in at all. This pedal working by itself not creating a sound effect, Sam Barton talks about this pedal being connected to another pedal.Barton said 'it sounds really good with either fuzz distortion or phase added before the tremolo'. He has provided me with an example where I can hear this pedal.
This can be shown in the example of The Electric Prunes I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-kVFfKezVo
6) Electro-Harmonix Oceans 11 -
This allows him to add on reverb himself instead of asking producers. -Independence as a musician and skills that link to recording and production.
A variety of different types of reverb to choose from.
In the studio choosing reverb, a musician would usually listen to a good amount of reverb types to decided which to use for them.
Sam describes this pedal as "great" therefore he recommends this pedal any horn players to pick up a reverb pedal as one of the first effects they get because it gives you complete control over how much reverb you want so you're not at the mercy of whoever is doing your sound and what desk they have. A basic reverb pedal isn't expensive but having said that this one has 11 preset reverb sounds all with 4 adjustable parameters and a whole load of weird 'special' features too so like the EHX Stereo Memory Man there's an infinite amount of possibilities there.
reverb
There is an example of a video where he uses this
Something I didn't understand in his reply: At the end of talking about this pedal, Sam Barton said "This stays on for the whole gig so you'll definitely hear it on the YouTube clip". However, the song he wanted me to listen to wasn't clear so I had to follow up from my email to him to find this out. When I had found that I didn't fully understand which in this case was a video he talked about being able to hear the reverb that this pedal provides. This is because he didn't mention the name of the video. Therefore, I didn't know what to listen to in order to hear this effect of the pedal on the instrument. The purpose of my research into Sam Barton's use of pedals is to find out the effect that these pedals have on the trumpet as pedals are often used for guitars.
Genres and pedals -Sam Barton
Going back before he has made use of technology on his instrument, Sam Barton had played the trumpet through school & university and come from a much more straightforward jazz background.
Whilst he always really enjoyed playing jazz my creative interests lay much more in left-field rock music and I definitely saw any future I might have in music making as a guitarist/songwriter.
'Then in my mid-late 20s I began to get much more interested in experimental music and hear a lot of things that blurred the boundaries between noise rock, jazz, electronica, metal and avant garde music.'
There were absolutely no musical rules, half the people had never played an instrument before and I thought it might be refreshing to take my trumpet down and just attempt some free jazz skronking. That was the start of Teeth Of The Sea (or Jaws as we were originally called).
After explaining his use of pedals, Sam outlines that he is still not sure whether the information he provided me with was what I was looking for. However, he then goes on to talk about his styles in relation to his use of pedals. He says "In relation to the more general questions about styles I use etc I'm not sure if anything I do could be classed as jazz, certainly not in a traditional sense although in my other band (Hirvikolari) which I play in with Chlöe(my tutor) it is much more improvisational than Teeth Of The Sea."Improvisation, coming from jazz can be much more versatile than I thought it could have been. Therefore, this interview had provided me with information I was surprised by.
Sam Barton tries not to think too much in terms of genres though, not out of any point of principle but more because I genuinely don't know what you'd call either of the bands I play in. I suppose you could loosely term a lot of things I'm involved with as 'experimental' as that's quite a vague term that allows for a number of different interpretations.
Here, Sam has stated that the things he plays are not classed in the jazz style. Sams approach to using effects as experimenting are how he gained the sounds that he currently makes. The band started without and idea and not knowing what they were striving for. Through experiments, you gradually obtain a degree of technical proficiency and then gain an idea of what you want to try to do. He than states that this playing with effects is inseparable from the music he has made throughout his "general" trumpet playing.
Using effects was a given from the off as we were determined to make the music as inorganic and noisy as possible. I can't remember what I was using initially, probably just a distortion and maybe a wah, mainly because my only frame of reference for trumpet effects at this point was probably Bitches Brew/Live Evil period Miles Davis. These would have been pedals I used as a guitarist in my previous bands. Then I think the first big shift happened when I bought a Line 6 DL4 Loop/Delay (which I mentioned above). These were literally the must-have pedal at that time, everyone had one. Getting a Loop pedal really opened up a lot of possibilities with the trumpet and enabled me to create huge blocks of sound almost like having a whole brass section!
Getting a Loop pedal really opened up a lot of possibilities with the trumpet and enabled me to create huge blocks of sound almost like having a whole brass section!- A loop pedal had a great effect on his playing.
