Playing LIVE MODULAR to a BACKING TRACK!
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- Опубліковано 1 чер 2024
- In today's video I breakdown my rig for live performance and discuss the my controversial decision to include a backing track in my set! Yes, here at The Unperson HQ we're not afraid to tackle the big moral and ethical questions of our time.
CONTENT
0:00 - Intro
2:48 - Long in the Tooth
8:21 - Rig Breakdown
16:08 - Outro
#eurorack #synth #livemusic #electronicmusic
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Really good soundwork as always. 👌What are your favorite Filters?
Great track. There’s no extra prizes available for making things difficult for yourself. Most people just want to hear your musical creations. If you’re going for heavily effected vocals I can recommend the Perform-VE pedal which does lovely harmonies if you send it midi. Same thing goes with using that for a bit of pitch correction too. I can sing well enough but use it cos I love the sound but also cos it reduces stress for a performance, so I can be more confident and playful. The end result is all that counts for most of your audience
Actually someone else recently recommended Perform VE too ~ I’m definitely gonna look into it!
@@TheUnperson Jeremy red means recording did a fun video overview of it. I did a couple of tracks with it a while back like this one ua-cam.com/video/NKY2-1r4CAY/v-deo.html
Here's a perspective from a member of the ModWop crew in MN; almost all of us basically dj our own tunes between 2 eurorack samplers. a computer is a computer weather it can browse the web or serve a very specific function. it's your music and there are no rules EXCEPT to have fun.
good luck with your set!
I agree with most of the comments here, not cheating at all and I think that you've got plenty that you are doing live already. The backing track could just be samples on drum pads and then sequenced, just like you do with a drum machine anyway. Also, appreciate you walking through your setup today.
i met you yesterday woo! hello!
i don't think "cheating" even exists, it's all a search to find whatever process works for you at that moment. as always this sounds absolutely captivating, the singing-as-texture adds so much. you could absolutely back off the reverb
Cheating in this case is a term for describing what happens when you mislead. Like when you go to a concert and find out the vocalist was lip syncing the whole time. Or a DJ is playing completely prerecorded mp3
Was lovely to meet you on Saturday!
Exactly, or hiding a laptop under a table which heard recently someone did at a modular event haha!
@@TheUnpersonwere they trying to hide it??
@@TheUnperson Could it have been a VCV rack thing? Or were they full on Milli Vanilli?
I love it, ali!! in the best imaginable way, it gives me late 60s pink floyd feelies. them's real good feelies!! & having prepared material is beyond legit.
thank you! Definitely 60's inspired :D
Excellent stuff mate, the track is great and the backing track is still your work, no cheating of any sort.
They best thing with working with eurorack is you can do whatever you want or can imagine. The worst part of eurorack is the mind bending "in-ap" purchase prices.
The whole thing about eurorack and modular synthesizers is that you can mold it into any shape or form you want It to be. In its core modular is...... well modular. Building blocks you can use in whatever way you like. That is what I find one of the most beautiful things about modular synthesis. People find a thousand different ways of using it and to implement it in their music and performances.. No rules, just your creativity. The song sounds amazing and you created it, you can perform its any way you like. Good luck with the performance!
Interesting video, music, & setup you have. I like your relaxed manner of presentation. From my point of view "cheating" is only relevant if you are bound by a set of rules, eg. when playing a game or competition, which clearly is not the case here with your presentation/demonstration.
As far as performing music is concerned, I don't think it matters whether you are using pre-recorded backing tracks or not. What really matters is that you have something interesting to perform or present to your audience, although I think it can be helpful & interesting for them to know what they are actually listening to.
I come across very few compelling musical pieces on youtube (as far as electonic stuff goes). I enjoyed this. great vox, btw.
I agree with you about seeing performers with just a laptop - personally, I've always felt a bit cheated, and it's visually very dull. I can't see any similarity between that and what you're doing here. I hope the gig(s) go well!
thank you! Gig went very well i think!
It's not as if you are playing along to a generic backing track (not saying that isn't a valid way of working either). Your audience gets to see and hear you lay down the last track of a multitrack performance live. Seems valid to me. Also great performance and composition .
Thank you! That’s a great way to think of it actually!
Totally legit! Great track, love the vocals and dub delay FX! Really Lovely.
Thank you! I’m a sucker for fun delays too!
