DJ Rolando DEMF

DJ Rolando is a Detroit DJ and has multiple releases on UR as well as a variety of other labels throughout the late 90s and 00s.

This set is a classic example of traditional techno DJing, occurring at Detroit’s own Detroit Electronic Music Festival. You can see that he’s using (at least) 3 turntables (and I believe a CDJ) and a mixer to play the music. At times he appears to be mixing vocal samples on top of the music (1:30), then he spins a record in reverse to transition out of one song (4:10). At (8:08) he uses filters to add to the music, as well as more turntablism at (8:20). At (9:30) you can see him spinning through a record to search for a specific moment. At (18:46) you can see the infamous “crates” of records as he looks for a song. Then at (21:50) you see him using simple volume controls to smooth the transition between songs.

I haven’t gone through the whole thing, but it’s a great set and worth a listen!

limits and simplicity

i thought this was unique.  This performance is far more impressive because of the context of the setup.  Using just a 303,  thats the context.



the performance is compelling without the context, but i think that drives this home for me. which makes me think about what context is appropriate, and what is too limiting, or too much even? I also do not want this to go down the path of "we made this hard to make this hard on ourselves." thats not cool. There might be some helpful limitations to consider to keep our performance engaging, concise, and obviously, impressive.

DJ plays MIDI along with mixing! NO TIME TO CHECK EMAIL

Watch as A-Trak plays keyboard, mixes and does other DJ stuff HERE..........ok maybe he checked his email

Can a DJ combine a performance setup with a live band?

Todd Terje thinks you can.
This video starts with just Terje basically DJing on his own.  There may perhaps be a bit too much magic behind the scenes (partly due to the lighting distracting us away from the performer), but he is definitely performing in real time, controlling two synths in real-time.  In one hand, he controls harmonic content with a keyboard-based synth, while controlling textures and filter on another synth simultaneously.
Then the band joins him.
The bad news is the audio that accompanies this video malfunctions from the 2-10 minute mark.  The good news is the whole video is 75 minutes long, so there is still plenty of material to analyze.
Some of this music definitely starts to pull away from being explicitly techno, but some similar live performance sensibilities can certainly be applied.
At 14:30, we hear a looped electronic beat get augmented by hand percussion and a drum kit, before a keyboard plays a synth bass line that is decorated with horn sounds.  There's strings adding texture, too.
50:30 is a spot to check out, too.  Using an effected vocal to construct hamonic/textural layers is definitely something we could easily do.
The song "Oh Joy," which begins at 58:35, is an example of a gradualistic compositional structure that uses evolution in arrangement and timbre to make various repetitions interesting.  And, it's interesting to watch, because even though there are automated electronic components, we are definitely always observing live musicians performing, often times even in a relatively orthodox manner.
And the finale is just a ton of fun, with a huge group of dancers joining the performance.

Shawn Rudiman doesn't check his email on stage

When I thought of outstanding acts for Techno performance I immediately thought of Shawn Rudiman. He mixes live PA all-hardware techno live, every bit of music generated on the spot. No laptop. The particular thing of interest in relation to what we are doing is how he transitions between different "songs" (which are actually live-composed music). Seeing as this is what we are going to do, transition between performed compositions live, I just wanted to highlight a few ways he cuts between motifs that he is generating live... with no headphone mix.

9:10 A big thing he does is cut non-percussion motifs while he re-develops them. Then he subtly fades back in his new melody.

At 11:17 he cut out the groove for one measure before he "dropped it" and it was pretty exciting and he just stood really still for a moment and people seemed to get re-engaged.

at 26:36 he cuts down the resonance on the cymbals to function as quick swelling hi-hat type sounds. I think that cymbal resonance is an important dynamic to play with in live performance. Sometimes a resonant off-beat cymbal that rises right until the bass drum hits again can signify a "big" sound where as a short off-beat cymbal might feel more like a "tight" sound. Transitioning between the two can be a dynamic of progression that we could toy with.

Octave One (live)

Octave One is a Detroit techno duo on Underground Resistance's label. I found this video of one of a short segment of their set and decided to analyze it.

I really like how (throughout the entire video) the guy on the left is controlling a filter by a knob, using it give some direction to the loops. It's visible and has that glorious 1:1 correspondence of action to sound.

I also like how the guy on the right is dancing HARD the whole time! My only concern is that I can't really tell what he's up to besides dancing... I think it would be better if there was a visual way to show when a loop comes in or goes out. To the people working on our sequencer(s), maybe try to work in a visual for the audience to keep track of?

This song also has a nice balance of build and "drop" (for lack of a better word). The build only comes in occasionally and it is thankfully not over the top, unlike many big name DJs like to hand out ridiculous and unnecessary drops like candy. 

A Look Inside Purity Ring's Live Performances

A long-time favorite of mine and a familiar name to at least a few people in our class, Purity Ring is a great example of innovative DIY performance in electronic music. The two-piece ensemble strives to create a welcoming ambiance for their audience, and breaks the mold of the traditional "laptop" musician. Some of the highlights of their performances include live-processed vocals, DIY MIDI/light controllers, and an array of light fixtures that react to their musical choices. This video highlights some of those aspects, as well as presenting a couple of performance clips from their show at Webster Hall in New York City.

My biggest takeaway from watching this is the idea of continuity in performance. Not only does Purity Ring's live performance maintain a consistent and pleasing ambiance, their debut album, Shrines, effectively utilizes a restrained number of timbres, which gives their entire set aural consistency. It may be difficult for us given that we are more or less sectioning the class into teams in order to work on different pieces, but I think that our performance would benefit by having a couple of core elements (lights, sounds, interfaces, reoccurring melodies or interludes, etc.).

Name Our Concert

We have until Tuesday February 3 to come up with a name for our show to appear in the U-M SMTD events calendar, and which we'll use for posters, etc. Post ideas in comments here.

HIGH TECH SOUL - THE CREATION OF TECHNO MUSIC from COXBOX on Vimeo.

Detroit One-off Records

rate looks like 25$ per record if we're interested  : : : rv-sd custom record cutters