Sam's approach to using effects are as a creative spur, as he says they can take you down alleys you wouldn't necessarily have planned to go down which keeps you on your toes, they also give him a wider palette to compose with, therefore expanding his compositional ideas.
Sam outlines that his method of using a range of sounds to make his instrument sound like a synth or an electric guitarist is due to his lack of confidence as a trumpeter."The effects can also be valuable in creating atmospheres/textures etc which can colour tracks in a way that melody, harmony, rhythm might not be able to." This can outline that he aims to create more virtuosity within his playing by using more effects and colors to make his playing more original rather than playing as a virtuosity trumpeter playing complex melodies and rhythms.
Guitar pedals and style
Within rock music, there may be more of the use of guitar pedals than there would be in jazz- research into genre and guitar pedals.
Which styles will I make use of these pedals the most in the future
Another impact that technology has had on music is the use of MIDI files where you can link a computer with a midi controller to play electronic instruments simultaneously. An example on the site said 'With a midi controller, you can be playing piano one minute then shift to a guitar or harp without skipping a beat.'
In the future when I attend Middlesex university to continue my studies in styles and techniques with culture, I will use my knowledge of different pedals and their functions to adapt this to styles of music which require this kind of effect (with guitars). I aspire to play as part of different bands therefore I am constantly practicing my playing of different styles.
However, 'these effects can now be recreated digitally' (Alexander 2019).
I will now look into the way that a trumpeter uses technology in terms of effect pedals in their playing.I have been recommended to look into the trumpeter Sam Barton, from a tutor who knows this musician because this links to my project as he does something unusual with his instrument which is using guitar pedals on the trumpet which is unusual to me. This unusuality of playing the trumpet with guitar pedals is something I am looking into within this project as I am focusing on making use of the flugelhorn in fusions to explore a wider range of styles rather than playing classically as the trumpet was once just a classical instrument, this links back to my research into the history of the classical trumpet.
According to my research into the use of guitar pedals, distortion pedals create a crunchy sound to the guitar and together with this, the effect of the distortion pedal on the guitar depends on the type of guitar. Therefore as this pedal relies on the type of guitar, on a completely different instrument, this could be altered further.
This interview to Sam Barton has come from my research into technology where I looked into the use of pedals on the guitar. The fact that Sam Barton makes use of a guitar pedal on the trumpet is relevant to my project as I am looking into ways of contrasting the sound of the natural trumpet. In the article I have read above, the way that the guitar is affected by these pedals is by which type of guitar it is. Therefore with a trumpet or flugelhorn, there could be a contrast in sound aswell.
Before carrying out the interviews by email and searching for the artist's contact details, I have decided to research into interview techniques which could help for my interviews to run smoothly.
The points which stood out to me were 'listing questions', 'having a practice or run through' (however this would only be relevant for in person interviews as I am writing an interview with the ability to edit anything necessary before it is sent) and keeping the questions to the topic of the research.
Instead of practicing or having a run through of my interview as it is n emailed interview, I will practice by writing out my email and changing anything by reading it out in my head.
There were few versions I created as drafts before sending the final email.
With an increase amount of detail to the first email, I asked "I would like to find out more about some of the styles you play and what do you do to achieve them(in terms of the pedals)".
Without mentioning the use of pedals, Sam Barton may not acknowledge that I was asking about his use of them.
Although my email was simple in terms of the structure and
This was the first email which I had sent to Sam Barton, comparing this to my previous email, this email consist of more detail. (At this point in my project, I hadn't re-worded my project from worldwide music to a fusion on the flugelhorn yet.) Therefore, I asked Sam Barton what he does to achieve a specific sound/effect (making use of his pedals). I asked this due to the research I had done into his use of pedals.
I did this so that my aims of the interview are clear to the person being interviewed and it does not go off topic. This is especially due to the interview being carried out online rather than in person where it's easier to converse about a topic.
"Firstly, I will be referring to one of your performances at the Moth Club, for my research which is linked below, what effects did you use and how did you make use of them?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V450eW
What effects set-ups are you currently running? Could you tell me what the pedals add to your original trumpet sound ?
ii will be asking Sam Barton which set-ups he is running at the moment and how they add to the original sound of the trumpet. By going into detail of the the functions of each of these pedals, this will increase my understanding of the effect of pedals on the flugelhorn/trumpet. Therefore, I will be able to look into pedals which could give me a similar sound to the
Also, could you let me know of the styles that you would regularly use these techniques ?
