Live PA's methods

[oldbugger]

far too many bullshit supposedly 'live' sets at the moment. its gone stupid.

90% of these should be called 'digital dj sets'

[Komplex]

far too many bullshit supposedly 'live' sets at the moment. its gone stupid.

90% of these should be called 'digital dj sets'

I tend to agree.

Although the massive problem lies with the definition of what is live, what isn't and where you draw the blurry line.

From my own perspective and experience, live is when if you do nothing, nothing happens. When you do something, sound changes. Thats basically the concept of it all, how you work it is up to you.

Anything remotely techno will never be 100% live either...

[Starfuqer]

i find live pa sets less dynamic , improvised and alot more monotone than a dj set. I don't see the point of it all. Anyways continue.

[nova]

I read in an interview with K90 that his live PAs are always prerecorded onto DAT. When he starts playing his live set he'll also start the DAT running. That way, if the live stuff goes pear shaped he can fade in the DAT and let the prerecorded set take over. Sounds like a good failsafe to me.

yeah & that hes never had ta use it tho but is sync'd to hes live

[eyes without a face]

I read in an interview with K90 that his live PAs are always prerecorded onto DAT. When he starts playing his live set he'll also start the DAT running. That way, if the live stuff goes pear shaped he can fade in the DAT and let the prerecorded set take over. Sounds like a good failsafe to me.

yeah right, sounds to me like he's just making excuses for when he just lets the DAT run thru to me

if something goes wrong to the point were u cant carry on then any crowd with their head's screwed on understand that its not ur fault surely? and if they dont then just throw a synth at them and walk off haha

these "live pa's" people are knocking out are not Live sets, they are simply a mixture of their own tracks that they've mixed in Ableton, and half the time with no real flow or dexterity to the sets or music.... there are however some who do it extremely well with alot of interactions, fresh elements dropped in along the way etc etc, but its still not live in the sense of playing the instruments, playing the sampler, playing the keyboard, playing the drum machine

thats live to me and i wont be budged on it, someone mixing their own music in ableton is not live, the only thing live about it is in the software name ffs

[TechMouse]

these "live pa's" people are knocking out are not Live sets, they are simply a mixture of their own tracks that they've mixed in Ableton, and half the time with no real flow or dexterity to the sets or music.... there are however some who do it extremely well with alot of interactions, fresh elements dropped in along the way etc etc, but its still not live in the sense of playing the instruments, playing the sampler, playing the keyboard, playing the drum machine

If they've got Ableton 4 (or later) then you can use a VST drum machine / synth / sampler etc. - and mix in whole tracks of audio too, e.g. acapellas, atmospheres and so on.

How is this different from using an actual drum machine / synth / sampler?

You still program patterns and trigger them in sequence, doing controller stuff over the top. I don't see how you can say one is any less or more live than the other.

[eyes without a face]

yeah i know i have Ableton 4 here, i wasnt saying that u cant do it, i was saying that the sets i hear mainly on here are not doing this, and thats not something that can be argued really as you only have to listen to the sets to figure out whats going on

if someone is actually triggering the VST synth/software from a keyboard i agree this is live, i do this myself, and if someone is doing a whole set where they and maybe someone else are playing a number of triggers/keyboards and recording this, in the actual live manner then i love all that, i actually encourage that

but people letting ableton mix their own tracks into a 50min or so set and calling it a "live PA"... no, i dont encourage that... i could do one of them today and call it a live set but i dont want to, if i go live im waiting to the point were i can actually play and present my music in a live format.. the only person i know who does a proper live set on here is Dirty Bass, feel free to point me in the direction of some more as thats what i love!

[oldbugger]

I read in an interview with K90 that his live PAs are always prerecorded onto DAT. When he starts playing his live set he'll also start the DAT running. That way, if the live stuff goes pear shaped he can fade in the DAT and let the prerecorded set take over. Sounds like a good failsafe to me.

yeah right, sounds to me like he's just making excuses for when he just lets the DAT run thru to me

if something goes wrong to the point were u cant carry on then any crowd with their head's screwed on understand that its not ur fault surely? and if they dont then just throw a synth at them and walk off haha

these "live pa's" people are knocking out are not Live sets, they are simply a mixture of their own tracks that they've mixed in Ableton, and half the time with no real flow or dexterity to the sets or music.... there are however some who do it extremely well with alot of interactions, fresh elements dropped in along the way etc etc, but its still not live in the sense of playing the instruments, playing the sampler, playing the keyboard, playing the drum machine

thats live to me and i wont be budged on it, someone mixing their own music in ableton is not live, the only thing live about it is in the software name ffs

exactly... its just a way of them being able to do a dj set without having their tunes pressed for most of them.. and thats not what i call live.

have heard some amazing ableton sets though and they deserve respect .

most i have heard have been utter shit tho.
and by no stretch of the imagination a live set :dontevengothere:

may as well just load up traktor with your tunes at home, put it on auto mix..rip it to cd then play it in a club and go have a beer and a dance and listen to it yourself from the dancefloor. would be much more fun :lol:

not saying this about everyone b4 you start but it happens...

