A sine wave is the story of my life.
Matt Supert
Matt Supert
As a response to many different requests and problems, I have decided that using this blog would be a great way to post all the music tutorials that I have written and distributed around the internet. I will do this over the next several weeks with several tutorials.
This first one is a Livepa Tutorial
Firstly, one of the first things that one must understand when developing a live PA set and the gear which one wants for a set is that LIVE PA is not about polished music, and it is not about you the performer. It is about the Audience and the performance as a whole. You must first change the mind set of being a producer to one of being a performer. 50% of live music is about the music, the other 50% is about how you interact with the crowd.
Music for Live PA does not need to be lush complex and polished like a studio work, this doesn't mean however that it should not be quality. This means that the focus of your performance should not be how cool your song sounds. The fact of the matter is you want to create an experience for the audience. If you have a fantastic song, but hide yourself behind your laptop or gear your no better then a DJ, and hence you lose the Live element of your act. I cannot stress this enough. Interact with your audience. Go on the dance floor with them, let them see your gear and how you work it, let them see you.
THINGS TO THINK BEFORE YOU START.
1. What type of music do you want to make?
2. What sorts of Venues will you be performing in (clubs, Venues, Cafes, House parties?)
3. How do you like to produce? (Are you hands on, or are you a visual person?)
4. How much do you plan on interacting with the Audience?
5. Do you like to sample or use synths?
6. How live do you want to get? Do you just want to trigger lines, or do you plan on just triggering percussion and playing all melodies live?
.
There are 3 basic approaches for gear setups. Laptop, All Hardware, and a Mixed setup. Laptop
Pros:
Everything is in one box
Very visual way to create music on
Very portable
Very flexible in terms of styles of music you can make
Cons:
Latency issues (even asio only gets down to 5ms at best)
CPU: more power costs a lot more money
OS stability is always a problem
Not interesting for the Audience
Very little hands on/real time control without hardware.
Not many "pro" software options for live performance Hardware
Pros:
Near zero latency
very hands on tactile control
has an "AWWW" factor for the crowd.
Gear is often times specialized
Cons:
Gear is often times specialized
Can become very large and Cumbersome
Midi Routing can become confusing
Most gear doesn't have good on-board Efx Mixed:
Pros:
Software interface with mixed gear
Very flexible for music styles
OS crash, can still run show on hardware
Cons:
Run into Driver/OS problems
costs of midi/audio ins/outs can run high. recommended Gear
Sequencer(one of the most important pieces)
Alesis mmt-8(only get used, pure midi sequencer no sounds)($100)
Yamaha qy-10(only used pure midi sequencer, about the size of a vhs tape)($100)
Yamaha qy-100(same as qy-10 but more features and new)($500)
EMU command stations (recently discontinued sequencer and expandable rompler)
Yamaha rm1x (sequencer and 5 part synth)($600)
Roland MC909(sequencer/synth/sampler good hands on control)($1400)
Yamaha rs7000 (sequencer/synth/sampler good hands on control)($1000) Samplers
Emu Racks/ Eseries samplers($500+)
Akai Racks($400+)
Akai MPC(good only for percussion/loops, Ill explain more below)($800+)
korg es-1($300)
Yamaha SU series ( $150-$450 loop sampler only)
Roland SP series ($250-$500 loop sampler only) Software:
Ableton live for complete setup.($350)
there's various midi only software sequencer out there that are free. Personal taste is best. Groove boxes (if you don't want a dedicated sequencer)
korg Electribes
Yamaha loopfactory series
Roland MC series Not recommended gear.
Akai MPC's as main sequencer or any ?production center? USB gear for a mixed setup. If you plan on using a mixed setup of hardware and audio I recommend using firewire. This will help decrease latency as much has possible between machines and allow for more audio channels to travel down the line if you need them Music studios: floops, Cubase, reason, etc etc.
The problem with these programs is that they do not work well with patterns or pattern switching. Most of the songs work in only a linear function which moves from left to right through a song which is restricted by time and patterns. Some don't even allow for you to insert and remove patterns in Somee and move playback position without skipping or jumping in the audio.