@@TheUnperson also your vocals are quite beautiful too. I understand the shyness about it for sure.
Absolutely unforgivable... Kidding. Amazing track, it will make your whole set more dynamic. The vocals sound super cool with that setup.
Excellent video!
Theres no rules to music. I dont care what others say. I got into eurorack just to have added fx and modulation sources. No bleep bloops. If your music sounds better because you use a tool someone says is cheating but it sounds dope then thats all that matters. Your content is why i pulled the trigger on euroack because you make actual music and not bleep bloops. Great stuff!
Thank you! Hope you're enjoying the eurorack journey!!
@@TheUnperson absolutely man its been awesome. Thanks love your content
One man performances are tough and you only got two hands. I think you’re being harsh on yourself. I don’t see a problem at al. I bet there will be more improvised and hands on songs too. And still, you’re playing the keys and singing!
I totally get you and I agree about concerts where I felt the artist did barely nothing. I think one can tell when it’s laziness and when it’s just because otherwise it’s impossible to perform a song live and stay true to its sound.
THIS is... AMAZING man... Really really good! woah!
thank you! Glad you enjoyed :D
I played to tracks , usually a drone track , for 5 years before and it is super fun .
Forget cheating or not ….. belongs on a slow burn deep Netflix cinematic film. Either murder, mystery, falsely accused, reclusive. That kind of thing. Excellent! I’ve got similar things at the moment. I’ve got mpc set up to live sample and trigger loops as I improvise. Last night I was saving loops live during impro perfor,acme, and wondered if I shouldn’t drop the sepaerate samples into a ableton
Love it! I'd love to have this on vinyl! Great live set up too.
thank you! I'd also love to have it on vinyl - maybe one day!
You’re incredible, man. There is no cheating here. People may not know what you are or aren’t doing, but they’ll see the work going into it. Really great track, and that guitar loop is so perfect and pure (typical Unperson).
A projector for a top down view would be dope for your live show.
Really glad you enjoyed it man! There was some videos projected live at the gig so the music geeks could see everyones gear! :D
Fantastic!
Thanks!
It's all valid and sounds great, although it could drift into Macroblank territory (great music, but reliant on more sampling). I personally prefer your previous live performances, which have more energy and apparent randomness. Excellent as always, and interesting to present the 'dilemma' in this way! 😎
Somehow I hadn’t heard of Macroblank before ~ cool beats! I’m sure the more energetic sets will be back too ~ mixing it up 😎
No cheating! I see it in a band context...we use backing tracks in our band to! Asked me the same question over times..ibuse bitbox for this purpose..like ableton clip launcher...btw. great track
this was dopeeeee!! Okay I do have a question tho... Ive been experimenting for a live set with a handheld mic in a similar way... But without getting to test it in the room im super freaked out about the potential for feedback. have you played live with that sort of setup yet?? And was keeping the mic gain low enough just fine?
I have played a couple times live with it and it was totally fine. I was using headphones instead of having monitors tho so maybe that helps?
@@TheUnperson yoooo thanks so much!! Hahah that… yeah completely makes sense. 🙌🙌
The track was beautiful. I enjoyed and learned, thanks.
Glad to hear it! :)
Great performance, man! It takes courage to sing, if your're not used to it, therefore big kudos. And I found your vocals quite fitting, so nothing to criticize here. And the instrumental part, as always, phantastic!
Keep it up, it's always a pleasure to watch your videos!
Thank you! I'm definitely not used to sing live :D
This is just wonderful. If possible I‘d try to do the singing live, that connects probably most of the audience to your performance. And some knob wiggling for us nerds. Love the melody and your voice makes it unique. Would love to see the live show, do you set up a stream or make a recording?
Thank you! The singing was live in the video ☺️ The live set was on Saturday there and filmed but apparently they had an issue with the audio recorder and it didn’t record anything lol
@@TheUnperson Live singing would be a crazy challenge for me. 😅 How did the show go? Hope you enjoyed it!
i really really really like this song!! ;)
In art school a teacher once said that it is totally ok to cheat, or even good as long as you do it with style.
But fake sugar is the exception imo
Sounds really good though. Very very good
your music is so good man
Cheers man!!
I love the track so much!
thanks man!
