Here are some really great images of synths. the colors and styles of them make me want to break out some gear and start tweaking. Don’t you want to tweak?

Bad copy, cool pics. Check ‘em.

I have been studying many different ways to perform electronic music live over the years, and have tried just about all of them. I’ve done all hardware sets, all software software sets, full-on totally sequenced performances (those never worked out well) and totally improvised sets (those are great or totally suck) and have come to hard and fast rules for myself as far as what I will and will not do in a live set. It all comes down to the live aesthetic and integrity as an artist. I really believe in music as art rather then product, and a live musical performance is exactly that – a live performance. For me there is no difference between a live electronic music performance and a jazz band performance.

So, the rules. Some of these are ‘don’ts’ and some are ‘do’s’. The don’t are things that some people do and still consider it a ‘live performance’. Why don’t I consider it a live performance? Because when you do them in a set it really does feel like cheating. And, if it feels like cheating it has to be cheating. The do’s, well, when they happen right they just feel so right. With art I am all about the feel. That isn’t to say that I don’t have rules, because I certainly do, I just think that feel is perhaps the most important part of a live performance.

Ok, here we go.

#1 – No mixing of tracks into the live set.

Some people do it, none ever admit to it, and for me it is something I am just not interested in. It is so obvious when you hear a live set with tracks in them. I can think of several that I was in person for and several that friends (non-producers) turned me on to. They were so dense, and so layered and so composed that there is no way that it could all be live. Sorry, if you are playing tracks you aren’t performing live. This is called the milly vanilly.

#2 – No mixing of ’stems’ in the live set.

Stems are large parts of songs all arranged and laid out. If someone were to give you the ’stems’ of a song you could, if the stems were prepared properly, simply lay them out and get the original song. I am not interested in that, and again, with so much work pre-done for you it is hardly ‘live’. This is the sneaky cheat as the performance sounds really live, and you can do neat stuff with volume and what not, but it is rather hard to fuck-up playing a live set that is all stems.

#3 – There should be a mix of ‘improv’ and ‘composition performance’.

Just like a ‘real musician’ you should be able to perform you set 3 or 4 times and have it come out relatively similar. By the same token you should be able to improvise with your set and make new things up on the spot.

#4 – If the performer isn’t having fun, no one is having fun.

One of the most magical experiences of a live performance is when the performer is as caught up in the moment and is simply having fun doing what they do. When I am really into performing (or playing my gear, the same way a musician plays an instrument) I totally forget about the audience and just let go. Sometimes I almost fall over as I go to make a change on a sound, or drop the bass, or tweak the treble. That is how I know it is real, when I do something and almost loose my balance.

Use whatever tools you like to use so that you can have fun. Personally I like a lot of hardware and knobs to work with. I like a lot of tactile feedback when I make sounds, and I think it makes for a much more enjoyable viewing experience as well. You can see what I am doing as I am doing it. There is a one to one correlation between my actions and the sound. That is fun.

#5 – It is OK to make a mistake, it is LIVE!

While it IS best to be as good as humanly possible, a flawless performance, while desired, isn’t always the best performance. If you are trying to do a trick on a skateboard, and  you are in a competition, and you have your run and play it safe, you get an OK score. When you try to do something that is just outside of your reach, and you stretch yourself, sometimes you make it and sometimes you don’t. But, when you DO make it, it is really fantastic. When you don’t, well, just try to recover and see if you can pull it off again. That is how Tony Hawk did his famous ‘900′. Really, people are forgiving when the know you are doing your best to give them something special. Don’t we all love special?

#6 – Do it for yourself first and everyone else second.

By all means don’t be an idiot and try to scare the crowd away like some people do. But, do think about what you want to do for yourself and do exactly that. You do also need to keep the audience in mind, but, it really is all about you doing your thing and them being there to experience it. Assume that they know and understand that everything you are doing is live and that you are totally 100% in control of the music and you will really feel fantastic about it. Come on, they know it’s live.

#7  – Don’t listen to the recording.

Well, I am probably not going to be able to stop you from doing so, but if you do, and it doesn’t feel the same as when you played it, that is because it IS different. You aren’t in the space, you aren’t in front of the people, the sound system isn’t blaring at you. It is totally different. Once thing you can do to add some life to the recording is simulate the ‘club’ sound system. Add some compression, a little room verb, and if the system was shitty, add a little distortion to give it that edge that the cerwins had when you played.

So, that just about wraps up this rant on my feelings towards what a ‘real live performance’. This is all in reference to beat-based dance music. Other forms of live electronic music performance have their own unique set of rules. Perhaps that is another post for another time…

Here are a few of the mixes and live sets that I have available for download. I figured I would put them all in one spot for easy access.

A ‘live take’ in the studio of my new live performance set.

The mix for SamuraiFM from earlier this year.

The only DJ set of mine to be recorded before I opted to not DJ again for a while.

