free improv jam

[rude_NHS]

http://soundcloud.com/rude_nhs/rude-nhs ... l-surface1

follow me if you like it and i'll make more.

[AceLuby]

Kind of all over the place. The beginning seemed off beat for some parts. The glitches around minute 8 and 11 were not appealing to me, so be careful on how much you use that effect. The drums seem to be either on or off which makes transitioning them in and out not sound that great, especially since there isn't a drop during these transitions. Which leads me to the biggest glaring flaw and that is the transitions. You need something more interesting to go from part to part.

Right now it sounds like somebody making loops and playing w/ them in a kind of random way. What you need to work towards is more structure and ways to transition from idea to idea. Hope this helps.

[rude_NHS]

not really.

[rude_NHS]

ok i listened to it again as it is a bit all over the place, but its free improv, i didnt really know where or what was gonna happen. thats what happens when you jam isnt it? the randomness is kind of intentional. i like the looseness and don't really want to keep thing too confined. its not really meant to be some smooth dj set. i dont really understand what you mean by transitions or lack of structure, guess we're not on the same page of 'the correct way to use ableton LIVE'

hers a visual representation of what i'm doing. this is equally as sloppy, but is completely live.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hU9rHkbsCh8


anyway, cant be everyones cake. i'll still think about what you said and thanks for listening.

[AceLuby]

ok i listened to it again as it is a bit all over the place, but its free improv, i didnt really know where or what was gonna happen. thats what happens when you jam isnt it? the randomness is kind of intentional. i like the looseness and don't really want to keep thing too confined. its not really meant to be some smooth dj set. i dont really understand what you mean by transitions or lack of structure, guess we're not on the same page of 'the correct way to use ableton LIVE'

hers a visual representation of what i'm doing. this is equally as sloppy, but is completely live.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hU9rHkbsCh8


anyway, cant be everyones cake. i'll still think about what you said and thanks for listening.

I think you misunderstand where I'm coming from. I'm a solo musician who uses live in a very similar manner, live improv looping. I was just trying to give some insight that has helped me connect with the listener better, because in the end that's what it's all about. I wasn't trying to say what you are doing is wrong, just that it could flow a bit better for the listener.

Some very simple things would be to add hi-hats as a separate loop so you can just cut the bass drum and have it not sound as drastic when you do so. Another thing would be to use effects (other than the chopper effect) to transition between ideas. Filters, delays, etc... to build up or have a huge drop. You have a ton of them as shown in that youtube video, I just think they could be done in a more controlled manner.

Overall I liked it and is probably better than anything I do when I do live improv.

[andrew_]

some great noises, especially the synth getting closer to the end, but i'd agree with the above in terms of structure. i know it's an improv and maybe that's all you want to go for but i feel like what you've got here could be tightened up and edited down into a great track.

[rude_NHS]

whether there are bad vibes or not, i took what you said on board and played around today experiementing with dummy clips on a summing track. drops certainly are a very hard thing to do in an improvised manner as they are so much more a studio technique then a dynamic live technique, but i did come up with some cool stuff, like triggering a beat repeaters grid size to increase over 16/32 bars, then using a dummy clip to automated a kill in volume then a sudden rise only on the snare beat. it feels good too.

also, i've been making my own kaossilator plugin inside ableton using a korg nano pad, a small maxforlive patch and the scale plugin, that way i can record new parts into empty clips and instruments with the volume down, knowing that they are going to come out in a way that works, then bring/mix them in without having to do the whole 'finding' the preset thing through the front of house.

i also went through the kick.snare channel and combed out all the ugly samples, replaced with ones that arent larey when dialed in suddenly. alot of this was all made kind of quickly, as i was realising that certain things were possible, i rushed into them without stopping to think about details.

i'm a terrible sucker for toys too, everything can and will have some sort of purpose. the korg nano pad is easily the best 30£ i've spent in years.

id be up for hearing live sets your doing aceluby, i'm always keen to hear people pushing live in a more performance/instrument based direction rather than a hi-brow djing/triggering direction or daw stuff...

[rude_NHS]

some great noises, especially the synth getting closer to the end, but i'd agree with the above in terms of structure.

this can and shall be remedied. there is always a way in that crazy session view.

[AceLuby]

id be up for hearing live sets your doing aceluby, i'm always keen to hear people pushing live in a more performance/instrument based direction rather than a hi-brow djing/triggering direction or daw stuff...

Well, I've got a show I'm playing on new years. I'll get a recording of it and post it here. I'm not promising a whole lot because it is going to be NYE and I will probably not be sober, but at least you can get a feel for what I'm doing. It's very similar to what you're doing, but w/ a bit of guitar and live bass thrown in the mix.

[rude_NHS]

It's very similar to what you're doing, but w/ a bit of guitar and live bass thrown in the mix.

sounds cool. i actually play guitar and bass too, been meaning to drop the whole looping thing into it for a long time, but as you say, the party gets the better of me and i end just playing badly. hence why i've been making an idiot proof setup...

yeah, i'd surely like to see how you get round the things we've discussed. always good to hear someone elses slant on things.