From the studio to the stage...

Whats goin on everybody,

I need some advice on a way of composing tracks in the studio that would be friendly to performing live using my mpc.

My setup is basicly my 2500, dsi evolver, some non midi synths, controller, decks and my powerbook and interface.

If i start a beat on the mpc sequenced w/ samples from the mpc they always end up itb for processing, mixing etc. and i am left with my finished track as a stereo WAV. (as i'm sure most of of us do)

My problem is devising a way to get those tracks back to the mpc for playback in a more creative way than just hitting play and toggling the track mute button.

Should i sample into my DAW and just use the mpc for sequencing then make a program for those mixed and mastered samples and bounce that back to the mpc using the sequence data i already wrote? or rechop my finished track and load this in a creative way?

How are you guys going about this?

great question. i'll have to answer it to tell you how i do things, and hopefully you can adapt it.

i master my track, break it back down into individual wavs, and kind of create a "live set" out of it.

some melody/drum/bass waves are controlled on my mpc on a pgm, usually all on the first pad bank. most of these are 4 bars, besides oneshots. hats/additional light percussion is triggered

all melody samples are controlled on my sp404, midied to my mpc and controlled with both. most of these are 8 bars so i have time to tweak effects. rarely do i control oneshots from my sp404 via a dedicated SP404 program per song.

for live stuff, i program most of my kicks and snares to endlessly loop. 4 or so different patterns will be rendered to go on for like a minute. these are triggered from turntable via scratch live. scratch live also controls melody sometimes, for when i want to do live drumming via mpc.

when i perform instrumentals, it's not a set song i'm doing. i basically play adaptations of the instrumental, triggering in stuff when i feel like it, dropping stuff out when i feel like it.

very difficult, but pretty damn fun once you get the hang of it.

hopefully this helps. the same can be done minus extra equipment via 2500.

i['m gonna have to bump this.

although you would get basically the same answer here as you would in the 2500 section, but since you stated you have a 2500, i am going to move this to that section. (for forum integrity purposes only)

and hopefully people will take it more seriously here than my brethren in the 1k forum



live beats is most definitely something hip hop needs to work on in live concerts.

Ableton live, used with control surfaces and the MPC pads is a very powrful and incredibly flexible way of making that transition.

I stopped using my hardware live.
I drop everything down to Cd's and use Pioneer CDJ's live.

Sequenced stuff is pretty much the same thing as a CD track (unless your tweaking stuff live AND the crowd actually gives a damn)

sparq wrote:although you would get basically the same answer here as you would in the 2500 section, but since you stated you have a 2500, i am going to move this to that section. (for forum integrity purposes only)

I guess i should have left that out!
The 25k forums are still a little wet behind the ears and the 2 machines are so similar i figured i'd get a better response here.

Thanks Antonym, that helped me quite a bit.

ive been waiting on this since i have a lot of thoughts,,
(ive got a 1k plus evolver and use em live)

but heres a few::

1. bring the small evolver with you so you can jam out live licks to accompany your track

1a. leave your original midi trax for controlling the evo so you can tweak the evo knobs while the riff plays

2. redo the 'indiv out' assignments on every track in your 1k into a 3 channel scheme like:: drums, bass, everything else, then run from the indiv outs to an analog mixer, that way you can quickly control the level of the bass etc to adapt to your live sound situation.

3. for live remixing, just mute a given track then 'manually play' the drum pattern off pads in that track, but do a fill or whatever. then unmute the track again.

4. for #3, if all your track does is play one big audio loop, then go to bank B and make a chopped up version of the loop. that way you can mute the track,, play a manual fill and then kick in the loop again.

5. play with the realtime sliders in tune and filtercutoff mode for dj type tricks.

6. like #5 but more specific, i wanna hear more people do a pseudo 'scratching' routine like this:: get 2 pads going where each slider controls the realtime pitch of 1 pad. MAke one pad a normal sample and one the reverse of that sample. make the pads note on. play on the pads and sliders. I do it for my friends and impresses them, but i havent busted it out in public, yet..

anybody else?

prospect wrote:AND the crowd actually gives a damn)

now there's a whole different discussion.

live beats is most definitely something hip hop needs to work on in live concerts.

Live beats is not something all hip hop acts need. Some artists can perform well with live musicians..others sound horrible. Most of you were not listening to hip-hop or going to the concerts when the hottest hip-hop performers ruled. Many of them came on stage with few or little props, a DJ and some dancers. LL, Big Daddy Kane, BDP, Public Enemy, and RUN-DMC put on shows back in the day that know one today has come close to.

Now the Roots...they are tight with a band because they are a band.

jahrome wrote:

Antonym wrote:live beats is most definitely something hip hop needs to work on in live concerts.

Live beats is not something all hip hop acts need.

I take it he meant "live beats" in terms of performing your drum machine/sampler/effects etc. live on stage, rather than playing live instruments. But correct me if i'm wrong.



Stilo.

Yeah i was reffering mostly to sequence playback but both are important to me even though i forgot to add anything about live drumming.


keep it goin.