What about the Arrengement?

steevio · Post by **steevio** » Sat Jan 01, 2011 4:09 pm

i dont lust over gear, it is an absolute necessity that i have my own instrument, and i know exactly how i want it to work, and anything i buy is just to complete the jigsaw. if it means selling stuff, then thats what is going to happen.
i havent bought anything for a while now and i dont feel i need anything, my set up now is probably going to take me 5 years to master.

steevio · Post by **steevio** » Sat Jan 01, 2011 4:20 pm

::BLM:: wrote:Yeah most of the stuff I do is sequenced in live and then I cut up the long audio file after. What I normally do is record for like 20 mins and then go back and cut it all up.

I have never done a live show before. A few people have asked me recently so I have been thinking about it, but it needs to be more then me just playing my tracks from a laptop otherwise im not going to enjoy it. When you lot who do livesets how do you work it? Do you save all your patches and then flick between them on the synth as the live set progresses? So if I knew I was going to do say 8 tracks I would set it up before with 8 patches on say the Prophet, a few kicks on the Mbase and and so on?

i used to work the same way, but modular synthesis changed that for me.
you cant really edit what you do very sucessfully, its about the flow.

you cant edit a flow.

when i started playing live in 1992 i had an Atari with very basic cubase midi sequencing, 2 TB303s, an SH101 and a 909.
it was really simple stuff to get right, you could really get into it in a live situation, because very little could go wrong.
then i stopped playing live and began DJing for a while, and when i went back to live, it was with Ableton.
and all i can say about that period in my life was i was uninspired, bored, and i never fealt like i was really performing live.

with the modular, there are no patches, its all analogue, nothing can be saved, its just you and the machines, no arrangements, you and a load of knobs infront of you (thats not the audience

)
its absolutely on the edge, everything relies on me getting every tweak exactly right.
not much different to being a guitarist in a band really.

AK · Post by AK » Sun Jan 02, 2011 3:02 am

::BLM:: wrote:Yeah most of the stuff I do is sequenced in live and then I cut up the long audio file after. What I normally do is record for like 20 mins and then go back and cut it all up.

I have never done a live show before. A few people have asked me recently so I have been thinking about it, but it needs to be more then me just playing my tracks from a laptop otherwise im not going to enjoy it. When you lot who do livesets how do you work it? Do you save all your patches and then flick between them on the synth as the live set progresses? So if I knew I was going to do say 8 tracks I would set it up before with 8 patches on say the Prophet, a few kicks on the Mbase and and so on?

Mate, done sets at breakspoll, worked with Matt Goddard (dopamine) Diverted, Klaus Hill, Bass Kleph et al back when I was in breakbeat, a guy called Rennie Pilgrem from TCR records had a new idea stemming from Ableton Lives session view. That was to 'dj' artists arrangements and have a new take on the gist of the track at every event.

Of course this involved ppl having a copy of Live and submitting 'clips' of material that they had done. (encouraging loop based material) well, that was the exact thing I wanted to get out of. There were some talented guys on TCR but they soon fucjed off, mostly to title fight and still get the bullshit arrangement, 'do this'. Klaus Hill is a twat, he aint got a clue and hes just 1 of many who are killing the essence and spiritual approach of guys who are living and breathing music.

Upon listening. I dont need an arrangement, I need good music. I dont need a linear beginning and end, I want the in between. There is no end, nor was there an intro. Those 2 concepts are clouding human creativity.

Ok, im a bit stoned now but hey.

oblioblioblio · Post by **oblioblioblio** » Sun Jan 02, 2011 3:13 am

good tangent!

oblioblioblio · Post by **oblioblioblio** » Sun Jan 02, 2011 3:49 am

I think it's important to be "the right kind of lost".

Like, I think in some ways, human awareness can interfere with the creative process. Some machines cater to this negative way to focus thought, where your human understanding of time can get in the way of the music... You're anticipating the build up, or breakdown. You've already contrasted the "beginning" versus the "end", and tried to think about which one should go first... should you have some melody here, or there. Should the bass come in later or earlier.

But some other machines channel your focus in a different way. They take you out of the equation, and you're just a small piece of the puzzle just about holding things together. Things are constantly turning out differently than you expected and you're just somewhere between being excited and reacting to things.

oblioblioblio · Post by **oblioblioblio** » Sun Jan 02, 2011 3:59 am

My experience of playing with friends has been quite influential to me. We had quite a few jam sessions in some lost times in some different locations. Listening back some of it was really crazy how it worked out... totally improvised but still sometimes it was like it was totally prearranged. But all the stuff you couldn't have prearranged it... you;d have killed the possiblity of actually making it by saying 'ok here this bt is going to happen, and then after this next bit is going to happen'. Becuase the 'arrangement' came from this natural interaction, it came from a totally different place, outside of the limitations of rational thought.... just loose and free.

steevio · Post by **steevio** » Sun Jan 02, 2011 11:22 am

::BLM:: wrote:Do you save all your patches and then flick between them on the synth as the live set progresses? So if I knew I was going to do say 8 tracks I would set it up before with 8 patches on say the Prophet, a few kicks on the Mbase and and so on?

sort of.
when i moved to VA synths from the old Roland boxes, i'd just have cubase midi sequences going to my Nord, Virus and 909 etc. i'd send program change messages to my synths from the midi sequencer so that they came in bang on time, same to my outboard effects etc. so that my hands were always free to tweak.

i'd have lots of polyrhythmic midi sequences going horizontally in cubase, looping round 210 bars (so that 2/3/4/5/6/7 polyrhythms all would loop) and i'd work my way down them as the set progressed, muting sequences i was finished with and unmuting ones i was bringing in, i had it set up so that the program change messages were the first midi information in the new part being unmuted, so as soon as it started the synths and effects assoiciated with that sequence had changed to the new patches.

so it was quite loose, i could bring in say some percussion sequences from the next track whenever i wanted, or play the whole set in a different order if i fealt like it, infact it wasnt really seperate tracks, it was lots of bass, percussion, synth sequences that more or less worked together, and i'd group the ones which worked best.

so it was mostly work on filters, mute/unmuting and mixing fader levels on the desk.

playing pre-planned tracks in a pre-planned order is safe and easy, but it's soul destroying if you've been a live musician all your life.
i think you may as well DJ your tunes.

the buzz of playing live for me, is the adrenalin of being on the edge.

::BLM:: · Post by **::BLM::** » Sun Jan 02, 2011 1:19 pm

So really there is no right or wrong way, its just what is best suited to your needs.

My plan was to have pre arranged midi files and the prophet, a drum machine or samples of some sort, the mbase and then my ESQ1. This is how I am making tracks at the moment with this equipment so I need to find a way to transfer it out the studio and into a live situation.

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