Live Show Advice

General Discussion
1

Looking for any wisdom anyone can provide for performing in a live environment.

My plan so far it to select a few primary vsts and sample sets to make a 30-45min xrns with a few live midi parameters (filters, lofimat)

should i get monitor speakers to get a flat prediction of how the set may sound?

what would you recommend as a means of finishing in two months?

any response will be great appreciated :P

2

I love that a french guy is talking about D-day. lol…

3

I wuz there

4

Helluva party

5

thanks for the advise. all very helpful. I’m starting to get real nervous. my first show and enduser, exillon, and fluorescent grey are playing the same night :o

edit: would you recommend separate xrns or one xrns? if one, what’s good technique for keeping tracks to a minimum?

6

thanks for that tip bantai. so helpful. this feature should be made official; it would make renoise more performance friendly. sets could have pre-rendered transitions to save ram and sound seamless. probably already been thought of.

1.9 ? :)

7

kaneel! :D

8

I’d recommend not using renoise for this. Too many buttons, too easy to f**** up. Especially for your first show.

If i play outside of Norway, or the show is otherwise “small”, i use Ableton with a midi controller and a mini-kp. Hook up exactly the controls you need to your controller, and try to use the keyboard/mouse as little as possible. It really, really helps to get at least tipsy before you start playing, so you a) won’t be so worried about screwing up your sound and B) will actually enjoy screwing up your sound.

I’ll reiterate what others have been saying:

  • Bring your own cables
  • Remember to charge your laptop properly. If you don’t have a self-powered sound card and use your internal, chances are 9/10 you’ll have ground loop noise, which is just so god damn annoying it boggles the imagination. Fix #1 is to unplug your laptop power.
  • Be at the venue early so you get to soundcheck before people show
  • Make friends with the sound guy. Make him aware of your sound and how it goes down (but don’t patronize, the guy knows how things run). My basic message is “i’m not going to be sending anything above red, so knowing that, keep it as loud as you can”.
  • Bantai is very right. If the venue is small, you should be fine, but large venues have natural reverb. Reverb on reverb will really mess up your sound. I know a lot of people put some reverb on the master track; just mute this device on your “live render” and you’ll be good.

My number one advice though:

  • Don’t be afraid to pause between tracks. Enjoy the applause, pause for dramatic effect, say a few words, then go again. You are playing your own music, you are not obligated to be a dj. This is the main difference between a live PA and a DJ set, and it’s a big one. If mixing compromises your sound, just don’t. I’ve played 10x better shows since i said f-u to mixing and built transition tracks and ambient stuff to keep the room in motion instead.

Knifehandchop told me once the reason he enjoys playing live is that he’s able to mess up, and that’s such an important thing to remember: You f****ing up makes you a person. People like persons. I’ve seen some great artists that don’t communicate with the room at all as they play dead slick sets, and nobody cares, while total amateurs who have a complete ball on stage are literally the life of the party.

Have fun, look at people, play with their expectations. People want to have fun, and if you have fun, it’ll rub off on them.

9

That is probably the most important tip ever: “Have fun”.

I can enjoy just about anything if the band is having fun.
This comes on top of being prepared - knowing your songs and gear in and out, but if you’re not having fun, I will be in the bar talking to someone about something else than you.

10

My advice is : Have something to do. Automate something that you can play around with all the time, even a small thing. For the audience it’s nice to see that you actually do something and for you it’s nice to have something to do. Believe me, it feels totally awkward to stand there watching your laptop doing the show and people won’t appreciate it either. Play the filter of a background-channel with a knob, use a fader to open the drums to a dubdelay or little stuff like that.