LIVE SET TIPS AND SETUP

[5dn]

Whose got good tips and advice for constructing and performing a live set? (i mean a couple of hours of my own tunes, with some vocalists and the odd instrument)

Asking cos I know there are many ways to do it.

Tips here or links would be massively appreciated.

Cheers

5D

[DunedinDragon]

I create what I refer to as "production tracks" which contain multiple instrument tracks along with a MIDI track which is used to automate stage elements like effects or lights. I build the main tracks for each song in my main desktop computer in arrangement view as MIDI files using KONTAKT instrument plugins for things such piano, organ, horns, strings, etc. Eventually all instrument tracks are frozen and flattened to WAV files. I import those WAV files into a Laptop that runs them as a single scene as a song in a session view on a laptop that's reserved for live performance. This reduces the amount of overhead and load time for each song. Since I'm using drums as one of the instruments I don't use a click track, I just use the drums to count-in each song. I disable warping on the audio tracks and make sure I have the BPM set for each scene so that the MIDI tracks execute in sync with the audio.

I typically divide up each session into different projects so that each session project represents a "set". I use a MIDI command to select the appropriate song, and then start each song by sending a keyboard message such as an 'a' for song 1, 'b' for song 2 and so forth. I reserve one track as a "Stop" track which sends a stop note through a downloadable free "loopMIDI" program that sends that signal back into the Ableton session at the end of the song to stop playback.

As far as links, just search YouTube for 'backing tracks' and you'll find a TON of videos on the subject.