Continuous Mix?

[amphibious]

In a live PA situation I always feel the need to have a continuous mix of my stuff going so I don't disrupt the groove... (or something) What are peoples thoughts and techniques on this subject?

[abductedprod]

continuous mix, don't disrupt the groove.

[Blurred]

Continuos mix is definately the way to go,without getting the crowd all wound up and in the groove you can nevr break it down and show em how much fun they're havin and take em back up. Programming is most important thing of live performance and the hardest


drj

[matytek]

and that means no pretty ambiant interludes.

[amphibious]

This is the dilemma... even if I'm playing in a normal "band" type scenario I feel the need to put my tracks together, and of course when I'm playing at a party/rave it's basically required. And this is the problem:

What I've been doing lately is just creating a track that's as long as my set (not using any previously sequenced material)... but that really takes it out of me. I'd rather create normal length tracks and mix them together live or find a way to mix them together pre-show that I'm satisfied with. That's what I was really looking for...

[THE_RAVEN]

well frankly, I'm of the mind that the little ravers (and promotors ;) ) need to get the fuck over a live act sounding just like a freakin' Dj. Live acts are NOT Djs, and if a live act ends up sounding like one, then they are a pretty crappy live act, and what really then is the point of performing live at all?

here's how I see (well, hear is more apt) it:

most Dj sets are able to be "continuous" because the tracks they spin within a set vary little from one to the next, allowing easy "mixing" (though lets be honest here, most don't even mix that much, but just do a quick crossfade). Hopefully a live act will have unique enough sounding tracks that they are more readily distinguishable from one to the next, and don't just fall into "Dj Fodder" type of garbage (if you produce Dj Fodder, my apologies, but then you might as well press it or CDr it and then "Dj" it rather than PERFORM it live).

look, you are a LIVE ACT. you are DIFFERENT than a Dj and already people are going to look at you like you are a FREAK, so you might as well do something different from the ad naseaum repetition of the endless stream of Djs. How utterly boring if all you end up doing is a "set" that sounds just like what any joe-schmoe-no-talent Dj hack can put together. (is my bias showing? ;) )

oh, but what about the poor dancers loosing their "groove"? puh-lease! :p

if your tracks are decent (and even if they are not, as long as they have a beat ;) ), they will dance. Why is there this feeling that everything NEEDS to be at the same bpm through-out a "rave"? Maybe I'm an old fart (and maybe there's no maybes about that), but I always liked having a MIX of BPMs within a given set to dance to... some slower, some "groove", and some ass-kickin' FAST! the order you perform these in can make it a much more entertaining experience than a constant pulse, and in fact you can then "control" the "vibe" to much greator and ultimately rewarding extremes.

yes you can get into a "trance-like state" to a non-varying BPM and the various narcotics used can keep ya dancin' till you drop... but is that then to say you can't get into a "trance-like-state" WITHIN the length of a single track? a single track that if you perform LIVE using loops you can extend and build upon for as long as you feel the dancers want (and beyound what a Dj could do with a given track I might add)?

this is not to say that even with "ambient breaks" between the tracks you perform, that your performance will not be cohesive and "flow". Most music has different "tones" to it, emotional or otherwise. I believe most here can tell the difference between a "dark" toned track and a "light" or "happy" one. I usually try and build my performance by starting with the "happier" type of tracks, gradually growing "darker" as my time nears The End (107.7). I am not so much concerned with the BPM as I am with the "tone" of a given track, though in a dance type environment (either a "rave" or a dance club), I will only do a few down-tempo tracks and will be sure to place them in a "cool-down" portion of my show prior to "build-up" again. Of course, one of the beauties of performing live (and even Djing if more did so with creativity) is that you often "feel" the crowd and decide on the fly whether or not you are going to extend a track as well as decide what you want to hit 'em with next.

if you want to do continuous, that's fine (just don't sound like a Dj or I'll thump ya on the head!)--- but you should probably then have more than one "main" sequencer in your rig so that you can run one whilst loading the next track in the other... one LONG ass track is a way to go, but you'd better have a massive sequencer that you can store a lot of things in so that it doesn't get dull (unless of course you are GOING for that "minimal" edge ;) )..... but then I'm talking about actually PERFORMING something rather than just hitting "start" and letting it run all in a pre-programmed sequence for an hour or more.

