How to perform EDM live?

There’s an ever-going debate about if electronic dance music should even be performed live.

We all know you can’t create electronic music just by pressing one button. The music is filled with loads of layers and performing it 100% live isn’t easily going to happen.

Laptop live performances are something we’ve used to see. Some years ago they most likely looked like the artist or the band members are checking their emails rather than performing the music for the people.

With the modern software, midi controllers and synths it is possible to create one man live performance. But how to do it so that it looks something that the artist is really doing something at the stage.

Steve Helstrip, better known as The Thrillseekers gives us a model example how one man EDM live performance is done to the max.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrC7ct_TrUg

When you’ve seen how it’s performed, you might want to see how it’s done – behind the scenes. Here’s a video where Steve tells us how he has done things in his live perfomance. He also tells more about the software and hardware he is using.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOxYvkAg0oc

What do you think, will the future bring us even more artists that perform EDM live in front of public, or will the DJ’s still be the kings of nightlife?

Edit: The latter video was added after getting a comment from Steve on Twitter (@SteveHelstrip). Thank you for the input.

2 Responses to “How to perform EDM live?”

1. Chris says:

   2010/03/13 at 16:38

   First of all you have to distinguish between producers and DJs. A DJ plays records and can become an artist himself by adding effects to the music and merging several tracks into each other. A DJ who also has skills in musicproduction can extend his art by playing own tracks and modify them in real time during the gig. Producers who are also DJs have more oppertunities to present their art in a very flexible way. All in all it depends on what you want to do, how you want to entertain the crowd and how busy you want to present yourself and art. Of course it looks much cooler working with 3 MacBooks and some several synthesizers and this is what the crowd directly recognizes. This means not that someone who only works with one Laptop and one Midicontroller is less busy while performing his art. Finally it seems to be a question of selfpresentation and the flexibility you want to have while playing around with your performance

   Current score: 3
2. Rupert Brown says:

   2010/03/19 at 02:21

   I believe I am performing my music live. No two sets are the same and I do make decisions on the direction on the fly. At the moment I am trying to find the balance between the freedom of a completely modular set and the polish of the sequence of my finished tracks.

   I think we will see more live performance acts as the technology is just getting more affordable and accessible. Also blends of the two, with the technology these days the lines are blurring. DJ’s will always remain as being a selector is an art in itself and DJ’s have the largest sonic pallet available to them.

   Another important question is do most people care? Sure I go to a gig and want to sus every bit of kit but most people just want to get their tits out and dance right?

   Current score: 3