Digital Performance

This is not my picture...I found it on the interweb.

Found an article on live electronic set ups this morning. It got me thinking about the nature of live electronic performance and the big question of what constitutes a live perfromance now that in theory, you can automate so much?

The popular IDM artist Deadmau5 has said in the past that "...given about 1 hour of instruction, anyone with minimal knowledge of ableton and music tech in general could DO what im doing at a deadmau5 concert” 

Is this so bad? Anyone with about an hour's instruction could probably sing like Lou Reed? Since when did performance become a question of athletics? Surely the songs are the most important aspect, rather than the execution!

Even as I type this, I'm not sure I agree with myself but I'm inclined to justify some of the live electronic performance techniques I use myself. My set-up is the same as in the picture to the left. That's not my set up, that's just some random pic I found on a Google image search, but it shows just how simple my live set up is. I use a 13" Macbook Pro with Ableton Live 8 and the Native Instruments Maschine as a controller and a VST. That's it.

A lot of what I do in my main project Mender is automated. In some cases the entire structure of the songs are banks on the Maschine which I flick between and manage the structure live as I go. In other songs I use the Maschine as an instrument and just play a melody over the top of a backing track.

I am fully aware that I could design the songs with performance in mind; triggering clips in Live 8 with the controller mode of Maschine and live looping more with custom pad set ups in Maschine but the fact is that I wrote the songs first and now it makes sense to use the arrangements as the live show.

With KADE however, I am beginning to experiment with custom pad sets and chain of effects on the master channel. This feels less of a scam on the audience if I'm honest but it is much more prone to disaster and restricts me in terms of BPM changes and the over-all mix of drum, bass and synth parts.

If I'm honest, I agree with Deadmau5 in that the performance is not just about what you are doing but more how it comes across. The live Mender show goes down pretty well as I am singing a lot and Dave and Ed hold up the live guitar and bass element really well, giving us an interesting balance between automated electronics and engaging human elements in our live performance. I think that as long as you are giving something entertaining to the audience and you are using your skill to create the automated elements then there's no need to get elitist about how you pull it off live.

With new technologies, come new moral mine-fields when it comes to performance. I guess it depends with what you can live with and whether you have a big mouse head to draw the attention away from what you're up to!