Locked Grooves 2019-2023

Background Locked Grooves (LGs) are closed audio loops etched into records, first used by Pierre Schaeffer for Musique Concrete compositions (1952) and subsequently by Jeff Mills since 1992 for DJ performance. The length of these loops is necessarily 1.8 seconds, correlating to one revolution of a record. By making and assembling short loops rather than pursuing studio-based arrangements, this research examined the format’s in-principal limitations as a catalyst for amalgamating formerly distinct composition and performance practices. Contribution Locked Grooves 2019-2023 is a collection of 51 digital audio loops and two DJ performances. With the loops ready-made for improvisatory assemblage rather than ‘finished’ studio-based arrangements, this articulates a form for electronic music that is intentionally incomplete and a series of works that remain ‘open’. This project challenges the practices and outputs of both composers (typically executing arrangements) and DJ-performers (typically working with complete arrangements) and demonstrates the recombinant potential of LGs as an immediate and flexible bridge between them. Significance Locked Grooves 2019-2023 represents an important contribution to discourse on the configuration and presentation of recorded audio and DJ performance. It was partly funded by a competitive application for City of Melbourne Arts Grants (2020). A process-driven generative performance using the LGs was double-blind peer-reviewed and accepted to the 2023 Australasian Computer Music Conference, then performed at Riverside Theatre as part of Parramatta Lanes Festival—this received Professional Development Funding from RMIT’s School of Media and Communication. The loops remain a key instrument in my professional toolkit for performing to a weekly audience of 500-1000 patrons.