What Turns You On More: Producing Or Performing Live To An Audience?

[THE INTRANCER]

There is sure to be a significant number of people on KVR who have performed live on stage, just as I have in years gone by as well as being home/studio producers of music themselves, so I thought I'd throw this question out there for those who have and to reflect on how it affects them as artists and perhaps how they produce/write or perform for an audience, or whether they prefer the solitude of composing alone.

If you have never performed in front of an audience before, then I ask for those who have not, in whether that is your ultimate goal, or whether whatever you do create, is for your ears only and will forever be locked away in the vaults of horrors and to be only resurrected through an act of performing a séance for the undead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsTi3Yh ... l=KOSmusic

[vurt]

my early "live sex show extreme industrial fetishism night" gigs, were probably my biggest turn ons in the music realm.
think tg, with less razor blades.

[Uncle E]

Definitely performing live. But paying gigs can be hard to come by and you pretty much need to produce to get gigs. And you need to perform to get your tracks noticed. Vicious cycle.

Things are a bit easier as a studio/side/utility musician, you just have to put up with a lot cringe work. I made pretty good money doing it but eventually got tired of it.

[FranklyFlawless]

Performing live, as you only get one take.

[Uncle E]

It'd better be flawless...

[FranklyFlawless]

It'd better be flawless...

Absolutely.

[BBFG#]

Are audiences really there any more?
It seems they're just a mob of selfie taking wannabe SM influencers now.
And if you get some that are actually there to see you, they're either caught in a karaoke sing along or yelling at you to play your old stuff.

The studio collaborations I used to do have all become racially motivated trying to prove they can't be that.
So self production is now the default. But even when I play the mixes for others, it engenders a hostility the moment they learn I do the entire thing myself.

So these days, it's just for me and the spouse. Record and archive.

[RunBeerRun]

I do both but like the sound of live playing. I can't stand stiff mainstream albums, at least listening closely or when its early in the morning still.

[Uncle E]

And if you get some that are actually there to see you, they're either caught in a karaoke sing along or yelling at you to play your old stuff.

Make synthesizer music with no vocals.

The studio collaborations I used to do have all become racially motivated trying to prove they can't be that.

How can we be racist when all we do is think about race?

So self production is now the default. But even when I play the mixes for others, it engenders a hostility the moment they learn I do the entire thing myself.

Make up a back story about how it's all done by you and your spouse (mainly your spouse, you're just there to look good). Worked for The White Stripes.

[ghettosynth]

I enjoy both, thoroughly. However, I don't play live anymore because there are not opportunities that lie at the intersection of my age, skill, interest, willingness to work, and willingness to deal with other people.

I have thought a few times about trying to find two or three similar minded old blokes with average skill to form an average country/blues/rock band. I'd play bass, guitar, or sing as necessary. But, I inevitably find that people aren't content with playing in the basement for friends. When it becomes real work, I'm out. Music is, and has mostly always been, just a hobby for me.

What I really enjoy about playing live is the interaction with other players. It's hard to replicate that experience in the studio. I never enjoyed playing live solo very much, whether it's simple acoustic music or electronica. I still do the former at home with an audience of one whom I tend to make smile and there's never a phone involved. I sometimes do the latter as well, but I would never release either as a finished "live" performance. I like them, warts and all, but the acoustic numbers are just me enjoying myself and the electronica always needs production. Sometimes I do that, mostly I just enjoy the experience for me.

[CrystalWizard]

Health precludes me from live gigging last few years, maybe that will change. I prefer live gigs x100. Barely exaggerating. I like making noise at home more than most any other thing i could do, though.

[BBFG#]

Make synthesizer music with no vocals.

How can we be racist when all we do is think about race?

Make up a back story about how it's all done by you and your spouse (mainly your spouse, you're just there to look good). Worked for The White Stripes.

Sounds like you get it.
We actually now do something between jazz fusion and a new age ambient with some occasional classical motifs. And the hostile listeners are usually guitarists that couldn't tell the guitars were played ala keyboard.
(It often reminds me of that old joke we used to tell in our music stores about how many guitarists it takes to screw in a light bulb.)
Funny thing is, I often play it for them in hopes we might collaborate on something before they get butt hurt and shut down.
And yeah, we do our best to just ignore the question of who the recording is before that.

[neverbefore]

Are audiences really there any more?

there are still audiences but probably not so much for small to mid sized venues.
last time I performed live was a few years back maybe to 25000 people but that was a 12hr festival with lots of top line acts.
live performing is way more exciting than studio work. but I also record outside the studio for various projects and that can be great if the project invol es interesting people

live playing is just a whole order above tho

[BBFG#]

Are audiences really there any more?

there are still audiences but probably not so much for small to mid sized venues.
last time I performed live was a few years back maybe to 25000 people but that was a 12hr festival with lots of top line acts.
live performing is way more exciting than studio work. but I also record outside the studio for various projects and that can be great if the project invol es interesting people

live playing is just a whole order above tho

What I was referring to though was that while the venue is full, there are far less people actively listening. It's more important to them in showing others they were there than actually "experiencing there".

[FranklyFlawless]

Right, they are not there to analyze every mistake you make on stage like an audition.