The aim of this thesis has been to research the aspects and perspectives inherent in a live remixing performance and attempt to visualize them in a comprehensive and flexible way.
With the use of intuitive symbols, metaphors and analogies, I have arrived to a music philosophical framework that presents a novel approach to communicating, understanding and navigating the art of the live remix.
Live electronic music performance has rapidly evolved with the advent of new technologies, creating endless possibilities for sonic and artistic exploration, interaction, connectivity and processing. This requires every musician to constantly be open to reimagining their workflow or approach, since the current waves of new technology quickly become building blocks for the next evolutionary steps of modern music production and performance. Some methods and practices fall out of favor, some are virtually unchanged almost a century later or have even been recreated in the virtual domain for nostalgia or for emulation of complex analog “flavors” in a digital sound environment. This process of natural selection is not only happening at an industry level, but is an everyday question of musicians all over the world. Whether you are considering if the old vacuum tube radio you salvaged and made into a preamp is "portable" enough to bring to your gig - or whether your laptop will melt if you load another plugin - choices have to be made.
I will attempt to give some conceptual pointers and considerations to guide in facilitating live improvised performances, seeing new processing possibilities and inspire to a flexible mindset when venturing into the live remixing environment. I wish to contribute to the vocabulary of live remixing, so we may meaningfully describe with discernement the interlinked, flowing nature of electro-acoustic music spontaneously created in the moment.