Over the last 7 months I went on a very enlightening journey. I decided that I not only wanted to curate and produce a monthly event, but that I wanted to perform at it too, every single month. I am, of course, talking about ‘The Future Is Beautiful‘. I wanted to have the experience of playing out monthly so that I could grow as an artist.  I had wanted to perform live every month, but that isn’t how things worked out at all.

My plan was that I would switch it up monthly, do a live PA one month, maybe do a DJ set the next, do a combo thing after that. After the first month of playing live (where I wasn’t happy with my performance at all), I thought that it was just too much stress to curate, manage and be ‘on’ enough to perform live satisfactorily. So, I switched to DJing instead. At first I was playing all my own music. That got a little boring (and felt like cheating), so I started to incorporating other people’s music with mine, then I ended up playing mostly other people’s music and only a few of my own tracks. That was when I realized something had gone horribly wrong.

I got so far away from what I started doing that I didn’t even recognize what I was doing, or myself for that matter. I was standing there, bouncing my head, DJing. I was that guy. I thought, wow, is this really me? Is this really what I want to do as an artist? Do I really want to take the easy way out and be like everyone else?

It was fun, and much MUCH easier and a lot less stress than a live performance, but, it took me so far away from making music that I started to get depressed and cynical about everything. I stopped myself dead in my tracks, gathered my thoughts, and took a long hard look at what I was doing.

I got some clarity and decided to focus my energies on creating and performing my own compositions. At the end of the day, when I am performing, I want to say what is on my mind with my own voice. I don’t want other people to speak for me. They don’t have the words ready that are on the tip of my tongue. I want to speak.

It is a combination of wanting to have my own voice, coupled with the fact that there are plenty of people out there playing other people’s music, and, not nearly enough people performing their own music live that I want to be one of the latter and not the former. I really can’t stress this enough.

In the end we all need to figure out what it is that we really want to do, and keep our eye on it and not get distracted by anything else. We need to make hard decisions about what we really want to spend our energies on. After putting the distraction down for about a month I can easily say that I am happy spending my time digging into gear and software and making my own music and getting ready to play it live again. It is still stressful, and I still get all worked up and nervous, but I wouldn’t give it up for anything.

Come, get your swerve on and get ready to start the summer with a 14 hour The Future Is Beautiful rooftop marathon of music and food.

Live performances by Morgan Packard, Mon.key.pod, Todd Sines VS Archetyp, Thomas Hildebrand, Justin Gibbon, and Isomer Transition. DJ sets by Patrick Gallagher and special guests.

This month we are doing things very different – on a rooftop, donation admission, with some kegs, and a family style BBQ. We’ll have multiple grills setup, so bring some meat or veggies and throw them DOWN. Hell yeah! We’ll have some burgers and hot dogs to help feed the masses, but we are relying on y’all to ‘bring some good eats’ to add to the festivities. We’ll have 2 kegs of some brooklyn lager and the admission fee will be a true donation, suggested at $5, to pay for the sound system and support the artists. Don’t think that because it is a donation that you will get off easy tho, Rochelle is going to be doing her best to get money out of you.

Here is the line up.
Take a look on myspace for the info on each artist.

2pm – 4am

2pm – 6pm Misc DJs & BBQ Fun

Performances by

6 pm – Mon.Key.Pod (Ambient Set, Brooklyn / Cook Street Elite)
http://www.myspace.com/monkeypodduo

7 pm – Morgan Packard (Crooked Beats, Brooklyn / Anticipate, Live Set)
http://www.myspace.com/morganpackard

8 pm – Todd Sines aka .xtrak (Frankie, Planet E, Peacefrog, YORE) VS. Charles Noel aka Archetyp (2122, Black Nation, Ongaku, Raw Fusion / Rush Hour)
http://www.toddsines.com
http://www.myspace.com/toddsines
http://www.myspace.com/archtyp

9 pm – Pandemix (aka Justin Gibbon) (Inciting, Philly – Techno Live PA)
http://www.myspace.com/inciting

10 pm – Isomer Transition (Brooklyn, Archipel – Live PA)
http://www.transelectronic.net
http://www.myspace.com/isomertransition

11 pm – Patrick Gallagher
http://www.theoreticalbacon.com
http://www.unwillingcollaborations.com

12:30 am – Thomas Hildebrand (Microcosm, Live PA)
http://www.myspace.com/thomashildebrand

2 am – Special Guest DJ Sets

Here is a nice DJ set from when I recently played down in Philadelphia. Hit me up if you’d like the set list.

Enjoy.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted some new Isomer Transition material, so I wanted to put something up here for y’all to get your ears on. This track is in a new style for me. I have been DJing at my monthly, and I have a been making material to be used in this context, rather than in the context of an artist release. Rest assured, I am not going to stop making the hyper-composed mental energy filled Isomer tracks, I am just taking a detour for a little while. I am thinking of using a different alias for this project. Perhaps ‘Ray Trace’? I really like the ’80’s video game, under the 3d engine hood references in this name.

Here is the track. I hope you enjoy the new direction as it was very fun and fulfilling to explore. Comments, as always, are appreciated. Either in the comments section or on SoundCloud.

Track no longer available for preview.