bagpuss
What do you guys think to acts where DJs and instrumentalists jam together? I'm thinking about starting a new project aimed at having fun (playing the music I like) over the usual gigs 'pop for money'. So far there is myself and a bass player, and we're looking at putting together a show of House & Dance music (probably focussing in on a certain style), we're also looking for a third person to play brass.
So what do you think? do you think there are venue owners who are interested in some originality? or do you think they'd rather DJs leave the bongos at home?
So what do you think? do you think there are venue owners who are interested in some originality? or do you think they'd rather DJs leave the bongos at home?
Posté Sat 24 Feb 07 @ 5:14 pm
i think it's a great idea.....
of course, it'll be ultra hip if you got the black beret and the bongos......
owners, you said owners........didn't we tell ya no potty mouth at the forum ? he said owners.......
i think owners oops are looking for new original ways to make more money preferably by doing nothing
have you ever seen "The Dark Crystal" ? i call owners skeksis......lol
of course, it'll be ultra hip if you got the black beret and the bongos......
owners, you said owners........didn't we tell ya no potty mouth at the forum ? he said owners.......
i think owners oops are looking for new original ways to make more money preferably by doing nothing
have you ever seen "The Dark Crystal" ? i call owners skeksis......lol
Posté Sat 24 Feb 07 @ 5:44 pm
DJ Turbo
yeah i reckon it is a great concept!
i was watching a documentary on the history of music notation (really interesting actually) and there was a section on the concept of improvisation, and there was a band that consisted of a DJ, drummer, and some sort of brass instrument which i dont remember the name of lol. they just laid down a beat, DJ scratching now and then and the brass guy just improvised on in a key.
im starting to get together with a rapper and doin something along the lines of that (even though rap isnt my thing) and we will be trying to bring rap and dance together... should be interesting) :)
of course improvisation isnt the only way to go, it will be mad fun to plan it out and blow the audience away with your own mad style! good idea dude!
i reckon you should get out there and give it a go, would there be some sort of underground thing like that?
DJ Turbo
i was watching a documentary on the history of music notation (really interesting actually) and there was a section on the concept of improvisation, and there was a band that consisted of a DJ, drummer, and some sort of brass instrument which i dont remember the name of lol. they just laid down a beat, DJ scratching now and then and the brass guy just improvised on in a key.
im starting to get together with a rapper and doin something along the lines of that (even though rap isnt my thing) and we will be trying to bring rap and dance together... should be interesting) :)
of course improvisation isnt the only way to go, it will be mad fun to plan it out and blow the audience away with your own mad style! good idea dude!
i reckon you should get out there and give it a go, would there be some sort of underground thing like that?
DJ Turbo
Posté Mon 26 Feb 07 @ 2:00 am
DJKKA
man thats a guy idea! its no like its a fresh one, but you have a great idea to start this! live performing with a DJ involved? thats great man! i think alot of the bands this decade performed like that too! :D didnt Linkin Park have a member working on the mixer? or slipknot does too i think! (but honestly if you think about it.... slipknot with a person operating a mixer involved? BARBARIC! :P) it is quite indeed original, so what is hapening? you are working on an instrumental and the others follow with the bpm? or are you mixing while your band is performing?
also... DJ'S SHOULD ALWAYS BE MANAGER IN A BAND >:D YEAH! haha just kidding! :P
also... DJ'S SHOULD ALWAYS BE MANAGER IN A BAND >:D YEAH! haha just kidding! :P
Posté Mon 26 Feb 07 @ 4:38 am
bagpuss
Yea basically I'd lead with the music and the instrumentation would jam to the beat and obviously in the key of the track, such a show would require very accurate beatmixing and key matching (so the overall sound is harmonic). We'd use Samples and effects, the effects unit could be assigned to the guitar too, so any major effects created would control the whole sound.
The concept is live remixing over A to B mixing, to really put on a show and introduce something that's relatively new for the area.
Has anyone here ever feed an electric Guitar through a channel on a DJ mixer?
The concept is live remixing over A to B mixing, to really put on a show and introduce something that's relatively new for the area.
Has anyone here ever feed an electric Guitar through a channel on a DJ mixer?
Posté Mon 26 Feb 07 @ 11:25 pm
DJ Marcel_1
Has anyone here ever feed an electric Guitar through a channel on a DJ mixer?
