# This is how i do a one man death metal band live laptop rig



## zombieritual (Jun 29, 2014)

[YOUTUBEVID]XR7qTH-gUQM[/YOUTUBEVID]

here's a video i made last night, sorry if i wasn't paying attention where the camera was pointing sometimes haha i just shot it on my iphone at like 2am. my laptop has an i5 processor, 8GB of ram, 500GB 7200rpm hdd. any other questions feel free to ask! oh and this is how it sounds haha

[YOUTUBEVID]JdeRSvl01jY[/YOUTUBEVID]
[YOUTUBEVID]AZXLA6XUjlk[/YOUTUBEVID]
[YOUTUBEVID]ZM-lEk0kbTI[/YOUTUBEVID]

there are a couple more that i played but i'm giving those out to people on email list so if anyone's interested check out my website and sign up! or not, either way is cool haha. oh and there were actually about 25 people there, i opened the show and they ended up staying back behind where the camera could see. i had my gopro mounted on a post on a table. also, the video audio switches from what the camera picked up in between songs to what i was coming out of my laptop because this setup allows me to record what i'm playing at the same time. so this way i get audio and video of all of my shows!


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## JPhoenix19 (Jun 29, 2014)

Dude, that's pretty cool.


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## VacantPlanet (Jun 29, 2014)

How many gigs have you done like this and what's the general crowd reaction like?


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## Noxon (Jun 29, 2014)

That's rad, dude! Very creative. Nice playing, too!


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## zombieritual (Jun 29, 2014)

JPhoenix19 said:


> Dude, that's pretty cool.



thanks dude!



VacantPlanet said:


> How many gigs have you done like this and what's the general crowd reaction like?



well that was actually my first one, people seemed to like it though. the only slightly negative thing that i heard was from a few people saying that the drums weren't loud enough, but i'm not sure if that was on the sound guy or i just needed to turn up my drum track on the laptop a couple db or not. they said it got better after the first song or two so i'm assuming it was good on my end, because they didn't say anything about the 2nd guitar or bass being too loud and all that shit's on the same stereo out. i was kinda worried about reactions when i decided to do this, but everyone around here is used to seeing it since putrid pile is only an hour north and maggot twat is local. they've both played that bar many times before too so it's not as out of place around here. plus i try not to just stand there emotionless, just because i'm glued to a mic a lot doesn't mean that i can't still try to give them a good show. i dunno, hopefully i'll get some more gigs and they'll go as well or better than this one.



Noxon said:


> That's rad, dude! Very creative. Nice playing, too!



thanks man, glad you dug it!


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## flaik (Jun 29, 2014)

wow! What a cool setup.
some sick songs and vocals to


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## ZXIIIT (Jun 29, 2014)

Pretty awesome, I'm pretty much in the same scenario with my other band now, it does throw people off a bit but it goes over well once people get into it.


Have you considered having some LED lights to fill up some space?


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## jase (Jun 30, 2014)

Sick!! Awesome tones and nice setup, too! 

Do you let the project file play in between songs or do you pause it? Just came up with an idea, would it work to have a MIDI footswitch up front to toggle play/stop?


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## zombieritual (Jun 30, 2014)

flaik said:


> wow! What a cool setup.
> some sick songs and vocals to



thanks!!



Zombie13 said:


> Pretty awesome, I'm pretty much in the same scenario with my other band now, it does throw people off a bit but it goes over well once people get into it.
> 
> Have you considered having some LED lights to fill up some space?



nice! i dig what you guys are doing! yeah there are a lot of things i plan to do as far as the stage setup, it's just an issue of money at the moment. i plan on eventually having a good light setup that's also controlled from the laptop but that's definitely a ways away still. i've also been toying around with having a projector screen playing a video of myself playing the 2nd guitar parts live just because i think it would be funny. the 2nd guitar and bass tracks are always going to be played live either the day of the show or the night before and i'm not going to overdub them at all, just so it adds a bit more realism. there were a couple little parts in those tracks in the videos above that i definitely would have redone if i was doing a studio recording but that's not how it works in a live setting so i'm just leaving it as is. i've also thought about playing one guitar part and then using that as the recording for the next show and playing the other one live, but i've got some riffs that i just can't sing and play over yet so that might not happen for awhile.



jase said:


