Live performance thoughts, Organization and How to be an octopus

The Lounge General Discussion
#1

Hei ppl,
I was reflecting back on my life, as I have reached the setup I have been craving for a long time… But with it came elation followed shortly by frustration…

First things first, I am a bassist, and have played in bands for the most part of my life… 8 years ago I became a dj, shortly after started producing on the Computer, but as an architect who spends the whole day in front of 3 monitors, staring at a screen on my free time is just too much, so I decided to assemble a studio where I could exercise the creative process on synths sequencers and drummachines without the Computer. DAW enters in my process only on recording mixing master phase…

I managed to release an album I love, but I haven’t yet played live because I can’t seem to focus my attention enough to rehearse the old songs, everytime I sit my ass on the studio there comes another track… So I was wondering how do you guys keep motivated to keep a steady pace on the progression of the material you already own and production of new songs (finishing each track etc)…

Also, I am thinking of changing (again) my multitimbral-poly (was a blofeld, now an A1R) to 3 other modules… I know it might be easier to control all timbres with dedicated modules, but i fear I will not have enough focus to keep all tracks organized, (timbres in each track/module).
Also in a live situation you practically gotta be an octopus, really focused (sober as fuck also) because the chances of screwing the gig are huge… Am I overthinking? :slight_smile:

My rig:
Electribe 2 (master keyboard)
Digitakt (Drums/ Master Clock and Sequencer)
Lead A1R (Poly /3 timbres)
Bass Station or Fender Pbass (Bass)
Soundcraft 12mtk

If your rig is similar to what I wanna achieve, chime in, any help is appreciated!

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#2

I am in no position to lecture about productivity, but …

Everyone always overthinks!

If you have too many things to pay attention to at a gig, then wiggling an additional three different synths will only make things worse.

If you are already productive in terms of writing material, but don’t have time to attend to other aspects of your creative life, then buying, installing, and learning three new synths will only make things worse.

If you are producing material that you like, then you are already ahead of 90 % of us. The state of your “rig” is a distraction from your actual goals.

I don’t have any specific advice for changing your pattern of work, but it might be worth considering the following:
What’s your ultimate goal for your creative life?
What do you need to do in the next (say) five years to get there?
What do you need to do in the next year to get there?
What do you need to do in the next month to get there?
What do you need to do in the next week to get there?
What do you need to do today to get there?

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#3

Oh fuck I’m now asking myself this. Great post. Good luck mister!

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#4

This is all personal opinion but here goes

Live: eliminate playing the bass live, it ultimately gets in the way, requires two hands to play properly. I used to run a mono/xr20/guitar setup, eliminating playing guitar was the best thing I ever did to improve my live flow.
Attempt to put control of as much as possible in one place. For example: I’m currently using a mono, digi and 3 volcas for live. Volcas get sequenced, controlled, and plocked as much as possible by the mono so I can keep control over everthing between the mono and the digi.

Practice: book a show using the material you are planning to play which will then force you to practice that material.

Hope that’s helpful.

#5

I started overthinking when I joined this forum only a few weeks ago…
:relaxed:

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#6

What is the most compelling aspect of your set? If it’s your bass playing, I certainly would not eliminate playing it live. If it’s something else, then I would consider bringing the bass in and out of your live set so that during parts of it you can control other things and add variety, or eliminate it entirely by sampling the bass lines.

Ultimately it’s about your audience. Play to them for good results, eschew them if you want to just sit in your room with your expensive toys.

(one person’s opinion, apologies to @jefones, this was not a reply to his post I’m just forum-stupid)

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#7

Probably
I used to beat myself up a bit for not finishing tracks.
Overtime I realized some tracks just don’t get finished, and not everything I try to create is worth finishing.
I’ll let tracks sit dormant for long periods of time, some age well, some get deleted upon revisiting.
I’ve found that what I enjoy most is when I get the fire for a new track, I’ll try to take it all the way right then.
My best ones are usually created fast, they may get polished over time, but the bulk is done.
I used to feel guilt if I wasn’t putting in hours as often as I could, but sometimes I’m just not feeling it.
These days I will allow myself plenty of time off and just wait for the wave of inspiration to come on, then I’m in full attack mode getting things done.

As far as playing live, the most important thing for me is having fun with my rig.
I get hella anxious, stressed out, and nervous before every gig, so I dont need my performance to create more stress, I need it to help me release all that and have a good time.
My rig is dead simple, a dark trinity, Roland VP-03, a few pedals, and a keyboard.
Also, my rig is already all hooked up in a case, takes me 5 minutes to set up.
There’s plugging in the power, and stereo outs to the sound guy.
I dont play all the parts live, most of it is sequenced (arranger), the base of the tracks anyway.
I play some lead lines over the top, or just things that are fun to play, and allow for some improvised moments.
I get heavy into modulating the entire thing with performance modes, OT scenes, muting, tweaking FX pedals etc.
It’s fun and simple, and sounds good.
People in the audience, dont seem to really care how I’m doing it, they are just glad I came out to play.
As for screwing up, thats just a part of the show if it happens.
Mistakes dont bother me at all, and usually I’m the only one who’d know anyways.
I’ll practice at home, but I also consider the stage practice.
There’s always another gig on the way, just gotta go for it.

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#8

Guys thank you all for the food for thought, I got through the overthinking i guess…
Will just light the fire of productivity and stop complaining! :slight_smile:
Hugs!

#9

When i look at this video:

She makes it look so easy. Its not completely hardware setup, so in terms of play ability she makes a good show in my opinion.

#10

Hi great post and have a lesson with Peter´s answer! Thanks as always bro. i have a similar case but excluding some bigger points. anyway i can say just 2 things.

  1. David Byrne on his book How Music Works states that the key of success for the Talking Heads on the NY punk scene circuit was that the concept was created initially to play live to deliver all the power from the band on a gig. from there everything was more easy to achieve. he talk about great bands that are so good but extremely complicated at the moment to deliver a powerful live…

  2. in my studio i learn from my experience and just end with a basic setup so i can control my machines and make it work seamless as a compact team of friends everybody make a basic part but any machine are very capable of his work so i really trust on these. on my case yes music is more compact or minimal on parts but more functional and i can say more consistent and strong.

have to say that the mixer play a good roll on live and organizing and having two great synths i can swap basses for leads with evolver and virus both process sound and have fx

  1. Machinedrum UW (drums sequencing)
  2. Virus Ti Polar for leads and pads also bass
  3. Evolver Keyboard for bass
  4. Roland sp808 for big samples
  5. Two external compressors
  6. Presonus Live 16 mixer fx
  7. EMU launchpad control and midi clock

i just box the synths that are not essential forget them for a while and keep it simple

#11

Bummer DT doesn’t have a Song Mode.

Use mutes

#12

image

:slight_smile:

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