# Advice for Performing Live as a Solo Instrumental Act



## Bucketheadtwo (Apr 25, 2019)

I'm finally getting around to having some of my original music produced by a friend and plan to hit the stage with my solo project for the first time soon. I've played in bands and performed live plenty of times before, so I'm used to that part. What I have never done before is perform full-band music alone. The music I write is instrumental (at least for my first EP) progressive/technical metalcore type music. I have my doubts about weather or not my music at this point will hold an audience's attention well, but I still want to put my music out there, have fun on a stage, and that whole thing.

What I'm having trouble deciding on or figuring it is exactly _how_ to run backing tracks or my rig. I have a tube amp and pedalboard that will get about 99% of my tones and effects (minus some weird little extras or fancily edited things). I also have a laptop with an SSD with all the same stuff installed as I would use on my desktop DAW as well as my interface. 

My initial thought is that I'd have my friend send me all of the final mixed stems so that I can chop them up to make backing tracks according to which guitar parts I plan to play live, then run that to front of house. Should I run the backing tracks out of my interface and run those to front of house? My interface only has two outputs (L and R). And should my backing tracks be either just a DAW (Reaper) project file of each song rendered into a .wav in setlist order or a bunch of heavily automated tracks? 

I'm also wondering if I could get away with doing an automated live project file that would let me play through Pod Farm instaed of my amp and have the DAW switch my tones and effects out automatically as somebody would do with an Axe FX or other modeler to make it easier for me to not have to tapdance between my dirty/clean tones and delays/reverb settings. When I filled in on bass for my friend's band we actually had a decent setup sending my laptop with Darkglass Ultra (the desktop standalone app) running into the FX loop of a power amp into a bass cab for a mean bass tone.

Do I have enough gear or would I need more? Is a simple stereo backing track enough or would it be more convenient to have multi-tracks out for the sound guy to level?

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated, thanks.


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## GunpointMetal (Apr 26, 2019)

I've been contemplating a setup like this for awhile and here's how I would do it:
Separate tracks for click, kick, snare, stereo track for toms, overheads, separate track for bass, separate track for synths/samples/any extraneous guitar stuff in the DAW. Hook it up to a mixer like a Behringer XR-18 with my guitar channel hooked up. Aux 1 would be my IEM feed, AUX 2 kick, AUX 3 Snare, AUX 4 toms/OH, AUX 5/6 everything else. With this set-up you can send each of the individual DAW channels to their own mixer channel so you can mix them outside of the box and send either the individual AUX channels to FOH if the sound guy wants to do it that way, or you can send the main L/R mix to the FOH and hand the sound guy your iPad/Phone with the mixer software and he can set you levels that way.


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## Mathemagician (Apr 26, 2019)

Deleted.


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## GunpointMetal (Apr 26, 2019)

Also, get a few lights and MIDI-sync them to your tempo tracks. You're just one guy up there, even if you're throwing down and nailing all your leads people are gonna want a little more to look at. If you have some mood lighting and flashes that go along with the music, it will provide some extra atmosphere and visual stimulation to distract the few people who actually might give a crap you don't have a drummer behind you, etc.


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## Bucketheadtwo (Apr 26, 2019)

GunpointMetal said:


> I've been contemplating a setup like this for awhile and here's how I would do it:
> Separate tracks for click, kick, snare, stereo track for toms, overheads, separate track for bass, separate track for synths/samples/any extraneous guitar stuff in the DAW. Hook it up to a mixer like a Behringer XR-18 with my guitar channel hooked up. Aux 1 would be my IEM feed, AUX 2 kick, AUX 3 Snare, AUX 4 toms/OH, AUX 5/6 everything else. With this set-up you can send each of the individual DAW channels to their own mixer channel so you can mix them outside of the box and send either the individual AUX channels to FOH if the sound guy wants to do it that way, or you can send the main L/R mix to the FOH and hand the sound guy your iPad/Phone with the mixer software and he can set you levels that way.



