5753rd question on how to play live

The Lounge General Discussion
#22

…don’t think in parts…think in banks and their related patterns…

so many ways to play and perform with the ot…

best of both worlds, have a sonic backbone u can rely on AND have always something to focus on to feel free to perform the hell out of that on top or alongside of that…
leads to the most satisfying results…for u AND the audience…likewise.

dedicate one bank to one track/song ur going to play/perform…leaves u with 16 songs/tracks…which results, no matter what, in at least one solid hour of stage time…
that’s more than enough for any kind of live set…
and if there’s any further encore time, no problem then, just load another project for that…
design first and last patterns of each bank in a way u can improvise easily any kind of transision tricks/ways between random set list orders…to ensure that, first pattern always uses some essential but different track engines than the last pattern in each bank, so they can’t cancel each other out during a transision…

but always make ur mind up before u start, which kind of setlist combo might be best for that night…write that running order of different banks on a classic setlist note…

stick to organized orders all over the place…for ur scenes trickery, ur track/machine logistics, like there’s always ur backing track to find and handle, here are always ur lead lines ready to twiddle… and also ur pattern content…like breakdowns, drops, climax, all kinds of suspense parts of ur arrangements…always same muscle memory for always same places and their dedicated action modes…

this way u can always stay in ur comfortzone where u can be sure where it’s at while still always be able to surprise urself… u’ll never end up frozen in what to do next, stay always easy to try things out on the fly, makes it easy to enjoy ur stage time which translates best to ur audience whatever u might gonna play…

4 Likes
#23

Since I’m also a maschine+ user, here are my two cents.

  • Incorporate maschine early in the process, so that you can have your song structure in the m+ and don’t need to transfer all later, which is sometimes a bit boring to do.

  • Use scenes in m+ and work on scenes jump/loop, the crowd is enjoying the part ? Loop it, part is boring ? Bring next.

  • Think about which part you want to play and which doesn’t need you. At start I wanted to do everything live, then I realised it just wasn’t possible. Now I play parts that really matter ! ( Solos, chords progressions…) Choose what is played by the other member/maschine of the band ! :slight_smile:

  • Use auto sampler to transfer your non compatible synths to maschine, you can do wonder with it ! ( All those juicy zebras, divas and re-pros for exemple, those grand pianos, this cs80 you don’t want to bring on stage… :innocent:…)

  • Set up macros at master or at least group level so that you can tweak, control and mangle many things at once…

  • Abuse sound, group mutes and solo…Abuse stop/restart…Use note repeat wisely and arpeggiator widely…

  • Name everything properly, maschine allow you to so. I like to have meaningfull colors and put scales and chords as names in scene mode, when under pressure it helps…A lot. If needed, pre plan scales…

  • I found that having m+ with a nice keyboard ( 61slmkII in my case ) and another synth is more that enough to get relly complex things running…But…

  • KEEP IT SIMPLE ! :sweat_smile:

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#24

I have only done DJ mix with turntable in front of people. Sometimes with a computer with a dj software and midi controller.

What I learn back in the day doing those party for multiple hours and many times is listening what the public really want. And being able to satisfy those people need and mindset. Lots of time I miss the goal, and feel it.

And I’m sure having enough material to goes in a way for example four in the flour or in another way more ambient/chill stuff. Is something really important. Each place and party is different.

Don’t make things complicated like getting lots of gear on show. It’s not what people care. And it increase anxiety. Maybe 1% of the people will be happy seeing lots of gears.

Just get enough audio material to create something which make the public enjoy what you are doing. And yes if people see you are enjoying what you are doing it will create the right atmosphere because people will look at you.

So an OT with différent project and various stems or a laptop with Ableton live and a APC40 and midi controller could be completely enough.

If it’s too nerdy, it became complicated. Those thing with 10 devices, it’s only for YouTuber :slight_smile: or event in front of 10 000 people.

3 Likes
#25

In my experience, you want it just complicated enough that there is a little risk of failure. The shows I did where something went wrong, but the band or gear helped keep it together got the best feedback. The audience wont notice small mistakes, but the tension you show on stage wrestling with your instrument, or looking your band-mates in the eye will translate to a better show. I guess maybe it’s not even about the tension, and about the performance, so an easy performance with lots of eye contact maybe has the same effect.

#26

great info, many thanks for this!

#27

It’s a shame. Their earlier live sets used to be a lot more ‘live’

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#28

great great tips! highly appreciated, thanks!!

#29

A techno nun lol, at about 15 minutes in :slight_smile:

1 Like