Cool track, well done. You're not cheating, some modular sounds just need cleaning up in Ableton so they sit well in the mix. The vocals fit the track, it's good to occasionally get out of your comfort zone 👏
lovley
awesome dude. it‘s live
Not cheating! But the audience need a show of some sort too. A performance. The laptop story you told relates to that. If you do some part of it live, people will not feel cheated I feel.
Not cheating at all! And it's a really great song too!
I guess there isn't cheat in music. In my opinion, the most important is the result, the final sound, not the performance.
Great track! Your gear is your band. No such thing as cheating unless youre tryin to mislead. Fantastic track
That's a great way to think of it!!
When and where are you playing the live show?
Very cool. If I was in the audience I think I would wish the vocals were live.
Thanks! The vocals were live - in the video too :)
It's a nice sound. I would guess that things are going to evolve in ways like this more, as modular gear gets handier, .. whether it's you doing it, .. or someone else. And, I think you're right about someone just turning on a laptop, in front of an audience .. and not being that fun to watch. But, if you're interactive, and they can see you playing OP1, or changing settings .. if there's a build up, of the parts .. I don't see that being different than someone playing a looper, and layering on things.
You cannot cheat in music. If you make music, however you are doing it, you are making it.
I like this philosophy! :D
Eurorack is a system to build your own instrument, playing it with a backing track is no different to playing any other instrument with a backing track. a one person band or live looping setup can be impressive sometimes sure but its also sometimes a bit of a gimmick, if having additional layers accompanying your live performance lets you be more expressive then I'd argue that's better.
nah, sick track. I enjoyed the video performance
👏👏👏
I definitely dig the track. The mix sounds very pleasing as well. As far as cheating goes, I wouldn't worry about it. There are no rules to music. Haters gonna hate no matter what. They'll find a reason lol or just make one up. Keep doing what you do 👍
I went to many rap concerts back in the day where people didn't even pretend to hold the controller🤣
Milli Vanilli style! 😅
😎
More like a looper than a backing track. Approved 😂
Is using a looper with modular to lay down a backing track live less cheating?
Not even close from cheating ;) it's like having another musician with you on stage. You are still have to play your part during the performance. So, yeah, not cheating at all according to me. Very nice track btw ! Thx for sharing. Cheers.
thank you! :)
It was definitely the right decision to let people hear this track .Its good.Nice similarity in spirit to the White Noise "Love Without Sound " vocal .Good guitar riff .I don't care about the cheating thing.
Thank you! Just checked out that track ~ very cool. Never heard of those folks before 😎
In my opinion that shows that you have good taste .But I already suspected that .@@TheUnperson
There's no cheating when it comes to the creative process. If using a backing track is cheating, so is using non-modular effects pedals. Nice composition!
Thank you! That’s true ~and everyone uses effect pedals!
I think it's not cheating if there is no pretence. If you start the backing track in a way that makes it clear that there is a pre recorded backing track, then it's all good!
I guess the more important questions is "do YOU think it's cheating?". Most of the audience won't know one way or the other, but you know ;)
If you put the backing track into a eurorack sample player that can do long form audio tracks (I like the squarp rample) then you are technically just playing eurorack again 😅😉. By the way, wonderful music!
You're a genius! :D
Justified :D. It's just a short loop, isn't it?
exactly! It's just a 3 and a half minute loop!
It's definitely not cheating! Plus, the track is freaking awesome😮 love it!!!
Thank you! :D
I get what you mean. It’s a deep topic but don’t think you ‘cheated’ in your performance. One thing you could do which I really appreciate when seeing electronic artists live is designing your set up in such a way that the audience can see what you’re up to. Whether that’s pitching your gear at an angle or having a camera projecting what you can see.
There was a camera set up at the gig so all the gear geeks could see what was going on (there were 14 modular artists playing in one day lol)
I was at said gig and I thought it was an excellent performance. I wasn’t thinking or caring for a minute where each sound came from
Oh nice! Glad you enjoyed it! :D
Great track and no cheating imho.
That’s what I like to hear!
I’ve been to many concerts of modern “electroacoustic” music in an academic setting, that involve a live player accompanied by a tape recording. It’s a performance of a composition. If Pat Metheny performed Reich’s Electronic Counterpoint live, alongside the tape, is he cheating? If he assembled the other 8 (or 9? 10?🤔 can’t recall…) guitarists, would it be more “legitimate”? Bill it as a performance and perform it; it’ll be great!
