Ableton Forum

hey guys.

funny but i can't find a topic that specifically is about how people start their liveset.

like, do you start with a beat that builds up.. and trow a bassline in, and build from there..
or do you have some huge intro, with sweeps and what not.
really curious.

d

I mostly start with a beat, then I jam some heavy guitars on it (Or a catchy synth/bassline)
Mostly it's the Chorus I start with, or just 'main riff'.
Then I build parts around it... back and forward.

Sometimes I just start with a guitar riff, or synth part and built beats around it.

Best tracks come at moments you just wanna experiment and don't force yourself to make a song.

Just my 2 cents.

do you mean liveset like when you play live? or just when you're making a song at home?

Assuming you're talking about gigging, I almost always start with some looping noise or texture sample and let it cruise for a bit before dropping the 1st beat.

There have been only a few times when I used the tap tempo and nudge up/down controls to attempt to mix out of the person before me but it was only so/so. I am used to doing this with serato via midi controller but with live I have not been able to get it spot on so I usually just default back to the "sound-design(ish)" type of intro. Also, This way people can get a small breather and it makes it Very apparent that a new person has taken over the booth.

Johnisfaster wrote:do you mean liveset like when you play live? or just when you're making a song at home?

yes i meant gigging.

me and my buddy are doing our first liveset together end of juli..
we want to make this massive epic kinda intro.. with a choir.. big drumhits, pads.. then abrubtly stop it and trow in a massive breakbeat.. or maybe a 4 to the floor..
we're working on it now.

sacrifice.
then maybe move in to a nice vamp in a major key.

we are usually doing this intro thing without beats.
with some nice or sometimes funny samples. the intro
is what changes most often in our set - it's something
where you can play around, get warm, check the monitoring,
have a look at the people... and if it is more a concert
setting the people get the opportunity to walk in and
"get ready to dance"...

when seeing other live acts i like intros where i can
smile because of a nice idea, it helps me to like the
people on the stage. i don't like to get punched
in the face the moment the live act starts, no matter
how hard the music gets afterwards...

well the beauty of it is that you get to do whatever you want to do. for a long time I started my live set with a track from nightmare before christmas "im sensing somethings in the wind, that says the tragedies at hand" and I would slowly bring reverb and delay over the track until it became a wall of noise, then I'd bring the first beat in behind it.

then for a bit I would start with bukowski spoken word which I'd glitch out and then add a beat behind it.

Personnaly, with sound.

Noise. Either white or something granular/digital. Then filter the shit out of it and add delay...aaaaand into the first song!

I would like to say everytime is different.

Sometimes I wanna jam with a vst instrument, after a while catch the good sound and there you go.

As you can start with beat or every rythmic fun you want.

I'm a moody person

I have a 64 bar intro I made, tons of bass and spinning lfo's and fx... that type of stuff. Then it fades into white noise so i can mix in anything after it with no hassle

I have no rules, it can be anything from fist in your face to a slow built up... Depends on mood and crowd, place and time circumstaces...

i like to start with a costume change.

I start by taking a good shit. Clear bowels are excellent for producing. Also, I make some of my best beats on the can.