Live PAs Just wondering if anyone could explain to me how a live PA such as lab4 n k90's works, and what kind of equipment they use. If not does anyone know where i could find this information out, or if theres any courses for this kind of thing. cheers
FROM THE LAB-4 WEBSITE.... THE LAB4 LIVE DEBATE.... In response to the handful of "educated informers" that claim on different chatrooms all over the country, that they "know for a fact" that the LAB4 LIVE SET is in fact, not live.... ....This is something that we did not want to get involved in or waste our time writing about because we already have far more work than time. However, it seems that there are a few more than a handful of experienced 'critics' who have far more time on their hands than ambition, and who choose to spend that time accusing us of 'being fakes' among other things. We are sure that for some reason the world must need critics and negativity (although f*** knows why!!)- but surely those critics who do not have the guts to criticise or question to the face of their targets are nothing but pitiful and jealous. The reason for this explanation is that we fully appreciate the positive support and responses in our defence from others, and we feel that we at least owe all of you a description of our live set up and how it works.... The fact is that anyone who has ever asked has been told exactly how it works - it is no secret and never has been. We don't have time to get involved in chat rooms or forums but we are aware of much of what has been, or is being said about us - as well as some of wisdom that has been put forward - for example, 'if you see any red lights flashing , then it's definitely on tape" or, "if you see a computer on stage then it's definitely being mimed.....', or one of the most common pearls of absolute wisdom - 'a friend of a friend of mine said it's not live cos his cousin's mate is a DJ and he was at a sound check....' Mmmm. No explanation needed really. The first point that we would like to make is that whether dance music is 'live' or not, is a debate that could be argued forever. If you know how to program everything from a sampler, to a synth, to a sequencer, as well as knowing how to sound engineer and play an instrument, then you would know that it is possible to program every single event to happen without needing to touch a single button - not even a start button if you didn't want to. You could then still argue that what was heard through the sound system was still 'live' - as every note and midi control number (filter sweeps, pan, volume fade, patch change etc....) is being produced as you hear it. OR you could argue that it's no more 'live' than a CD or DAT in that it is a pre-programmed sequence of numbers put back together to reproduce a piece of music. The kind of club music that we write demands a rigidity and 'mechanicalness' to it's timing that is virtually impossible to produce with 'real' instruments.... I have played the drums since the age of 7 and in both of the bands that I played in before LAB4, we worked with computers and sequencers on stage. I would wear headphones through which I would hear a click track, which is basically a loud metronome that is being generated by the computer. I would play in time to the click track, the rest of the band would play in time with me and we would all then be in time with the samples and sequences that where being played by the computer. Playing to a click track is something that many musicians refuse to do, saying that it takes the 'feel' out of what they are playing - the fact is, if you have mastered your instrument then playing with a click track will only enhance the feel you can put into it and most musicians don't like it because it requires more discipline and practice than most people are willing to put in. At that time we got slagged off by other 'rock' bands for using a computer - saying 'it's not all live, there is backing stuff on the computer' - It didn't occur to them that we had a full band on stage as well as the computer.... As we moved on, the computer just wasn't dealing with gigging (this was 10 - 12 years ago) so we tried various different set ups until we arrived with the set up that is still the basis of what we use now with LAB4, the main piece of equipment being an Alesis Data Disk which is basically a midi filer which can be used as a very simple playback only sequencer. Because of it's minimal functions it is very stable and can deal with the rigours of gigging. The band that we had before we were LAB4 was called M.A.D and at the time samplers were very expensive and the extra memory cost even more. We had an Akai S950 and used to borrow one from a friend. While we were playing one track using one of the S950's , I would be playing the drums with one hand (in time with the click track) while changing the disk in the second S950 and reloading the memory ready for the following track - Not easy!!!!! This kind of set up took 4 - 6 days of 6 - 8 hours of rehearsal per day. (To any 'critics' out there who are thinking I'm prattling on - FUCK YOU! Have some respect and listen (you just might learn something), or keep your criticisms to your self). The point I am trying to make is that there has been years and years of trial and error development and experience that has gone into refining our live set up and there are obviously a few people that figure 'it doesn't look like they are doing it and it sounds too good to be live.....' - WE DIDN'T ACHIEVE THIS OVER NIGHT!!!!!!! Another point that we have been criticised on is that our live set sounds so much like the album tracks so 'it can't be live....' With electronic music there is no reason why it shouldn't sound the same live. Back to the point about being able to program every single event if you know how to program! - When you are writing a track, you can record all the filter tweaking that you do (you can record pretty much any midi event that you might want to do) as part of the song so that every time you play the track back, the filter will sweep in the same way every time. Some times you may want to do this and some times you may want to do it live but the point is that with electronic music you can reproduce things exactly as you wrote them. For any 'critics' out there who are about to point out that some older synths don't output all forms of midi control information - use your imagination!! Sample the synths and then filter or pan the sample.... Get the idea? Just because you can't imagine how you could possibly reproduce such complex music live , it doesn't mean that it cannot be done - it just means that you have a limited amount of knowledge when it comes to programming electronic music - USE YOUR IMAGINATION! And so, back to our live set. One of the biggest problems we had was running out of memory in our samplers and also the problem of being able to control the tempo without having the problem of sampled loops going out of time. At the time, the only solution that we could find was to sync an Akai DPS 12 hard disk multi tracker to the Data Disk. By doing this we could work out certain places in the set where we switch from the Data disk and the Akai to just the Akai and at those points we can adjust the speed of the set with the vari pitch control. At these points we are still able to play live samples etc. which can be kept in time by setting a slight amount of pitch bend to one of the modulation wheels - the same kind of thing as a DJ putting their finger on the side of a turntable to slow the record down, or pushing the record round to speed it up a little. Then there are points set up where the Data disk can be re-triggered into the set and you then have a mixture of sequenced and hard disk recorded parts. This is all very variable and these are just a couple of techniques that we use in our sets. It all depends on what tracks we play and how the gig is going. .......................................
