so.. how do you play live with so-called electronic music?

Kinski · Post by **Kinski** » Mon Jul 11, 2011 4:25 pm

i have a gig coming up within two weeks. last time i gigged was in 2006 as a guitarist in a rock band. i don't do that anymore. so.. any ideas how to put a show with music that's pretty much pre-recorded and visuals? i'm pretty clueless, to be honest.

i need to stop agreeing to such things.

first 3 posts can be laughing at my misery, but no more than that.

yeahok · Post by **yeahok** » Mon Jul 11, 2011 4:35 pm

Well, I feel urged to reply even though I've never had the pleasure of doing it. I nearly did a few years ago with a friend but we didn't in the end.

Just sit there with your laptop, tinkering away with various automation parts! Whilst some cool visuals draw the attention away from yourself & give atmosphere. Simple.

I guess make sure your sound is all good & everything works really. Are you playing with other experimental artists?

Kinski · Post by **Kinski** » Mon Jul 11, 2011 4:40 pm

yeahok wrote:Well, I feel urged to reply even though I've never had the pleasure of doing it. I nearly did a few years ago with a friend but we didn't in the end.

Just sit there with your laptop, twinkering away with various automation parts! Whilst some cool visuals draw the attention away from yourself & give atmosphere. Simple.

I guess make sure your sound is all good & everything works really. Are you playing with other experimental artists?

that's what i want to do. i still am not sure HOW, though.

i'm playing a quick set as a support act for jef barbara, canadian obscure pop singer i got to play in poland. my show is basically just cutting down costs to minimum, as i will do it for free.

i just hope not to disturb anyone.

thanks!

yeahok · Post by **yeahok** » Mon Jul 11, 2011 4:47 pm

I assume you have all your stuff on a portable machine? Just rig it up through a mixer then into the PA I'd imagine.

Although, I'm no expert, just going on what I've seen myself.

Kinski · Post by **Kinski** » Mon Jul 11, 2011 4:53 pm

i'm asking more about software. i guess i can play it on windows media player as a movie and act around like it's all live, but that's no fun (aphex twin would disagree, haw haw). rest is not much of a problem.

yeahok · Post by **yeahok** » Mon Jul 11, 2011 4:58 pm

Haha oh right.

Sit there & nod your head whilst pretending to tweak knobs right?

It's possible but I would just use my own recording software with all my tracks on copied for a live situation.

asymmetrical head · Post by **asymmetrical head** » Mon Jul 11, 2011 5:24 pm

I found my niche in the past year performing with ableton and an apc40. takes a lot of work breaking down tracks, samples, loops and restructuring them. but it's fun.

visually? most places provide visuals. if you have the means to do it yourself, that's a plus. also if you know someone who does this is nice.

The Voice of Reason · Post by **The Voice of Reason** » Mon Jul 11, 2011 5:31 pm

setup all the gear you wish to present. put a cd of your set in the cd player, run it through some real time effects you can control, and hit play.
....and the most important part. fiddle with a lot of knobs, bounce around and look busy.

Treefingers · Post by **Treefingers** » Mon Jul 11, 2011 5:40 pm

Though I'm nowhere close to the point where I'll be playing live, I've given this some thought...

The whole 'press play and pretend' thing seems like a relief in that it seems to be what a lot of electronic musicians do, but I'd probably get bored or feel guilty... probably the best setup I could imagine would be improvising with a few instruments, effects processors and loops with some live drums and bass?

To sort of derail the thread, what sort of equipment would one need for that sort of endeavour? Good luck with yr gig anyway, Kinski!

Elephant Face · Post by **Elephant Face** » Mon Jul 11, 2011 5:46 pm

Don't do any of those things. Don't even bring a laptop. Get a sampler and don't be scared. Hitting the space bar is a cop out.

Kinski · Post by **Kinski** » Mon Jul 11, 2011 7:21 pm

i don't have a sampler. all i have is yamaha dx7 and ps-133. both never used on any recordings. not counting my guitar set-up. but i never want to play guitar ever again. never.

i have a laptop and that's what i need to use. with a cool jeremiah the innocent sticker on it that looks like that.

(the sticker is totally relevant to this thread)

Treefingers wrote:probably the best setup I could imagine would be improvising with a few instruments, effects processors and loops with some live drums and bass?

i started making music with computer so i could finally stop interacting with other musicians. i hate people. well, maybe not people in general, but 100% of musicians i met were bores who always wanted to do something shitty, like being another indie-pop wonder or whatever was THE TOPZ in nme few years ago.

Treefingers wrote:Good luck with yr gig anyway, Kinski!

thanks, gonna need that.

Treefingers · Post by **Treefingers** » Mon Jul 11, 2011 8:11 pm

Kinski wrote:
Treefingers wrote:probably the best setup I could imagine would be improvising with a few instruments, effects processors and loops with some live drums and bass?
i started making music with computer so i could finally stop interacting with other musicians. i hate people. well, maybe not people in general, but 100% of musicians i met were bores who always wanted to do something shitty, like being another indie-pop wonder or whatever was THE TOPZ in nme few years ago.

Hehe, fair enough.
My idea for ideal live performance is always slightly hindered by the fact that I can't force people to do exactly as I say.