Such as jazz?
Does this help you to bend into the sound of the band?
What do you aim to achieve when adding different sounds to your trumpet ?
Do you also have a website where I could further some of my research ?
Microphone used for these effects:
Firstly, Sam states the microphone which he uses to add effects to while playing into the microphone. This is the SM57 microphones as shown in the image which I set up in the recording studio. The SM57 is a microphone frequently used for the trumpet Briefly stating the types of effects that are used, the digitech vocal 300 (multivocal effects unit), 2) Electro Harmonix Stereo Memory Man with Hazarai (delay unit) to 3) TC Electronic Ditto (looper) to 4) Boss RC 30 Loop Station (looper with saved content so effectively a sampler too) to 5) Boss TR-2 (tremolo) to 6) Electro Harmonix Oceans 11 (reverb).https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiQqjOrbA-8
I'd rather Jack is a single from the album 'Wraith', the bands album number 5, described as a delirious and party-starting track. It's driven by a continuous up-beat feel and a fanfare played by the bright sounds from the brass instruments and the electric guitars.
https://teethofthesea.bandcamp.com/album/id-rather-jack
Reading up on the albums specifics
From this, I can also gather that the effects made by this pedal aren't of much use in this version as stated by Sam Barton.
After finding this out, I had the idea to listen to one of his albums which make use of this pedal and its effects.
Electro Harmonix Stereo Memory
A recent addition to his set before he went on tour is the Electro Harmonix Stereo Memory Man with Hazarai.
https://www.ehx.com/assets/instructions/stereo-memory-man-with-hazarai.pdf
Another digital delay pedal which he made use of was a Line 6 DL4. To begin, I will be outlining the advantages and disadvantages of using this type of pedal. Despite their 'greatness' said by Sam Barton, they cannot be kept for long period of time. Therefore, with this one, you would have to continually replace it which is one reason Sam Barton has discontinued his use of this pedal.
To research further into this pedal, I have gathered some videos from YouTube to gain knowledge into what this pedal does,
Line 6 - DL4 Delay pedal Reverb Demo
I have watched a video of Line 6 DL4 Delay Pedal | Reverb Demo.
In this video, the guitarist states some advantages of using this type of pedal which includes the ease of use when finding your ideal sound and maintaining it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wzITfXrpvo
Guitar Effects - Delay Pedals - Line6 DL4 Delay Modeler - Marty's Gear Thursday
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9A5mIjWEB0
The Electro Harmnis
The Electro Harmonis, which was lent to the band's guitarist which Sam eventually used for his trumpet. He says "It's great, really warm sound to the delay and very versatile"
It consists of 9 preset delays with 5 fully adjustable parameters for each plus a tap-tempo function (a must for a delay pedal for me so I can add rhythmic delays to tracks on the fly). This is demonstrated in the echo in his trumpet lines in the YouTube track which is linked down below called 'I had too much to Dream Last Night'.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-kVFfKezVo
The TC Electronic Ditto - this is the one I used afterwards
The TC Electronic Ditto is a very basic little loop pedal but it's very easy to use and also cheap (around £65) which are some of its many advantages.
Comparing this to the Boss RC-30 which he will talk about later, the Ditto is good for creating drones, atmospheric noises etc., basically anything that doesn't need to stay in time with a beat.
Boss RC- 30 - (research into this pedal later with the saxophone )
Due to the save function you can also basically build your own samples on it (eg on the track you sent over here I drop in some brass chord swells underneath the trumpet melody at around the 2 minute mark which were saved from the first time we wrote the tune). Ultimately though I'm looking at getting a midi-compatible Looper for this purpose - they are very expensive (£400 and upwards) and likely to take a fair bit of getting used to but should hopefully remove the risk factor of trying to trigger loops in time with drum machines, Ableton etc.
This pedal also has the function of creating a third of fifth for harmonies for the chosen instrument.
Link this to research into a saxophonist using the pedal:
Boss TR -2
This can be shown in the example of The Electric Prunes I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-kVFfKezVo
6) Electro-Harmonix Oceans 11 -
This allows him to add on reverb himself instead of asking producers. -Independence as a musician and skills that link to recording and production.
A variety of different types of reverb to choose from.
In the studio choosing reverb, a musician would usually listen to a good amount of reverb types to decided which to use for them.
