Re: Keeping your sets interesting

[Petri Lahtinen <kollegavalmentaja@gmail.com>]

I did live gigs with this artist, Petri Seppä,
he draw with ink - real ink from a bottle with suitable pen to it - so there was this
sense of danger in the air. :-D

This was then projected live on a screen behind us. I reacted to his drawing and vice versa.
In one seminar that was about mixing audio with visual, pariticipants told us
it was almost hypnotical to watch this combination of hand-made art and sound.
So what I'm saying, I like the idea of visualising sound - but I like when it is done in old-fashion,
with manual live interaction, not with software turning audio into graphics.

That kind of things really add something to but its really heavy on the performers,
playing 20 cover songs in a cover band just doesnt have that alertness and dedication
that live improvisation has :-D

-Petri-

2012/2/28 Daniel Thomas <danielthomas4@mac.com>

Kay'lon --  you launch a lot of good threads man!

Some ideas that do not involve being an instrumentalist-

  

1)  Be the performer.  Dress for the gig.  Pump up the shtick -- get into the character of PERFORMER and deliver it with command presence.   

2) Discipline your looping practice with hooky parts constructed in controlled workflows that construct terrace dynamics (layering and dubbing out of voices) and harmonic tension and release, al beit, improvisationaly.  Practice practice practice. :)    

3) Add a visual element-- clothes, lights, video effects, or a fried chicken bucket on your head (been done)

4) Add an audience participation element.  It can be as simple as break down where you invite the audience to clap.   Or a more complex solution--I once created a show of house like electronica for a festival in Quebec where the audience participated in the creation of the music.  I used a blue tooth based wireless midi controller system that received a variety of CV type inputs.  Tempo could be governed by an audience member riding an exercise bike (Hilarious).  .  A tennis racket played a variety of ambient percolating pad sounds as an audience member bounced a tennis ball on it.   Rez Filters and other sweepy effects were controlled by  3d vector sensitive motion devices that audience members could swing over their heads like a lasso, in time with the music.  And, the grand feature, a big 3 foot diameter inflated vinyl ball was thrown into the audience -- each time it was hit, the groove would change or,  a sampled drum fill would fire-- This also triggered light effects on the stage.  Thrilling to see the audience figuring it out that the ball was controlling performance events.

5) Bring a guest performer from the visual art scene.  A dancer -- A loopy cam performer  --  ??

Daniel 

 

On Feb 27, 2012, at 10:40 PM, kay'lon rushing wrote:

My whole live loop setup is labtop midi based. No live acustic instruments partially due to my DAW's inability accept audio input. I make live looping- based electronic music, at least try lol. I feel as though my stuff will get boring mighty fast during a performance. I get quite bored during sessions sometimes. Any tips to keep it fresh?

-- 
Petri