Live PA (meaning live
public address
A public address system (or PA system) is an electronic system comprising microphones, amplifiers, loudspeakers, and related equipment. It increases the apparent volume (loudness) of a human voice, musical instrument, or other acoustic sound sou ...
or live personal appearance) is the act of performing live
electronic music
Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...
in settings typically associated with
DJing
A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music fes ...
, such as
nightclubs,
rave
A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance mus ...
s, and more recently
dance music festivals.
In a performative context, the term was originally used to refer to live appearances, initially at rave events in the late 1980s, of studio based
producers of
electronic dance music
Electronic dance music (EDM), also referred to as dance music or club music, is a broad range of percussive electronic music genres originally made for nightclubs, raves, and List of electronic dance music festivals, festivals. It is generally ...
who
released music using fixed media formats such as
12-inch single,
CD, or
music download
A music download is the digital transfer of music via the Internet into a device capable of decoding and playing it, such as a personal computer, portable media player, MP3 player or smartphone. This term encompasses both legal downloads ...
. The concept of the live PA helped provide a public face for a scene that was criticized as "faceless" by the mainstream music press. The trend was quickly exploited by a
music industry
The music industry are individuals and organizations that earn money by Songwriter, writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music and sheet music, presenting live music, concerts, ...
desperate to market dance music to a popular audience.
Execution
Generally, live PA artists and performers use a central
sequencer which triggers and controls sound generating devices like
synthesizer
A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...
s,
drum machine
A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument that creates percussion sounds, drum beats, and patterns. Drum machines may imitate drum kits or other percussion instruments, or produce unique sounds, such as synthesized electronic tones. A d ...
s, and digital
samplers. The resulting audio outputs of these devices are then mixed and modified with effects using a
mixing console
A mixing console or mixing desk is an electronic device for Audio mixing (recorded music), mixing audio signals, used in sound recording and reproduction and sound reinforcement systems. Inputs to the console include microphones, signals fro ...
. Interconnected drum machines and synthesizers allow the electronic live PA artist to effectively orchestrate a single-person concert. Even though the live PA artist performs alone, they may be triggering a large number of musical parts, including a
bassline
Bassline (also known as a bass line or bass part) is the term used in many styles of music, such as blues, jazz, funk, Dub music, dub and electronic music, electronic, traditional music, traditional, and classical music, for the low-pitched P ...
, drum beats on a drum machine, synthesizer chords, and sampled
riffs from other recording.
Live PA artists typically add to these sequenced and triggered parts with hand-played electronic keyboards, hand-triggered audio samples, live vocals/singing, and other live instruments. Some artists like
Brian Transeau and
Jamie Lidell utilize hardware and software tools custom-designed for live expression and improvisation. By arranging, muting, and cueing pre-composed basic musical data (notes,
loops, patterns, and sequences), the live PA artist has the freedom to manipulate major elements of the performance and alter a song's progression in real-time. As such, each performance may be different, as the live PA artist changes the loops and patterns.
Many live PA artists try to combine the qualities of both traditional bands and dancefloor DJs, taking the live music element from bands, and the buildup and progression from song to song of DJs, as well as the sheer volume of music controlled by a single person (of a DJ as opposed to a band).
From hardware to software
Technological progress has kept live PAs evolving to the 2010s. In the 1980s, a live PA artist would need a van full of
synthesizer
A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...
keyboards,
drum machine
A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument that creates percussion sounds, drum beats, and patterns. Drum machines may imitate drum kits or other percussion instruments, or produce unique sounds, such as synthesized electronic tones. A d ...
s, and large cases of
rackmounted
effects unit
An effects unit, effects processor, or effects pedal is an electronic device that alters the sound of a musical instrument or other audio source through audio signal processing.
Common effects include distortion (music), distortion/overdrive, ...
s. With advances in computer processing power and in software-based audio tools and instruments, the live PA artist in the 2010s can pack a single laptop (loaded with
digital audio workstation
A digital audio workstation (DAW ) is an electronic device or application software used for Sound recording and reproduction, recording, editing and producing audio files. DAWs come in a wide variety of configurations from a single software pr ...
software and digital effects and mixers) into a bag, go out to a venue that has a house
sound reinforcement system
A sound reinforcement system is the combination of microphones, signal processors, amplifiers, and loudspeakers in Loudspeaker enclosure, enclosures all controlled by a mixing console that makes live or pre-recorded sounds louder and may also ...
and perform a show. This possibility creates a point of discussion, as the ability to perform one's own music live using a single, generic device creates yet another range of performative styles.
On one end, a laptop-based performer has the option of simply playing a polished, premade audio file that she or he prepared in the recording and editing studio. On the other end, the performer can be creating sound completely from scratch using software-based synthesizers, sequencers, etc. Somewhere in the middle is where the majority of performance setups fall. Incredibly popular is the software tool
Ableton Live. This gives a laptop-based performing artist the ability to sequence and trigger software synthesizers, external
MIDI
Musical Instrument Digital Interface (; MIDI) is an American-Japanese technical standard that describes a communication protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, ...
-controlled instruments, and internally stored sampled audio clips and loops. This can all be achieved in real-time, with the resulting audio being manipulated by Ableton Live's mixer and effect processors.
The feasibility of using a laptop computer as an all-in-one electronic music creation and performance tool created a massive wave of new artists, performers, and performance events. An international contest known as the
Laptop Battle has gained momentum.
Degree of "liveness"
A topic of debate amongst listeners, critics, and artists themselves is to what degree a performance is actually "live". A possible determining factor could be the degree to which the performing artist has real-time control over individual elements of the final musical output. Using this criterion, an artist who mimics or mimes the playing of instruments whilst simply having a prerecorded CD or digital audio track sound over the
PA system or broadcast, might not be considered particularly "live" by most people.
On the far opposite end of the spectrum, some artists choose to take only an idea or motif (e.g. a bassline, rhythm pattern, or
chord progression
In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural, or simply changes) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from ...
), realize it from scratch with electronic instruments on-the-spot, and then build upon it, modify it, and continue in this way for the entire performance. This requires a degree of discipline, technical musical skill and creativity to achieve. Additionally, some electronic musicians are also able to play keyboards, percussion and other conventional instruments, and will incorporate instrument playing with live manipulations of samples, effects, and electronics. Such situations meet the criteria of a live musical performance, since physical movements directly affect music.
Some might argue that the visual aspect of a performance, such as the movements of the performer and the light show, would be sufficient to call it "live". Codifying what defines "live" and what does not has been an ongoing topic of debate for many years. To date, nobody has successfully created a definition with which everyone involved seems satisfied.
[An overview on the discussion, and a case study of a Live PA can be found in Melanie Fritsch and Stefan Strötgen, "Relatively Live: How to Identify Live Music Performances", in]
"Music and the Moving Image", Vol. 5 No. 1, 2012 (March), p. 47–66.
/ref>
See also
* Laptop battle
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Live Pa
Electronic music
Music performance