What Do I Sound Like?

Drift Spaceman · Post by **Drift Spaceman** » Fri Aug 19, 2011 4:46 pm

I don't know if this is the right forum, but this is driving me a bit nuts.
I have been trying to figure out a "genre" that I can "classify" myself as so I can find other bands to perform with.
My website is: http://www.driftspaceman.com/
Video can be found here: http://vimeo.com/24827594
One man band using Ableton live with the FCB1000 footswitch. The only elements I don't create myself are the beats.
Thanks, and if this in the wrong spot, just move me.

AceLuby · Post by **AceLuby** » Fri Aug 19, 2011 5:18 pm

Drift Spaceman wrote:I don't know if this is the right forum, but this is driving me a bit nuts.
I have been trying to figure out a "genre" that I can "classify" myself as so I can find other bands to perform with.
My website is: http://www.driftspaceman.com/
Video can be found here: http://vimeo.com/24827594
One man band using Ableton live with the FCB1000 footswitch. The only elements I don't create myself are the beats.
Thanks, and if this in the wrong spot, just move me.

If you want to play w/ bands I wouldn't recommend trying to put a specific electronic genre around what you're doing. I know people hate this term, but I'd just label it as electronica. You've got a really good sound there, so I would bet you could get on w/ some bands pretty easily.

May I ask how you're doing it? Seems to be a mixture of backing tracks and live playing. It works really nicely.

Drift Spaceman · Post by **Drift Spaceman** » Fri Aug 19, 2011 6:20 pm

Thanks man!
I drop beats into Ableton and just start playing along with them. I'll add a bass track either by playing the bass or using my Alesis Micron, then I'll add guitar parts which I'll loop or distort/filter in some way.
Each pedal on the FCB1000 is a track in Ableton and I switch between tracks which are parts of the song.
I usually say I am electronic/prog because of the beats and my like for the synth sounds of 70's prog bands.

AceLuby · Post by **AceLuby** » Fri Aug 19, 2011 7:17 pm

Drift Spaceman wrote:Thanks man!
I drop beats into Ableton and just start playing along with them. I'll add a bass track either by playing the bass or using my Alesis Micron, then I'll add guitar parts which I'll loop or distort/filter in some way.
Each pedal on the FCB1000 is a track in Ableton and I switch between tracks which are parts of the song.
I usually say I am electronic/prog because of the beats and my like for the synth sounds of 70's prog bands.

Can you explain the 'drop beats into ableton' part a little more? Are they audio tracks you make or find, or scenes or...? I'm really intrigued in what you've got there, it's interesting. Are you mixing in some live looping as well?

Drift Spaceman · Post by **Drift Spaceman** » Fri Aug 19, 2011 7:35 pm

I'll either make beats in Reason or find them online, usually in mp3 or wav format. More often than not its two or three beats combined to make new beats.
I set those as loops in Ableton in session view then add other loops like guitar/bass/synth/etc.
I play the lead guitar, or on one song, lead synth over the tracks as they play triggering them with a footswitch.
If you check out the video you won't see the laptop display, but you can see me triggering with my feet and playing guitar.
I don't play guitar through Ableton live, I do play using delay though, so there is an element of "live looping" just not through Ableton.
Does that explain better?
I would love to know if I sound anything like some other band, just to get a sense of what my music is similar to.

A!R!K · Post by **A!R!K** » Sat Aug 20, 2011 3:02 am

I agree, you have a good sound going, but sorry cant recommend similar bands/groups. The pedal implementing is a cool approach and something I wanted to experiment with as well. Is it possible to play a progrmand sound from Live via electric guitar and pedals(if desired) and record the midi back into live like a midi controller?

AceLuby · Post by **AceLuby** » Sat Aug 20, 2011 4:55 am

Drift Spaceman wrote:I'll either make beats in Reason or find them online, usually in mp3 or wav format. More often than not its two or three beats combined to make new beats.
I set those as loops in Ableton in session view then add other loops like guitar/bass/synth/etc.
I play the lead guitar, or on one song, lead synth over the tracks as they play triggering them with a footswitch.
If you check out the video you won't see the laptop display, but you can see me triggering with my feet and playing guitar.
I don't play guitar through Ableton live, I do play using delay though, so there is an element of "live looping" just not through Ableton.
Does that explain better?
I would love to know if I sound anything like some other band, just to get a sense of what my music is similar to.

