It's fairly common these days to look up onstage before an artist's set and see one – if not more – disembodied, floating, partially eaten white apples. While this may bring a shudder to some musicians and concertgoers, it's somewhat difficult to deny that technology is here to stay, and it is rapidly becoming an increasingly valid tool in the sonic arsenal of many artists. There's also a whole bevy of software platforms out there that allow you to actually take these digital devices and turn them into true instruments, more so than just smacking the space bar and jumping around. That being said, here are three steps to integrate these wonderful tools as seamlessly as possible into your act.
When deciding to incorporate a laptop into part of your live setup, it's important to know that just taking the same laptop you search your social media feeds with at a coffee shop may not be an appropriate solution. You need to make sure that your device is the fastest, most stable system that you can afford. Now, please note that this is not the same as the newest and most expensive. Without going into specifics, you need to make sure that your laptop can process the rigors of whatever platform and plugins you have elected to utilize with room to spare.
It can also be helpful to have a separate laptop (if budget allows) strictly for music performance. That way, you can optimize its setup and background processes to allow for maximum performance and stability onstage. Additionally, with the advancements in solid state drive technology, if you're serious about having a laptop that's rock solid and truly ready for the road, this can be an enticing option.
Regardless of what platform you're using for your live performances (Live, MainStage, etc.), the key is to know your software inside and out. Practice it just as you would any other instrument; it is an instrument. Again, without getting into specific idiosyncrasies of certain software, knowledge is power and will only help you to have the best and tightest integration that you can.
Once your laptop is optimized for performance, optimizing your program of choice is the next step. It's a terrible pit-in-your-stomach feeling being onstage and waiting for a scene to load or a sample to trigger, so taking the appropriate steps can make all the difference – think reducing buffer sizes, assigning certain samples to load to RAM, avoiding plugins that generate major latency in processing, etc.
What would an "Angry Sound Guy" post be without explaining how this all affects your live sound? This phase is one that is often critically overlooked in the process. I've worked with a number of artists who know exactly how to use their setup of choice, have a finely tuned computer running the latest and greatest, only to watch their performance unravel in this step. To really make sure your performance is coming across the way you want it to sound, you need to take some time and care in this step. Some of this is dependent on what you're using the laptop for – whether merely soft-synth or full orchestrations, a quality audio interface is often the missing link. Simply taking a feed from the headphone jack of your laptop's built-in sound card isn't really good enough for a professional grade result. I don't really care what "doctor" has endorsed your sound card output – odds are this is where the corners have been cut.
A separate interface is going to give you better conversion from the digital to the analog world, cleaner outputs, often more perceived depth-of-sound, and more options for how to output your sound. Especially if your setup has multiple layers and tracks, the more outputs you can break this down into to give your sound guy more control over the mix, the better your sound is going to be. I've seen too many laptop-based artists running only a stereo output have a great performance up until the part where they drop that killer synth bass sample they've been waiting for, only to have it just demolish their entire mix in the house, with nothing the sound tech can do to save it. If you can break these different sounds out to different outputs (preferably XLR), this will give your sound tech enough control to keep your sound balanced and sounding the way it should. Also, it would be highly advisable to let your sound tech know ahead of time that you're running however many outputs from your computer so that they can plan your soundcheck and set up accordingly.
The world of using a laptop in live environment grows as we speak. Without wading through specific quirks, concerns, or addressing individual situations, these three major points should be a good start to better create or perfect your setup. Good luck!
Aaron Staniulis is not only a freelance live sound and recording engineer, but also an accomplished musician, singer, and songwriter. He has spent equal time on both sides of the microphone working for and playing alongside everyone from local bar cover bands to major label recording artists, in venues stretching from tens to tens of thousands of people. Having seen both sides at all levels gives him the perfect perspective for shedding light on the "Angry Sound Guy." You can find out more about what he’s up to at aaronstaniulis.com.