you often hear ravers complain that "raves" are getting less and less creative, much of this has to do with their own limited view of what they consider a "rave" to be, and their rather close-minded outlook... as a result, most promoters are not willing to "risk" anything that is not exactly like what has come before, because what has already been done has been "proven" to make $$$. This means that YOU, being a LIVE ACT and therefor an ANOMOLY and FREAK, are basically FUCKED, and probably won't be able to get a gig if you are the least bit original (or even if you are not-- why pay for a LIVE ACT with all the bother when you can get a lousy cheap-ASS Dj to do the same thing if its just the same-ole-thing you as a promoter are wanting ANYWAY?) heh-heh! :)

the next time you hear some raver-wanker cry that the "scene" has gone to shit and that it "is really all about the MUSIC, man"--- ask him if he even KNOWS of any local producers, let alone seen any perform live. If "raves" are trully "all about the MUSIC, man"-- why is it that rave-goers and hence promoters are so adverse to new MUSIC?

-----end bitter ranting and raven here--------


heh-heh-heh! ;)

Quothe,

THE RAVEN

[ 04-09-2001: Message edited by: THE_RAVEN ]

[Suff-x]

I agree with RAVEN.
But one fix is to make all your tracks at the same BPM while you are in the creation proces. ya' konw... find a tempo you loike and that you think you could go with for a few songs, then mixing them into eachother should be no prob.
You really have to have insight too... Like, you have to know what is "mix friendly" --What I mean by this is leaving enough time at the beginning and ending of your track with a minimal amount of the thematic bassline or squelch, so that you can easily put two together and not have it sound muddy or disjunct. 1+1=2 but .5+.5=1 better to hear one record playing all night than two muddy ones intermittently.
More later...
Droppin' crazy math up on ya'
Bryce

[magneto465]

I think that this is when the turntablist come in, and not just your average "i can scratch so therefore i'm a truntablist" dj, I'm talking about the person that remixes the track live or brings in the original samples used in the trACk.
they can at change the tempo, the genre and have tonz of breaks in the mix at still keep it interesting, well at least when done well, mainly because the turntable at that point becomes the instrument, not just a record player. but i do really appreciate a continuous mix, sometimes.
check out RAW next time he's in town, or dj rip-one or even z-trip.
big up.

[magneto465]

Originally posted by Suff-x:
<STRONG>
Droppin' crazy math up on ya'
Bryce</STRONG>
I was replying to this, not the live pa question!!!

[asok]

Here is how I do it... not claiming that it is best, but I get by ...

I have two main sequencers. An MMT8 and an RM1x. I do all my songwriting on the 1x. I adjust the BPM of the song to what I think it should run at.

When it get booked for a show, this is where the MMT8 comes in. I used the MMT8 as my master clock, and I program bits of my songs into the patterns of the MMT8. I also add individual and global patch change messages into tracks of the MMT8. This allows me to "mix" into the next song.

This is how it works. I keep all my basslines on channel 1. Depending on the song, I mix down the current song to the point where it is something minimal. Then I have the MMT8 on the next song, and punch a track. This track sends a program change message to the specific channel (1 in this case) and plays the bassline (or something else intro'ey) for the next song (also kept on it's on output on the synth and into the mixer). Once I have mixed over to the MMT8, the MMT8 plays the beginning of the next song. I also reserve a track to send a performance change message to the synths global channel. This allows me to stop the 1x, select the next song on it, and beatmatch it to the MMT8. Then all at once I turn off all MMT8 channels and turn on corresponding (if not more) channels on the 1x, and I can take it on the 1x from there.

Somehwere in there is where I whip out my pad of paper and look at what the BPM of the next song should run at, and adjust the MMT8 tempo accordingly, so that it sounds seemless.

I think it would be cool to have 2 RM1x's, and I could just mix patterns between the two. Sort of like DJ'ing sequencers, but you could mix anything together. So far the MMT8 method works well as a crutch to get to the next song.

[Suff-x]

Lemme guess...
most of you are mixing house, or trancey stuff no?

[Suff-x]

bump bump bump bump
-----mix-----
bump bump bump bump
------mix----------
bump bump bump bump

DAMN. I guess I'm a superstar producer.

hehe he he he hehe e he he ehe oooh.... :rolleyes:

[amphibious]

Originally posted by Suff-x:
<STRONG>Lemme guess...
most of you are mixing house, or trancey stuff no?</STRONG>

I think this is the problem... I don't do stuff that's four on the floor, as most dance music is. I guess I could do like Panasonic and just go into a noise/ambient section and come out with new beats... but that's so cheesy.