Performing live with others...

[xTxRxAxVxIxSx Profile Website]

Hey, this isn't specifically a breakcore question - just electronic music in general.

I'm wondering if anyone has ever tried working with someone else in a live situation. I know it's rare - most breakcore producers work alone, and a lot of the other real legendary producers do too. But then there's like Daft Punk, The Chemical Brothers, Justice, etc. Plenty of duos out there...

Which is what I'm trying to do. Me and a friend who's better on keyboard than I am (and has a FUCKING NORD WAVE! ). The original plan was to just adapt a bunch of songs I had already written to play live. One problem I'm having is actually getting any kind of collaboration going. I mean, I'm doing pretty much everything as far as converting the songs over to Ableton, mapping keys, and all that goes. And I'm fine with that. He's learning the synthlines from the songs. Quite honestly though, it sounds fucking lame.

My other problem: What am I supposed to do? I'm setting up my Ableton tracks so that tracks are triggered from my MicroKorg. And so, pretty much I just hit a note every 10-20 seconds. Again, lame. For both the audience and me.

It feels like I could easily handle all of this myself; like the other guy is really just kind of getting in the way. I'd like to work with him, but this shit is NOT working out. We were hoping to hit an open mic at a local bar in a few weeks, but there's no way I'm going to unless I figure something else out. Shit's really bumming me out.

What do you guys do live? How do you set up? Have you worked with another person live, and if so, how?

[djtheblade Profile Website]

Tried it the other weekend with The king of the Jews. I basically played my tunes whilst he yelled down the microphone and danced. It was amazing.

[gigassassin Profile]

Yeah, I'd love another pair of hands, but in order to utilize them they have to be attached to another person.

Unless that other person agrees to use those hands in accordance to my wishes, I don't think it would work.

It would be fuckin sweet though to be able to say "Hey! Turn that knob nice and smooth, I want that cutoff all the way to the treble at the end of this section." while my hands were busy doing something else.

[xTxRxAxVxIxSx Profile Website]

I guess I'm just not giving myself enough to do then.

You guys would like the extra help, but I'm having trouble figuring out what else to do. It would probably help if I had a better controller - one with more knobs and faders, all that kind of stuff. I'm seriously considering the Akai MPK49, but I don't have the money now.

To me though, it's just awkward trying to work with somebody else. I think I'm gonna have to call it off. Might try the solo thing instead.

[MarkyPoo Profile Website]

I (On Occasion) Get Together With About 18-30 People With Assorted Trash/Percussion Equipment In The Downtown Area Where I Live And We Have Fun...I Guess Its Breakcore...Because Whatever I Say Is Breakcore Right?...And Stuff Gets Broken(hehe)

[fap* Profile Website]

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i do this with vank all the time. many of our best recordings come from jam sessions. him working on one laptop while i run another laptop or 2.

we have been working together this way for about 3 years. we typically discuss or have an idea about what we want to hear or how we are going to start. it helps when each of you (or the group) knows their skills...and sticks to the assigned and predetermined sections of a track. sure all the machines are in sync but, but it can sound like shit if you are working on a bass and someone else throws in another bass.

we have friends that want to come over and jam...we have had 5 laptops and 4 ppl going, but if they cant stick to the format, it gets difficult. at which point i usally tell them, play this synth or tweak this.

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[nsound Profile Website]

And so, pretty much I just hit a note every 10-20 seconds. Again, lame. For both the audience and me.

dude - when i dj drum and bass with ableton i only have to hit a key every couple of minutes and flick a crossfader - 10-20 seconds is way too much effort...

[xTxRxAxVxIxSx Profile Website]

Haha, I could easily make it to where I would only have to trigger a track every minute or so, but that would give me even less to do.

I'm trying to get as "live" a performance as I possibly can, but the other guy and I can only actually play so many things at once. So, we've resorted to basically me triggering basslines/drum parts with my MicroKorg, and him playing the melody. I assigned a couple of the knobs to filters/volume/LFO speeds/whatever, but I only have 5 to work with... so it varies the sound a bit, but not much. And the only reason I switch tracks so often is because I have rendered WAVs of all my beats, and I do a lot of alterations (pretty much every 4 measures, the beat will have a slight change).

I don't know what it is though. Pretty much the only way I can look busy on stage would be to do everything myself (because there's so little to do with the way I have it set up).

Edit: If you wanna get an idea of the kind of stuff we're working on, listen to my Aphex Twin - Avril 14th track http://www.myspace.com/beatzfoyofeetz. Second track in the player. That's the main one we've been working on, and everything else is kind of similar.

[the shallow stairs Profile Website]

yeah, art holiday and i do some improv shit

[Silent Frog Profile]

You could try fucking up your breaks on the fly while the other person cues the rest. Either do it with a VST like Junglist or pre-slice loads of breaks into separate beats, rhythms, reverses, etc and cue them at with Ableton a keyboard. You could even do both at once if you want. This would at least be pretty energetic and the other guy would have to do a lot more.

[xTxRxAxVxIxSx Profile Website]

Yeah, I'll give that a shot. Sounds like more fun.

[penpointred Profile Website]

the H8RS are all about the live breakcore duo
www.myspace.com/theh8rs
hit em up with questions.
they is cool dudes.


dont know there equipment officially...but they have a comp, synth, and a few midi devices.

badass to watch live.

[Nanoshine Profile]

i might do one in july

[JonBob Profile]

If your wanting to do alot of things live focus more on improvising than playing out a song the same every time. speshly with a keyboard the possibilitys are huge. what i do is mix my drums live, and let other things play out, but in this case you could mix the drums live while your lil buddy plays keys n shit. basically what silent frog said.

[xTxRxAxVxIxSx Profile Website]

Yeah, we finally got around to trying that last night and a couple nights last week, and it's just not working. It *might* work with more practice, but I'm honestly getting tired of the idea. I don't even have the time to do it anymore - going on vacation in 2 weeks, then school starts back up...

So I think, if anything, I'll be going solo, and it won't be until next summer.

Thanks for the suggestions, though guys. I'll keep 'em in mind.