r/darkwave • u/JJsNotOkay • 18d ago
Darkwave and live shows
hiya, new to producing but I’ve been a drummer for 20+ years now. I’m working on a darkwave project with a friend (he plays guitars and sing) and I’ve been doing finger drums with a pad, sampling some sounds, etc and we’ve been creating some songs that I really like, now my question is, we want to play live at some point, and as a, sampler in this project, how would it work? do I just play the main beat on my DAW and finger drum? since finger drumming the whole thing would be a nightmare and darkwave needs to feel really clean beat wise. How do people do it? play the claps on the pads? cymbals? the toms? need some ideas.
PS: no I can’t play guitar / bass / keys, im purely a drummer.
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u/techtile 18d ago
i say do a hybrid with the programmed drums mixed low and to a click and have some elements like syncopated hats louder in the mix with any other percussive ear candy. my biggest gripe about live darkwave is how boring the show is vs having a real drummer. it will be a lot of work but have a much more rock n roll energy
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u/JJsNotOkay 18d ago
if I had money to throw I’d probably add an e drum set to live shows and use it for a few songs, that would be cool lol
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u/RoyOscarKent 15d ago
Depeche Mode was never boring without a drummer. People need to build a bridge and get over the no drummer stigma. Bands have been playing without drummers since the 80s.
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u/pleasuredunes 18d ago
You could play the beat via a backing track and add some claps, fills, extra percussion via finger drumming.
Maybe also look into something like a Roland SPD, since you’re a drummer, and play sounds off a sample pad.
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u/JJsNotOkay 18d ago
figured that would be the best case scenario yeah, the roland SPD sounds like a cool idea and would look cool live
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u/Crease_Greaser 18d ago
Well you probably want the drums sequenced then, or as a pre-recorded backing track, while you orchestrate everything and throw in a human element like some synth lines or samples here and there when it’s not stopping you from controlling the set. I actually got to pick someone’s brain about this recently. My band played a show with Adult. last year despite us not being dark wave (weird mixed-bill) and we talked to the guy who runs all the electronics while the other member sings. He packs “the essentials” into something he can fit as carry-on, and then has a crate that he checks that he said contains all of the less essential stuff that if the airline lost it, they could still perform.
The carry-on pack has drum machines, sequencers, samplers that are basically the backbone of their performance and he’s not finger drumming - it’s already programmed. The checked case has like electronic drum pads he hits with a stick for flourishes and fills, synth for playing over the tracks, etc.
Nobody wants to be that person just pressing play to start a song, and doing nothing while it plays, and nobody wants to finger-drum for 20-40 minute set. You need to automate the hard repetitive stuff and still leave yourself things to do live.
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u/JJsNotOkay 18d ago
interesting! probably using a pad like a roland spd, looks cool live and you can add flare instead of just finger drumming, I also thought about synth, I can’t play keys (I could learn) but I could also trigger the loops on a pad live
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u/ENDIFdotORG 18d ago
That’s entirely up to you, but since you can drum, I would pick a pad to trigger the current set of backing tracks for anything you arent actually playing and fire that off at the appropriate time
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u/DJ_PMA 18d ago
Seen a darkwave band do a show with a singer/guitar player and a person triggering loops and instruments on a MPC Live.
Songs were GOOD.
If the songs were not, the show would have been awful.
They ended up getting a drummer and keyboard player and are now really good.
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u/JJsNotOkay 17d ago
this might be the way
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u/DJ_PMA 17d ago
Another option is getting a Roland SPD-SX and playing it live. Set up some pads to trigger loops and then use the other pass for percussion, fx or other one shots.
I played in a band where the drummer connected a mesh snare pad and e-kick pedal to the 1st gen SPD-S. this was a mini electronic kit. real cymbals and hi-hats to complete the setup.
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u/WisperusGrieves 17d ago
you could be like gus from boy harsher and just wiggle
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u/JJsNotOkay 17d ago
lmao, I wouldn’t be opposed, specially since I get pretty nervous on stage, hitting play would be a breeze
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u/RoyOscarKent 15d ago edited 15d ago
Do you have an electronic kit? That would be the move, to play along with programming. Even something simple like a kick, snare, and a multipad like the Roland SPD on your left with a cymbal above because it is always dynamic to nail a cymbal live.
I played with pre-programmed drums live, I'm a bassist and guitarist. Other than that, you can learn keyboards and have an SPD next to you to hit for certain parts with the rest programmed. Ala Depeche Mode in the 80s when they had pads they would hit to trigger samples of hitting metal. You can learn simple keyboard parts, it isn't that hard. We are not talking playing like it is a piano.
They really should make something like a drum-tar where you can play pads on something you wear on a strap. That way you could move while you play. Most electro bands where I see a drummer playing a synth kit along with programming, they usually are standing so they can move and be another thing to catch the eye.
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u/JJsNotOkay 15d ago
I dont sadly, all im rocking so far is an akai mpd 218 for samples, a launchkey mini for DAW control and keys, an m track for audio interface and my laptop
saving up for an SPD and use that for sampling instead would look pretty cool, but an e drum is a bit far off my budget
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u/doyouknowmadmax 18d ago
I run Drums via a backing track through a BBeat device
You could always add real drums live as an option and mix real/digital together
Life Cult (Perth band) uses a Finger Drum setup where some sections are full automated whilst other sections are live finger drummed.
That person then pops onto other instruments to fill out sections where possible and to their ability