Time off
Seven shows down, seventeen to go. I have a few days at home before getting on a plane to New York for the next leg of the tour. I had forgotten how totally numb I feel when I get home. It’s wonderful to see my family, and sleep in my own bed. But it’s so hard to try to be a human being when your entire metabolism has shifted over to rock’n'roll time. Like some weird interplanetary jetlag!
I’m very pleased with the way it’s been going. The clubs have been packed and the audiences very receptive. My set list is working well. Even when I skipped the second song ‘Submarines’ the other day, and put it in as an encore instead. I managed to add one in on the fly, just working in soundchecks–’The Flat Earth’, which I use as a way to introduce my layering/sequencing technique. The audience can follow closely on the video screen and on my Mac screen as I build the part sup from scratch. The song’s intro lends itself very well, because there are several orthogonal percussion parts, an offbeat reggae guitar sample, a deep dub-like bass, and a lush piano and synth melody.
I hope to add more in this downtime. Only problem is, my gear is on a truck on its way across the USA! However I think I’m going to splash out for a brand new MacBook Pro, which in theory will have roughly similar performance to my G5 tower. I’ll have to restrict myself to Logic’s own plug-in set, as many of the 3rd party ones I use are not compatible with the Intel-based Macs yet; but I can at least map it all out, and move it over to the G5 in New York.
What does it take to add a new song to the set? (A new, ‘old’ song that is.)
Okay, let’s suppose I decide to add ‘Radio Silence’ at my next gig in New York. Here are the steps:
1. Close my eyes and listen hard to my imagination and hear how I would like it to sound. Like the original ‘electric guitar’ version? I could simulate some of that fuzz using plug-ins like Slayer 2. Or more like the Daniel Miller-coproduced single version, with Akiko Yano vocals? Her ‘doo-dop’ vocals might sound great using my own voice through a vocoder. And the original sequence, played on Daniel’s ARP sequencer where you had to tune the individual notes with knobs, would work well on my Doepfer box. Maybe a blend of the two versions?
2. Open a new Song in Logic Pro 7.2. Maybe there’s an existing song with approximately the same tempo and instrumentation? I could open that, save it as ‘Radio Silence’ and delete 95% of the notes but use the sounds and remainder of the notes as building blocks for the new song.
3. Get the basic groove going until I’m happy with it. Make a 4- or 8-bar cycle that loops endlessly. Pick a drum sound, bass sound, pads and melodies. Tweak them all in parallel, gradually refining the notes, dynamics, and sound timbres and envelopes until it’s truly cooking and I’m dancing around my shed in my bedroom slippers.
4. Build the structure of the song, stringing together intro, verses, choruses, bridges, solos, outro. If it feels right to extend certain sections, or change the original structure, that’s ok.
5. Figure out which parts of my new arrangement I want to play live, and a good ergonomic setup. For example if there are piano-type parts, I generally like them on my big CME keyboard right in front of me. There are enough octaves for me to put a bass part lower down. Samples and drums are best placed on my TriggerFinger pad, and lead parts I put on my Novation or my Virus. Each part has to be filtered in Max so that it’s playing the right MIDI channel, in the correct octave, with a certain dynamic (maybe limiting the maximum velocity to 90 not 127) and turning off controllers, pitchbend and so on. And this configuration may work for the intro, but not for the verses; so I build a second one, and find the right exact moment within my song sequence to send a signal to change it all around.
6. Learn to play the parts and sing at the same time! This is sometimes a lot like rubbing my tummy and patting my head. I’ll just go at it over and over again, sometimes stopping and practising one part slowed down until my muscles get it dialed in. If it doesn’t slot into place easily, I may need to re-think. I can never have fun performing the song if it’s like pulling teeth.
7. Add backing vocals if needed. If this is via a vocoder, I have to split off my lead vocal part, feed it into Logic’s EVOC plug-in, route some MIDI there from one of the parts I’m playing, fiddle with the tone to get it just right, then write in mute/unmute points for the vocoder, possibly muting my lead vocal channel at the same time. Or maybe all that’s needed is a big echo and repeat on my main vocal, or some backwards reverb for the full-on stadium yob effect; but this too takes a lot of tweaking. My vocal EQ, compression and effects are all programmed for each section of the song.