[TechMouse]

but people letting ableton mix their own tracks into a 50min or so set and calling it a "live PA"... no, i dont encourage that... i could do one of them today and call it a live set but i dont want to, if i go live im waiting to the point were i can actually play and present my music in a live format..

Agreed.

Glorified "Traktor" basically.

the only person i know who does a proper live set on here is Dirty Bass, feel free to point me in the direction of some more as thats what i love!

My mate Gaz does an "Ableton Set", where he mixes up lots of stuff with lots of stuff. It's not totally Techno, but it has a very Techno edge to it most of the time. Anyway, it's worth a listen if you're interested in what people are doing with Ableton...

Caned and Ableton

He doesn't call it a Live PA as such, cuz that would be misleading - but he does go through something like 50 tracks in 60 minutes, occasionally throwing his own beats and FX over the top. Goes down a storm in a club.

It features scratching from Max Cooper.

I like it anyway...

Tracklist:

Various audio loops and samples found bumbling around my studio
6 am – Alex Smoke (Soma)
Freak - LFO (Warp)
Brian’s Lung – Alex Smoke (Soma)
Happy Violentine (LFO mix) – Miss Kittin (Novamute)
Body Dub (Tiefschwarz remix) – Unit 4 (Clone)
All That Matters – Funk D’Void (Soma)
Fructalbreak – Cursor Miner (Seed)
Technology – Si Begg (Novamute)
Bashment Track – Baobinga (Cyberfunk)
Geek – Phantom Beats (Plastic Raygun)
Smooth Criminal - Michael Jackson (Epic)
Salty (Deep Groove’s Dirty House Dub) – Dylan Rhymes (Kingsize)
Shot Dub – The Funk - o – Bots (White)
Virtual Breakdown (Laboratoire Mix) – Laurent Garnier (Sony)
Flashback – Laurent Garnier (F-Comm)
Brain Machine- Hexadecimal (Heavy Disco)
Technology – Ed Rush/Nico (No U-Turn)
Acid Wave – Rob Acid (Molecular Funk Guerilla)
Otomatic - Cosmic Force (Clone)
The Arrival – H-Fusion (Transmat)
Flash – Green Velvet (News)
Billy Hologram – Milanese (Warp)
Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy – The Tams (ABC)
Jack Me Off – Funk D’Void (Soma)
Spastik – Plastikman (Novamute)
The Pong – Audion (Ghostly International)
Oh Yeah – Yello (Smash)
Tilt – Partisan Midi (Clone)
Hip Hop – Dead Prez (Relativity)
The Many and The Few – The Matthew Herbert Big Band (Accidental)
Jittery Heritage (Domink Eulberg Remix) – Einmusik (Italic)
Jittery Heritage (Egoexpress Remix) – Einmusik (Italic)
Prepgwarlek36 – Aphex Twin (Warp)
Make Up – The Soft Pink Truth (Soundslike)
Nag Nag Nag (Akufen’s Kareoke Slam Mix) – Cabaret Voltaire (Novamute)
Revolution – Max Hedroom (cdr)
From Reggae to Hell – DJ Flush (Shitkatapult)
Paranoid Dancer – Johannes Heil (Kanzleramt)
Flat Beat – Mr Oizo (F-Comm)
Decompression – Mathew Jonson (Minus)
I.I.E – Gus Gus (Underwater)
Flatline – Tim Wright (Novamute)
Kittens – Underworld (V2/BMG)
I’ll House You – Jungle Brothers (Simply Vinyl)
Gunman – Vex’d (Rephlex)
I Love KNY Track 2 – Ub Dub feat. Ub Dub Brothers (KNY)
Matter of Illusion – Chris Kalera (C-Kal)
Dark Disco – Kenny Larkin (Transmat)
So Malleable – Milanese (Warp)

[eyes without a face]

sweetness il check that out when i get on the audio pc later nice one, i quite like sets like this because its not claiming to be a live pa when its not, its a guy having fun throwing some tracks together, right on!

il let u know what i think ;)

[oldbugger]

but people letting ableton mix their own tracks into a 50min or so set and calling it a "live PA"... no, i dont encourage that... i could do one of them today and call it a live set but i dont want to, if i go live im waiting to the point were i can actually play and present my music in a live format..