IanRedpoint · Post by **IanRedpoint** » Mon Jul 11, 2011 10:32 pm

asymmetrical head wrote:I found my niche in the past year performing with ableton and an apc40. takes a lot of work breaking down tracks, samples, loops and restructuring them. but it's fun.

That was pretty much how I "performed" a couple of weeks ago - laptop, Ableton, APC20 and Moog Little Phatty. I played some bass and lead lines over the top of the sequenced parts on some tunes and mixed/arranged others. Really satisfying and didn't feel like I was "faking it" at any point.

Synthetrix · Post by **Synthetrix** » Tue Jul 12, 2011 12:05 pm

I consider myself to be a recording artist rather than a performing artist, ( I don't count my DJ appearances), but if I was going to try and do Synthetrix music live. I would assemble a band to play with me. I would recruit at least a bass player and dedicated drummer and perhaps another keyboard player, so that I could do versions of the songs that were like the album versions, but with new twists to them.

theoktitus · Post by **theoktitus** » Tue Jul 12, 2011 4:06 pm

I think I'd inevitably end up "faking it" just set up my laptop, press play, and pretend to be doing something as the song starts...

datagarden · Post by **datagarden** » Tue Jul 12, 2011 7:06 pm

i'd recommend just doing something totally live even if it has to be stripped down. you can do a lot with live-looping. this dude apparently does everything live except for the samples of people talking. it comes out pretty good, although takes a while to develop.

The Voice of Reason · Post by **The Voice of Reason** » Wed Jul 13, 2011 9:42 pm

Elephant Face wrote:Don't do any of those things. Don't even bring a laptop. Get a sampler and don't be scared. Hitting the space bar is a cop out.

Tell that to Ae, AFX, MBM etc.....Theres generally a lappy in there somewhere. You need a hub.
One person can only control so many instruments.
And if hitting play on a sampler is more involved than hitting play on a sequencer, then there is something i dont get.

MBM setup

Not that they run the show with it. So much as just keeping it all in sync. You can always put the lappy under the table if it is your sequencer. And use which ever instrument as your trigger to stop and start the other instruments you are using.

I agree, to just hit play on a computer and let it play....is weak. But as a place that can store the info for all machines involved, to tell each piece of gear what segments or sequences need to be loaded for the next tune is very helpful. You are definitely not inputing and play everything live...you would have to be extremely fast. And generally when you do that, you get 6 min of this kinda stuff....

Loopsville. You can go in and program different patterns to create a 'song' in your sampler. But if you'e just going to hit play and let it run....I don't see how that differs from hitting play on your laptop.

Elephant Face · Post by **Elephant Face** » Wed Jul 13, 2011 11:34 pm

The Voice of Reason wrote: And if hitting play on a sampler is more involved than hitting play on a sequencer, then there is something i dont get.

I'm not saying to load your entire set onto a pad and trigger it that way. You are right. That wouldn't be any different.

The Voice of Reason wrote:Not that they run the show with it. So much as just keeping it all in sync. You can always put the lappy under the table if it is your sequencer. And use which ever instrument as your trigger to stop and start the other instruments you are using.

I think that is completely fine. Integrating a lap top into the setup to perform a very important function is a smart and reliable way to do things like that. But that's not what a lot of people in this thread are talking about doing.

The Voice of Reason wrote:I agree, to just hit play on a computer and let it play....is weak. But as a place that can store the info for all machines involved, to tell each piece of gear what segments or sequences need to be loaded for the next tune is very helpful. You are definitely not inputing and play everything live...you would have to be extremely fast. And generally when you do that, you get 6 min of this kinda stuff....

Again, I think that's all fine, and again, that's not what a lot of the people in this thread are talking about doing.

The Voice of Reason wrote:You can go in and program different patterns to create a 'song' in your sampler. But if you'e just going to hit play and let it run....I don't see how that differs from hitting play on your laptop.

See, I don't use patterns. I break a track down into loops or one shots and trigger it myself at the right time and manipulate whichever sample with on-board effects, or sometimes run the samplers through each other and process everything going on in one sampler with the next while using it to trigger more parts. It's REALLY fun. Not to say you can't do a lot of the same shit with an MPD or an APC, but it's more challenging and rewarding for me to do it with samplers.

Just don't be like this fuckhead:

ACTING like he's doing something, but the poor people don't realize he's just jumping up and down and moving his drink around, occasionally touching the shit he's got up there to make sure it didn't move. Not that I like that kind of music anyway, but that's what a lot of the guys who make it do when they "perform".

Pantheon · Post by **Pantheon** » Thu Jul 14, 2011 12:07 am

Elephant Face wrote: Just don't be like this fuckhead:

ACTING like he's doing something, but the poor people don't realize he's just jumping up and down and moving his drink around, occasionally touching the shit he's got up there to make sure it didn't move. Not that I like that kind of music anyway, but that's what a lot of the guys who make it do when they "perform".

I really want to reach threw my monitor and punch him repeatedly right in the face.

datagarden · Post by **datagarden** » Thu Jul 14, 2011 1:09 am

I don't know. I'm pretty sure he has that cigarette hooked up to an auto-filter in Max MSP.