performing live

this is an issue for me. on many levels.

it is the path to a great musical career for most.

but how the fuck do you do it live with electronic, especially without the best equipment?

I've got Ableton and a giant thing with buttons and knobs as a controller that was made for Ableton. I figured I would use these two things as the center of my 'live show.'

I played with it for a while, tried mixing my own stuff live, then 'DJing' songs. Overall it was a pretty dull process that I felt I Was forcing myself through. I DJed and it was rather fun but it was only for a house party so it wasn't really significant. It was still pretty cool.

I'm guessing this is more easy to understand than I'm making it out to be.... how have you guys handled this thing? DJing sets?

I'm scared to talk to people and I'm quite scared for my performances to go wrong. I don't have much to work with, no visuals, nothing like that. I want to make good music on the spot.

this is something i need to be working on as well... got my first electronic gig coming up in august...

here's my vague plan: load up an hours worth of projects into maschine, which will probably serve as the centerpoint for the performance. have a computer running live and a midi keyboard chained to maschine so i can load VSTs and play new parts over the tracks as i'm going, and sample them to loop later in the song. walk into the set knowing the order of the songs i'm going to play, and have the bones of the tracks set up (sequenced) so i don't have to muck about deciding when exact drops and stuff should come - i'm hoping to be able to tweak out the details of the tracks while i'm playing

beyond that, it's guesswork right now. i'll probably have a guitar strapped to me for when i need to play them funky 9ths or wail over some skweee :sup:

  On 6/11/2011 at 9:36 PM, vamos scorcho said:

I want to make good music on the spot.

Oh dear...

Well, to be honest I don't think I've ever heard any good live improv electronic music.

I'm not the one with authority on the subject, but please try to remember there's a difference to performing and producing tracks. Be a performer and give a show. Try giving the audience a good time in a way which is close to your art.

  On 6/11/2011 at 10:11 PM, luke viia said:

this is something i need to be working on as well... got my first electronic gig coming up in august...

 

here's my vague plan: load up an hours worth of projects into maschine, which will probably serve as the centerpoint for the performance. have a computer running live and a midi keyboard chained to maschine so i can load VSTs and play new parts over the tracks as i'm going, and sample them to loop later in the song. walk into the set knowing the order of the songs i'm going to play, and have the bones of the tracks set up (sequenced) so i don't have to muck about deciding when exact drops and stuff should come - i'm hoping to be able to tweak out the details of the tracks while i'm playing

 

beyond that, it's guesswork right now. i'll probably have a guitar strapped to me for when i need to play them funky 9ths or wail over some skweee :sup:

yup. this is the basic format. something about it just feels kind of dull to me though. like, after I perform it for myself it's like, 'so that's it?'

it doesn't feel like 'playing music' to me. i might as well just click play and let it run itself. it feels like an act.

I suppose that's the whole point of performance and live music anyway. I've never cared much for live music apart from orchestral and some rock stuff though. or light shows

we'll see. I guess the major part for me is the nervousness and crossing that border. And feeling like it's worth the energy and time.

do you play one dominant instrument more than others in your tracks? if so, bring that along and play live with it as much as you can between altering beats/sequencing your set etc. that's a lot for one guy to do live, it should feel like playing music...

and what godel said is good to keep in mind. if you're not having fun, chances are the audience isn't either.

I don't know where I would first perform. probably just alongside some bands of friends. hit some local 'art music'

Yeah, I definitely have fun the first time. Then after that it feels like I'm just going through the same motions I did the day before. There isn't much opportunity for variation. I feel like I would have to invent a totally new form for performing live.

Just a shitload of loops that I can pick and choose and basically just improvise some weird noises out of them. Different sounds every performance.

In fact that is what I'm going to do.

I could play the guitar too, that's a really good idea, I could run it into the laptop to make it sound cool.

suddenly this sounds like a lot of fun! It's really important I think that the tracks are assembled on the spot. I think I read that Ceephax builds all his tracks from the ground up live but that might be wrong.

Good! You're in the lead. And if the audience has a good response, more power to you!

  On 6/11/2011 at 10:24 PM, goDel said:

I'm not the one with authority on the subject, but please try to remember there's a difference to performing and producing tracks. Be a performer and give a show. Try giving the audience a good time in a way which is close to your art.

This is good advice. I've been putting together some mixes lately that includes bits and pieces of tracks from my 2 alias' and other more known (and lesser known) tracks. Here's a small snippit of one of the mixes I'm working on. It contains samples from Felt 3.5, Kraftwerk, Aphex, Plastikman, Max Marlow, Ellen Alien, An Ambient Track of mine, and more beat samples.

The reason I'm doing it this way is because we (the label) have been doing shows with other promoters and on the first show, one of our artists played ambient IDM on a bill with some techno DJs and when they got on, after a few minutes the floor started clearing. They had to change their set and tempo and they was smart enough to have a backup set to accomidate the situation. I'm working on sets that are pretty much danceble but with IDM samples to keep both the crowd and me happy. Although I love tech house as well.

http://soundcloud.com/leftmwrosario/asymmetrical-head-vs-quiliuq

Vamos: it sounds like you have the APC 40? A friend let me borrow that and that's what I use for my set up. I may incorporate a synth app on my itouch in the future.

