Using Your DAW Live: Taking It To The Stage
Tips for using a DAW in live sound environments.
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We find out about using your DAW live for music performance or signal processing and some useful tips to help you get the best results.
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It wasn’t too long ago that many of us would be terrified at the thought of relying on a laptop for live performance. In these troubled times, the fear of latency, stalls, and crashes haunted the dreams of many musicians the night before a show.
Using Your DAW Live
Luckily, with the processing power of the laptops we have access to today, as well as the low-latency audio interfaces and control surfaces, we can easily put together reliable systems for a variety of different purposes.
Using Your DAW Live: Performance
There is quite a bit more to performing live with a DAW than you might think. Although Ableton Live provides the ultimate platform for live music performance, you still have to develop a system for playing your tracks and master it. The first thing you’ll find out about performing with live is that you aren’t using your current Ableton Live sessions.
Instead, you will need to devise a template depending on the approach you take. The songs of some artists have a rigid structure, with set verses and choruses, while others in different styles of electronic music have the opportunity to change the format in real time according to the audience and type of venue they are performing at.
The range of possibilities available makes live performance a diverse art form, with ways to incorporate controllers, instruments, and effects. While some artists use Ableton Live as the primary sequencer, others like Depeche Mode have used it for drum processing for many years.
Using Your DAW Live: Sound Mixing
Live sound production is another application for a DAW that allows you to incorporate many of your favourite plugins into your live signal processing workflow. Software like audioström LiveProfessor 2 provides a low-latency platform for processing audio with ways to instantly recall settings for different songs in your performance.
There may be some functions that you want to have instant access to, the same way you would on a mixing console. To do this, all you need is a compatible controller, that you can configure to suit your specific workflow. Meanwhile, more advanced live DAW systems like RML Labs SAC give you the flexibility to create and customize multiple monitor mixes for the performers on stage.
When using a DAW for live sound applications, your audio interface is an extremely important piece of the puzzle. For this reason, many engineers recommend RME audio interfaces for the stability and quality of the converters and preamps, as well as the level of performance you get at 48 kHz with very low latency.
Using Your DAW Live: Software Instruments
A platform like Apple MainStage presents another avenue for keyboardists, guitarists, and vocalists for using software instruments and effects on stage. Getting the sounds from your recorded songs to translate in your live shows can be a complicated process, but with the help of multisampling and a wide range of effects, you can turn any sound into a quickly accessible patch.
As a keyboard player, the options are vast, with access to synths, samplers, organs, electric pianos, and clavinets, allowing you to build the best custom rig for each song, with customized keyboard splits and effects chains for each sound you use. Meanwhile, guitarists can use amp and pedal emulation plugins to create all their go-to sounds.
One thing worth noting about MainStage, is that it also supports the AU plugin format, so you can use any 3rd-party software instruments and effects you like in your performances. If you want more than just sounds, Steinberg VST Live Pro offers a range of live production features including control for DMX lighting setups.
Using Your DAW Live: MIDI Controllers
Without a controller, you’re limited to clicking one function at a time with a few keyboard hotkeys to help you out. This makes it essential that you find the right controller for your specific application, so you have a range of your most frequently used functions at your fingertips. For some, like Ableton Live users, this is remarkably easy, due to the level of excellent options available.
While Ableton offers its own dedicated Push controller, there are also some excellent affordable options from AKAI and Novation that give you access to clip launch functions, volume faders, transport controls and more. Meanwhile, if you’re using software to mix at small venues, a controller with motorized faders is worth looking into.
If you’re a keyboard-based performer, there is a huge range of possibilities. From weighted keys, to keyboards that have integrated faders and rotary encoders, you can find an option capable of going beyond just triggering your instruments, and instead it can become a custom interface for your entire live set.
Using Your DAW Live: Audio Interface
As we’ve touched on briefly, choosing the right audio interface is extremely important, as this is your bridge between the analogue and digital worlds. A decent interface means good sound quality, stable AD/DA conversion, low-latency, and good mic preamps. However, it’s also essential to select one that has the right number of inputs and outputs for the job.
The scale of your show will determine how many mic and line inputs you need, but digital connectivity is equally useful, especially in live sound environments. Here, formats like Dante and MADI are commonly used for transmitting high channel counts between digital devices without any signal degradation over long distances.
The gear that you plan on using for live sound applications often requires more research before purchasing than gear for your home studio. The reason for this is that home recording is an isolated affair, whereas live venues will often have equipment you’ll need to work with. This makes it essential to know what connectivity standards are used so you can always be prepared.
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