Preparing a live set. To stem or not to stem

[The Empireal Formula]

hey guys..... im experimenting on preparing a live set for my original tracks. Im debating on whether to stem out my tracks (like the way Nosaj thing performs) or just do mashups of the beats in a single file "mp3/WAV" (similar to the way thavius beck performs)... Im looking for flexibility but yet still easy to manage but the main thing im looking for is to have the performance different every night and not the same set over and over.

Im currently trying out the stem method. using my launchpad 8x8 grid, 1-4 is my "deck A" with stems: (Drums,Bass,Keys,Vocals). and tracks 5-8 is my "deck B" with the same stem layout. and i basically just mix like a normal dj mixer but having access to my different elements in the track. This is great way and has alot of flexibility but so far i find myself playing the set the same way and i just end up playing my songs straight through without much improv.

this is a vid of Nosaj Thing explaining his set: with this video the stem method seems to be beneficial.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrXbOXTl_6A

or im also debating on trying the thavius beck way:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G76Q9_S4MdA

he basically has his beats in a wav or mp3 format along with drum loops and accapellas. Although this way you wont have much flexibilty with the different elements in each track but you can mix and mash your tracks on the fly and as far as track order it will be different everynight so you can engage your audience more as to what they want.


SOOO...... what do you guys think? which way do you guys roll? and which way would you recommend?

[ineedinfo]

Well, i think its fairly obvious to say you need to figure out which one works for you best, id say actually try both sets out live so you can get a better understanding of how each approach will work in a particular setting or scenario and see which one allows you to get the results your looking for not only for yourself but for the audience!

[pepezabala]

You should try to think about what you actually want to do live. You want to dub-mix your songs? Then you need stems, return channels with efx and a controller. You want to tweak synths live? Then you need midifiles and instruments. You want to DJ? Then you need mastered tracks. You want to improvise? Then you need a crate full of samples and instruments at hand.

I found that for some songs I need only a mastered playback and will sing over it. Then there are other tracks (mostly the ones I never really finished) that I want to rearrange live, so I need stems split into clips for each part of the track.