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TEST RECORDINGS wrote: but I think the end results worth it because a real analog instrument sounds infinitely better than the digital equivalent

Kind've.

Personally, I'd much rather go out and hear a sick system playing perfectly produced, amazingly mastered tunes than hear mic'ed up instruments.
Especially not acoustic drums!

Major props to drummers, they are hugely talented and the instrument is great but drums in most music and 'drums' in electronic music serve two VERY different purposes.

http://www.myspace.com/subnerds

i gotta say im not really into bands (with guitars, drums, vocals etc) playin 'dance' music and wouldnt really be into goin to see one (even though i know there's a big project in the pipeline which i'll enevatably end up seein, tut), but then i like raves way more more than i do gigs.

All those wanting vinyls on sound systems, I bet you wouldn't notice if you couldn't see the band :p mastering would be hard to do live but that's the compromise you get for having 'real' music
Don't think of it as a gig, think of it as an alternative delivery of the same substance! You don't have to look at the band just because they're there, I'd rather be getting groovy with the girls regardless hehe

TEST RECORDINGS wrote:

'real' music

I jest. The speech marks make it ok

Tek-One wrote:Hi guys,
I just recently started a live dubstep act, but which I can also operate as a regular DJ.
I've toured as part of a successful band, and also had reasonable success as a singular dj under a different alias, and as a dj-duo.
I know I personally would much rather go to a club night and watch a few of my favourite djs than stand in a gig nowadays...
Is this just me?

Do you think that in this climate there is enough demand for a live dubstep act? Do you think it makes sense to put a live act on with live acoustic drums DURING a club night? Or do you think djing is the only sensible route to take?

If you're interested you can check it out here:

http://www.myspace.com/tekoneuk

Just listened on your myspace and watched the videos.. sounding fucking sick, well impressed. Makes me want to start a live dubstep band..not that i havnt thought about it before, just seems like it would be really hard to get it sounding sick

TEST RECORDINGS wrote:I think you're assuming what a band's going to be like, I think you'll find some bands drummers have the vibe nailed perfectly.

this is very very true. especially so in dub, reggae and dance music. you can either sound amazing or sound like a cruise ship pina colada band....depending on the feel of the drummer. feel is so important. its the same way that you don't have to be hercules to be good at drums, you just have to have a style and understand music dynamics.

I started a label with my friend Bakir that is all dubstep with live instruments being performed on the tracks. http://www.myspace.com/dubsalive
Bakir and I have performed together in a number of live formats, sometimes just laptops and trumpet. Other times Laptops, and myself switching between Guitar, Bass, Drums, and Bakir does Keys, Trumpet Melodica. While one is playing the other mixes in tunes on the laptop (and we defo go for a fast paced dj style of mixing and play dubs that are not edited to sections and are by lots of different dubstep people in addition to ourselves.)
That being said, I think live dubstep is a critical part of the genre and should continue to be supported and developed.
It's comical to me how some people on here are hating on rock drumming. Listen to Emalkays, "Mecha." Sounds like rock drumming influence to me. If you want drummers with pocket's who not only have the skills to lay down hard dubstep kicks and snares and are minimal enough to give you the dancefloor vibe, check out, Brain, Kenwood Dennard, KJ Sawka, the drummer from "Lake Trout" (yall will love these guys," Jo Jo Mayer, Eric Kerr (and these are just a very few).
I think band can certainly pull of a dj sounding dancefloor set with minimal use of live instruments and get people dancing hard. There is most certainly a powerful vibe when the audience member is in sync with the performers as they create the sound, VS a dj who has to audition tracks that they are going to mix in. At that point the dj doesn't experience what the audience is experiencing simultaneously. I do dj sets and live sets but I must say I often have more fun when there is no disconnect from me experiencing what the audience is experiencing versus the moments where I am listening to the next track I'm mixing in. I have had both styles of performance and variations there of get me off (as an audience member) equally as hard. Present good music the way you want to present it and get the the crowd excited by the music. Enough shooting the medium.
And let us not forget the mass appealing power of live instruments to the average music listener in the world. Live DnB bands like Reprazent and live performances like Squarepusher excited my JAZZ PROFESSORS at Berklee College of Music, to the point where those groups were taught to us in a number of different classes. So live bands, performances and instruments can also help get this genre to an even wider audience!
Oh yea and live projects at raves go OFF here in San Francisco. Some of the craziest underground electronic raves I have been to here in the city have featured live acts as the main performers.

jazzsteppa is probably the closest to a dubstep "live" sort of thing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NclkSkS5h4k

some live jungle over the years that are worth checking...roni size reprazent tour was sick, back in 2001. he really nailed it.

