#41

20 instruments, 1 minute?

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#42

Sheesh this is a tough one. Every show is so different. Much of the advice here is right on. @zebra’s comment sums it all up: keep it simple. One instrument: fewer things can go wrong; 20 minutes: leave them wanting more.

#43

This is gold…

5 Likes
#44

I haven’t played live in a number of years, but one piece of advice that has stuck with me was this, “Don’t apologize”. As in reference to a mistake you know or believe you made in your performance, or in advance to the audience of the skill, or lack there of you think you may have. Certainly it can make sense to apologize if you show up late, or turn something on and the speakers go “POP!”, but other than that, don’t apologize!!!

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#45

If you want to bring all the things mentioned in this thread, hire a moving company! :sweat_smile:

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#46

Agree with most of what has been said… Practise as much as you can… I always base a live set on Ableton / Push and Midi keyboard… Always have lots of little bits programmed in so I can take the sound any a number of different directions. Also I like to leave little bits on my set to give myself a few secodns moment to compose myself - e.g have a sound that might have a nice tail or a loop which bubbles away in background - you can kill all sounds and leave something there to give yourself a few seconds to drink water or just compuse your self. Bringing the merch is worth it. I’ve brought all my released stuff to gigs I’ve played. After my Cambrdige gig two blokes came up and were so excited by my sounds, bought aroudn £50 of my music between them so then I went and bought them a beer each!

4 Likes
#47

I’ve never heard this articulated before, and it is so true. Good advice!

#48

I perform live with only a modular synth. Rather than repeating the great advice given I offer these suggestions:

  • Get a small LED light that can help you see your equipment in the dark. I find with modular, no matter how well you know it, finding a knob or jack can sometimes be difficult in the dark.
  • have one drink, it helps mellow me out a little. If it is a few hours before I play, I might have two, but never more than two.
  • transitions on the modular are probably the most common difficulty. Invest time and maybe money in utilities that allow you to accomplish this. Switches, mixers, mutes, tools that allow you to bring in and out parts. Do not underestimate the power of mixing for performance, the absence of sound is just as powerful and the presence of it.
  • mistakes happen, often, but the audience does not usually know what happened was a mistake. If you make a mistake, repeat it, then repeat it again, then it becomes music.

break a leg.

6 Likes
#49

Well done! You are taking a step to one of life’s most rewarding things. I have played tons of shows all over the world - My advice in 8 steps is:

  1. to try and find the right place to play at first. Is there a modular community where you are? These wonderful people will support you. Playing in the right venue is crucial to enjoying it and it working.

  2. try and figure out what you want from it? Is it to do something technical and impressive? Like the way a jazz gig works, but modular? Or is it for the crowd to have an amazing time? It’s sounds funny, but how you approach it can radically alter what you actually do onstage. I’ll elaborate, making it super hard for yourself doesn’t often increase enjoyment for anyone.

  3. practice - a lot! The brain activity when you are learning centres around the front, however when you have mastered some music, the activity transfers to the back of the brain. This makes it feel effortless and you enter what The psychologist Csikszentmihakyi calls flow. If you are well rehearsed, you can focus on the audience and enjoying it - which makes for a much much better show for everyone.

  4. it’s a show! It’s entertainment! It’s the audiences time-our. As much as music means the world to us, to everyone else, they are taking time out to enjoy themselves, it’s really worth remembering that.

5)enjoy it! The crowd will love it so much more if you do.

  1. 2 is 1 and 1 is none! Take a backup of everything where possible.

  2. play a gig before the gig, even if it’s in a friends living room. It gets you used to setting everything up and playing in the here and now.

  3. fail forward! if you feel that it didn’t go well, reflect but don’t beat yourself up. Most major sportspeople have lost matches, it makes them better. Plus, these kind of shows makes very funny stories later on. And it could be worse right, we could be trying to best and up comedians!!!

  4. be diligent with the pack down. You don’t want anything to get lost or stolen as you want to play again right? And don’t Leave things in cars.

Hope that helps! Have a great one. :slight_smile:

4 Likes
#50

Some absolutely priceless advice in this thread, there’s very little more I can add.

Small things that I find useful - visit the venue a few weeks before, catch a show there, see and hear what the room is like, speak to the sound tech if possible. If you’re drinking during your set (coffee, water, beer, whatever) keep it hidden out of view. If anyone takes photos (and I’d encourage friends to do that) it just looks weird and distracting having a bottle or can in shot. Final bit of advice - bring people to the gig. If a promotor knows that with you playing they will get another 4 or 5 people through the door you are more likely to get other slots.

1 Like
#51

The “50% more stupid rule” really is a great way to put it, and it definitely is true in my experience!
This reminds me that – depending on the complexity of what you want to do – one very useful thing to do can be working on some “structure scores”.
Basically something that outlines the structure of your performance, adding info about key moments/settings/transitions, etc.
I usually also note down any initial setup that I need to perform to get all the machines in the proper state.

They usually look something like this:

unsinnig@3x-80.jpg2527×1786 439 KB

as posted on the discussion Performing Modular Live

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#52

That looks stunning…

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#53

Keep in mind that modular music is experimental and often improvisational, and so people tend to be more forgiving and not even notice or care much about mistakes.

In a live band with songs, when people forget their parts, it’s worse. If equipment malfunctions, it can ruin the set completely. Whereas with modular, you’re generally controlling a few parts and can afford to lose a couple voices. Not likely that your power supply or sequencer is going to give out mid-set, but old amps and guitar strings are unpredictable that way.

If you’re doing melodic music, invest in a tuner, and use sine or other simple waves to tune.

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