1. What type of music do you want to make?
2. What sorts of Venues will you be performing in (clubs, Venues, Cafes, House parties?)
3. How do you like to produce? (Are you hands on, or are you a visual person?)
4. How much do you plan on interacting with the Audience?
5. Do you like to sample or use synths?
6. How live do you want to get? Do you just want to trigger lines, or do you plan on just triggering percussion and playing all melodies live?
.
There are 3 basic approaches for gear setups. Laptop, All Hardware, and a Mixed setup. Laptop
Pros:
Everything is in one box
Very visual way to create music on
Very portable
Very flexible in terms of styles of music you can make
Cons:
Latency issues (even asio only gets down to 5ms at best)
CPU: more power costs a lot more money
OS stability is always a problem
Not interesting for the Audience
Very little hands on/real time control without hardware.
Not many "pro" software options for live performance Hardware
Pros:
Near zero latency
very hands on tactile control
has an "AWWW" factor for the crowd.
Gear is often times specialized
Cons:
Gear is often times specialized
Can become very large and Cumbersome
Midi Routing can become confusing
Most gear doesn't have good on-board Efx Mixed:
Pros:
Software interface with mixed gear
Very flexible for music styles
OS crash, can still run show on hardware
Cons:
Run into Driver/OS problems
costs of midi/audio ins/outs can run high. recommended Gear
Sequencer(one of the most important pieces)
Alesis mmt-8(only get used, pure midi sequencer no sounds)($100)
Yamaha qy-10(only used pure midi sequencer, about the size of a vhs tape)($100)
Yamaha qy-100(same as qy-10 but more features and new)($500)
EMU command stations (recently discontinued sequencer and expandable rompler)
Yamaha rm1x (sequencer and 5 part synth)($600)
Roland MC909(sequencer/synth/sampler good hands on control)($1400)
Yamaha rs7000 (sequencer/synth/sampler good hands on control)($1000) Samplers
Emu Racks/ Eseries samplers($500+)
Akai Racks($400+)
Akai MPC(good only for percussion/loops, Ill explain more below)($800+)
korg es-1($300)
Yamaha SU series ( $150-$450 loop sampler only)
Roland SP series ($250-$500 loop sampler only) Software:
Ableton live for complete setup.($350)
there's various midi only software sequencer out there that are free. Personal taste is best. Groove boxes (if you don't want a dedicated sequencer)
korg Electribes
Yamaha loopfactory series
Roland MC series Not recommended gear.
Akai MPC's as main sequencer or any ?production center? USB gear for a mixed setup. If you plan on using a mixed setup of hardware and audio I recommend using firewire. This will help decrease latency as much has possible between machines and allow for more audio channels to travel down the line if you need them Music studios: floops, Cubase, reason, etc etc.
The problem with these programs is that they do not work well with patterns or pattern switching. Most of the songs work in only a linear function which moves from left to right through a song which is restricted by time and patterns. Some don't even allow for you to insert and remove patterns in Somee and move playback position without skipping or jumping in the audio.
Ya know those days where everything seems to be happening in slow motion? You look at something and it just doesn't move, your body aches, its cold out, the sky is grey.
Yeah this is one of those days.
Its a great day to sit in and listen to some music. My recommendations for the day? Well my stuff of course anything with a slow chill I think would be good, its got the same speed this day is going at. If you got a good track give a comment as I can only listen to my own stuff so much.
Its a great day to sit in and listen to some music. My recommendations for the day? Well my stuff of course anything with a slow chill I think would be good, its got the same speed this day is going at. If you got a good track give a comment as I can only listen to my own stuff so much.
Since Im totally addicted to this thing now I might as well post a pic of myself and my girlfriend. We'll are we cute? My smile is awesome.
A beautiful rose pic my Girlfriend took while we were visiting the Arboretum one day. I can't believe how well this turned out.
