As we are an electronic music band we work on different DAWs (Logic, Ableton), synths (VST and Hardware), FX chains, etc. The nature of this genre includes a massive amount of Millie- second precise, Hertz pinching, automation editing and mouse dragging post-work (not all bands do that, of course, but we most definitely). Despite all that, we pay a lot of attention to bring our music to live and prepare the songs for a concert ready performance.
What do I mean by that?
We need to keep that precision that we applied, a certain structure that lyrics (and Madam director AKA Bina) demand. Yet we desire the set playable, improvisation ready and in a way unpredictable (oh, shall our artistic spirit shout for the new).
Another aspect is something that I call stage-credibility and I will dedicate a separate post explaining it. That is quite a challenge.
So how do I do that?
Through countless of fuck-ups, trials and errors, repurposing, device changing, cabling, unplugging, back plugging, button pressing, fader moving, scripting, re-visioning, and the unmissable staring at the far distance/floor/monitor with an empty gaze and a short-circuited mind behind the eyes, asking, what now?
As I push through, I come along with many problems on which we might have to spend days to figure out and troubleshoot. I decided to share those and the general thought process. Some might save you time and help, while others are perhaps too specific and obvious. I hope people will find some useful material here.
Through the months I had to realise that I gathered a bunch of information worth sharing. This is not by any means a hollow attention-seeking. This is semi-techy documentation of crafting an electronic music live set.
Next, I will introduce our current setup, some old tools as well that I changed and why I changed them. I will try to catch up and get up to date with the daily work.
So a number of posts ahead. Stay tuned.
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