Bad Idea. Not enough power in an electric guitar to use in a dj mixer - not the correct application.
You'd need phantom power. the phono preamp might work for this but I'm not sure.
If he has a multi-effects preamp like a Zoom amp emulator okay you can take that signal in your DJ mixer but only through a D.I. box.
Far better just to put a Shure sm58 in front of his amp and plug that into your mixer.
Bad Idea. Not enough power in an electric guitar to use in a dj mixer - not the correct application.
You'd need phantom power. the phono preamp might work for this but I'm not sure.
If he has a multi-effects preamp like a Zoom amp emulator okay you can take that signal in your DJ mixer but only through a D.I. box.
Far better just to put a Shure sm58 in front of his amp and plug that into your mixer.
Posté Tue 27 Feb 07 @ 12:33 am
bagpuss
Thanks for the info Marcel,
The venues we'll be playing at to start will be quite small, and after some experience we'd be looking at doing local festivals. So whatever medthod we apply, it will need to be applicable in a variety of conditions. I know he has an effects preamp, not sure what about the D.I Box.
About the Shure mic infront of his amp, I can see that being the best solution at large venues, but in your average bar/pub/club I imagine the sound will take some playing with, to get the balance right, I think the volume would need to be lower on the Guitar channel due to the loud sound from the front.
I'd definately want the sound going through the Mixer though, as I'd like to be able to assign effects from an EFX500/1000 (or something simular).
The venues we'll be playing at to start will be quite small, and after some experience we'd be looking at doing local festivals. So whatever medthod we apply, it will need to be applicable in a variety of conditions. I know he has an effects preamp, not sure what about the D.I Box.
About the Shure mic infront of his amp, I can see that being the best solution at large venues, but in your average bar/pub/club I imagine the sound will take some playing with, to get the balance right, I think the volume would need to be lower on the Guitar channel due to the loud sound from the front.
I'd definately want the sound going through the Mixer though, as I'd like to be able to assign effects from an EFX500/1000 (or something simular).
Posté Tue 27 Feb 07 @ 12:45 am
DJ Marcel_1
Bagpuss wrote :
Thanks for the info Marcel,
About the Shure mic infront of his amp, I can see that being the best solution at large venues, but in your average bar/pub/club I imagine the sound will take some playing with, to get the balance right, I think the volume would need to be lower on the Guitar channel due to the loud sound from the front.
About the Shure mic infront of his amp, I can see that being the best solution at large venues, but in your average bar/pub/club I imagine the sound will take some playing with, to get the balance right, I think the volume would need to be lower on the Guitar channel due to the loud sound from the front.
He won't need a big amp (try convincing him won't be easy)
As long as he has a digital efects unit his sound comes from that. The amp won't matter. I've seen a AC/DC and a PINK FLOYD cover band (two different sets of guys) Both times the Guitar player used a Zoom Multi-effects unit with expression pedal through a dinky little 20 watt Peavy practice amp with a mic stuck in front of it.
And while I was in the audience dinking away - through a 15000 watt P.A. at the club it sounded like they was using a Marshall Stack
They were using something similar to this:
http://www.axemusic.com/product.asp?numPageStartPosition=1&PT_ID=19&P_ID=13603
But only a older model.
Posté Tue 27 Feb 07 @ 1:13 am
daguirre10
Actually, I've seen this before at a wedding, and it's been on my mind ever since. They had this dj and they had three guys with drums...It was the SHIT!! The crowd got even more into it, because for some reason, you feel the beat more when you got those drums going, but it was a hit!!!
Posté Tue 27 Feb 07 @ 1:18 am
DJ Turbo
yeah Linkin Park have a DJ, and on live performances he just has 2 turntables and a mixer, same with the Dj in Slipknot. by the way, Silpknot have the biggest gigs ever! HOLY CRAP!
but anyway, they are just as much as a member of the rest of the band. they just have to practice how to be fresh and interesting; i find the DJ in slipknot only seems to have one sample to scratch with which sounds like a vacuum cleaner :)
and the DJing Linkin Park throws his turntables everywhere after a gig... stupid loser... why would you do that?
so apart from two famous DJs in live bands are absolute tossers, you can make a good name for us lol :)
but anyway, they are just as much as a member of the rest of the band. they just have to practice how to be fresh and interesting; i find the DJ in slipknot only seems to have one sample to scratch with which sounds like a vacuum cleaner :)
and the DJing Linkin Park throws his turntables everywhere after a gig... stupid loser... why would you do that?
so apart from two famous DJs in live bands are absolute tossers, you can make a good name for us lol :)
Posté Tue 27 Feb 07 @ 2:50 am
asymptote
Bagpuss wrote :
Has anyone here ever feed an electric Guitar through a channel on a DJ mixer?
