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curious to see other peoples setups and techniques for live performance. not so interested in traditional dj setups, but what do you use/how do you go about performing? bonus for pics!

i wish i had pics of my live performances im always too busy DJing, but heres testimony: http://laspacecadets.blogspot.com/2010/ ... ue-ep.html (in the bio)

i thrive on gimmicks and making the crowd get into whatever track that im spinning... really, i go all out, crazy headgear, LED bodysuits, anything i can do to be more than the average lame DJ...

i've been recognized mainly for my "Laser fingers", which is nothing more than a pair of gloves from wal mart ($2), with ten laser pointers taped to each finger right before the show ($10, @ dollar store)... so for $12 per show its really the best investment i've ever made, but must be paired with a fog machine for maximum effect...

other than that, fake blood, glow paint, glowsticks, mannequin body parts, and anything else weird and flashy that i can get my hands on normally does the trick... however, its caused me to get kicked out of more than one venue.. but theres no such thing as bad publicity, right???

...right??

anyway, my most successful attribute has normally been my costume, which can be seen here: (http://www.myspace.com/baronRogue) in the main pic...

i bought it on a random auction, and it has served me SO well, people go nuts over it and its surprisingly not hot to DJ in and i can see fairly well out of it

cheers

EDIT: Also, most producers hate on Rusko, but the way he grooves during his DJ set is legendary among the fans (this is not my own opinion, i have asked many dub heads why they groove to his sets)... so i take many notes from his spastic form of dancing, and implement them into my sets, to great effect.. if they see you grooving...their natural response is to groove...!!! no one wants to see some wannabe thug DJ bobbing his head while he blasts and Excision track... get into it! i promise it will pay off

my live performance setup is my:

MacBook
Mbox 2
Live 8
Novation Lanchpad

soon, id like to add some type of mixer with an FX loop so i can throw in a Kaosspad and maybe some guitar pedals.

my DJ setup is just a Traktor Scratch Pro rig.

wayoftheworld wrote:curious to see other peoples setups and techniques for live performance. not so interested in traditional dj setups, but what do you use/how do you go about performing?

Equipment
EMU Command Station controlling Novation A-Station and Korg ms2000r.
Korg Electribes (ER / EA / EM)
Akai MPC500
This gets pushed into a Soundcraft Spirit M12

Programming
My approach is all Pattern/Patch based. I program “songs” using four groupings of equipment:
1) EMU + Synths
2) ER + EA
3) EM
4) MPC

Each song has basic patterns… Intro / drop / main / break / outro / ambient sections / minimized groove etc. Once I get a “song” near finished in one of the groups I integrate that group back into the overall rig and tweak it to fit (levels / EQ etc) with songs from the other groups that have I already completed. I like to keep my levels/EQ on the mixer near even for each device in the mix so I do a lot of tuning internally in each group.

Set planning and Rehearsal
When getting ready for I show I go back through my collection of songs and pick a number of them that will work for the specific gig (tempo/theme/set length etc.) I then work out a rough sequence for the songs to appear and write out a generic device/pattern/patch list of this sequence. I then I work through the sequence over and over again making adjustments to the songs/patterns as will improve the overall set. This is also where I really start experimenting with mutation of songs. Drums from group 2 / Bass and pads from group 1 / melody from group 3 etc. As each of the devices supports track level muting it is really easy to experiment with how random portions of different songs can come together and create something quite wonderful. So once I am ready to play out it is not so much a collection of songs that I am performing but more-so a collection of audio lego for me to assemble a performance with.

Performance
The easy part. Setup the gear. Confirm the connections and signal path. Sound check if I am lucky. Wait for the DJ to tell me they are on the there last track. Approximate the tempo they are at and start the intro patterns up. When the time comes I fade up as they are fading out and then I take over the PA for the duration of my performance. I do my best to follow my set list but, invariably leave out portions or play things that I didn’t plan on playing. It usually comes off like a single long as morphing song that evolves from start to finish. When I first started performing I wanted to take the feeling of hearing two records perfect mixed on top of each other and spread that energy over an entire performance.

There a bunch of tricks and nuances involved with my methodology. And I am really looking forward to switching over to an ableton set-up in the next year or so because I don’t like the effort/risk involved with having most of my studio on stage etc.

