Sample junk journaling & looping notes
Plus more about my updated live rig and cultivating my own sampling/looping technique.
It is not a secret that I love live sampling and looping. My last album Études de boucles vol2 is a good example of that addiction.
With hours in the studio sitting in front of my two sampling / looping rigs (more in this further down), I have cultivated my own technique.
Whatever I have a lot of time to spare or 15 minutes only per day, I’m doing sample junk journaling:
turn your everyday scraps—receipts, tickets, packaging, nature finds—into intricate, messy recording/loops. It's sustainable, deeply personal, and strangely addictive.
My process is often the same: I play, I record, and slowly I organize the sounds as they appear to me. I love what Éliane Radigue says about her relationship with sounds, how they present themselves to her, and how she listens.
This way of working helps me to know better my instruments/machines and to experiment.
Then comes the curation/listening phase where I can choose to maybe pair certains sounds to produce more refined tracks.
Looping rigs
I’m mainly using two looping / sampling rigs in the studio:
One is my « live » rig and the other one is more studio centric (as it is less portable).
The « live » rig:
Zoom H5 (as stereo microphone pair) + hydrophone or contact mic > Wingie Mk2 (processing also recording via internal mics) > Torso S4 > iPad for fx/additional sound sources + sometimes OG Digitakt.
S4 is controlled by a Korg nanokontrol (levels/record/overdub/panning on each track)
Using one microphone into Torso S4 for recording / mangling then the audio will be sent to the IPad for final touches then stereo out.
Note: As it is also my live performance rig I’m using both machines live depending if I’m sampling live (S4) or starting with short loops (Digitakt).
It is really a compact rig fitting in a backpack, easy to travel and passing security at airports. It is quite energy efficient and it can work for some hours on an usb power bank.
The « Studio » rig:
This setup is based around a modest 86hp/6u case with curated modules.
At the center is an Addac VC112 looping/granular. Complimenting this beast are a 4MS DLD and an Endless Processor module.
So 3 different loopers/samplers with their own sound signature and flavor.
Everything is going to a mixer/vca then to Expert Sleepers ES8 for recording/fx and so on (again via IPad). The main looper is controlled by a 3 gates beautiful handcrafted pedal (made in Portugal by Addac btw).
Sources can be synths/guitar, Wingie / H5, computer VST, ppooll all coming to a cheap passive stereo mixer plugged into the modular. Versatile and direct. No fuzz. Swell added thanks to a volume pedal.
This setup is less immediate but a lot more sophisticated in the sense of loop manipulation. One short sample can be sent to different modules via multiple routing and options.
LET’S LOOP
More than often this is what I use daily to record ideas and loops for the sample junk journaling process.
Every end of the week, I’m dropping these audio files to my computer and leaving it for a while before listening again later with proper monitoring (Genelec).
Honestly I love to work this way as I noticed that some of my most creative ideas emerged not when I forced myself to be productive, but when I allowed my mind to soften and wander.
Below are 2 short files recorded yesterday night from the live rig (in preparation of a September live show in the UK). No extra editing, no synth, only junk stuff and nature finds via microphone then S4 tweaks and cooking:
Hope you will loop too and enjoy the ride.
Peace.
Lovely sounds and really interesting to see your setups and methods, thanks. Do you have a collection of objects you often use as live "junk" sources or is it just whatever is at hand?