Roni Size live
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApnrH8dYolY
Jungle Drummer vs DJ FU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvIEW8YcShA
jojo mayer nerve 1998
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uf3fpULe6Ig
tabla beat science
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQdCLCNEYIU


this is hilarious. rusko "cockney thug horns"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGaZXNUOCEw

Tek-One wrote:

Pkay wrote:They're going to knock or embrace you based on how well you pull it off.

true dat

^this

so if its really really good, do it

Dubsworth wrote:I started a label with my friend Bakir that is all dubstep with live instruments being performed on the tracks. http://www.myspace.com/dubsalive
Bakir and I have performed together in a number of live formats, sometimes just laptops and trumpet. Other times Laptops, and myself switching between Guitar, Bass, Drums, and Bakir does Keys, Trumpet Melodica. While one is playing the other mixes in tunes on the laptop (and we defo go for a fast paced dj style of mixing and play dubs that are not edited to sections and are by lots of different dubstep people in addition to ourselves.)
That being said, I think live dubstep is a critical part of the genre and should continue to be supported and developed.
It's comical to me how some people on here are hating on rock drumming. Listen to Emalkays, "Mecha." Sounds like rock drumming influence to me. If you want drummers with pocket's who not only have the skills to lay down hard dubstep kicks and snares and are minimal enough to give you the dancefloor vibe, check out, Brain, Kenwood Dennard, KJ Sawka, the drummer from "Lake Trout" (yall will love these guys," Jo Jo Mayer, Eric Kerr (and these are just a very few).
I think band can certainly pull of a dj sounding dancefloor set with minimal use of live instruments and get people dancing hard. There is most certainly a powerful vibe when the audience member is in sync with the performers as they create the sound, VS a dj who has to audition tracks that they are going to mix in. At that point the dj doesn't experience what the audience is experiencing simultaneously. I do dj sets and live sets but I must say I often have more fun when there is no disconnect from me experiencing what the audience is experiencing versus the moments where I am listening to the next track I'm mixing in. I have had both styles of performance and variations there of get me off (as an audience member) equally as hard. Present good music the way you want to present it and get the the crowd excited by the music. Enough shooting the medium.
And let us not forget the mass appealing power of live instruments to the average music listener in the world. Live DnB bands like Reprazent and live performances like Squarepusher excited my JAZZ PROFESSORS at Berklee College of Music, to the point where those groups were taught to us in a number of different classes. So live bands, performances and instruments can also help get this genre to an even wider audience!
Oh yea and live projects at raves go OFF here in San Francisco. Some of the craziest underground electronic raves I have been to here in the city have featured live acts as the main performers.

You make some good points. You expressed yourself so clearly i don't see how i can possibly argue with anything you've said... i think at the end of the day what it boils down to though is a matter of taste. taste is like values... pretty much impossible to argue about in any productive way.

personally, i like to keep the electronic components of dubstep separate from live music. maybe it's because of my rigid, admittedly closed minded idea of what dubstep is and who is allowed to be apart of it... it's pure childish elitism, i know and im sorry. can't help it.

i saw pendulum recently and i was disgusted. no amount of drugs could ever make that night fun. the music was shit. they look like the prototype of everything wack about the music industry... i seriously couldn't believe it. i don't want that whole band thing mixing with my beloved electronic genres. that's the most recent example i have to work with of electronic music going live... revolting.

having said that, however, doesn't jazzsteppa do the whole live thing? i think one of the first tunes i bought off beatport was a track by jazzsteppa called "two" pretty good i say. and i always kinda secretly liked nine inch nails... i dunno man. just do your thing.

i think you should never put it to a vote whether or not you should try something musically. fuck em all, man! try it and see if they like it... and if they don't like it, do it some more! who gives a fuck what they think. if not for experimentation this genre wouldn't exist. everybody i know wants to jerk off in bright clothing and give dutch rudders to fucking electro these days... what the fuck do they know?

Apathesis wrote:

TEST RECORDINGS wrote: but I think the end results worth it because a real analog instrument sounds infinitely better than the digital equivalent

Kind've.

Personally, I'd much rather go out and hear a sick system playing perfectly produced, amazingly mastered tunes than hear mic'ed up instruments.
Especially not acoustic drums!

Major props to drummers, they are hugely talented and the instrument is great but drums in most music and 'drums' in electronic music serve two VERY different purposes.

yup!

nice!

I just uploaded a new track

let me know what you think?

dubstee wrote:IMO the live drum kit is problematic with dubstep in a way that it's not with for example live dnb. With dubstep there's a massive emphasis on the kick and snare, which with a live kit is going to lead to rock drumming - there's not enough room for subtlety. Live percussion is a different thing entirely though.

you can always use drum triggers to trig the kick, and snare...