Photo from a show last April

knell wrote: i thrive on gimmicks and making the crowd get into whatever track that im spinning... really, i go all out, crazy headgear, LED bodysuits, anything i can do to be more than the average lame DJ...

Its just that too innit, a gimmick?

Hate costume acts. You had me runnin like a Junglist from HHC the minute you got on stage.

If it works for you though, go for it... I feel like it covers up for the music sometimes, and makes you look liike RITM/DM wannabe...

My ideal setup.

My laptop




Plus I'm thinking to use the Ohm64 for mixing and triggering clips in Ableton.




And finally the Freedom 2.4 joystick for triggering effects in Live.



Blurgh!

Haven't started playing out yet, still practicing my ass off, but atm I've got

+

+


Just need to get another sound card and work on beat matching a little more, might start doing parties and shit this summer when I have more time.

Basic A wrote:

knell wrote: i thrive on gimmicks and making the crowd get into whatever track that im spinning... really, i go all out, crazy headgear, LED bodysuits, anything i can do to be more than the average lame DJ...

Its just that too innit, a gimmick?

Hate costume acts. You had me runnin like a Junglist from HHC the minute you got on stage.

If it works for you though, go for it... I feel like it covers up for the music sometimes, and makes you look liike RITM/DM wannabe...

i would be thrilled if i got everyone like you to run out of the room..

but i dont really need to worry about that, since you would need a fake ID to get into most of my shows anyway

i do it because in LA most everyone else is a thug with a flat billed hat... when i go on and pour fluoro paint on myself, im making a statement that i dont want to look hardcore.

the crowd loves it, and i have fun doing it... so... bye

knell wrote:

Basic A wrote:

knell wrote: i thrive on gimmicks and making the crowd get into whatever track that im spinning... really, i go all out, crazy headgear, LED bodysuits, anything i can do to be more than the average lame DJ...

Its just that too innit, a gimmick?

Hate costume acts. You had me runnin like a Junglist from HHC the minute you got on stage.

If it works for you though, go for it... I feel like it covers up for the music sometimes, and makes you look liike RITM/DM wannabe...

i would be thrilled if i got everyone like you to run out of the room..

but i dont really need to worry about that, since you would need a fake ID to get into most of my shows anyway

i do it because in LA most everyone else is a thug with a flat billed hat... when i go on and pour fluoro paint on myself, im making a statement that i dont want to look hardcore.

the crowd loves it, and i have fun doing it... so... bye

Haha I'm loving the Basic A/Knell beef across the forum at the moment, it's entertaining!

I got no beef aside from the fact he keeps trying to use things like my age, location, and pictures of my girlfriends myspace against me. If he would try n target my music or something, I wouldnt care, but, what hes usin is fucked up.

knell wrote:
i would be thrilled if i got everyone like you to run out of the room..

but i dont really need to worry about that, since you would need a fake ID to get into most of my shows anyway

i do it because in LA most everyone else is a thug with a flat billed hat... when i go on and pour fluoro paint on myself, im making a statement that i dont want to look hardcore.

the crowd loves it, and i have fun doing it... so... bye

IDK why you get soo petty to hit about peoples ages n stuff... I know alot of kids who are probably outsellin you, actually helping a 17yr old plan his Pittsburgh date on a US tour, so, w/e dude, age is a really stupid thing to point out, n that didnt make you look cool, no cooler then knocking my samples or dragging my personal life onto DSF did... You need to quit with that stuff man, noone thinks your cool when you bring petty insults at people like thier ages, thier locations, thier offline friends, ect.

N sorry bout the comment though, I didnt mean for myself to sound snide, hadnt had my coffee that day apparently... Like I said up thier though, I think if your not careful, the gimmicks will hide your music, and it sucks to see talnet get overshadowed by stage shows...

