Is this performance done with Live?

divisional · Post by **divisional** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 1:45 am

Imogen Heap:

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/924318/im ... rformance/

It looks like Ableton Live to me on her laptop, but what the heck interface is that? I am new to Live, but I would love to wrap my mind around this... thanks all, and Happy Holidays.

nowtime · Post by **nowtime** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 1:48 am

It looks like she's using the Eectrix Repeater.

Machinate · Post by **Machinate** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 1:51 am

yep, the laptop is just there for some other tracks, I guess. This is all Repeater.

j2j · Post by **j2j** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 1:52 am

thank you for pointing out the most annoying sound in the world today

divisional · Post by **divisional** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 2:09 am

I thought it was rather cool.

nowtime · Post by **nowtime** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 2:30 am

The Repeater is VERY cool. I think he might have been referring to the shrillness of her voice.

divisional · Post by **divisional** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 2:35 am

thanks everyone... i have been reading about "Repeater 2" which looks to be coming out in Early 2008 - looks really interesting and fun!

Dominik · Post by **Dominik** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 3:10 am

nice video but i really wonder how it's possible to cut all the noises around ,during recording.
she was moving her had allot but for recording you need to sing directly into a microphone.
that seems a bit strange to me.

divisional · Post by **divisional** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 3:31 am

I think the type of microphone used would effect how well you could pull this off...

Dominik · Post by **Dominik** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 4:13 am

divisional wrote:I think the type of microphone used would effect how well you could pull this off...

which microphone can do this?

if she would use a gate.wouldn't it cut the lower parts of her voice. moving the direction of a head is similar.

dj superflat · Post by **dj superflat** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 4:41 am

this is very easy to do in live, she's just muting tracks she's laid down, doesn't matter whether loops in repeater or tracks in live, etc. (that is, she doesn't even have separate sections/scenes/loops, whatever you want to call them). and someone who knows how to sing, and sings with enough volume, can easily overcome background noise (she's moving her head around so that volume stays fairly constant, called mic voicing, there's no milli vanilli here).

nowtime · Post by **nowtime** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 5:57 am

dj superflat wrote:this is very easy to do in live, she's just muting tracks she's laid down, doesn't matter whether loops in repeater or tracks in live, etc. (that is, she doesn't even have separate sections/scenes/loops, whatever you want to call them). and someone who knows how to sing, and sings with enough volume, can easily overcome background noise (she's moving her head around so that volume stays fairly constant, called mic voicing, there's no milli vanilli here).

Yes, except for 2 facts; One - she would need headphones to first give her a click track, and that would muss up her hair

and more importantly - Live does not do audio overdubbing. Her third melodic phrase/overdub "just for now" ties everything together because it overlaps the end of one phrase and the beginning of another. You can't loop like that in Live. It cuts off. It would in Live if she sang the first phrase, quickly cut and pasted it 2 times, then on another track she could "sing over" the loop point. If Live had a MULTIPLY button to do that instantly , it would be cool.

Another cool thing about audio overdub is what she does on Track 3 of the Repeater with the "ayyy oooh ayyy" riff and snapping her fingers. By letting it overdub a few times, it gives it a slightly sloppy/human feel and really thickens up the sound. You could do that in Live too, but it would take 3 or 4 tracks just for that one riff in order to achieve the same feel.

More about the need for a Repeater-type looper with audio overdub in this thread;

http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic. ... highlight=

solovox · Post by **solovox** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 6:59 am

After watching the video, my two cents is that she's doing everything with the Repeater...but she's got Live open running a DirectX shell with Auto-Tune. I'm sure she's an amazing singer, but there is something very fishy about the sound and formants of her lead vocal...it sounds like Auto-Tune to me...

dj superflat · Post by **dj superflat** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 6:09 pm

yes, i recognize the benefits of real sound on sound looping, am in all those other threads pushing for it. but why buy the hardware when mobius does all that and more, and is free? and you can still pretty much do everything she did using only about 6 tracks in live, then muting as you reach various parts.

as for the vox, what's fishy about it? haven't you ever seen someone who can actually sing? i know it's rare these days, but there really are people with decent pitch, control, etc. put another way, nothing she did struck me as something a competent singer can't do. (doesn't mean there may not be some fx, doubling (rough) gives a certain chorused feel, etc.).

dj superflat · Post by **dj superflat** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 6:14 pm

one other thing -- she's obviously listening to or watching a click. there's no way the first "just for now" she sings just happens to be exactly the length of her clapping loop (she couldn't listen to the just for now and realize exactly how long to clap for it to be X measures). so it's either in ear fones (the obvious choice, but it's hard to tell) or she's watching the blinking light. so this really could be done in live (put click in your headfones, record just for now on track one, record just for now on track two, record claps on three, record bass on four, solo bass and sing live and clap over it, unmute just for nows and keep singing, etc.).