..........CONTINUED..... Another trick that we often use to create riffs is to program a pattern of Midi volume controls that go from a full vol of 127 to 0 and back to 127 in a way that you can then hold down a chord and it will be chopped up into a riff perfectly in time regardless of how 'in time' we may have played the chord - the volume info is being sent out perfectly in time so the riff will be in time. Some good examples of this are the riffs in 'I'm alive', 'F8' and 'Candyman'. There are SO many ways of programming 'Live' dance music and it would take almost a whole book to describe every trick in the LAB4 live set and a couple of follow up editions to go into every possible way of doing it. We have just replaced our Alesis Data Disk with an Akai MPC400, which will now give us even more control over the actual sequences that are playing along with more versatile effects, filters, real time stretching etc… - We are only just starting to imagine the basics of what this will eventually allow us to do. For the person who said they 'went off LAB4' because they saw us two nights in a row and we played the same set - it takes weeks to finalize the programming for each set and when we feel we have got a new set that we are happy with, then we will keep it for a few weeks. That way we can try out new tracks in amongst old tracks and decide what's working well with different crowds, and what's not. Meantime we will be working on the next new set in the studio. It's not like being a DJ that is able to just pick the records as you go along, we have to try to imagine how the set is going to go down before we get to the gig and once we have decided on the set (often a week or two before the gig) then we have to trust our judgements - if it's not going well we cannot just pull out one of those 'sure thing' tunes like a DJ can. We change our set at very least once a fortnight and we have never played the same set at the same venue twice. The final point we would like to make is that it has always baffled us why people will unquestioningly raise a DJ to God like status (and yes, some of them do deserve it) yet relentlessly slag of the live acts for not playing live - not considering the fact that the DJ is mostly playing music that some one else has written, and he/she gets to choose from the best new releases in the world every week, while the live act has to hold an audience for an hour or more with a selection of tracks that they have solely written, as well as keeping often temperamental equipment going, and entertaining a crowd because they are on stage! The fact is that however it is done, the artist who wrote the music and is presenting it, surely deserves respect for at the very least getting up and having a go - as apposed to slagging off someone who they don't know for something they don't understand.... We are at a loss as to understanding what it is that these 'critics' want us to prove! Do you want us to prove our ability when it comes to writing music - well we have written everything from classical music for the BBC (a program called 'So safe with us' - about the NHS if you want to check up), lounge jazz for a Polaroid advert, industrial metal for a Bacardi advert and break beat for a Reebok advert........ (Or is that boasting? Perhaps you could have a go about that next???) Do you want us to prove that we actually write the LAB4 music and program our own sounds etc? Maybe we should do a sound check demonstration instead of a set at our next gig, and have a 'critics' only guest list followed by question time.... To anyone who has inadvertently become drawn into this life wasting debate, please forgive our outburst, it's not often we make a stand or get our backs up about the odd bit of bitching, but the fact is that there are a lot of loyal LAB4 fans out there who constantly give us support and are honestly the reason that we are still doing it. We do have a great life now - but it is still 7 days a week solid work - and yes, we are lucky to get paid for doing what we love but it has taken over 15 years of disappointments, kicks in the teeth, being ripped off , having to sell equipment to pay rent and putting up with rumours and slagging for both of us and there have been times when we have come extremely close to packing it all in. The gigs are the reason we keep going, it's what we write the music for, and it's what keeps us on our toes. This explanation is for the sake of all the people who have been so supportive, NOT to appease the 'critics'. We will continue to work on and develop our live set and hope that we can continue to inspire those of you who are looking to enjoy life. If you have been offended by this statement then it can only be that you don't mind givin'it, but you can't handle takin'it, and therefore you deserve it! And if any of you reading this think that there is someone who you know that could be given some piece of mind about LAB4 LIVE, or at least encouraged to get on with their lives, then please feel free to pass this on. LAB4
