Live techno and electro music

Is it really that hard to transfer what you do in a studio to a gig? Does it cost a lot and is it too much hard work? Do people use these excuse because its just easier for them to dj or do they just prefer djing.

I find that this the area where techno and electro music can step up a bit(There isn`t enough people doing it). I`m sure you can do a shit load with lot of insturments live, and totaly do things live by adding and creating different tunes on top of your old songs with machines and keyboards spontaneously. This would be a lot better then seeing most rock band live because you can create different tunes on top of your old tunes like making live remixes of them. Get what I`m on about?


Anyhow can someone recommend me some live techno and electro artist? And tell me what do they use. I personally would like lot more artist using KEYBOARDS and instruments live. I`m sure there is money involved with this and lack of demand, but maybe some laziness too :eh:

i think to answer your quesiton, we have to look at the fact that playing records involves playing music that has already had countless hours put into it by the producers, composers, mastering engineers etc., creating a finished product that is paid for and ready to mix by the dj.

its a process of going down to your local record store and buying a bunch of these discs (anyone can buy them) and throwing them onto a pair or threesome of turntables and mixing it up.

now when you look at live artists, its not as quick or easy as going down to the record store and buying some music thats ready for playing. all those countless hours that go into producing a single record have to go into producing material for a single track for a live performance. then you have to create and prepare enough material for your live performance to cover for however long your set is PLUS take into acount all the tracks that you do not end up playing (because for every good track there are 10 shit ones that aren't worth using).

thats just the mathematics of the time invovled geting material ready.

lets go back a bit and look at the process of actually creating a track. first and foremost, to make a decent track you need musical ability and also production experience. that doesnt happen overnight.

also you have to mix and match your tools, gear and instruments to suit the way you perform your music in a live context. this isn't as simple as buying 2 decks and a mixer either. it usually takes live artists a number of years to perfect a combination of tools and once its perfected its often changed again.

and just like with mixing on turntables, a live act needs to practice and in many cases invent ways of mixing, improvising and creating elements on the fly with the gear they have.

ok. im gonna take a break for now and post more later...

The other problem of live performance is PORTABILITY!!!!

Anthony Rother has an excellent live-act performance: he plays keyboards, does vocals and his electro is danceable even to people who aren't into this kind of music... Check out also Alexander Kowalski - I personally don't know what equipment he uses for his live-acts nor am I informed of how he plays it (live playing? sequenced parts? improvisation?), but his music and performance are definetly worth hearing / seeing.

With the aid of software like Ableton Live, live acts are more accessible to performers on a low budget, but it brings up the debate over whether using loops and sequenced parts can be described as a "live-act"... But nevermind that - if you want to start playing around with live-acts, Live is a good choice to start, 'cos it's pretty flexible and quite easy-to-use even for beginners.

Techno and electro need more live-acts!!! :rambo:

anthony rother live is pretty awesome. never seen anyone aside from der dritte raum show up with that much equipment. thomas fehlmann also well worth checking out live.


christan wünsch and stewart walker both rock well on an mpc.

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Originally Posted by Komplex

i think to answer your quesiton, we have to look at the fact that playing records involves playing music that has already had countless hours put into it by the producers, composers, mastering engineers etc., creating a finished product that is paid for and ready to mix by the dj.

its a process of going down to your local record store and buying a bunch of these discs (anyone can buy them) and throwing them onto a pair or threesome of turntables and mixing it up.

now when you look at live artists, its not as quick or easy as going down to the record store and buying some music thats ready for playing. all those countless hours that go into producing a single record have to go into producing material for a single track for a live performance. then you have to create and prepare enough material for your live performance to cover for however long your set is PLUS take into acount all the tracks that you do not end up playing (because for every good track there are 10 shit ones that aren't worth using).

thats just the mathematics of the time invovled geting material ready.

lets go back a bit and look at the process of actually creating a track. first and foremost, to make a decent track you need musical ability and also production experience. that doesnt happen overnight.

also you have to mix and match your tools, gear and instruments to suit the way you perform your music in a live context. this isn't as simple as buying 2 decks and a mixer either. it usually takes live artists a number of years to perfect a combination of tools and once its perfected its often changed again.

and just like with mixing on turntables, a live act needs to practice and in many cases invent ways of mixing, improvising and creating elements on the fly with the gear they have.

ok. im gonna take a break for now and post more later...

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Yeah thats all good and pack it of monster munch but there should be more live acts regardless of how long, and how much effort there is in doing it. I understand its tricky with all the equitments that needs to be used but I think it is defienetly worth the effort from the responds you would get it instead of just djing. Don`t get me wrong I like seeing a good dj but it would be nice to see more live acts. The way lot of rock bands grow in name is by doing live music. If they can do it, I`m sure the talent there is in electronic music can.

I heard Scan X does live but I never seen it. Apparently DC and Vitalic and The hacker too. I am not sure if they are often though :eh:

interesting thread indeed....

thing is, some techno or electronic music is suited to the live environment, and some isnt... the more clubby, dare i say it commercial, stuff tends to suit Dj sets alot better and the more experimental, darker techno often lends well to a live set more simply because there is more room for experimentation in the music. This is not always the case tho i think, there are some really big names like DC whose live set is a really really impressive display of the work he's done over the past 10 years or so.

i personally love seeing live sets, both musically and technically its very interesting to me. I like seeing a geezer behind a bank of equipment or instruments like keyboard, all very boring to some but i enjoy it.

a good halfway house between live sets and djing would probably have to be surgeon with his on the fly re-edits of tracks via final scratch and ableton, something to keep everyone happy there i think at times... and as for the BMB live set, well, superb!

Speaking from the point of view as a live artist, I can tell you now, Live acts take a lot of time, effort, blood, sweat, worry and the rest of it... in fact, I sometime have people who wonder why I ask for the fee I ask for (Which I might add is a lot less than what some people get paid to dj).. it's not just playing on the night, it's the 6 weeks before hand that you're writing it (Admittedly it means you can record this material and put it out, with the added bonus of having had you playing it out for 6 months), the stress of getting to the airport, checking your stuff in, and hoping it gets there, and then finally at the gig, hoping they got you the right mixing desk, and that everything still works.. it's a ball ache, but I think it's worth it.. the sound you get from a good hardware liveact beats the shit out of the sound of records...
I did try doing an ableton liveact for a while, but decided I didn't like it, besides, everyone is using ableton these days..

I take an MPC 2000, and Nord Modular in my suitcase, and I just bought a new rack bag which I recon I can get away with as hand luggage, this will have my drumstation, quad fx and compressor in.... it's real stress though, hoping your precious equipment is still going to work, I say fair play to akai for the construction of the mpc, the screen is slowly heading south but it still works... as does my nord mod which once had beer spilt all over it halfway through my set at holodeck in cardiff..

so, knowing my own experience, I say full respect to anyone else who does it, it's a stressfull experience...