Playing live question....

I've really been thinking this over lately and need some insight...how do instrumental producers perform live at shows or concerts? Like it would be pretty damn boring from anybody's perspective being in the audience listening to instrumentalists perform. Like say I dont have MC's rapping over my tracks, and I'm also not a DJ. How would I keep the crowd from saying to themselves, "I like the guy's music, but Im not just standing here for 30 minutes, bored"." Like how do instrumentalists keep their performances exciting?

Especially since most of my music is downtempo-ish, I dont really see how I could get a crowd to jump or wave their hands n shit. I want people to listen and love my music, but not be bored out of their mind when I'm on stage.

Should I learn to DJ with Serato or mix some shit up live using Ableton or something? That's all I can think of, besides just hitting play on my MPC and stand there like an idiot for 4 minutes while my track's playing...

you know.. that is a dilema I am consistantly thinking about. I am in that exact situation myself. Basically... I dont spin using tables. I am currently using a laptop (untill I can budget in something) and a control surface. I trigger some very basic effects like doublers and things like that to sort of simulate some juggling. then I my music partner triggers effects using a kaoss pad... but it is usually over existing effect already on the songs so so he doesn't over do it. basically he makes it simple for me to do transitions between tracks... it also has some minor sampling so that can be used for certain songs.

also I am working on getting some live instruments on our sets. I did a small test just for fun the other day.... I took a couple of tracks and removed some parts (the lead for example) so my buddy could play guitar over it... and a track or two he played over just like that. the crowd was pretty surprized at the result of my buddy playing guitar over a jungle track we were playing. I was skeptical at how it would sound but once it happened it wound up sounding great. There was also a transition into another part of the song that is completely different. it is sort of a dubstep style beat with kind of a krunk rythm to it.. very experimental though. anyways my buddy was soloing in harmonics over it...

kind of neat but it could use some work.


My issue also is.. I would like to use the mpc for a bit more, but I have the loading issue (cant stop between songs) and also it would be very hard to do entire songs with only the mpc since my model has a lack of ram.

I am curious to know what people around here do. I think divinci is on the right track with 3 mpcs running at a time! lol.

I only switched to the MPC recently, and it was specifically because software doesn't feel natural for live performance to me (I mostly play with bands, and hardly ever play out doing anything electronic), so I'm approaching the stuff I've been doing on the MPC so far from the standpoint of using it live (and keeping it self-contained - if I use synths use on a track, so far I've sampled it and chopped that instead of sequencing it on the MPC, I want to be able to show up with the MPC and some cables and be set). I've been building my sequences in two layers, the underlying beat and then chops and so on that I could play live. I feel like you cn approach it kind of like standard a jazz tune, with a head and then a more broken down part in the middle where the rhythm section vamps while the soloists do whatever they do. If you have a finished track, maybe try making a different version with the main chops muted, and then play them live from the pads when you do a show. Start out playing them like the way they are in the finished version, and then change it up, improvise with them a bit, and then bring it back. Even if it's not the best thing you've ever done, it will engage people more because they'll be seeing you play the MPC as an instrument.

Of course, I'm a long way from playing out with this thing myself, so I'm just speculating.

Yeah, live performance is definitely a question mark for a lof of beatmakers, I'd say. For me, I think it is important to combine the beat making with more traditional performance instrumentation if I want to make a good show. I'd like to do a set combining beats of the MP with some pad performance or keyboard playing, while incorporating a guitar player, and/or poet and/or bassist, etc. I think that would make for a much more captivating audience experience than just sitting back and letting a tune play out off your sampler, right?

yeeah this totally my dilemma. turning from producer/musician to DJ never seemed so hard to me. i put a thread up on the MPC2000xl board about using it in an live setting, but only got a few responses.
i think using track mute and next seq is great on the 2kxl for live, but switching from one beat to another without silence in between is my problem. have a done a couple live shows, but would like to figure out a system where i can mix better.... right now i kinda feel like a "poser DJ."

as for making your set more entertaining i guess its all what you put into it. like start up your beat with a good intro then once you got in a good pocket or when it comes to a verse start throwing in some cool fills. i use note repeat in between some parts here and there. i have a few samples already set just to throw in at anytime. its all on how you make and how the vibe where you're playing is. i remember seeing orbital and they just stood there in front of two tables for the most part. same as chemical bros who are crazy button pushers, but people show for their music. then you got HIFANA from japan who put like dance moves while playing their MPCs (check them out on youtube. they seriously craaazy).

i want to get a KAOSS pad or maybe a KP-1 for effects and possibly another music source to switch from my beats. since im more a writer than an "on the fly" just doing everything all together seems overwhelming.

anyway, i feel yuh man. good luck!

Try and set up your tracks so that you're doing as much pad work as possible. This will allow you to remix your songs as you go along. The one thing that you want to avoid is pressing play on your MPC. I don't actually load the original beat files for live use. I go into my software and resample parts of the songs. This is great because you can turn 5 different hihats sequenced out into one pad hit for example. When you're resampling yourself, you can make the tracks as hard or easy as you want for live use. I've found that the more you do with your hands on the pads the more the crowd digs it. Also, crowds really like the note repeat button.
From shows I've been to where the acts are doing live downtempo (like sixtoo for example), lighting and visuals are heavily used.
When you're performing downtempo you can't expect the crowd to get actually hyped up. An audience member can be swaying slightly with their eyes closed and having a great time. The more you can create a mood the better. Take the audience with you, rather than wait for their approval.

a lot of what you can do live depends on the mpc you are using. like, there is no resample on the 2000xl (well there is a "resample" feature, but it isn't the same as on the new mpcs)

also, the ram limits you from loading a lot.


