A couple of weeks ago I played my modular synth in a night club (as opposed to bar, old church tower or other eclectic venue!).
This brought a big difference to the kind of set I had to play which I was at least a teeny bit anxious about:
The main purpose of the music was to keep people dancing!
It was also billed a a minimal/deep house night - and although my music may touch on that at times, it probably wouldn't be how you'd classify the majority of it.
The other challenge is that although modular synths are great for creating a huge variety of sounds, they really are not good at all for being about to recall stuff. My sets for example on my Twitch channel are typically quite explorative and may well reach a place where they are very danceable - but sometimes it takes me quite a while to get there. And that wasn't going to work for a night club.
So my strategy for this was to use more samples, and be a little bit more pre-planned than normal whilst still keeping it all in the modular and keeping the elements that make a TDC Tunes set a TDC Tunes set!
I spent several weeks prepping for this gig - carefully selecting samples, and building the modular patch (the module selection and the way they are wired together) to create a system where I was still free to improvise and create but whilst also being able to have elements (including some loops) that moved my music in a more deep/minimal house direction and above all allowed me something to fall back on to keep the beat going and hopefully keep people dancing! And I practiced this over the course of several of my Twitch streams.
So I guess that's my way - when faced with a challenge - prepare, practice and prepare some more!
It worked and although there could have been more people in the club, there was a core group at the front that clearly enjoyed dancing to my set (and kept dancing too!)
Would I play a club again? Probably - if asked - I did have loads of fun doing it and I will still use those sample sets from time to time in my Twitch streams. I think on balance my music and setup are more suited to experimental/experiential gigs and events though (like my Electronic in the Tower nights) so in terms of pursuing gigging opportunities I'll continue to prioritise those.
Thanks for reading and I hope everyone on Hive is having an awesome week!
You can watch a highlight video of my set here:
(NB: the audio is actually taken from my final practice set the night before on Twitch - but it is highly reflective of what the actual set was on the night - I just didn't have a direct recording of that).
In case you're interested the club was Club Makossa in Dalston, East London, UK!
TDC Tunes
TDC Tunes is a Live Modular Artist and experimenter with sound. He plays several times a week on Twitch and gigs around London.
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Website: https://www.tdctunes.com/