Has anyone here ever feed an electric Guitar through a channel on a DJ mixer?
Most decent guitarists will want to use their own combo / amplifier - can't use your dj mixer. I've worked with a number of guitarists over the years and found this to be the case.
Posté Tue 27 Feb 07 @ 7:53 pm
bagpuss
Well of first and foremost importance is to have the sound going through the venues system at the best sound quality possible, which would involve going through either their installed amp or one of ours. But it would be preferable for us both, if the total sound signal was going through a DJ Mixer, so me the DJ can have total control over the sound, i.e leveling and effects application. Because the whole act is based mostly on improvisation, someone needs to be the "sound manager".
Posté Tue 27 Feb 07 @ 10:03 pm
Dj Xeo
a local group round this way (Buckinghamshire - UK) do exactly this, live drum and bass, bit of atmospheric dnb too. live drums, live dj, live vocalist (who does keys and has a vocoder etc for effecting the vocals) pretty cool. Epoc Live
http://www.epoclive.co.uk/
proper good stuff, dont kno if theyve got any vids on there.
the way those guys go at it is with ableton or something and everyone just keeps time manualy by ear! no metronome in ear cleverness here! its the easiest way to do it, have the instrumentalists play to the DJs tempo (after all, its going to be the most constant)
EDIT: http://www.myspace.com/epoclive with a video
http://www.epoclive.co.uk/
proper good stuff, dont kno if theyve got any vids on there.
the way those guys go at it is with ableton or something and everyone just keeps time manualy by ear! no metronome in ear cleverness here! its the easiest way to do it, have the instrumentalists play to the DJs tempo (after all, its going to be the most constant)
EDIT: http://www.myspace.com/epoclive with a video
Posté Tue 27 Feb 07 @ 10:57 pm
Nexus DJ Service
I saw a group that did the drums with what I would call regular music. (no techno or anything just a ludacris song or any other song) and it sounded rediculous. If you are doing more club style music it'd probably go ok but with a regular track the congo drums sounded like an over the top sparatic loop that distracted from the music.
Just my opinion, but I bet it could be done tastefully.
Just my opinion, but I bet it could be done tastefully.
Posté Wed 28 Feb 07 @ 10:28 am
asymptote
Bagpuss wrote :
Well of first and foremost importance is to have the sound going through the venues system at the best sound quality possible, which would involve going through either their installed amp or one of ours. But it would be preferable for us both, if the total sound signal was going through a DJ Mixer, so me the DJ can have total control over the sound, i.e leveling and effects application. Because the whole act is based mostly on improvisation, someone needs to be the "sound manager".
Yeah Bagpuss I agree with the way you are seeing it. Therers two ways of doing it. One for larger venues and one for smaller venuess
If you were doing a large venueI think the way to go then would be to mic up the guitarists combo and feed in to an overall PA system. You need to think of the DJ music output being one of the instruments which will feed into a mixing desk just like the other instruments.
You could if you wanted get your own pa mixer and feed in your dj system on one channel and the guitar on another, a bass on another and if you had drums you could mic them up too. That could then feed into the venues system if they had one or your own. You would probably need someone to do the overall balance for you because you would be busy doing your stuff.
If you were doing smaller venues, which is highly likely at first, you would use a pa for your DJ system. The guitarist would use their combo amp. The bass player would use their combo amp and the drummer would probably not need amplification. It's dead easy. But you need to soundcheck so that you don't drown out the instruments and vice versa.
It can be quite difficult to get good results so if you can find a mate who has experience with this it would save a fair bit of learning curve. If you want to PM me I'll give you my phone number and can probably save you a lot of time. I did a lot of playing in a band over the years, so have done a fair bit of pa work.
Posté Wed 28 Feb 07 @ 11:21 am