I hadn't even considered a click or in-ears. I usually just go to shows or perform with earplugs (the Etymotic ones). That would be a really tight setup, but I'm not sure I could afford that exact rig. I do have an iPad Mini, but it's 4 years old at this point and was already slowing down last time I used it. A simple mixer could work if I wanted multiple outs. Otherwise I guess I'd just send out the L/R monitors from my interface as I would at home with my Yamahas.

My other concern would be the stereo mixing of my guitar playing. If I have double-tracked guitar rhythms, should I leave them both in and play over them or cut one out? I know some bands who only have one guitarist (like Silent Planet) have a DI take re-amped through a second amp on one side of the stage while the guitarist plays his parts through the other amp rig.


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## GunpointMetal (Apr 26, 2019)

Bucketheadtwo said:


> I hadn't even considered a click or in-ears. I usually just go to shows or perform with earplugs (the Etymotic ones). That would be a really tight setup, but I'm not sure I could afford that exact rig. I do have an iPad Mini, but it's 4 years old at this point and was already slowing down last time I used it. A simple mixer could work if I wanted multiple outs. Otherwise I guess I'd just send out the L/R monitors from my interface as I would at home with my Yamahas.
> 
> My other concern would be the stereo mixing of my guitar playing. If I have double-tracked guitar rhythms, should I leave them both in and play over them or cut one out? I know some bands who only have one guitarist (like Silent Planet) have a DI take re-amped through a second amp on one side of the stage while the guitarist plays his parts through the other amp rig.


Personal preference: click/IEM would be a priority for me, because I don't want to see or be involved with a project with tracked drums that starts with a count in on every song, lol.
If you're lead the entire time, I'd put both rhythm guitars on the tracks, if you're playing rhythm and lead, I'd just do one track of rhythm guitar. 
If you're going to send a two-track output to the FOH, I'd still have everything on separate channels in the DAW just because some rooms you might wanna turn up/down individual parts depending on the PA/room. I can do full FOH mixing with the XR18 from my iPhone or from a Galaxy S6 including all the EQ and dynamics stuff, so I'm sure you're iPad would be fine with a refresh. Again, I haven't employed this stuff in this capacity, so its all theoretical on my end, but the XR18 is probably one of the best investments I've made besides in-ears for my bands' live performances. The three our four times I've bypassed the sound guy in a place where the sound guy was not very knowledgeable was worth the cost alone. You can even use it as a USB interface with Midas-designed preamps and replace your current interface if you're so inclined.


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## Bucketheadtwo (Apr 26, 2019)

GunpointMetal said:


> Personal preference: click/IEM would be a priority for me, because I don't want to see or be involved with a project with tracked drums that starts with a count in on every song, lol.
> If you're lead the entire time, I'd put both rhythm guitars on the tracks, if you're playing rhythm and lead, I'd just do one track of rhythm guitar.
> If you're going to send a two-track output to the FOH, I'd still have everything on separate channels in the DAW just because some rooms you might wanna turn up/down individual parts depending on the PA/room. I can do full FOH mixing with the XR18 from my iPhone or from a Galaxy S6 including all the EQ and dynamics stuff, so I'm sure you're iPad would be fine with a refresh. Again, I haven't employed this stuff in this capacity, so its all theoretical on my end, but the XR18 is probably one of the best investments I've made besides in-ears for my bands' live performances. The three our four times I've bypassed the sound guy in a place where the sound guy was not very knowledgeable was worth the cost alone. You can even use it as a USB interface with Midas-designed preamps and replace your current interface if you're so inclined.



Good points. I'll look into some IEM/wireless options and then consider some mixer options. Thank you!


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## ZXIIIT (Apr 27, 2019)

I always had a better set up when my set was on one mono track with breaks in between to re-tune/take a breather. I ran that pre-mixed file from either an iPod, computer or phone to FOH using a 1/8" to XLR mono adapter. Just make sure you mix your tracks while practicing at a gigging volume so you get a balanced mix based on how you want to sound.

My general experience/tips from playing Post?Black?Dreamy? Metal solo for a few years

Tutorial I did on automating patches

What all that sounds like live


Hope this helps!


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