What a strange title, right? I’ll try to explain better.
Some time ago, I received an invitation to play at this event:
Astral Stories presents Nino Vichan and Waveform in
✦ Fair is Foul, and Foul is Fair ✦
12 pm SLT Saturday, 11 November art opening of Nino Vichan’s scenes from Macbeth
12 pm SLT Sunday, 17 December opera recital of Macbeth inspired pieces by Merryjest
12 pm SLT Saturday, 20 January live improvised music performances by
Poppy Morris - Echo Starship – Daddio Dow – Livio Korobase
Could I say no?
And I agree about improvisation, but calmly. I’m not a musician who can improvise a lot since I’m not an octopus for now, and I like to use a lot of instruments. So first of all I prepare my work tools.
Synopsis:
Lady Macbeth waits anxiously for Macbeth to return from killing Duncan.
When Macbeth enters, he is horrified by what he has done. He has brought with him the daggers that he used on Duncan, instead of leaving them in the room with Duncan’s servants as Lady Macbeth had planned. When he finds himself incapable of returning the daggers, Lady Macbeth does so. She returns to find Macbeth still paralyzed with horror and urges him to put on his gown and wash the blood from his hands.
So I started studying the how and why, and for this event I prepared a palette of sounds and synths, all in-the-box.
It is not a simple thing to “set” the scene of an opera and play it. So I’ve identified some tools to make the performance easier.
You certainly need a DAW, which for me is Presonus Studio One, which I will use as a looper and to organize sound changes and so on.
It’s easy to create tracks and assign to each track what it needs, the correct VST, automations, etc. etc.
One difficult thing to do is play and mix at the same time, which as it is a primarily sonic, sound-based event requires a lot of attention.
A really annoying thing is mixing with the mouse… but I have an iPad and Studio One has a dedicated mixer interface (Studio One Remote) which allows you to use faders with finger tips on a touch screen. Great, a true mixer.
Another tool that helps a lot in these events is the Studio One Rehearse and Perform template, made especially for these situations.
With Studio One 6 and the Rehearse and Perform smart template, Studio One allows you to get up and running incredibly quickly with a templated session – instead of sitting down, adding all of the elements you need for the performance, linking them together etc, the smart template sets it all up for you, making it easier to go from booting up to creating in a matter of seconds. Great and easy to use.
I add two empty audio track for play live (useless more, still have few hands) and done.
So far we are. But do we have everything? No, we’ll have to connect the DAW’s output to Shoutcast somehow, or no one will hear anything in world.
Personally the simplest and most effective solution I’ve found is a VST plugin called ShoutVST. It is available in 32 and 64 bit and the installation is really simple. Fill in the plugin interface with your stream data and when you press Connect on plugin and Play on the DAW will start sending your music to the Shoutcast server.
There are probably other solutions, but this one is free and works. If so, let me know yours in the comments.
Today is the 12th, still a few days left for the 20th, day of the show.
I feel like I have it all, but who knows.
In case we’ll see you at the event, at Waveform, Fair is Foul, and Foul is Fair,
12 pm SLT Saturday, 20 January
slurl: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Waveform/62/202/1150
I think the musicians here apart from me are among the best in Second Life. If you like music it’s a good opportunity to listen to something interesting.