8. Hope that inserting the new song into the set will not screw up any others. This is an ongoing process: so far, every new song has been two steps forward and one step back. I added ‘Flat Earth’ for my last show in Seattle, but in so doing I introduced a couple of new problems: there were samples missing in ‘Science’, and an entire verse’s worth of effects went AWOL in ‘Budapest’. I can’t tell you how stupid it feels when I go to play a fabulous sound on one of my keyboards, and nothing comes out. The cause is probably some stupid pilot error. But it will take me a fraught half hour on headphones prior to the New York gig just to fix the new problems.
So this process is a string of smaller decisions, hopefully united by a common vision. With all these little decisions I have to let go of my loyalty to the original recording, and allow the new version to take shape, reflecting who I am in 2006, and all the musical and cultural changes that have taken place since I recorded the song. And through the whole process, what I’ve got focussed in my mind is the moment when the spotlight’s on me and I play and sing the song in front of a club audience. I imagine I’m one of the punters, out there in the crowd: how should it sound, to blow me away?
And the final question is WHY. All this analysis and process is meaningless unless it connects emotionally. The essence of ‘Radio Silence’ is a feeling, not a bunch of numerals. I need to capture that essence and convey it to the audience. That’s the hardest part of all: letting go of the process itself, and allowing the feeling to come through and take over. If you ever took art for granted, and imagined the artist just woke up in the morning and exhaled, and great art or music came out, think again.
April 25th, 2006 at 2:24 am
TMDR: I think you’ve again illustrated a BIG reason why so many of us are devoted fans – you are amazingly candid and genuine in your approach to how you make your music. The thought process that you describe (and that you also speak about *during* the performance) is simply amazing! For fans, I cna’t think of anything better than ‘taking the lid’ off of the creative process and sharing it with us – while also satisfying some latent “geek need” to hear about the nuts and bolts of the work needed! This is incredible!
April 25th, 2006 at 5:54 am
“With all these little decisions I have to let go of my loyalty to the original recording, and allow the new version to take shape, reflecting who I am in 2006, and all the musical and cultural changes that have taken place since I recorded the song.”
One of the things I love about the albums is that [to me at least] they seem to step outside the culture of the time – ‘Aliens’ didn’t sound like a late-80′s pop record, it sounded like a martian had made a best guess at creating a P-funk album based on a record review.
April 25th, 2006 at 6:41 am
You’re doing something right with the 2006 versions.
I especially like the updated Leipzig. After both the January Anaheim show and the Independent show, I found it stuck in my head the next day.
This week, your updated Suitcase crept into my head for some reason.
All I can say is, the 2006 versions of your 80′s and 90′s music makes me look forward to new 00′s and beyond music.
See you at the Bluebird in May.
April 25th, 2006 at 6:46 am
Wow. I’m amazed at the details that you have to deal with in order to paint the sound picture that is in your head. Even with technology as advanced as it has become, it seems you still experience glitches per your blogs. Hopefully those will decrease for you as time progresses. I can’t wait to see what you come up with for the East Coast and Chicago shows!
April 25th, 2006 at 7:13 am
Mr. TMDR,
When it gets dark, the keys on your new MacBook are going to glow and it is going to be cool. Enjoy.
April 25th, 2006 at 8:22 am
Thank you for detailing all the work that goes into your performance – this blog has far exceeded my expectations as to what I thought it would be (as have your live performances).
Get the MacBook Pro! Best. Purchase. Ever.
Yes, there are a lot of plug-ins that aren’t compatible yet (I wish NI would get on the ball so I could use Reaktor), but there’s still plenty of fun to be had – you wont regret it.
April 25th, 2006 at 8:50 am
but you can use the plugins if you run the ppc version of logic under rosetta too, then the plugins will be hosted by it also. But if you run the intel version of logic then the plugins need to be too. Course, I dont know what other problems running logic under emulation might cause, certainly reduce the available resources a bit, but it might be worth experimenting with.
As far as virtual instruments go, there are many that can run as both a plugin or as a separate application. If you can run non-universal instruments or processors as a separate app, then they can be plugged in through core audio with a universal binary just fine too. Course, there also they will use up more resources, but depending on how much you expect them to do it might work fine
As with all things, some experimentation will be necessary!
Enjoy your time off! I’m so glad to hear the tour is going so well so far. I’m enjoying hearing about it even though you’re not coming close enough for me to hear it for myself. You are recording these right? I hope you’re planning on doing a live album, or at least a couple of downloads for those of us that can’t make it.
April 25th, 2006 at 10:10 am
Oddly enough, my favorite moments from the Seattle show were when things went a little haywire. For example when the samples during Science weren’t going as planned the audience happily filled in for the Professor. It’s that kind of stuff that keeps the live show fun in my opinion. Truely a dream come true to see an artist I’ve admired from the very beginning. Thank you, thank you, thank you Thomas for re-emerging.
