The Results Of Saturday's Endeavor...
From the original Analog Industries archive. Some links and images from that era no longer resolve.
EDIT: I took out the Bandcamp player because it is slowing down the site in a nasty sort of way. Hit the image to go to the Bandcamp site and listen there.
I’ve just got done cleaning up the audio from the live PA I did on Saturday in Hollywood, and the audio is now on Bandcamp for pay-what-you-want-minimum-nothing. My original intention was to use the dual recording feature of the TASCAM DR-2d, and lay in the microphone audio in the background to lend a live ambiance to the recording, since live recordings of electronic acts sound pretty much like the un-live sort.
However, being me, I neglected to properly set the recorder up for dual recording before the show. The net result was that I tried to pull off what is a somewhat complex process in the space of about 3 seconds. The line feed part of the equation is, as you can hear, quite good. However, the microphone part suffered from the fact that I had the gain set to something on the order of +850dB or something. As a result, the mic recording sounds like I was playing an Atari Punk Console through a Rat pedal, so I pressed “delete” on that sumbitch and just put up the line recording as-is.
Aside from the various mistakes that are a result of performing live, and thus aren’t worth talking about, there is one small recording glitch in the middle of the first track. I was going to edit around it, but I couldn’t really get the edit sounding right, so I just left it. It’s live. It’s digital. It is what it is.
On a personal note, this is the first (and so far only) time I’ve performed a strictly electronic show without pre-recorded backing tracks. In all candor, I was fairly uncomfortable, as I’m used to having pre-memorized a set-in-stone arrangement and every timing nuance, whereas here, on top of the normal performance aspects, I also have to control the arrangement in real time. I’m sure this sounds somewhat silly to those of you who have used Live for most of your performances, but it is a relatively late addition to my arsenal, and it is, as it happens, quite difficult to teach an old dog (e.g. me) new tricks (i.e. Live.)
But that said, after some more time in the woodshed, I’ll get the knack of it, I’m sure.
9 comments
Looking fwd to listening. How was the set received?
Just bought it and listened to it with the wife. Nice stuff. But, the sample on Groove Modulation? From the originator of Grindhouse, I expected better. What happened to "thou shalt smash thy VCR"? Tsk tsk.
-William
Not really a sample so much as a remix. Every sound in that song but the synthy shit and the Tattoo part is from that same original source.
Besides, I do what I want. Try and stop me.
-CR
Chris, Great live set you did.
If you're ever around Atlanta you should see about playing at Citiskies. It is the only live electronic music series that I know of that has been sustained for a significant amount of time. People there play live electronic music of all sorts. Lots of local talent there but also some better known national acts. The guy who runs it always records everyones set with an open SM58... Check it out http://cityskies.com/ . Archives are packed with sets and pictures.
Well done Chris - sounds great.
Out of curiousity, did people actually dance to your set? Or was this more of a foot-tapping pedant shuffle crowd?
They danced during the danceable bit (the end of Trans Four and all of Skeeter.) Or a couple did. I couldn't really see anyone from the stage, as the lights were very much in my eyes.
Hard to dance to a 90bpm track with a scattershot beat, though. Or tap your foot, for that matter.
-CR
I can tap my foot and bob my head to anything.
Even Merzbow...
-William
I'm swaying back and forth like an underwater plant. Does that count?
Comments are closed on this post.