This is something I’ve been curious about for a while.
Long before I began Djing I’ve been a singer. I sing musical theatre, and play local gigs with my band, singing big band charts (a la Frank Sinatra, Nina Simone, Sexier Hairier Michael Buble). I’ve been thinking about ways that I can personalise my tracks outside of straight remixing. I’m not very comfortable in my ability as a composer, but I am in my ability as a singer. I tend to play alot of Sub-125 BPM house, and I find many of the pieces I play could quite easily lend themselves to an additional vocal track.
I thought about live performance/singing aspects, but with the club scene where I live, I fear it would come off as quite amateurish/Karaokeish.
Does anybody here play their own Vocal dubs of tracks, and if so, how do they find the reception of it?
If not, how would you feel about Dj’s playing their own vocals? If you didn’t realise, but then found out later, would you judge the track any differently?
First if you were to add in vocals to your set on the go with an actual mic it might be good to put on the flyer “LessChat Live” this way people arent thinking your a DJ who is also trying to try out for american idol. I also feel if you make it into a live set kinda vibe it would be cool to sing for a few bars then loop your voice and add some delay and reverb give it more then just a DJ with a mic.
Honestly if I had the voice to do that I would probably do what ur doing. I play deep house / tech house so for earlier on in my sets when Im playing deeper I would deff do it I honestly would prob come up to you and say hey man thats dope what your doing and me as a producer I would prob wanna collab with you on a track
Unfortunately it seems the only Australian retailer for them closed down as of yesterday, so I’m not going to be able to actually test one.
I’ll have a look around for now, and might think about ordering one from the States.
That being said, thanks for the idea, it’s definitely given me some things to think about in regards to how I could perform. So many opportunities!
I was considering running it straight through my DB2’s effects, but considering I can’t really drag my mixer with me to clubs, it’d be nice to have an external product I can run with. Also means everything remains the same at each venue
You might want to look into native instruments “The MOUTH” too. I think that would mbe really dope to use live with vocals over some beats/tracks but of course you would need a laptop in your setup so not sure if thats an option for you. If its not, then the TC Helicon would be your best bet. If you use The Mouth a Korg nano key or small akai keyboard would probably be best to control it. great idea tho.
The Finger is really cool, but would be a bit difficult for me to integrate. As it takes the input from a sequencer, or from somebody playing on the keys. Wouldn’t really work with tracks I haven’t written.
Would be really cool for an ableton DJ who was playing his own tracks though, or somebody who’s more proficient with keys than me.
I’m having a look at both the Voicelive touch and the Voicelive2, which I could pick up for pretty similar prices.
Regardless of how you do it. I can definitely say I’d be interested in seeing/hearing a DJ who worked in live vocals to their set or even loops and samples of their vocals dropped over tracks. Let me know when you work it out. My wife works for United Airlines and I sometimes fly to Sydney with her on her flights. I’d totally come check that out.
