Members Rock And Roll Posted February 9, 2005 Members Share Posted February 9, 2005 How do individuals who play several instruments during recording sessions handle this in live settings? Specifically, is there a way for a guy who plays synth, bass, and guitar to play only one instrument live while the others are played through a sequencer and still keep the set entertaining? One way I thought that might keep the audience interested is to play each instrument alone for a bit and keep stacking the tracks live so they understand/appreciate that I actually created all the music. Any other ideas as to what and would not be intersting to see that would allow me to play all the instruments (without having to get other guys involved) and not look cheesy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members elsongs Posted February 9, 2005 Members Share Posted February 9, 2005 Originally posted by Rock And Roll Any other ideas as to what and would not be intersting to see that would allow me to play all the instruments (without having to get other guys involved) and not look cheesy. Sorry, it WILL look cheesy. there is no way around it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MDLMUSIC Posted February 10, 2005 Members Share Posted February 10, 2005 Occasionally I'll do a single act where I play elecric guitar and sing using a vocal harmonizer and a Zoom RT123 for bass and drum sounds. All arranging was done by me so it's not like I'm playing to a karaoke track or anything. Of course most of the audience members neither know nor care how the music was made or who made it, as long as it sounds good and they can dance to it. And if I do get a question from some music-savvy individual, then I can brag about how much time and effort I put into coming up with a good show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bennyz Posted February 10, 2005 Members Share Posted February 10, 2005 I would check out a guy named 'Keller Williams'. He plays all his shows solo, and utilizes a lot of looping. He plays on stage with an acoustic guitar, and has a bass, and electric guitar on stands, ready to play. He also has some hand drums, and other percussive toys. If you can find some live footage of him, I highly recomend it... Have FunBen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bajazz Posted February 10, 2005 Members Share Posted February 10, 2005 Originally posted by MDLMUSIC All arranging was done by me so it's not like I'm playing to a karaoke track or anything.Well, if you are 100% honest and feel good about it, then by all means. But no matter how much I arranged a tune, hey! - even if I built the instrument and invented the chords, it 's still playback to me. OK, you can sing live, then it's called singback (I call it pro karaoke if you get paid) You can play a intrument along and call it one-man-band. If I did, I would still feel bad about taking paid for forcing other people listening to me singing karaoke, and not allowing others to sing. Me, I take pride in actually practicing on my guitar and making the arranging for one guitar and vocals. And yes, people DO dance on the table. No need for a rythm box. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Diablopop Posted February 10, 2005 Members Share Posted February 10, 2005 I doubt this will fly well here, but... You could do drop-track mixes of your songs, so you can pick and choose what instrument you want to play to each one. Instead of recruiting a bunch of musicians to play along, get someone like a DJ to play your backing tracks. You can even try to give him/her some fun stuff to do: singing, scratchable tracks, song transitions, touchpad beats... even visuals. It sounds a little like a cop out, but I've seen shows that are nothing more than a guy playing his laptop. Audiences are pretty comfortable with a DJ. I really like the idea of adding looping parts one at a time to build up a whole song by yourself, but I think that’s the kind of gimmick you could do only once per show. A DJ-esque person could help you out with that, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rock And Roll Posted February 11, 2005 Author Members Share Posted February 11, 2005 Originally posted by Diablopop I doubt this will fly well here, but...You could do drop-track mixes of your songs, so you can pick and choose what instrument you want to play to each one. Instead of recruiting a bunch of musicians to play along, get someone like a DJ to play your backing tracks. You can even try to give him/her some fun stuff to do: singing, scratchable tracks, song transitions, touchpad beats... even visuals.It sounds a little like a cop out, but I've seen shows that are nothing more than a guy playing his laptop. Audiences are pretty comfortable with a DJ.I really like the idea of adding looping parts one at a time to build up a whole song by yourself, but I think that’s the kind of gimmick you could do only once per show. A DJ-esque person could help you out with that, too. That's a good idea. After you spend time recording everything in the beginning, you can practically DJ your stuff on your own. Not that this would be nearly as fun, but I like the idea of having a DJ help out with stuff. This might give the audience a little more to absorb. The sequencing on one's own is a mammoth thing to undertake especially if you want to change things up. You'd be jumping all around and wouldn't have time to really focus on the music...too involved with trying to get the stuff sequenced properly. I was also thinking about playing different instruments live on different songs. Play electric guitar on a couple while Bass and Drumbs are played back by DJ. Then, move on to Bass, while prerecorded guitar, Drums, Keys are playing on the sequencer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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