April 25th, 2006 at 12:34 pm
(As “Forty” plays on my iTunes…”…one of the downsides of meeting the perfect women…”)
Super entry, TMDR. You make a good point: the sound of an original work cannot often be repeated exactly. But as the artist, you can recreate the magic and spirit of the original. If you’ve done that, you’ve succeeded. I personally prefer to hear something not exactly like the original.
(hint) Maybe this redone material will make it onto an upcoming album?
April 25th, 2006 at 1:50 pm
It’s been very inspiring reading Thomas’s blog – it’s making me want to get out and try playing more live shows. Just wanted to say, if he’s reading the comments, that it’s been very instructional reading the descriptions of the looping/changing parts techniques, which are definitely beyond what I’ve done (in complexity) so far (because I also play my material solo). Hope to try some of them out sooner or later. Thanks, Thomas!
-bill (Heuristics Inc.)
April 25th, 2006 at 7:21 pm
Dear Old Faithful,
Interesting and conceptually familiar process to me. I usually sit down with the attitude that I am going to learn something new and allow myself to find a groove. Permission…giving myself permission to do it.
Very nice to have met you in Boise. An unforgettable show and I am so happy Oliver and Victoria made the arrangements. It was their treat for me. I kept thinking about the “house of cards” analogy Ollie mentioned to me. Must be good to be home with family. Treasure them.
Johnny Jane
April 25th, 2006 at 10:06 pm
“I’ll have to restrict myself to Logic’s own plug-in set, as many of the 3rd party ones I use are not compatible with the Intel-based Macs yet; but I can at least map it all out, and move it over to the G5 in New York.”
A very, very brave man indeed! If there were ever anyone more fearless of new technology, I don’t know of their existance. I get nervous just updating my OS.
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“Learn to play the parts and sing at the same time! This is sometimes a lot like rubbing my tummy and patting my head”
I’m so glad I’m not the only one who feels that way!
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As everyone’s reports have testified, I think we are witnessing a truly unique performance in the world of music. Even when I saw Kraftwerk perform about a year ago, as much of a fan I am, I didn’t find their performance to be nearly as inspiring. Yes, they have also “pumped up” many of their classics and they have an impeccable stage set with massive video projections, all wearing the same suit each with a keyboard and laptop in front of them…but they lacked the soul and artistic adventure that was such a part of Mr. Dolby’s show. For thinking audiences starved of creative experimentation in a live show, this was a visual and audio feast.
April 26th, 2006 at 8:39 am
I hope you plan to come to Boulder/Denver. After seeing and reading about the shows so far, I can’t wait to take in the show myself.
By the way, I can’t believe how buggy Logic Pro 7.2 is for what your doing. I mean come on – inserting a new song clobbers existing data. That’s just plain nasty. I know how it goes though – you get used to an interface – write a bunch of songs – everything is going along fine. You then scale up to use the app for something bigger than just individual songs and wham – a trip to bug city. Clearly your innovative approach was not something the developers expected.
Hopefully your relationship with Apple will allow you to offer feedback so they can improve logic to the point where I won’t get an ulcer just reading about your working with it :^).
Cheers,
Mark
April 26th, 2006 at 11:12 am
TMDR: If you need any reasons to go through, what I imagine is an emotionally draining process, of revisiting some old friends…. (the songs, that is!)… I can give you a million and one to revisit Weightless before you get to London…. but just so you know, whatever you play, i’m honoured and excited that i’m actually going to see you play live after all these years…..
April 27th, 2006 at 7:40 pm
Brilliant. I’ve been waiting for 20 years to see this show, and now I have less than three weeks to go before I finally see some of my most favorite music live. I love this blog almost as much as music (yay! Macs!)…and Radio Silence would be a great addition!
April 29th, 2006 at 6:23 pm
Not to mention that the new MacBook pro has a built-in camera at the top of the screen for AV live IM chats or grabbing pics of anyone walking by. Very cool feature.
May 4th, 2006 at 12:23 pm
Can’t wait for this. Just booked my tickets. Flying from Belfast for the Scala, London gig in June.
It will be great to finally hear your genius live mr Dolby!! The only time I heard you ‘live’ was on a recording I have from your flat earth tour broadcast on Radio 2 in 83′ I think, and your live wireless video I have.
Roll on June and thank you!!
May 11th, 2006 at 8:07 am
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