Doesnt justify all the petty stuff about my age and my location and friends youve been throwin out on this board lately. First my girlfreind gets drug on here from myspace, then my city, then my mixtape TITLES, not my mixes, and now my age? Grow up man.

futures_untold wrote:Image

But holy shit... I never thought about it, but one of those game sticks would work pretty awesome for X/Y and effect triggers n stuff, huh? Is the one you posted, is that made too map like midi, cuz the one I have just connects through USB and is read as a mouse, so I cant imagine it being that convenient if its moving mouse cursors too... If I could get ahand on the XY effects while playing keys though... thatd be fuckin ace... So do they make those in midi or somethin im missing?

youd probably have to use max or something to really take advantage of that joystick. but def would be sick for xy stuff

thanks for the posts guys

wayoftheworld wrote:youd probably have to use max or something to really take advantage of that joystick. but def would be sick for xy stuff

thanks for the posts guys

Sorry dude, elaborate please? Max isnt exactly a precise google querey for me here!

knell wrote: i would be thrilled if i got everyone like you to run out of the room..

your goal as a DJ shouldnt be to clear out the dancefloor
just because you look different from the "average" DJ doesnt mean you are

evil madmen wrote:

knell wrote: i would be thrilled if i got everyone like you to run out of the room..

your goal as a DJ shouldnt be to clear out the dancefloor
just because you look different from the "average" DJ doesnt mean you are

evil madmen wrote:

knell wrote: i would be thrilled if i got everyone like you to run out of the room..

your goal as a DJ shouldnt be to clear out the dancefloor
just because you look different from the "average" DJ doesnt mean you are

Right?

And on the opposite note, itd suck to see you loose a dancefloor as a talented act becasue alot of your less-ravey people dont wanna see that stuff and risk gettin hit with glopaint. The majority of your real listeners who will be appreciating your talent as a DJ or a producer are going to have grown out of glosticks and lazerbeams a long time ago... N I mean really... do you want too appeal to the 50 or so drunk e-tards who are off in glostick world, or do you wanna satisfy them by playing great music and maintain your level with the old head who owns the label and his crew?

knell wrote:

evil madmen wrote:

knell wrote: i would be thrilled if i got everyone like you to run out of the room..

your goal as a DJ shouldnt be to clear out the dancefloor
just because you look different from the "average" DJ doesnt mean you are

People like me? As in people who care about the music?
ok
Like one guy said, do what works for you, and if your live performance works great, Im sure if i saw it id probably think it was cool. But personally, i let the music do all the talking for me. Its preference.

knell wrote:

evil madmen wrote:

knell wrote: i would be thrilled if i got everyone like you to run out of the room..

your goal as a DJ shouldnt be to clear out the dancefloor
just because you look different from the "average" DJ doesnt mean you are

Nice tits. (It's not a bloke is it? )

wirez wrote:
Haha I'm loving the Basic A/Knell beef across the forum at the moment, it's entertaining!

i really just have my fingers crossed for a "Knell, i've got a bone to pick with you..." thread

Basic A wrote:

wayoftheworld wrote:youd probably have to use max or something to really take advantage of that joystick. but def would be sick for xy stuff

thanks for the posts guys

Sorry dude, elaborate please? Max isnt exactly a precise google querey for me here!

i think you can configure joysticks to work as a controller using a program called max/msp, which is a visual programming language and lots of people use it for programming music software. might not be necessary at all for using a usb joystick to control things but i honestly couldn't tell you much more. max is a very interesting program though, i wish i had the time to learn more about it.

evil madmen wrote:]
People like me? As in people who care about the music?
ok
Like one guy said, do what works for you, and if your live performance works great, Im sure if i saw it id probably think it was cool. But personally, i let the music do all the talking for me. Its preference.

sigh... you missed the point twice in a row..

the "like you" comment was not directed at you, in the first place.

i just want people to enjoy themselves on every level, and not just stand up with my thumb up my bum twisting knobs. i got bored of bobbing/dancing very quickly. i like to get involved.

i dont make music for you, or anyone but me and my friends. i started in a garage playing birthday parties and celebrations for my friends. i was asked by a friend to release my stuff, so i did. i will never try to be anyone, or do anything to impress you.

for all i care, ill play to an empty room, completely naked, dropping "Party in the USA" for every other track, and get thrown right back to the garage. i made some money from an invention of mine, so im not interested in the financial side of things. i fund and work on organic farms for a living, because i like to do things my way. music is just where my heart is, and im lucky enough to not have to worry about releases, and so any success/recognition is just frills on an already great experience

because im having fun, no thuggin / flat hat required