Do The Work!

When you are reading this, you are probably producing for a little time now and thinking about getting started with performing your own music live. Starting with something new and unknown can be very difficult sometimes. But there are some methods you can use, to overcome the first hurdle.
Remembering me in my first live situation... I would have done many things differently. But thinking that with the brain from today is easy. However... let's get you started:

1. Finding A Strategie

Producing on a computer can be very distracting sometimes. When you feel like using mouse and keyboard is discouraging you from doing your work, go back to pen and paper! It helps! Draw a sketch, create a mind map, make a plan! Find a Strategie first and then do the work! And follow the exact steps to fulfill your imagination. If it doesn't turn out as you expected: change some steps and do it again by sticking to the new plan!

2. Do The Work

This method is quite the opposite from the first one. You might have a simple plan in your head already, and your mere sluggishness is keeping you from trying it and bringing you to the next level. Maybe you are just afraid, that something might not turn out as you imagined in the first place or you fear that the outcome will not work or sound as you imagined. Well... that might happen, and the first few stages of your set won't be as satisfying as expected. But sometimes it's like that, and I promise: it won't hurt! You will gain at least some experience from it, OR! it will be something totally unexpected and extremely awesome. Just: DO THE WORK! And get started.

3. Emotional Hurdle

Maybe (and this problem is more common than you might think) you are just afraid of accidentally f***ing up your music and don't feel ready bringing it to the stage. You must know: A lot of popular artists have that exact problem. And they play huge shows.
When I started my first live shows I had no clue how to do it (more about that in the last blogpost). So I simply decided to DJ my tracks instead of performing  them. It was easy and a lot of fun. And suddenly I way diggin' DJing, what I never expected. You see: you will get at least some experience from doing anything into the direction of bringing your music to the stage. I was so afraid of messing it up, and destroying the fragile emotional structure of the music in the first place. I didn't even tried to perform my music on the first gig.
One advice here might help: if you are afraid to mess up your music, just start producing something meaningless (only for the sake of the session). Or imagine it would be a commission to some other artist, who needs to perform live. Simply imagine: it doesn't mean a lot to you.

That's it for today. I hope you were able to take some inspiration from it.

Coming up next week: I will show you first simple routines to take single tracks and stems from your music and create a simple loop based live session in Ableton Live. So: stay tuned!

Random thought of today: "In sign language, arthritis is a speech impediment."

Yours,
Ben Haviour

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