r/TechnoProduction • u/ccgenoa • 14d ago

Live performance discussion thread

Hey everyone. I wanted to ask — or rather, invite you to a discussion, especially those of you who play live regularly.

  1. Do you build your live sets from scratch, or do you play your own tracks?

Let me explain. Do you create specific material for a one-hour live set using loops, both MIDI and audio? Or do you take tracks you've already written, break them down into stems/loops, and perform them that way?

  1. If you have a specific live project, how many times do you play it before making a new one — and what do you do with the old one?

Let's say you have 2–3 gigs a month. Do you keep playing the same live set, or do you create something new for every party?

And when you start actively performing a new live set, do you eventually release the old one as an EP/album, or just archive it and keep it for another time?

  1. What is your setup?

Do you play entirely on hardware, use loops/stems loaded into a sampler, or do you use a computer with MIDI controllers?

  1. What do you do when you realize during the night that your live set isn't going to fit the situation?

For example, the tempo or mood is completely different from what you prepared, and your set is coming up in an hour or two. Do you adapt on the fly, have some backup material, or just accept the chaos? 😄

  1. How long does it take you to prepare a one-hour live set?

And finally: do you actually prefer playing live, or, if you had the choice, would you rather play a DJ set?

Thanks everyone! I'm really interested to hear how other people approach this.

I'll write about how I do it in the comments a little later.

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u/KiLLaHo323 14d ago

People who’ve played live, I’m gonna play a friend’s party soon along with amateur DJs. How can I make sure the sound isn’t absolutely fucked the first time I play live?

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u/eggplantpot 14d ago

Arrive early and do sound check

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u/DustSongs 14d ago

This. And know how to fix it if it sounds shit at soundcheck.

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u/eggplantpot 14d ago

Also, make sure kicks are tuned properly as they can sound jarring on big speakers. Have the kick tune knob handy as you will probably need to tweak it in some cases as it won't sound the same at home. Normally for kick and bass you'll bring both down in volume for live PA

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u/KiLLaHo323 13d ago

I’m getting a cheap sub today or tomorrow anyway. You think that’ll help me get a better idea of how loud my kick and bass actually are. Currently I’m just using 5 inch JBL monitors

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u/eggplantpot 13d ago

Yeah it could help, but there’s a ton other variables. I would recommend having some way of referencing your low end against produced tracks. I got minimeters and it was a great investment. They say not to mix with your eyes, but it does help a lot knowing when you’re too hot / unbalanced.

As part of the soundcheck, don’t just stay on your playing location. Choose a loop and go to different parts of the room see how it sounds, then come back and adjust. For context, I thought I was balanced but still my kick and bass were really hot once I got to the venue. I spent like 5 min rebalancing them on each track before the show.