My vote is "not cheating". Fortunately I think we're far past the time when audiences might think something was wrong if not every single sound is being created at the moment. People are sophisticated enough to accept that some element has been started, and is doing its thing, while other stuff is going on that is being created some other way. You might take inspiration from Battles, who usually seem to create some kind of loop in a loop pedal to serve as the rhythmic backbone to the song.
I don't feel like it's much different than triggering a long sample. Not cheating.
'Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?' - John Lydon
I think the only way it could be cheating is if someone titles their video "100% live multi track jam" and then it's not... that's misleading. But many live musicians (thinking guitarist or similar) play with some backing drum track or whatever and no one questions it. Having multiple live elements even if it's not 100% of them is still an awesome feat. Plus vocals were great, love the atmosphere :)
That would be incredibly misleading yea… and thank you for the kind words ☺️
Well, that's not difficult to answer. Would you say people using a sampler (ex: 1010 Bitbox) are cheating? A NerdSeq can take the place of a DAW, or other sequencers that play samples. For me, if you play live in front of people, then it's live.
When watching your track, I suspect some of it could be played using a sequencer - if you have one, rather than a DAW, but that's just a suggestion.
Oh that will be interesting, cheating in Eurorack? Hot lead! Do not disappoint us.
It’s not like a cheat code unfortunately ~ more like a deception haha!
@@TheUnperson 😀
Beautiful track man. Theres is no such thing as cheating when youre making tunes like this.
thank you - very much appreciated!
Of course it's not cheating. You could say the same about sampling or even sequencing.
Look, when Gary Numan plays live these days, anything that the musicians aren't playing live (because they don't have enough hands or feet) is played back on DAT tape. He doesn't hide that fact. He was interviewed during a soundcheck at one of his gigs and explained that it's more reliable than taking out all the old, unreliable vintage gear which has failed several times in the past and he doesn't want either the embarrassment nor to spoil things for the audience.
I remember seeing Depeche Mode in the early 1980s on many occasions and Dave Gahan used to change the cassettes on stage with the drums and backing tracks between songs. I used to do the same myself in the early 80s too.
Anyone who says otherwise is just virtue signalling. If you're a one man band, duo or an orchestra, so many people play along with a click track live and have some form of backing recording. You use whatever tools you need to give the best performance you can.
That is a beautiful song. You are incredibly talented and I hope I get a chance to see you perform. Hopefully you'll play down south some time. Keep us in the loop!
Cheers mate!✌️
Not cheating at all! No reason to make things harder on yourself.
Backing track? what is cheating in music production at all these days? that sounds interesting, as far i understand your nice scottish accent;)
Hopefully you can understand most of it! Lol
my view would be that its not "cheating", but consider if its going to fit in the set - would it be so very different in the context of the rest of the set experience , that might be suprising to the audience , if it fits then fk it whats not to like - nice vibe on the track btw
Yes, it’s cheating. You’re now disqualified. 🚓
Dammit! No more modular!
Lol,
"Go to jail. Go straight to jail. Do not pass go, Do not collect £200.": Korg MonoPoly.
Cheating in music is a bit of a silly concept. You're not doing a Millie Vanillie situation, and you're not paying people to make music for you like DJ Khaled. Kind of amazing the amount of stuff you get from your small systems. Inspiring even.
I don't think its cheating as long as you can screw up....
Very good point!
It is cheating to lead people to believe something you know is not true. People like to see a performance, so since you're actively performing rather than just pressing play, then it's not cheating to add backing tracks.
How dare you. No, really, though, that's a beautiful track - I could get lost in the guitar loop. I don't really see what you're doing as comparable to a "backing track" in the same sense that people often criticize - the justification of that criticizing is another discussion entirely.
If the results are cheating, keep cheating.
cheating?
you decide
Maybe just a little bit ☺️
@@TheUnperson no no no!!
the answer is, "I am not cheating"
you must have heard of the band Cocteau Twins
I love the Cocteau Twins - did they play to backings tracks? @@synkrotron
@@TheUnperson most definitely... in the early years they had no drummer
I hope you don't mind me posting a link
ua-cam.com/video/u0upaIZF_gA/v-deo.html
The only mistake you've made here is telling everyone exactly how you made this! You could have just performed it, and I don't think anyone would have said "wait, ia that a backing track?". 😆