This show I played last week...

ethios4 · Post by **ethios4** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 9:04 pm

AVIT Retreat 2005
About 50 miles west of Colorado Springs, 9000 feet up the mountains, we spent a week camping together, hanging out in a cabin studio, climbing mountains, shooting incredible video of sunsets, clouds, mountains, fire, water. A 30ft. geodesic dome had been built to perform in. We hung 3 hexagonal screens composed of 7 smaller hexagons each, plus 2 more full hexagon screens, all mounted in the top part of the dome. The bottom 8 feet of the dome was wrapped in spandex-like screen material. Speakers were suspended from the dome to achieve realtime 5.1 audio mixes.

When the sun went down Friday night, the projectors went on and the insanity began! Two psytrance DJ's threw down the sickest, most incredible psyrance I've ever heard until 2:30am. I played a fully improv set with Live4 from 2:30 til sunrise. Words cannot begin to express how awesome it was to perform in that environment. There was incredible realtime video mixing going on everywhere you look; and having someone turning a stereo mix into surround in realtime is awesome too! I can honestly say it was the most incredible show I've ever seen, and to have been a part of the performance is a great honor to me.

It was an audiovisual retreat organized via vjCentral, so it was all vj's hanging out. I was the only strictly audio guy there, which is great because I usually find video people much more fun to hang out with. I have been influenced by the vj community much more than the audio community from attending AVIT conferences, and my best friend being a vj. I really prefer the laid-back approach to mixing that I find in the vj community. I was really anxious about performing, considering the insanely well-produced psytrance that was playing prior to my set, and the extremely psy state I was in; but I came to realize that it wasn't about me, I am not the center, so it took the pressure of me and the set went very well. I didn't feel judged when I fucked up... it was all part of the mix, and we were all in it together. It wasn't about ego's that night, it was about everyone throwing down what they had, and everyone had a good time.

I was mixing audio clips in Live, with clip automation for stuttering the master output, and had setup MIDI clips for controlling a layer on Resolume running on my partner's computer. He can use the buttons on his UC-33 to trigger the clips on my computer, which then sends the CC's back to his computer. Also, I was sending MIDI clock to his V4 mixer.

So much happened that night, my brain gets scrambled just trying to put it into words. The best part of it was getting to spend a whole week with everyone that was performing, getting to know each other, bonding, letting the barriers come down... then coming together for a night of absolutely ecstatic AV jamming til the sunrise. A friend there asked me what my idea of the ideal gig would be.... last week was it.

Photos and a short video clip are up on our website....more to come later.

Peace!

hambone1 · Post by **hambone1** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 9:14 pm

I miss Colorado... what the f*ck am I doing here?

Really sounds like an awesome experience.

summersc2002 · Post by **summersc2002** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 9:54 pm

that sounds beautiful

inis · Post by **inis** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 9:55 pm

hey ham, im sick of colorado and really want to come to England. How bout we just trade lives for a while?

suburbanbather · Post by **suburbanbather** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 10:06 pm

I used to live in Aurora CO.

telekom · Post by **telekom** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 11:34 pm

go go go ethios it sounds awesome. If you've got any video then get it on here so we can all ogle...

debu_ · Post by **debu_** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 1:19 am

I'm currently in downtown Denver for the summer, but I'd much rather been in England.

I vj as well as create music

ethios4 · Post by **ethios4** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 3:12 am

There's a pre-Burning Man event, Apogaea, at the same site we were at, this weekend, using the same dome setup we used last weekend. It won't be quite as crazy a setup as AVIT, but I do know at least 4 of the vj's will still be there. It should be a great time, thats for sure! PM me if you want directions, or check out the Apogaea site for directions.