SSR Collaboration Project
To meet the assignment brief outlined, I needed to be able to have a defined musical role as an instrumentalist, while focusing on rhythmic manipulation, pitch manipulation, manipulation of timbre and manipulation of one other live element during the performance. I decided to use Native Instruments Maschine 2.0 software and combined with the Maschine Studio hardware as I felt this combination would be suited for the task at hand. I would also need to use two other performers within the track to meet the specifications. I decided to ask Harry Davies Jenkins, a friend who was studying music performance, if they would like to be part of this project. He agreed and took the role of guitar instrumentalist and suggested one of his course colleagues to write and perform some vocals for the track. We agreed on creating a track between 120- 128BPM, with a 4/4 beat.
I began by researching artists who use Maschine in their live sets and came across the artist Bass Kleph. I watched some performances, tutorials, and downloaded a free Maschine pack via his website (http://www.basskleph.com ) to gain insight.
. From practice, I found I would not be able to replicate the same level of performance as Bass Kleph. This was due to the fact I was not cable of finger drumming patterns on time for over 4 mins as this was a new skill for myself. I also realised that I would not be able to complete any of the other manipulations as I would be focusing on the finger drumming too much. I decided to create a track still using Maschine, but have the track play via the scene selection function and have elements I could control via the pads and macro controls, enabling me to manipulate and create patterns during the performance. Some of the elements I created that made the performance more live was the drum rolls which I added on the fly using the not repeat and a sound effect during the build ups. For the synth, I had marcro controls on the cut off and resochord plug in.
Once I had created the basic elements of my track, I asked Harry to come over for a jam session to get ideas down. We decided to add the guitar in small stabs though the beginning of the track to introduce the sound later developing into its own melody. I decided that we would run the output of the guitar in Ableton live. This gave me the ability to add effects such as guitar rig to select an Amp emulation and ping pong delay, as this helped the sound blend with my track. For routing the first idea was to have the vocals and Maschine’s live output running though Ableton live with the guitar. However, I found it hard to sync the MIDI clocks between Maschine and Ableton. From this, I decided to run Maschine down one channel of the DJ Mixer and Ableton split over 2 channels. While deciding the arrangement, I used the Filter effect on the DJ mixer to manually modulate the high pass feature by increasing and decreasing the filter amount in time with the beat. This created a swelling sound. Harry also wanted an audio cue to dictate when to start playing. I used the filter again with a high pass on the last 4 beats before he would need to start. And over the master output I used the echo effect for builds to create tension. I did this by using the ¾ beat setting on the mixer.
Harry sourced the singer, a girl named Shannon, from his music course. He gave her a recording of our performance so that she could write some lyrics to add to it. Shannon said she had the Lyrics done after a few days, but was unable to rehearse in the times I was available. Two days before the final performance I contacted Harry to send the full final audio performance without vocals and complete some recording for another project. That’s when he confirmed Shannon would be unable to complete the performance, so I asked if he knew anyone that would fill in or play another instrument to ensure I met the requirements for the brief. Unfortunately, he was unable to find a replacement and my back up singer was unable to get out of work to perform between 3pm and 6pm on the Friday.
I decided to strip back some of the sounds within my track to make space for a bongo and requested help from some of my peers. Fortunately, Ellis Clarke said he would be able to help, however as he needed to work on his own performance, he would need to improvise on the day. To aid Ellis, I Coloured the scenes so that he could visually see where the changes were within the track.
I created a walkthrough video, available below, which goes though the set up as listed but with more detail and routings;
Saffire Pro 24/24 (Audio interface)
Pioneer DJM 850 mixer
Native instruments Maschine 2.0 and Maschine studio
Ableton Live
Guitar
XLR cables X2
Steel Bongo
I found on the day of the live performance I was unable to place my Maschine hardware next to the mixer. Not realising this would be problematic, I continued setting up without trying to find a solution. Once happy with the sound levels I proceeded to play my performance. I believed that the distance between the mixer and Maschine would not be too much of an issue until I realised that, as the controls for the macros and the controls for the mixer were far apart, I was unable to use the filter effectively to signal Harry when to play, and would struggle to manipulate the filter for the guitar while the track was playing and trying to get to Maschine to trigger certain pads. Thus, the result was not as intended or to the standard as previously rehearsed.
As I feel the overall performance was not as successful as anticipated, I strongly believe a lot could be easily improved. I found from the live performance it is wise to become familiar with the set up available, as I found I was unable to place my Maschine hardware next to the mixer. This created problems moving between the mixer and Maschine during my performance as they were spread further apart due to the turntable being fixed to the table so that the only place to put the equipment was on a table to the side which was also at a lower height. I should have done a recording session with the signer so that if they are unable to perform live I can still put their recorded version with the track. Also, in hindsight, I should have made sure that if it is necessary to use a backup performer, I should ensure they can practice the part instead of improvising on the day. While some performers can work on the fly and improvise, it would be better to give them more direction.
Looking back, one of the key things I would do differently would be using finger drumming in my live sets. I would do this by becoming more proficient in finger drumming on Maschine. when played live, it is like an instrument as demonstrated in by Jeremy Ellis in his live performance. Below is a video demonstrating his technical abilities, something I would aspire to be like.
To accomplish this I have found the website www.melodics.com, a finger drumming website that can be used for practicing and is organised by difficulty, like piano grades. It features the likes of Jeremy Ellis and Bass Kleph, among many other artists. Another key area for improvement would be preparation and contingency plans for circumstances that might go wrong to ensure my final performance goes smoothly. Thing like having back up performers, alternative tracks or sections of the track already recorded to cover if the original performer is not available.
Although the performance didn’t go as well as planned, the experience has given me insight into how to execute this kind of project in the future. I also enjoyed working Harry and would use him in future. As a result of this project, I would consider doing more collaborations and using more live elements within my future tracks.
