Ed Sheeran's Looper

[chris]

this is crazy.



this 2x 16 space (i'm estimating) system with 2x laptops for redundancy is what powers Ed Sheeran's looper. some of the right side rack is IEM and stage power amp, but majority of this is dedicated to his looper.

that's. insane.

and this is the insanely huge pedal:



compare this to something like a Boss RC-300 which does it all in one unit:



or any other smaller looper with multiple tracks.

i understand redundancy and reliability for big shows. but wow. this is a completely different planet!

it's amazing how much tech is used these days to make sound loud enough and coordinated for arena size shows.

here's the video. looper talk starts around 5:48:

 

[lqdsnddist]

He’s quite skilled at it, making it look near effortless, but obviously it’s anything but.

Guy gets deserved credit as a song writer and is a pretty good singer/guitar player, within his style, but I always wonder if many non-musician types in his audiences realize quite how tricky what he’s doing really is...

I mean heck, I can barely sync a loop playing at home, and he’s doing it in front of a stadium sized audience... talk about pressure to not mess it all up, and he seems to always get it perfect.

Makes it look so easy

 

[chris]

He’s quite skilled at it, making it look near effortless, but obviously it’s anything but.

Guy gets deserved credit as a song writer and is a pretty good singer/guitar player, within his style, but I always wonder if many non-musician types in his audiences realize quite how tricky what he’s doing really is...

I mean heck, I can barely sync a loop playing at home, and he’s doing it in front of a stadium sized audience... talk about pressure to not mess it all up, and he seems to always get it perfect.

Makes it look so easy

i've seen many videos of him with slight mess ups, but that's to be had with something as precise as looping. it is funny that even with all that amount of gear, being a 1/32 note off when closing the first loop hurts the same.

many of us solo/duo types loop at every gig as well, with things far more simple than what he has going on. it's a skill to be developed, and dare i say that many of the "daily" gig types are much better at looping than Ed is. that's a pointless fact - the skill needed is dependent on the type of show you're trying to deliver. but i think it's true and still relevant.

one secret he has that few have noticed (which i don't understand how people miss it!) is when he's using a piano keyboard to loop things, each key is sending a full chord and he just starts at C and goes up all the white keys in rhythm, and each one is the "next" sound or chord needed. you can see it clearly near the beginning here:



again, i'm not criticizing anything at all, just pointing out some facts.

looping. it's a pain!

 

[unix-guy]

I saw him several years ago at SAP Center in San Jose, and assumed he would be with a full band as most of the tunes on his recent album were full band arrangements.

I was stunned to watch him with an acoustic, 2 mics and his Looper and he kept 20k+ people entranced for 2+ hours.

His ability to live loop is astounding.

Here's another image that gives perspective on the size:


He was using a different unit when I saw him that was actually bigger than this!

 

[unix-guy]

KT Tunstall is another one that uses a lot of live looping.

 

[chris]

KT Tunstall is another one that uses a lot of live looping.

i think her setup is much more simple and more like what everyone else has access to. but yeah, regardless of the gear, the same challenges really are present.

I saw him several years ago at SAP Center in San Jose, and assumed he would be with a full band as most of the tunes on his recent album were full band arrangements.

I was stunned to watch him with an acoustic, 2 mics and his Looper and he kept 20k+ people entranced for 2+ hours.

His ability to live loop is astounding.

Here's another image that gives perspective on the size:
View attachment 53870

He was using a different unit when I saw him that was actually bigger than this!

i showed basically that exact image to my friends here (people here don't internet research too much) and no one believed it. then they saw the Grammy's performance and were like WTF!

 

[lqdsnddist]

KT uses a bit less/older equipment that many of us in fact, but its always worked for her, and she's smart enough to stick with what works

Not exactly looping exclusive, but the latest Rig Rundown with her is a really enjoyable one, and always great to see the actual artist take part

 

[unix-guy]

KT uses a bit less/older equipment that many of us in fact, but its always worked for her, and she's smart enough to stick with what works

Not exactly looping exclusive, but the latest Rig Rundown with her is a really enjoyable one, and always great to see the actual artist take part

I'll take a look for it.