> Sick!! Awesome tones and nice setup, too!
> 
> Do you let the project file play in between songs or do you pause it? Just came up with an idea, would it work to have a MIDI footswitch up front to toggle play/stop?



thanks!! the bass and guitars are all axefx, i didn't add any post processing for the final mixdown or anything, i'm glad you like it!

and for this show i had ended up pausing it because i broke a string at the beginning of the first song, so had to change over for that and then i had to skip a song later so i paused it again for that part. i had been told i'd have a 30 minute set so i just picked the songs that would fit and gave myself about 30 seconds in between each song to retune and get a drink if i needed and to say a few words but the plan was to let it just play so i wouldn't have to keep turning around to start and stop it. plus it would make syncing up the video a lot easier because both files would be about the same length so i wouldn't have to do it for multiple songs. i'm not sure how well the MIDI footswitch would work for this setup, i know shaun from putrid pile used to do something similar with his backing drums. i did a tour with him in one of my old bands like 10 years ago and i can't for the life of me remember what he was using back then for that but i know he had a little footswitch up front. my setup is definitely more complicated than that but at the same time it's easier because i just hit record and keep going until it's done.


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## Nmaster (Jul 6, 2014)

I'm really digging this, great work man! Your riffs are fantastic.  And those vocals are sick.


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## zombieritual (Jul 7, 2014)

Nmaster said:


> I'm really digging this, great work man! Your riffs are fantastic.  And those vocals are sick.



awesome thanks dude!


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## Ashstrodamus (Jul 10, 2014)

That's awesome dude. I think I heard some Chuck Schuldiner in there!


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## zombieritual (Jul 10, 2014)

Ashstrodamus said:


> That's awesome dude. I think I heard some Chuck Schuldiner in there!



cool man thanks a lot! chuck was definitely a big influence on me for a long time!


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## noUser01 (Aug 2, 2014)

Dude, you're kind of fvcking awesome. \m/


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## zombieritual (Aug 2, 2014)

ConnorGilks said:


> Dude, you're kind of fvcking awesome. \m/



hah thanks a lot man i'm glad you dig it!


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## axxessdenied (Aug 8, 2014)

This is rad as fvck!


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## Rei (Nov 12, 2014)

....in inspiring! Killer show, man! -heads back to home studio- You guys'll be hearing about a one-(wo)man death metal project in the SF Bay Area soon! Just think, a one-man extreme metal tour called the legion is one tour. CHEERS!


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## zombieritual (Nov 13, 2014)

Rei said:


> ....in inspiring! Killer show, man! -heads back to home studio- You guys'll be hearing about a one-(wo)man death metal project in the SF Bay Area soon! Just think, a one-man extreme metal tour called the legion is one tour. CHEERS!



hell yeah that's awesome! that would be a fun tour for sure


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## youngthrasher9 (Nov 16, 2014)

So awesome!


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## SevenString (Nov 16, 2014)

That was really cool. Well done.


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## LocoGringo (Dec 25, 2014)

Congrats on your gig!Rockin out putrid style, gotta love it.


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## fr4nci2c0 (Feb 26, 2015)

Necro bump. This is so awesome man I really appreciate you posting this. I just recently exited a project that had a potential. I think this my move because it is just such a risk to invest so much time and rely on other members who don't share the same vision


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## SevenString (Feb 28, 2015)

fr4nci2c0 said:


> Necro bump. This is so awesome man I really appreciate you posting this. I just recently exited a project that had a potential. I think this my move because it is just such a risk to invest so much time and rely on other members who don't share the same vision



Exactly.

I haven't had a regular band for YEARS now because of all the drama and headache that comes with it. I've been focusing on my solo stuff and have never been happier.

Once in a while for a bigger live show I might hire a couple of people to flesh things out, but for the most part my live thing is just me and my computer rig, and not a single person has complained, ever.

If the music and sound is good and a single live performer can hold peoples' collective attention with compelling performances, musicianship and solid songs, that's all that matters.


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## Maverick187 (Mar 10, 2015)

haha good work, my brain couldnt handle being in charge of all that! At least you wouldnt have to divide up the usual $50 guarantee amongst 5 people haha


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## Konfyouzd (Mar 11, 2015)




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## Musiscience (Apr 7, 2015)

Dude you really own. Would attend one of your shows for sure.


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## Go To Bed Jessica (Apr 17, 2015)

Wow man... this is fantastic.


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