I'm preparing for a live set in two weeks... my approach is to cut up all the parts of my tracks (bass, synth, drums, melody etc) and have it so I can launch individual parts, or groups (song sections) all at once. This way I can, in real time, develop the form of the track. the individual parts are pre made, but the form and flow of it all will happen in real time. this way i can fade out a part, cue a new part, mix and match etc.

this opens me up for the possibility of errors, but hey, thats a live performance! I rather do this, and actually make in interactive, than to just kind of DJ my own tracks together.

  On 6/12/2011 at 12:57 AM, Kcinsu said:

I'm preparing for a live set in two weeks... my approach is to cut up all the parts of my tracks (bass, synth, drums, melody etc) and have it so I can launch individual parts, or groups (song sections) all at once. This way I can, in real time, develop the form of the track. the individual parts are pre made, but the form and flow of it all will happen in real time. this way i can fade out a part, cue a new part, mix and match etc.

 

this opens me up for the possibility of errors, but hey, thats a live performance! I rather do this, and actually make in interactive, than to just kind of DJ my own tracks together.

I was thinking also about doing this. using individual parts of my tracks and mix with others.

I am hoping to video tape my performance, so if it comes out well enough, I'll share the video with you guys, and you can see my approach. If I can manage it, I'll have an over the shoulder type of shot, so you can see all my gear, and what I am actually doing.

The other benefit of doing it this way, is that people can actually see that you are DOING something... that the music they are hearing isnt just a 2 mix being cued up... seeing you make a motion, hit a button, or move a knob, and hearing something change when you do it, adds to the "performance" aspect of it all.

I've been wanting to get an APC20 for the same type of performance. Doing live remixes of my own tracks would be real interesting.

I want to get a small synth so I can play along with the tracks, too.

  On 6/12/2011 at 2:11 AM, Braintree said:

I've been wanting to get an APC20 for the same type of performance. Doing live remixes of my own tracks would be real interesting.

 

I want to get a small synth so I can play along with the tracks, too.

I may get a 20 because if it's size. I'm using a friends 40 right now and I don't really use the knobs and buttons on the right side much. MPK Mini would be nice as well.

Yeah, I have a 40, and I honestly hardly ever touch the knobs. I don't even use the faders much either. I use the unit more to launch things, than anything else. I wish akai would make a launchpad equivalent... I like the smaller size of their buttons over the launchpad. However, it is nice to have the option to use the faders when I need to. if I ever have spare cash, Id get the 20, just to expand my button matrix!

Then I can put them together like so:

live electronic music is hard because there are no solid standards. you can really do anything you want up there. if you can embrace that freedom without letting it scare you, you'll probably have great shows.

i played my first real (non-academic) gig a few months ago and it went great. my setup was simple, just playing my tracks through a max patch with a few effects i could modulate real-time, and beat-synced jitter visuals projected behind me.

just make sure whatever you do, you get into it. talk to the crowd, dance, play whatever you can play, sing. make it a spectacle and people will respond.

  On 6/12/2011 at 3:19 AM, Kcinsu said:

Then I can put them together like so:

That would be perfect for 2 people... one guy doing beats and samples and the other guy do melodies, chords, etc.

  On 6/12/2011 at 12:07 AM, asymmetrical head said:

Vamos: it sounds like you have the APC 40? A friend let me borrow that and that's what I use for my set up. I may incorporate a synth app on my itouch in the future.

Yeah, that is what I use.

  On 6/12/2011 at 12:57 AM, Kcinsu said:

I'm preparing for a live set in two weeks... my approach is to cut up all the parts of my tracks (bass, synth, drums, melody etc) and have it so I can launch individual parts, or groups (song sections) all at once. This way I can, in real time, develop the form of the track. the individual parts are pre made, but the form and flow of it all will happen in real time. this way i can fade out a part, cue a new part, mix and match etc.

 

this opens me up for the possibility of errors, but hey, thats a live performance! I rather do this, and actually make in interactive, than to just kind of DJ my own tracks together.

This is what I've been doing all night. I tried a while back too. It's very easy to mess up in the middle of the set and really just blow the whole thing. I'm lucky to get through without totally screwing up a few times. Practice makes perfect.

2 people is so much better for performing. I used to 'jam' with happycase who posted here and I swear we used to come up with the most insane stuff, on the spot. All we really did was loop Logic on 2 computers at the same tempo and just go at it.

I just did this from bits and pieces of random stuff on my computer. You can hear all the loops building up in the first minute to see what i was doing. Also messing with the knobs on the APC 40 for effects [ping pong delay is probably my favorite for the rhythmic style] I messed up many times but when it hits at the peak of each of the 4-5 sections its pretty cool. The transitions are the main issue, fading tracks in and out live is difficult.

http://soundcloud.com/maxfrecka/basement-performance-recording

this is what i want to be able to do

yeah he's good at that!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5SVhGg5UV8

  On 6/11/2011 at 10:19 PM, Squee said:

  On 6/11/2011 at 9:36 PM, vamos scorcho said:

I want to make good music on the spot.

 

Oh dear...

 

 

 

Well, to be honest I don't think I've ever heard any good live improv electronic music.

Then you need to get out more...

  On 6/12/2011 at 5:28 AM, vamos scorcho said:

this is what i want to be able to do

 

Practice, practice, practice.