Live PA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article does not cite any references or sources. (May 2008) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
Live PA, sometimes written LivePA, meaning Live Personal Appearance or Live Performance Artist is a term used to describe the act of performing music (mostly electronic) live. This differs from what a DJ might do as the music is created by the person performing it, with an element of improvisation and live composition or arrangement.
Many popular acts in electronic music worldwide can be categorized as Live PA artists, like Kraftwerk, Underworld, Chemical Brothers, Crystal Method, Daft Punk, Justice, and others.
While the term "Live PA" literally means "Live Personal Appearance", a legal term originally used to protect promoters when performances are occasionally prerecorded, in common usage it refers to live performance of electronic music, via synthesizers, samplers, and sequencers. The term "Live PA" can be used as a noun or adjective.
There is some dispute over the exact meaning of "PA". Other interpretations are that "PA" stands for "Performance Artist", which makes little linguistic sense as an act tends to be called a "Live PA" regardless of the number of performers involved; and a very small minority holds the opinion that it stands for "Public Address", a reference to the PA system on which the music is played to the crowd.
Contents |
[edit] Execution
Performing a Live PA is an open process; there are very few pre-defined rules other than that the resulting sound/music is considered to be "electronic". Execution can range from pushing play on an audio CD while pretending to play instruments, to live keyboard playing alongside a live drummer or percussionist, and anything in between.
Generally Live PA artists use a central sequencer which triggers and controls sound generating devices like synthesizers, drum machines, samplers. The resulting audio outputs of these devices are then mixed and modified with effects using a mixing console. Interconnected drum machines and synthesizers allow the electronic Live PA artist to effectively orchestrate a single-person concert. Hand-played keyboards, hand-triggered audio samples, live vocals, and other live instruments can augment the performance as well. 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.
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). By allowing the sequencer to handle the playing of basic musical data (as defined above), the Live PA artist can focus on controlling what is most important to the listener: the actual musical quality of what is emanating from the speakers.
[edit] From Hardware to Software
Technological progress has kept Live PAs evolving to this day. With advances in computer processing power and in software-based audio tools and instruments, the Live PA artist can pack a single laptop into a bag, go out 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. 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-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 massive momentum and is taken very seriously.
[edit] Degree of "Liveness"
A topic of discussion 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 mimicks the playing of instruments whilst simply playing a CD or stereo audio track, might not be considered particularly "live" by some. 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), 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 and creativity to achieve.
Some might argue that the visual aspect of a performance 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.