Agreed.

Glorified "Traktor" basically.

the only person i know who does a proper live set on here is Dirty Bass, feel free to point me in the direction of some more as thats what i love!

My mate Gaz does an "Ableton Set", where he mixes up lots of stuff with lots of stuff. It's not totally Techno, but it has a very Techno edge to it most of the time. Anyway, it's worth a listen if you're interested in what people are doing with Ableton...

Caned and Ableton

He doesn't call it a Live PA as such, cuz that would be misleading - but he does go through something like 50 tracks in 60 minutes, occasionally throwing his own beats and FX over the top. Goes down a storm in a club.

It features scratching from Max Cooper.

I like it anyway...

Tracklist:

Various audio loops and samples found bumbling around my studio
6 am – Alex Smoke (Soma)
Freak - LFO (Warp)
Brian’s Lung – Alex Smoke (Soma)
Happy Violentine (LFO mix) – Miss Kittin (Novamute)
Body Dub (Tiefschwarz remix) – Unit 4 (Clone)
All That Matters – Funk D’Void (Soma)
Fructalbreak – Cursor Miner (Seed)
Technology – Si Begg (Novamute)
Bashment Track – Baobinga (Cyberfunk)
Geek – Phantom Beats (Plastic Raygun)
Smooth Criminal - Michael Jackson (Epic)
Salty (Deep Groove’s Dirty House Dub) – Dylan Rhymes (Kingsize)
Shot Dub – The Funk - o – Bots (White)
Virtual Breakdown (Laboratoire Mix) – Laurent Garnier (Sony)
Flashback – Laurent Garnier (F-Comm)
Brain Machine- Hexadecimal (Heavy Disco)
Technology – Ed Rush/Nico (No U-Turn)
Acid Wave – Rob Acid (Molecular Funk Guerilla)
Otomatic - Cosmic Force (Clone)
The Arrival – H-Fusion (Transmat)
Flash – Green Velvet (News)
Billy Hologram – Milanese (Warp)
Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy – The Tams (ABC)
Jack Me Off – Funk D’Void (Soma)
Spastik – Plastikman (Novamute)
The Pong – Audion (Ghostly International)
Oh Yeah – Yello (Smash)
Tilt – Partisan Midi (Clone)
Hip Hop – Dead Prez (Relativity)
The Many and The Few – The Matthew Herbert Big Band (Accidental)
Jittery Heritage (Domink Eulberg Remix) – Einmusik (Italic)
Jittery Heritage (Egoexpress Remix) – Einmusik (Italic)
Prepgwarlek36 – Aphex Twin (Warp)
Make Up – The Soft Pink Truth (Soundslike)
Nag Nag Nag (Akufen’s Kareoke Slam Mix) – Cabaret Voltaire (Novamute)
Revolution – Max Hedroom (cdr)
From Reggae to Hell – DJ Flush (Shitkatapult)
Paranoid Dancer – Johannes Heil (Kanzleramt)
Flat Beat – Mr Oizo (F-Comm)
Decompression – Mathew Jonson (Minus)
I.I.E – Gus Gus (Underwater)
Flatline – Tim Wright (Novamute)
Kittens – Underworld (V2/BMG)
I’ll House You – Jungle Brothers (Simply Vinyl)
Gunman – Vex’d (Rephlex)
I Love KNY Track 2 – Ub Dub feat. Ub Dub Brothers (KNY)
Matter of Illusion – Chris Kalera (C-Kal)
Dark Disco – Kenny Larkin (Transmat)
So Malleable – Milanese (Warp)

thats what i mean...stuff like this is cool.
its just the ones doing this supposedly live set malarky.

downloading that now..looks interesting

[TechMouse]

its not claiming to be a live pa when its not

Yeah, he's very careful with how it gets advertised - if only in recognition of the very cool stuff being done by people which truly deserves the "live PA" moniker.