Very Lotus like, though they are a full band. STS9 and Particle to a lesser extent. Really good stuff. I'd try to get w/ the jam band market, summer rock festivals, and as a last resort the DJ market. Shit's good.

Drift Spaceman · Post by **Drift Spaceman** » Sat Aug 20, 2011 8:47 pm

AceLuby wrote:
Drift Spaceman wrote:I'll either make beats in Reason or find them online, usually in mp3 or wav format. More often than not its two or three beats combined to make new beats.
I set those as loops in Ableton in session view then add other loops like guitar/bass/synth/etc.
I play the lead guitar, or on one song, lead synth over the tracks as they play triggering them with a footswitch.
If you check out the video you won't see the laptop display, but you can see me triggering with my feet and playing guitar.
I don't play guitar through Ableton live, I do play using delay though, so there is an element of "live looping" just not through Ableton.
Does that explain better?
I would love to know if I sound anything like some other band, just to get a sense of what my music is similar to.
Very Lotus like, though they are a full band. STS9 and Particle to a lesser extent. Really good stuff. I'd try to get w/ the jam band market, summer rock festivals, and as a last resort the DJ market. Shit's good.

Wow, thanks! Those bands are definite influences for sure.

vincentlepes · Post by **vincentlepes** » Sun Aug 21, 2011 2:46 am

How about jamtronica? I hear this moniker used for bands like Sound Tribe Sector Nine, EOTO and Disco Biscuits who improvise electronic music live using Ableton and other software. If you haven't heard of them, give them a listen, they are very similar to what you're doing. Sirius has a show that showcases them called Jamtronica and the name has kinda stuck in the scene.

Cool stuff by the way, I'm working on doing something similar myself

.

mojofunk · Post by **mojofunk** » Sun Aug 21, 2011 10:50 am

Hi! Sounds great - I think that a Drift Spaceman and The Freakness show would be awesome! I couldn't tell from your site where you are located though (and I just noticed that we're guilty of the same thing on our site!). The Freakness calls it's music space-porn music, or jazztronica. Hippies, freaks, weird girls, and musicians seem to enjoy it. Check out our site, and some music (I love the Micron too)- http://www.thefreakness.com . Keep jammin!

aisling · Post by **aisling** » Mon Aug 22, 2011 1:15 am

really enjoyed listening. Kind regards in continued creativity and musical inspiration

Drift Spaceman · Post by **Drift Spaceman** » Wed Aug 24, 2011 9:29 pm

mojofunk wrote:Hi! Sounds great - I think that a Drift Spaceman and The Freakness show would be awesome! I couldn't tell from your site where you are located though (and I just noticed that we're guilty of the same thing on our site!). The Freakness calls it's music space-porn music, or jazztronica. Hippies, freaks, weird girls, and musicians seem to enjoy it. Check out our site, and some music (I love the Micron too)- http://www.thefreakness.com . Keep jammin!

Hey man, I'm from the Boston area, so far enough away but not on opposite coasts.

Drift Spaceman · Post by **Drift Spaceman** » Wed Aug 24, 2011 9:32 pm

vincentlepes wrote:How about jamtronica? I hear this moniker used for bands like Sound Tribe Sector Nine, EOTO and Disco Biscuits who improvise electronic music live using Ableton and other software. If you haven't heard of them, give them a listen, they are very similar to what you're doing. Sirius has a show that showcases them called Jamtronica and the name has kinda stuck in the scene.

Cool stuff by the way, I'm working on doing something similar myself .

Well, I'm tagging my stuff with "jamtronica". I listen to those bands listed, but never thought to look at what they are tagging their stuff with, and when you browse Archive.org you see they are using that description.

Here is a link to my show last Saturday:
http://www.archive.org/details/DS2011-08-20

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