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Area of Study 2 • Music in the 20th century

Steve Reich

Electric Counterpoint (movement "')o CD1 • track 6

This piece is for solo guitar with a taped or live guitar ensemble (seven guitars in this movement) andtwo bass guitars.

At the head of the score, the composer provides this performance note:

When Electric Countelpoint is performed with soloist and pre-recorded tape the soloist should beamplified so that his or her volume and timbre will fit properly with the tape. The soloist may play eitherelectric or acoustic guitar. If electric the amplification is done directly from the output of the instrument;if acoustic a conventional microphone is used placed as close as possible to the instrument. Basically thesoloist should always be somewhat louder than the tape but not so loud that the relationship betweensoloist and tape is lost. An assistant who knows the proper balance between soloist and tape (either fromhearing a properly balanced previous performance or reliable recording) should sit at the mixer in a goodlistening position in the hall and adjust the volume of the soloist vis a vis the tape as necessary throughoutthe performance. Though the rental tape is stereo the soloist and the assistant may decide to play it backin mono in the hall so that all members of the audience get a good overall balance regardless of where theyare sitting. In my experience, using a well recorded cassette (with noise reduction) and a small portableprofessional quality cassette recorder for playback works quite well. It is wise to use a recorder that has aplayback speed adjustment so that the pitch of the tape can be slightly adjusted if necessary. Whateve~ theadjustment in speed made it should be done in rehearsal and then not touched in performance.

Generally a monitor speaker (usually wedge shaped) should be placed on the floor directly next to thesoloist so that he or she can hear the tape clearly throughout the performance. A sound check rehearsal isnecessary in each different hall to determine the tape/soloist balance for the house, for the monitor, and forthe exact placement of house and monitor speakers. A performance diagram follows:

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If a performer wishes to make their own pre-recorded tape they are encouraged to do so and will need torecord it in a multi-track tape studio, Generally at least 16 tracks are necessary to allow for alternate takesduring the recording sessions. The multi-track tape is then mixed down to a 2 track stereo (or mono) tapefor performance.

Steve Reich

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