Sam describes this pedal as "great" therefore he recommends this pedal any horn players to pick up a reverb pedal as one of the first effects they get because it gives you complete control over how much reverb you want so you're not at the mercy of whoever is doing your sound and what desk they have. A basic reverb pedal isn't expensive but having said that this one has 11 preset reverb sounds all with 4 adjustable parameters and a whole load of weird 'special' features too so like the EHX Stereo Memory Man there's an infinite amount of possibilities there.
reverb
There is an example of a video where he uses this
Something I didn't understand in his reply: At the end of talking about this pedal, Sam Barton said "This stays on for the whole gig so you'll definitely hear it on the YouTube clip". However, the song he wanted me to listen to wasn't clear so I had to follow up from my email to him to find this out. When I had found that I didn't fully understand which in this case was a video he talked about being able to hear the reverb that this pedal provides. This is because he didn't mention the name of the video. Therefore, I didn't know what to listen to in order to hear this effect of the pedal on the instrument. The purpose of my research into Sam Barton's use of pedals is to find out the effect that these pedals have on the trumpet as pedals are often used for guitars.
Genres and pedals -Sam Barton
Going back before he has made use of technology on his instrument, Sam Barton had played the trumpet through school & university and come from a much more straightforward jazz background.
Whilst he always really enjoyed playing jazz my creative interests lay much more in left-field rock music and I definitely saw any future I might have in music making as a guitarist/songwriter.
'Then in my mid-late 20s I began to get much more interested in experimental music and hear a lot of things that blurred the boundaries between noise rock, jazz, electronica, metal and avant garde music.'
There were absolutely no musical rules, half the people had never played an instrument before and I thought it might be refreshing to take my trumpet down and just attempt some free jazz skronking. That was the start of Teeth Of The Sea (or Jaws as we were originally called).
Sam Barton tries not to think too much in terms of genres though, not out of any point of principle but more because I genuinely don't know what you'd call either of the bands I play in. I suppose you could loosely term a lot of things I'm involved with as 'experimental' as that's quite a vague term that allows for a number of different interpretations.
Here, Sam has stated that the things he plays are not classed in the jazz style. Sams approach to using effects as experimenting are how he gained the sounds that he currently makes. The band started without and idea and not knowing what they were striving for. Through experiments, you gradually obtain a degree of technical proficiency and then gain an idea of what you want to try to do. He than states that this playing with effects is inseparable from the music he has made throughout his "general" trumpet playing.
Using effects was a given from the off as we were determined to make the music as inorganic and noisy as possible. I can't remember what I was using initially, probably just a distortion and maybe a wah, mainly because my only frame of reference for trumpet effects at this point was probably Bitches Brew/Live Evil period Miles Davis. These would have been pedals I used as a guitarist in my previous bands. Then I think the first big shift happened when I bought a Line 6 DL4 Loop/Delay (which I mentioned above). These were literally the must-have pedal at that time, everyone had one. Getting a Loop pedal really opened up a lot of possibilities with the trumpet and enabled me to create huge blocks of sound almost like having a whole brass section!
Getting a Loop pedal really opened up a lot of possibilities with the trumpet and enabled me to create huge blocks of sound almost like having a whole brass section!- A loop pedal had a great effect on his playing.
Sam's approach to using effects are as a creative spur, as he says they can take you down alleys you wouldn't necessarily have planned to go down which keeps you on your toes, they also give him a wider palette to compose with, therefore expanding his compositional ideas.
Sam outlines that his method of using a range of sounds to make his instrument sound like a synth or an electric guitarist is due to his lack of confidence as a trumpeter."The effects can also be valuable in creating atmospheres/textures etc which can colour tracks in a way that melody, harmony, rhythm might not be able to." This can outline that he aims to create more virtuosity within his playing by using more effects and colors to make his playing more original rather than playing as a virtuosity trumpeter playing complex melodies and rhythms.
However, before this, I will be experimenting with these effects pedals with an amplifier---
My experimentation will take place after my research into a group of pedals from interview Sam Barton, Andy Diagram who are both trumpeter who use pedals to alter the sounds of their instrument.
The use of pedals on the trumpet or flugelhorn would aid in differentiating my instrument from the classical genre by adding 'excess' sounds to alter the traditional classical brass sound which I talked about at the start of the project.
Will I sound more like a synth?
not lack of confidence as a trumpeter
uses pedals instead of playing with virtuosity
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