Playing live

[djaeke]

I'm trying to get some ideas for live sets, and I'm curious about what you guys do if you ever play live.

How many tracks do you usually play in an hour? Do you let it play most or all of the track usually, or just a couple minutes?

What is the ratio of original stuff to other people's stuff? 50/50? 2/3 your stuff, 1/3 other, all your own stuff?

What's your setup?

What's your live workflow, do you just crossfade/slam, or do you add effects, or do you go all the way as doing live remixes?

[skanky beats]

are you talking about dj sets or live performances? Just go with the flow, 20 - 30 songs is pretty cool for an hours set depends on your mixing style and the enegry of the crowd tbh - like if the crowds really rowdy then i try get through alot to keep enegry high... Dont worry about a ratio lol just play what YOU want. As for what to do in ur sets just do what your comfortable with and can pull off

all will become clear x

[staggalicous]

i also have a few questions about performing live. i use ableton, so would i put all of the songs im going to play into one project file or have a bunch of project files and have two (or more) instances of ableton open all wired into dj software or something? i know everyone does it differently but iv never played live b4 and would like to perform my own songs/remixes live with my novation launchpad/midi keyboard. does anyone have experience with performing live out of ableton with multiple songs?

[Dubstep Saviour]

This is a very good topic that I happen to be dealing with myself. I am building my set based off of my tracks and downloaded tracks. I originally wanted to do a 60/40 split (60% my tracks and 40% 3rd party tracks)

I have come to realize that it continues to change daily, depending upon the songs I download and produce. I have settled on about 55/45 so I would say i am pretty close. BUT at the same time, I have not tried the set out yet, (I am starting early february) so this is purely self thought, no street cred... yet.

Oh and I think that I am going to start my set off by slamming through a couple heaters to let em know shit just got real, then I will begin to take em on a journey.

I would love to hear other people's ideas on there live set music theory.

[knobby_roots]

i just played a show using ableton and an APC.
what i did, was bounced ALL my original tracks out to loops on 8 seperate audio tracks(drums, additional percussion, bass, synth, pad, and 3 tracks for samples/sound fx/sweeps/etc)

so i would have about 5 different variations of each..and then would just arrange the song live..

As for effects, i mapped all knobs on the apc to act as different effects...(filters, beat repeats, delays, etc.)

Took a TON of preparation, practice, and tedious ass work, but the live show was really fun, and i can play it as much as id like and always switch it up... the drag and drop method for dropping audio into live is awesome!

i played 100% original tracks, but you could easily throw in others tunes also, just warp em up, set some cue points and drop on in.

im always tryin to improve my set though so im interested in hearin what everyone else does.

Anyone else use a method similar to this???

[AxeD]

I play techno on decks + Traktor timecode. On average I play around 18 tracks an hour, which is not a lot
for techno.

I do gradual/slow mixes, lot of loops, occasionally add effects like reverb or delay (nothing fancy).

[UpnDown]

well it depends on the crow for the songs dont change them too fast..and for the setup ,well ,,i perssonaly like the simple setup,such ass laptop...mac book pro...virtual dj or deckadance,,,,,dj4set <(midi controller) and thats it hahah......but i suggest searching some interface for techincal setup...for the fx ..alot of people use alot of fx and most of em overuse them,,,,,i like fx only for the transitions ,,,,,,but my goal in live performance is suprise the crowd as much as you can ,,,but always have limits in stuff,,,like yo can do rewinds ,,,,brakes,,,loop out ,,,,huge temo changes ,,,like mix from house to dubstep and lift the tempo slowly from 128 to 140,,,,,you can dow lf pass ,,,,but really pay attention not to overdo it

[ehbes]

that........ ass

[Raziel]

To be honest it's nice to have a planned out set if you know what the crowd is gonna be like (e.g. if your playing at a brostep event they're likely gonna want brostep) but realistically you should have a wide selection of tunes and be prepared to alter your set halfway through your performance, being able to read the crowd is an essential skill!!

[Sharmaji]

ha, i remember playing reggae, not uncommon to go through 60-70 tracks in an hour.

[MoonUnit]

Read the vibe of the party beforehand.

Always have vocals in your first track and don't make the first track longer than 2:00 (IE mix out after a couple minutes).

Play your favorite drop of a tune and then mix into the next one during the breakdown, unless people are really feeling the song and are asking for a wheel.

Have a huge handful of tracks that are key organized to fall back on. If you are scrambling to find which song to play next (which hopefully won't happen) you can fall back on your key organized setlist and mix into something of the same key and hang out there for a few songs.

Organize the tracks you wan't to play by characteristics. Is there a lot of tension and release? is it a bro style track or one for the deepheads? lyrics? tribal or industrial percussion? If you can read the dance floor than you can easily jump to something that will complement what is going on at the moment.

DONT LET ANYONE TOUCH YOUR GEAR.

IF YOU ARE PLAYING A HOUSE PARTY, FIND SOMEONE YOU TRUST TO WATCH IT WHILE YOU TAKE A QUICK BREAK.

yaaada yaaada yaaada. there are millions of things you learn from performing live... it takes a lil experience to know what will work well for you.

[staggalicous]

i just played a show using ableton and an APC.
what i did, was bounced ALL my original tracks out to loops on 8 seperate audio tracks(drums, additional percussion, bass, synth, pad, and 3 tracks for samples/sound fx/sweeps/etc)

so i would have about 5 different variations of each..and then would just arrange the song live..

As for effects, i mapped all knobs on the apc to act as different effects...(filters, beat repeats, delays, etc.)

Took a TON of preparation, practice, and tedious ass work, but the live show was really fun, and i can play it as much as id like and always switch it up... the drag and drop method for dropping audio into live is awesome!

i played 100% original tracks, but you could easily throw in others tunes also, just warp em up, set some cue points and drop on in.

im always tryin to improve my set though so im interested in hearin what everyone else does.

Anyone else use a method similar to this???

thats what i plan on doing with my launchpad... people like to see lights on a controller lol

[MoonUnit]

thats what i plan on doing with my launchpad... people like to see lights on a controller lol

GDIAF

[staggalicous]

thats what i plan on doing with my launchpad... people like to see lights on a controller lol

GDIAF

whats ur deal?