Musical performances

[drillkicker]

I just did my first ever concert performance last Friday and what a strange experience it was. The sun set right as I was starting and the only lights were a few tiki torches, meaning I couldn't see the audience at all and had no idea what they were thinking. Fortunately for me it went well, but I'd like to know what you all do for live stuff. I had to stick to using only one guitar and a pedal for the sake of portability, but I've never understood how to do electronic stuff live. Share your tricks, please, as long as you don't feel too uncomfortable about revealing your methods.

[Cupz]

Good thread!

I used to just go up, press play, sing a bit, play a little midi but I grew tired of that pretty quickly. It was enough for a good party though. Going a step further, adding prearanged loops and triggering them, fucking around with the automation proved equally empty, no personal growth to be found there. A looping pedal is a lot more fun but everyone is doing that nowadays. You'll always find you're a couple of hands short to make really interesting live music. I guess the problem is wanting to be a solo-artist and do interesting live shows, and most of these problems are fixed finding other musicians to play with. Finding band-members with similar musical ethics and feeling, or just crazy enough to practice the songs you write is nearly impossible (it's impossible enough to find non-musicians that fall into that catergory). Some musicians I greatly respect fall flat live because of this.

On the other hand, you can also just keep the lights out and put the amp to 11 like Autechre.

[IanRedpoint]

Gotta agree with Cupz here. Playing solo is always a little unsatisfying. There's only so much you can do with one pair of hands.

I've done the laptop & synth thing before. It was ok, even if half the audience thought I was checking my email rather than performing. Trying out an all-hardware setup now but all the same problems are still there. I still don't look like I'm doing that much.

The one time we played as Redpoint was loads better. Andy had put together a bunch of short films for all the tracks, which we projected over us. The nuclear bunker we played in did half the work for us anyway. On top of that there was simply the fact that the two of us were playing and interacting. That's the part that no amount of prep can make up for.

Unless your Nils Frahm, of course.

[drillkicker]

Well this is making me want to just stick to prepared guitar, now. I do have a couple of friends with whom I've been starting a band but jobs and other musical projects are preventing us from doing much at the moment.

[Nottoolate]

Even though I've only performed a handful of times I think I've perfected my own method, which is mainly the midi+laptop+DAW approach. I pre-create sets in my DAW, and have stripped down versions of my tracks all lined up (tracks without lead synths, drums, effects, guitar, vocals etc) and play/sing over them with several midi controllers and synths. I have a launchpad set up with stutter effects, and all of the knobs on my keyboard (depending on what midi channel I'm on) are linked up to filters, vsti parameters, and tempo based effects (this involves making an automation clip that changes to the tempo of each track when the playhead reaches it, this way the stutters and delays will match each song perfectly). This actually allows me to not be so glued to my laptop and play more with my instruments and synths. If any of you guys have ever heard of or seen the musician Baths perform live, I perform very similarly to him. Off the cuff effects, synth looping, some improvisations, and just jamming and having a shit ton of fun.

[drillkicker]

That sounds like a good way of performing, but unfortunately I'm not responsible enough with my money to save up for MIDI controllers.

[Nottoolate]

That sounds like a good way of performing, but unfortunately I'm not responsible enough with my money to save up for MIDI controllers.

Ebay, craigslist, amazon refurbished listings and even pretty mediocre stores like Guitar Center are your friends. I've been able to buy refurbished/used midi equipment for great discounts from some of those. I've noticed that music shops prefer to sell second hand stuff more on ebay then other sites, so that's worth checking out. Amazon and Craigslist are crap shoots whether or not you can find used stuff for a good price (or at all), but it's possible. And some larger retail music shops like Guitar Center will price match, so if you show them lower competitor prices of an item they're also selling they'll give it to you for the competitors price. Which is handy if you'd rather just get something immediately as opposed to waiting and also paying for shipping from somewhere else.

Also, you'd be surprised at how cheap midi instruments have been getting lately, Akai's great MPK mini series and Novation's Lauchkey series is pretty affordable, with both of the simplest models they offer just being only $99. Some Alesis keyboards are even less than that if you're just looking for some simple keyboard setups.

[drillkicker]

I have an Akai MPK Mini, but the knobs don't work and the buttons aren't good for much. I put it into storage when I got my 88 key electric piano that I use as a MIDI controller, but I don't have anything fancy that can be used to control parameters for live performances. I might just stick to doing improvisational stuff instead of prepared sets, since it feels more organic and it's certainly easier.

[Cupz]

I think you're on the right path, dk. Still think jamming with others would benefit you creatively. To play harmoniously together you need to prearange some guidelines.

[j8tes]

with my project (me, a pianist, 3 viola players, and a synth player), if the music fits, i've found mostly darkness to be more effective than even the best visuals. i have them turn off all the house lights, and i have 4-6 (depending on venue size) LED par64 cans set at the back of the stage angled up diagonally. Then, a haze machine off to the side running frequently. What results is mostly darkness with a thin blue haze but you cant make out any details visually. I've found this to create a more transcendental experience for the audience than projected because its partial sensory deprivation. oh, and its inexpensive too. all you need to buy is a fog/haze machine and a couple LED par cans. you can get all that for under $2-300.

also, get people to play with you. whether it be a real live drummer, or string players, anything. its infinitely more fulfilling and interesting for the audience that way.