I'm thinking of starting up a live Dubstep act... it's been interesting reading peoples conversations.

My act would definitely lean towards the more dub/reggae vibe, 3 part brass section, live drums, MC and computers filling the rest in.

Got drum triggers off the live kit.

Looking forward to it...

Disrepute At The Hands Of My Idol

http://www.myspace.com/disreputeatthehandsofmyidol

johnboy01 wrote:You make some good points. You expressed yourself so clearly i don't see how i can possibly argue with anything you've said... i think at the end of the day what it boils down to though is a matter of taste. taste is like values... pretty much impossible to argue about in any productive way.

personally, i like to keep the electronic components of dubstep separate from live music. maybe it's because of my rigid, admittedly closed minded idea of what dubstep is and who is allowed to be apart of it... it's pure childish elitism, i know and im sorry. can't help it.

i saw pendulum recently and i was disgusted. no amount of drugs could ever make that night fun. the music was shit. they look like the prototype of everything wack about the music industry... i seriously couldn't believe it. i don't want that whole band thing mixing with my beloved electronic genres. that's the most recent example i have to work with of electronic music going live... revolting.

having said that, however, doesn't jazzsteppa do the whole live thing? i think one of the first tunes i bought off beatport was a track by jazzsteppa called "two" pretty good i say. and i always kinda secretly liked nine inch nails... i dunno man. just do your thing.

i think you should never put it to a vote whether or not you should try something musically. fuck em all, man! try it and see if they like it... and if they don't like it, do it some more! who gives a fuck what they think. if not for experimentation this genre wouldn't exist. everybody i know wants to jerk off in bright clothing and give dutch rudders to fucking electro these days... what the fuck do they know?

pendulum are just the poor mans prodigy. prodigy live is much better.

on the drumming note, rock drummers who can only play rock are shite. a good drummer can play many styles and play with the right groove and dynamics etc. to match any style of music (ok maybe not any style unless you're some sort of drum god). also there's some quality electronic drum kits out there that could be used to solve any possible sound issues (or just get your setup right on your acoustic kit).

I think a major short coming with live bands that try to cop soundsystem music is that they come up short on the beef ...



if you rock that shit tight, like really tight, and you rock it thru a punchy ass PA, like sofa king loud, then yr gonna blow peoples minds

Dubsworth wrote:I started a label with my friend Bakir that is all dubstep with live instruments being performed on the tracks. http://www.myspace.com/dubsalive
Bakir and I have performed together in a number of live formats, sometimes just laptops and trumpet. Other times Laptops, and myself switching between Guitar, Bass, Drums, and Bakir does Keys, Trumpet Melodica. While one is playing the other mixes in tunes on the laptop (and we defo go for a fast paced dj style of mixing and play dubs that are not edited to sections and are by lots of different dubstep people in addition to ourselves.)
That being said, I think live dubstep is a critical part of the genre and should continue to be supported and developed.
It's comical to me how some people on here are hating on rock drumming. Listen to Emalkays, "Mecha." Sounds like rock drumming influence to me. If you want drummers with pocket's who not only have the skills to lay down hard dubstep kicks and snares and are minimal enough to give you the dancefloor vibe, check out, Brain, Kenwood Dennard, KJ Sawka, the drummer from "Lake Trout" (yall will love these guys," Jo Jo Mayer, Eric Kerr (and these are just a very few).
I think band can certainly pull of a dj sounding dancefloor set with minimal use of live instruments and get people dancing hard. There is most certainly a powerful vibe when the audience member is in sync with the performers as they create the sound, VS a dj who has to audition tracks that they are going to mix in. At that point the dj doesn't experience what the audience is experiencing simultaneously. I do dj sets and live sets but I must say I often have more fun when there is no disconnect from me experiencing what the audience is experiencing versus the moments where I am listening to the next track I'm mixing in. I have had both styles of performance and variations there of get me off (as an audience member) equally as hard. Present good music the way you want to present it and get the the crowd excited by the music. Enough shooting the medium.
And let us not forget the mass appealing power of live instruments to the average music listener in the world. Live DnB bands like Reprazent and live performances like Squarepusher excited my JAZZ PROFESSORS at Berklee College of Music, to the point where those groups were taught to us in a number of different classes. So live bands, performances and instruments can also help get this genre to an even wider audience!
Oh yea and live projects at raves go OFF here in San Francisco. Some of the craziest underground electronic raves I have been to here in the city have featured live acts as the main performers.

YOU GUYS TORE SMOG UP!!!