Aftermath of the First Misdreamt Performance
12 September 2011
Friday night’s Misdreamt show went really well… the crowd was, how should I say, sparser than expected (possibly a casualty of the first bit of exceptionally comfortable evening weather in Atlanta in quite some time). But, the music seemed to go over extremely well and I’m sure this will be the foundation for further performances, and this proof of concept showed that the combination of film and live music (prerecorded electronics, live guitar) works very well.
Here is a brief video taken by Elizebeth of Crimson Art Henna:
First off, a huge thank you to Jim Combs (aka Sensitive Chaos), the organizer for City Skies and the night’s first performer. The music of Sensitive Chaos was very reminiscent of Tangerine Dream in the Phaedra through Stratosphere era, but with enough of a modern sensibility in terms of tension and development to make it more than just a mere clone.
The next performer, the matter-of-factly named Duo For Theremin and Lap Steel, gave another of their excellent improvised sets. The interplay between the two gentlemen was a sight to behold (and hear), and the mental images of the people outside taking pictures of them through the windows will stick with me a while (makes me wish I had a picture of the picture takers).
I ran the videos off a MacBook Pro connected directly to the house video projector, and instead of running my guitar through a cabinet connected my Line6 head directly to the soundboard. While this helped a lot with mixing the sound heard over the PA, it left the stage sound for my guitar sounding fairly thin. I kept reminding myself that the house sound (which I had heard during soundcheck) was much better than what I was hearing on stage, and everything turned out fine. Even considering that, this was one of the best stage sounds I have had (and quite loud as well!). All in all, the performance and its reception were quite satisfying…