 

[lqdsnddist]

 

[Jeries]

Fractal Users "Cairo Knife Fight"

Have a pretty crazy looper situation... check them out

George Pajon Jr is the guitar player- has basically 5+ amps and loops/pedalboards with sub octaves and stuff but the crazy part is the drummer is the singer, plays keyboards, sings, does loops- does live drum loops then plays keys- it's crazy

They're amazing

 

[lqdsnddist]

Kind of unrelated to the looping, but is the current state of sound reinforcement not mind blowing ??? The level of tech these tours are bringing on the road, the ability to deliver exceptional sound to every seat in a massive venue boggles my mind...

I used to work with a lot of live sound companies way back in the day... We did a lot of the "techno/rave" scene stuff, so we'd run some massive rigs with like two walls of about 50 EL-36 18" folded horn CV Earthquake subs, and other insanity like that, sometimes just trying to see if we could claim to have put together the most powerful system on the West Coast to date, but we didn't have anything like all the time alignment, delays, and automation they do now. We could make it sound loud, but today, they can make it sound good, and not just at the board, anywhere in the venue.

Then you think way back to the early days of guitar amplification, and building things like Super Reverb's because we needed to get the guitar louder for gigs, and then stuff like the Beetles Shea Stadium gig and how awful it actually must of sounded for most people there, and you really can't help but wonder what are we still doing with this high wattage amps ? So many guys still are buying these 100 watt heads, designed to try to fill the venue on their own, and what are they doing, running them through load boxes, or ISO cabs, just so they can use the state of the art FOH system.

Obviously not many of us are plugging into stadium touring live rigs, but I know I'd sure like to....

I don't see a 100 watt full stack and say, boy, I'd love to crank that up and play through, not any more. I think of my Axe III, how great it can sound, and think "Man, I'd love to hear what this thing could sound like though a state of the art sound system". The stack is going to sound loud behind me, but to hear my guitar sounding so massive, filling a 80,000 seat venue.... that has to be something else to experience...

Just sayin...lol

 

[maxdown]

Ed Sheeran is that small? Is he a Leprechaun?

 

[chris]

Ed Sheeran is that small? Is he a Leprechaun?

no. he's a talented singer/songwriter who burst onto the pop scene himself after writing many songs for many other artists.

 

[ksandvik]

Beatles stopped touring as they could not hear themself playing at stadiums with screaming girls...

 

[maxdown]

no. he's a talented singer/songwriter who burst onto the pop scene himself after writing many songs for many other artists.

Really? So besides apparently being about the same size as a looper pedal and having red hair he has yet more Leprechaun traits ..... like a big pot of gold? Those wee Leps are smart about disguising themselves. He could be worth catching just to be sure to be sure. I'll maybe have a go once the haggis hunting season is over.

 

[chris]

I tried to make a positive, gear focused post and this obvious borderline racist insult just has to make its way here. What if Ed happened to see this and writes off Fractal entirely because of it?

 

[Rex]

I tried to make a positive, gear focused post and this obvious borderline racist insult just has to make its way here. What if Ed happened to see this and writes off Fractal entirely because of it?

I think, being from the island itself, @maxdown figured the topic was fair game.

 

[chris]

Oh I’ll start putting down Hawaiians then. BRB.

 

[Muad'zin]

And here I was knowing him only for what I thought were run of the mill poppy songs. Turns out everything is way more complex then I could even dream. The dude could have used backing tracks, which is what most pop acts do, instead he literally does everything itself, with a live rig so advanced and huge, only The Edge and David Gilmour can rival it in complexity and awesomeness.

I'm impressed, Mr. Sheeran, positively impressed.

That sound engineer does have a cushy job though. Only having to mix one person. Ed probably does send out more channels then a DJ, but I reckon its still less then a full blown band.

 

[unix-guy]

And here I was knowing him only for what I thought were run of the mill poppy songs. Turns out everything is way more complex then I could even dream. The dude could have used backing tracks, which is what most pop acts do, instead he literally does everything itself, with a live rig so advanced and huge, only The Edge and David Gilmour can rival it in complexity and awesomeness.

I'm impressed, Mr. Sheeran, positively impressed.

That sound engineer does have a cushy job though. Only having to mix one person. Ed probably does send out more channels then a DJ, but I reckon its still less then a full blown band.

Even without the use of the Looper the guy is a great guitarist, singer and song-writer.