Any ideas and advice for playing "other" music live?

dubwell

New member
First off I am super sorry if this is the wrong place to ask this question, I have been looking and looking and I can't find the "perfect" subforum to post in.




I question which I'm sure has an obvious answer that im too dumb to find.


I have run into a bump in the road. I finally developed my own musical style and I produced some songs that I dont hate and others actually somewhat like. I would love to play live for small groups. The problem is that I can't. My songs have tons of reversed and stretched guitar elements. I also use guitar droped down in post an octave to get a nice bassline since I dont have a Bass Guitar. Then I also have synths that have been fiddled with and are now saved as audio.


What approaches could I take to play live? I don't wanna just play my music with a some mixers since I feel that takes away the fun aspect of playing the guitar. At the same time I can't do it all by scratch with just myself since I made all the music taking advantage layers and audio manipulation in post. Is there a happy medium between using instruments and digital technology without breaking the bank? Any Ideas?


Thank you so much for just looking at this question.
 
Hey!

I think its great you want to perform your music rather than just hit play! When it comes to performing, luckily there is ableton live to the rescue. With enough hard work, you can create a setup that allows your to trigger samples such as reversed guitars by pressing a button on a midi controller (Novation LaunchPad, APC 40 type, so many different products out there). You can essentially create a group of beats, samples and if you get a midi instrument you can allow for those to be played live with effects.

Check Ableton out it will help!
 
I'm doing the keyboard and a mpd 26. here's a short demo:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JlMWubpGdQ

you can still use the guitar live if you run it through an audio interface (well for streaming or video...). Live guitar is even easy and just plugs into any amp. You can switch between instruments. I think live instruments are coming back because trumps making america great again. DJing just doesn't do it for a live show, especially if the dj is staring at a screen on stage. Practice a lot for this...but give it shot, i think it would be really cool!
 
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I would take a look at the live rigs and clips of Mount Kimbie, John Talabot, The xx, SBTRKT, Pional. They are blending sampled and electronic with live music live, all of them in very different and creative ways.
 
Loop pedals, Loop Station, samplers, drum machines, sequencing synths, computer/DAW/Ableton, multiple instruments for different tunings, capos, different-stringed guitars, Nashville tuning, pre-recorded files or CDs that leave some tracks open to play/sing live with or improvise solos, harmony machine if you need multiple vocals; finding a partner to switch-up tasks...
 
I'm trying to develop a live set now also. It's tough as a solo act.

I really want to just tour around and play and entertain people. But you've got to come up with something worth watching!

I too want to do more than press play on the DJ controller. I mean shoot I'm not opposed to "pressing play" but you know I'm just trying to find ways to make it more interesting.

If you are singing and stuff you have it made. Just take your vox down in the mix, pick a few instruments to play out, and let the backing tracks do work.
 
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