[eyes without a face]

its not claiming to be a live pa when its not

Yeah, he's very careful with how it gets advertised - if only in recognition of the very cool stuff being done by people which truly deserves the "live PA" moniker.

exactly

im glad someone else understands this haha ;)

[nova]

I read in an interview with K90 that his live PAs are always prerecorded onto DAT. When he starts playing his live set he'll also start the DAT running. That way, if the live stuff goes pear shaped he can fade in the DAT and let the prerecorded set take over. Sounds like a good failsafe to me.

yeah right, sounds to me like he's just making excuses for when he just lets the DAT run thru to me

if something goes wrong to the point were u cant carry on then any crowd with their head's screwed on understand that its not ur fault surely? and if they dont then just throw a synth at them and walk off haha

these "live pa's" people are knocking out are not Live sets, they are simply a mixture of their own tracks that they've mixed in Ableton, and half the time with no real flow or dexterity to the sets or music.... there are however some who do it extremely well with alot of interactions, fresh elements dropped in along the way etc etc, but its still not live in the sense of playing the instruments, playing the sampler, playing the keyboard, playing the drum machine

thats live to me and i wont be budged on it, someone mixing their own music in ableton is not live, the only thing live about it is in the software name ffs

he plays global. a dat can be expected. he's getting payed big money to play an hour he's not just gonna get off & say dont worrie about it.

[eyes without a face]

exactly, he's getting paid big money so he should have his proper live set on the ball, and its very rare that a live set goes so bad that they do have to cancel a few tracks into it....

id rather the artist held their hands up if it went proper pear shaped then hear a recording of their set whilst they stand there and take the glory, no thanks!

[nova]

exactly, he's getting paid big money so he should have his proper live set on the ball, and its very rare that a live set goes so bad that they do have to cancel a few tracks into it....

id rather the artist held their hands up if it went proper pear shaped then hear a recording of their set whilst they stand there and take the glory, no thanks!

yeah but if its a totaly like comp frying or somthing he can switch quik to the dat & if he's in another country & traveled along way and a waiting a fat check i dout he's gonna want ta hold hes hands in the air. yeah if its some slipped beats that hes gotta quikly hit mod stick ta chuck back in time. then yeah get them hands in the air.

can see the point of hes dat. he's a big show & its he's living. least he went & spent the money on a dat. & i dout very much he whould injoy playing the set from a dat i mean come on man. i bet i fecking luvs playing he's live set

[nova]

i heard adout this dude that came over from another country to play at i m8s night 666. & hes computer died when he was over a when the night had started & he had ta borrow cds. & was gutted coz he realy wanted to play hes stuff. fecking dat machine whould of made hes day

[slavestudios]

i used to do live pa's.

total hardware with patterns in each machine. but I had to change & make the patterns do something or it wouldve sat on one loop for 75 minutes..

no dat in the back ground.. and quite frankly, F**K ANYONE WHO USES THIS.

you may as well go on TOTP & mime to a Minogue track you f**king fake



as for this 'ableton isnt live' i think that is also balls.
if you jus play sequences, then it is balling. but if u jam your loops & parts live with margin for error, then it is live..

go look at a Pink Floyd dvd... say.. live at pompei


THATS your answer... i never seen Hendrix with a f**kin dat behind his Marshall stack... & he set his kit of fire

[acidsaturation]

I read in an interview with K90 that his live PAs are always prerecorded onto DAT. When he starts playing his live set he'll also start the DAT running. That way, if the live stuff goes pear shaped he can fade in the DAT and let the prerecorded set take over. Sounds like a good failsafe to me.

The live set must be pretty regimented and planned if he can ensure it's gonna be the same as a prerecorded one.

Can see the point though and have taken an emergency minidisk with tunes on, but not a set. I enjoy pissing about too much to have too much planned, eventhough it may sound better form a laptop. And I love my hardware too much.

[nova]

i used to do live pa's.

total hardware with patterns in each machine. but I had to change & make the patterns do something or it wouldve sat on one loop for 75 minutes..

no dat in the back ground.. and quite frankly, F**K ANYONE WHO USES THIS.

you may as well go on TOTP & mime to a Minogue track you f**king fake



as for this 'ableton isnt live' i think that is also balls.
if you jus play sequences, then it is balling. but if u jam your loops & parts live with margin for error, then it is live..

go look at a Pink Floyd dvd... say.. live at pompei


THATS your answer... i never seen Hendrix with a f**kin dat behind his Marshall stack... & he set his kit of fire

hahahah. ok i will never mention a dat again. thats got me abit coz sounding very harsh!, & also its just a safe gaurd. having a dat running in back ground. he's taken a extra percausion so he doesnt **** up for us.

and when i mentioned about m8'e. i said coz he was gutted. coz he had from abroad. yeah i wouldnt like ta pay to see somone live & them doit on a dat but i doudt they like doing on a dat either. i just thout it sounded good as a back up man. dont take me to serously man. im a novice