A beautiful picture I found. Makes a great desktop. Im also playing with this picture program called hello.
an excellent review about one of my tracks "Classica #1" really made me feel good
Some of you may start thinking that I've been at the columbian smoooovies but let me assure that I haven't lol.
Let me just get this off my chest. This peice of music conjures up some strange images to me. Firstly, I see a face of a young woman but it's like it's from an old black and white movie. She is wearing a hat with flowers in it with little bits of her black curly hair dropping out. She is looking so innocent and is smiling at the camera. The image is like an old movie that is flickering. I can also visualise people dancing, again as if projected from an old movie but flowing from slow motion to staggered speed. I think the track stirs up images of a bygone era.
Very very soothing build up and a lovely finishing. Glides along very nicely. At first, the most prominent thing I noticed was the bass sound. It sounded so out of place yet as the track progresses, it melds so neatly into the background of the track. Very sublte and very clever.
I've done many a tracks in 2/4 (6/8) and I have always found them to have been most powerful.
Excellent track in my opinion. bluejooz thanks a ton man hats off to you. Reviews like this are what keep me going.
Let me just get this off my chest. This peice of music conjures up some strange images to me. Firstly, I see a face of a young woman but it's like it's from an old black and white movie. She is wearing a hat with flowers in it with little bits of her black curly hair dropping out. She is looking so innocent and is smiling at the camera. The image is like an old movie that is flickering. I can also visualise people dancing, again as if projected from an old movie but flowing from slow motion to staggered speed. I think the track stirs up images of a bygone era.
Very very soothing build up and a lovely finishing. Glides along very nicely. At first, the most prominent thing I noticed was the bass sound. It sounded so out of place yet as the track progresses, it melds so neatly into the background of the track. Very sublte and very clever.
I've done many a tracks in 2/4 (6/8) and I have always found them to have been most powerful.
Excellent track in my opinion. bluejooz thanks a ton man hats off to you. Reviews like this are what keep me going.
Ok well I'm in a ecstatic mood right now. My presentation for EMAC and livepa went so well. I really think the people liked it. If just one person gets into P.A. because of it I have accomplished my job.
The evening for me is going great. I'm just in such a good mood. Boo yah. I have a very busy week though. Exams...Exams...Oh and some more exams.
I highly recommend everyone read these two books. Call off the Wild and A River Runs Through It. 
Well Im quite pissed at the moment. Im venting. I went out of my way to come home for the weekend to see my girlfriend at her college at NIU. Friday night she went to the city to see an concert and saturday I was planning to head down to see her at her college. I went out of my way to try to get there as early as possible to see her and she cant make it back from the city. she missed the damn train. seriously. ya know i argued with my parents and famliy to leave early for this thing, and now ive been made a fool of in front of them.
I actually just got a new car today and of course i wanted rush to see her and show her my new car, take us out for a drive, and what does she do? she cant make it back in time. It should be a great day for me, I should be ecstatic but she cant plan ahead and try to make it back to see me.
Ya know apprently my efforts to come down to see her arent important enough. She has to go whiley and see a concert. After which she complains to me about how much money she is spending and how broke she is. She goes out 3 nites out of 7 during the week. I mean come on, does that sound like I should be sympathetic? Im working myself up into a fervor as I type. Im sure I'll calm down later, but right now ........grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
seriously she just drives me insane. I love her to death, but somtimes i just get so irritated that she cant think past her own personal desires of the moment. It just makes me feel as if Im not that important, as if Im second rate to her concert, her her night out with friends, or whatever it is that seems to be satisfying her little un-controlable urges at the moment.
Woot. First post on the new blog board for M.A.S. Man coding HTML is a bitch but its well worth it in the end. In all honesty this is actually just a templete. I cant handle the nasty CSS coding that blogger throws up.
anyways I will add more and more stuff to the blog as time allows. for right now my homepage is http://masproductions.co.nr thats where all the goodies are like my music and art and things of that sort. This is just the page for my mindless ramblings.