I sometimes wonder for people doing a lot of live stuff on the older mpc's such as the classic and xl... do they assign more drum loop type things to the pads and pre sequenced melodies? because a lot of beats are impossible to entirely play live.

I was watching some videos of people playing the pads live earlier tonight, and it got me thinking about sometime, maybe in the spring when I've had a lot more practice, getting a used MPD to use as a second set of pads on my MPC.

Glad to see people concerned with putting on interesting shows.

I use an mpc 2500 w/ jj os 2, a machinedrum uw, a doepfer modular with a 25 key midi controller, a microphone, a bass, a gameboy running LSDJ and a dj mixer. My partner just rocks ableton live and an apc40 controller.

The key i guess is supplementing the mpc. The JJ os lets you do some pretty cool performance stuff like beat juggling by assigning pads to different locater markers in the timeline and jumping around the sequence.

I have loops, sequences and programs that I mute and unmute so I can go back and forth between performing in realtime, mixing sequences or just letting shit ride and concentrate on other stuff. I also have a bunch of midi sequences I send out to my synths and solo toggle between them. I also send audio samples of LFO's generated at various quantized values and mapped to pads (1/4, dotted values, etc.) out to the modular for automation purposes (filter cutoff for the wobble effect, other stuff).

The output of the mpc goes to the machinedrum for resampling and manipulation. The mpc also triggers machinedrum sequences.

The modular acts as a big fx processor pateched into the dj mixer's fx send as well as a bass synth. I also run a mic and electric bass into it's envelope follower and control it that way. I also run the gameboy (which is synced to the mpc) into it as well for processing.

all of this goes into a dj mixer for fast cutting of sounds, eq manipulation and fx send control.

My partner does all of the fancy computer dsp stuff ( beatmashing, glitchy shit) and rocks long form samples I don't have room for in my mpc.

Sometimes we have mc's/ toasters and/ or visuals.

This all (usually) adds up to an interesting performance by looking pretty busy on stage and using strange, interesting gear. It's good to be doing something up there that equates a motion to a sound and have people wonder what the hell it is you're doing.

King_Vitamin wrote:Glad to see people concerned with putting on interesting shows.

I use an mpc 2500 w/ jj os 2, a machinedrum uw, a doepfer modular with a 25 key midi controller, a microphone, a bass, a gameboy running LSDJ and a dj mixer. My partner just rocks ableton live and an apc40 controller.

Are you syncing the Gameboy? If so, what are you using and how do you like it? I've been leaning toward the Arduinoboy interface, but I haven't actually built one yet.

yes. I built an early prototype arduinoboy. really easy build and lots of documentation available now. works like a charm.

so i "DJed" my first set last night.
i was going out of a cue mix CD player mixer. really didnt know how to use it, but it was pretty self explanatory. anyway, i was going to switch my beat from one to another using my mpc 2kxl and ipod. well, talk about learning the hard way. after the 2nd song my ipod straight out died on me. i had to ask the guy who was before me for a CD for in between loading my beats. so it was my eccletic hip hop beats and then james brown, back and fourth. didnt go the way i planned, but still cool experience. i recommend for the newbies playing thier beats live find a place thats like an open mic for DJs. more like a bar that just lets you play whatever you want. i thought that was good practice for me and i did get alot of good feedback even though i had shit go wrong.

one tip - NAME YOUR TRACKS AND SEQUENCES! this will help immensely if you you using track mute or next sequence!

mumkai wrote:so i "DJed" my first set last night.
i was going out of a cue mix CD player mixer. really didnt know how to use it, but it was pretty self explanatory. anyway, i was going to switch my beat from one to another using my mpc 2kxl and ipod. well, talk about learning the hard way. after the 2nd song my ipod straight out died on me. i had to ask the guy who was before me for a CD for in between loading my beats. so it was my eccletic hip hop beats and then james brown, back and fourth. didnt go the way i planned, but still cool experience. i recommend for the newbies playing thier beats live find a place thats like an open mic for DJs. more like a bar that just lets you play whatever you want. i thought that was good practice for me and i did get alot of good feedback even though i had **** go wrong.

one tip - NAME YOUR TRACKS AND SEQUENCES! this will help immensely if you you using track mute or next sequence!

++++1 on the naming tracks and seqs

but man, congrats that you still did the show even though your ipod died. you may not have had the perfect backup plan but you still kept a solid set with no empty/dead silence.
main moral there... bring back up gear. i always bring extra adapters, some cables, a few things here and there in case sh!t breaks. most often it is a cable that doesn't wanna work properly. every single even i hosted, something wound up happening that required a spare something. hell, even bring a mini screw driver set with you if you are doing a gig with your own PA.

I havent done this yet, but now that you can get used 1k's for about $350 on craigslist, why not try two 1k's and a dj mixer in between? Midi sync the two together, and make sure that all of your tracks are on BOTH. Then youve got one thats playing your beat, and youve got a program set up with your sample chopped to different pads. Loop the beat on the left, trigger the sample on the right. Once you are ready to move to the next beat, un-mute the track with the sample on it on the left MPC and load the new beat on the right. Keep passing it back and forth like that, with some keys or something thrown in where you can.

I guess I picture it being more like a traditional DJ setup, with MPC 1ks instead of turn tables. Sounds dope to me.

I've been doing dj gigs, what i usually do is have two turntables, and my laptop + mpd hooked up to a mixer..
I recently got a 2k so ill be using that instead of the laptop.
Play a few songs, prepare the mpc while the songs are playing, then do a short jam sesh.
Play my sequence, do some live chops on top and then do some cuts on the decks. then mix in a song and repeat.
Seems to work great, and i have alot of fun doing it.