Ableton Forum

It seems like techno producers are gettin lazy with their live sets. The music is all the same weekend from weekend. Not bad, not horrible, only average. DJ's no longer mix up their record selection and all the old tricks of the trade are overused. Why aren't there more people pushing the envelope of what a live techno or electronic music set should be? Today we have amazing tools to do the job. I'm hopeful that things will get back to how they were during the hardware era. Any thoughts?

It's those 'amazing tools' that makes everyone lazy - they automate almost everything we do; walk to the next town? car. Do the laundry? washing machine. Wash the dishes? dishwasher. Get off your fat ass and move a fader? Fuck that, automation!!!

I couldn't agree more. Automation is good in extreme applications but can also be a lazy way out in a live situation. I think more people should simplify their setup and only use the tools that they are comfortable with. Instead of dreaming of new gear I find myself dreaming of a simpler setup.

lazy people...

I've been once trapped in that all-automated-perfect-linear-boring live playing... but for now what I'm sure is that I don't want of this any more !!!

press play and fake... what a shame !

all those 'livers' seem so serious!

I don't think we have reached to some kind of limitation, but that we now can see the so-called 'musicians' limitations...

some are really able to improvise, get fun and give fun, but not anybody can buy some gear and say, 'hey, I switched to live playing', and really do it good and fun.

that's a fact, and so for DJ's glued to their playlist and totally out when they have to improvise...

I think we are easily trapped in the "perfect set" dream, and so forget to really have fun and experiment...

IMHO

Gotta go out on a limb...

because there is no audience.


nobody gives a shit.


every time performance is mentioned on this forum, a forum presumably for mostly electronic musicians, people are talking about what the performance LOOKS like.






ok, so actually i lied at the top of the post. There is an audience. There are people who give a shit. But it is a small slice. It's YOUR job, if you're one of us that gives a shit, to go out there and support the good stuff. And it's also your job to make the good stuff. so fuckin' get busy.






.lm.

A back to basics campaign would be great right about now. There needs to be more of a punk attitude in electronic music. Music is about expression and no music will be taken seriously if it becomes purely sterile. By basics I mean that people should focus less on perfection and focus more on having a sound with a little rough edges. Who cares about sound quality when the music is boring?

Tom Cosm & Pitch Black's manifesto respectfully submitted for your comment:




http://www.pitchblack.co.nz/?s1=downloa ... bletonlive

For the first half-hour, Tom takes you through the basics of getting a track out of any Audio/Sequencer software-of-choice and setting it up for live gigging inside Live. For the second half-hour, Mike and I demonstrate our no-looking-at-the-computers hardware setup, dub mixing in Live, and MIDI-triggered visuals.

Techno is boring and repetitive. News at 11.

Stop Press: Live electronica doesn't have to be.

JJarvis wrote:It seems like techno producers are gettin lazy with their live sets. The music is all the same weekend from weekend. Not bad, not horrible, only average. DJ's no longer mix up their record selection and all the old tricks of the trade are overused. Why aren't there more people pushing the envelope of what a live techno or electronic music set should be? Today we have amazing tools to do the job. I'm hopeful that things will get back to how they were during the hardware era. Any thoughts?

go to this:
http://collect.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu ... id=5299793
eatstapes (with adventure, and future islands - from baltimore) playing in san franshitheap, their hometown & your locale, on tuesday the 9th.

eatstapes - myspace
Adventure - myspace


You strike me as the lazy-shit type, so I've provided their myspace links.

Looks interesting Bounce. Just to be clear, I'm not just a techno guy. I'm actually commenting on the lack of innovation happening in this genre. These days I've retreated into the very open world of experimental music. Genres in general have always been a joke in electronic music. Remember all those weird micro genres that popped up in the 90's?

JJarvis wrote:Looks interesting Bounce.

considering your original post, I just shat you a solid gold nugget here. You better go to that gig or I will have one of my trans-atlantic cronies seek you out and administer some corrective brain surgery - a.k.a - several headbutts.

Yea I'll be sure to check that out bounce.

...and the coolest new feature of Live8 will be: excluded automation!