Hi all! So, I’ve got a pretty broad question here + i’m hoping for a S**T load of replies
Basically, i’m nearing completion of a full length album, which i’m generally pretty stoked with.. only, i’m thinking that i should probably have a live set worked out, or at least have some ideas on how to go about performing live. I have never played live and have NO IDEA about how to go about it  
It seems to be the general consensus(?) that Ableton Live is the most versatile and intuitive tool for live performances? So this is what I thnk i’m going to use, other suggestions welcome though! Ive read and re-read THIS awesomely informative post by Ott on how he does his live setup, and i’m thnking something similar, but, er, slightly less comlicated… I’ve had a little play around with Ableton and I’m loving the midi/controller flexibility but im having a bit of trouble working out how to use scenes??
So i guess I’ve got three questions really;

1) How flexible are peoples lives sets in general? i.e can i get away with just “chucking a CD on”, or should i spend more time working out some crazy auxs + routing possibilities for more of a creative flow?

2) Should i be using Ableton Live (i’m thinking 5 or 6 stem tracks..)? If so, any general tips? If not, what instead?

3) ANY + ALL general tips on live performances! annnnyhting you can think of!

Thanks!

Stay straight until you’re done! No beer even! Drink tea.

Here’s a reply on a topic on howdoes Simon do live sets. This author of this reply says how he does it.
http://www.twistedmusic.com/forums/viewthread/3773/#22138

Jahful - 19 June 2010 11:16 PM

Stay straight until you’re done! No beer even! Drink tea.

Yeah, thats some sound advise i guess…    I waaas thinking I might need a bit of dutch courage, i guess i’ll just have to bite down on sometihng hard haha

@ DiMuTech: Yeah, maybe RobRayle has got it right, keep things simple, at least to start with

(comment on his video: it would be so fun to play to an Ecstatic Dance crowd haha! look at all those flowing people!)

After you’ve had a few no problem, but for your first gig you want everything to go as smooth as possible…

All the sets i have played, have been “live” - ( me spinning my own stuff regularly, and anyone who attends it that way, gets my approval ) Idea of pringing synths worth several thousand euros along with laptop, audiocards and other toys is just too risky at this time - for excample, i could not afford any of my synths/studio equipment getting fucked up/stolen/etc.. so for now, i feel im better of just spinning my own stuff. And has anyone from the audience ever came up to me to bitch about that? no.

From my perspective, the important thingie is not the technicality and all the little tweaks ( which most propably only fellow musicians will notice ) - but the spirit and the presence of the dude/dudette behind the decks - i rather watch a guy who press the “play” button there, but totally takes the crowd on the controll and boosts the feeling of the fellow dancers than a technically superskilled machine whos almost like frozen and only checking that everything is in the perfect timing.

People listen the music, they dance, and if they look up to the djbooth, they see you, not the stuff you are doing on you laptop monitor. so give them something to watch. ^^

But thats just my opinnion.

Lunar vegetarian - 20 June 2010 11:32 PM

From my perspective, the important thingie is not the technicality and all the little tweaks ( which most propably only fellow musicians will notice ) - but the spirit and the presence of the dude/dudette behind the decks - i rather watch a guy who press the “play” button there, but totally takes the crowd on the controll and boosts the feeling of the fellow dancers than a technically superskilled machine whos almost like frozen and only checking that everything is in the perfect timing.

People listen the music, they dance, and if they look up to the djbooth, they see you, not the stuff you are doing on you laptop monitor. so give them something to watch. ^^

But thats just my opinnion.

I totally agree.  Doing live sets sometimes I bring little more than a laptop.  Basically my rule of thumb is if I don’t look like I’m into it then the audience certainly won’t.  Unless you already have a well established fanbase that knows all the tracks ahead of time, the best way to get a good reaction in my opinion is to guide the audience through example. For me this usually means just dancing my ass off like a fool. It is a performance after all!

*sorry, havnt been igoring thread, just uber-busy at the moment, got me a new job as a techie, which is sweeeeet but very CPU intensive ...

Yeah, I reckon I’m going to be dancing my tits off anyways as it would probably be the loudest I will have ever played my stuff (and I do thoroughly enjoy my own music haha) . But I do concur! Getting a good vibe is probably more important than fiddling trickery.

Think I might have to wait till I’ve got me a new laptop anyway, as I’m not 100% that this old thing wouldn’t randomly blue-screen at some inopportune moment…