To cap off our European tour, our friends at Miscelanea in Barcelona will be hosting us for a small show this Thursday (1-3-12). Only 80 spots available! We’ll have a lot of poster prints and Tycho vinyl there as well. Hope to see you there…
Visuals are a big part of the Tycho live show and I’m often asked how they were created and presented in a live setting. The answer is VDMX, a modular video performance platform. For those of you familiar with video editing / effecting, you could think of it as a stripped down, real-time version of After Effects where every parameter is controllable via various protocols (MIDI, OSC) and even by other parameters. It can mix multiple sources using blending modes like multiply and color burn all while utilizing Quartz Composer effects.
I’ve been using VDMX for a few years now and it’s become one of those tools that I can’t live without. Because it’s modular, VDMX’s interface can be arranged in any way you prefer. I personally use three video decks with and effects bin on each and then a master effects bin. I trigger clips and modulate parameter via MIDI over IP from Reaper running on a Macbook Pro w/ a Vertex 3 MAX IOPS drive (VDMX eats data bandwidth alive!).
VDMX is an incredibly deep and flexible application which I have yet to see any real limitation to. The workflow and functionality is so abstract that there are myriad ways to accomplish pretty much anything you can think of. And therein lies the only real problem I can find with VDMX; the flexibility and modularity afforded by the abstract way in which the application functions comes at the expense of usability. The learning curve is very steep and many of the initial concepts are a little tough to wrap your head around. Vidvox (the developers of VDMX) have put together some great tutorial videos which can help move the learning process along.
Thankfully a new version is out, and with it come some very helpful additions and changes. VDMX 5 is an entirely new program, written from the ground up. For those coming from older versions a lot of the way VDMX works will feel familiar. But you’ll quickly notice that some subtle changes in workflow make a big difference. I just started learning the new version during this current tour and it was pretty straight forward.
VDMX, while certainly not geared toward the casual user, is one of those apps that will allow you to grow into it. The relatively steep learning curve will pay off pretty quickly when you realize just what it’s capable of.
You can grab a demo and get more info here.
Somewhere between Toronto and Montreal. Really pretty, wide open spaces up there.
Jakub took this one somewhere outside of Pontiac, MI
Gratuitous tour shot including the band, Jakub, and Brian Wenner who is our stage manager
I’ve been dreaming of having a proper visuals rig for a while now — we had been renting equipment — but this time out we finally have our own setup consisting of a 5K Lumen Christie LX45 projector, and Da-Lite Fast-Fold 16:9 screen, and a brand new custom rigging system (pictured below). It’s a great feeling to know that wherever we play, the show will be consistently presented. Thanks to everyone who helped out in Montreal getting this thing built, and to Darren from Home Depot in Watertown, NY for helping build the mounting plate.
Speaking of visuals, I’ve been getting a lot of work done on the new stuff. I’ve been working with Charles Bergquist on a new visuals set and things have been going great. Charles has been shooting beautiful HD footage and I have been arranging / effecting it using VDMX. It’s still a work in progress but we have been showing some previews here and there during the live show. I’m hoping to get that all wrapped up during our post Europe tour break.
As for upcoming stuff, we have a lot planned for the year: Europe, a full US tour, along with some festivals and no less than seven SXSW showcases. Hope to see you out there!
-Scott
It’s finally happening, we’re happy to announce the first proper Tycho A/V tour with the band, here are the string of dates below, let us know if we’re missing anything or you have any suggestions, looking to also relax a few days after Antwerp.
Feb 16th Amsterdam, Holland @ Paradiso
Feb 17th Luxembourg, Luxembourg @ Exit07
Feb 18th Berlin, Germany @ Gretchen
Feb 19th Copenhagen, Denmark @ Loppen
Feb 22nd Milan, Italy @ Magnolia
Feb 24th Paris, France @ Batofar
Feb 25th London, UK @ Cargo
Feb 26th Antwerp, Belgium @ Trix
Photo by: Charles Bergquist
The Tycho band hits the road with their A/V performance, check the dates, we hope to see you, we’ll definitely have stock of the Dive vinyl, some classic posters back in stock, and a new Tycho shirt which i’m in love with.
FOR TICKETS PLEASE VISIT SONGKICK
01.12 Chicago, IL @ LINCOLN HALL * w/ Active Child
01.13 Pontiac, MI @ CROFOOT BALLROOM
01.14 Toronto, ON @ WRONG BAR
01.16 Montreal, QC @ IL MOTORE
01.18 Buffalo, NY @ MOHAWK PLACE
01.19 Pittsburgh, PA @ SHADOW LOUNGE
01.20 Charlottesville, VA @ THE SOUTHERN
01.21 Wilmington, NC @ THE SOAPBOX
01.23 Saint Augustine, FL @ THE ORIGINAL CAFE 11
01.24 Gainesville, FL @ DOUBLE DOWN LIVE
01.26 Orlando, FL @ THE SOCIAL
01.27 Tampa, FL @ CROWBAR
01.28 Miami, FL @ BARDOT MIAMI
01.30 Athens, GA @ GEORGIA THEATRE
01.31 Atlanta, GA @ MASQUERADE (HELL STAGE)
02.01 Carrboro, NC @ CATS CRADLE
02.02 Washington, DC @ ROCK AND ROLL HOTEL
02.03 Philadelphia, PA @ THE ROTUNDA
02.04 Brooklyn, NY @ MUSIC HALL OF WILLIAMSBURG * w/ Oneothrix Point Never
Support slot: Beacon
We are excited to also announce the opening spot each night will feature Beacon, below is an exclusive preview of their cover of Portishead’s The Rip.
Happy to announce Tycho will be playing at XOYO thanks to Songkick and the London fans for helping out and getting the band there.
We wanted to offer 2 pairs of tickets to the readers of the blog that live in London, all you need to do is let us know what Tycho song you’d like played as an encore and post it below, please include your email so we can contact you, thanks and see you Wednesday.
UPDATE:
We have our WINNERS!
JACK BENZIE
ALASTAIR STUART
thanks for contributing, see you tonight
Here’s the list of shows in LA and NYC this week of musicians we post on the blog. This week includes 2 Tycho shows, tomorrow night 12 / 8 in LA at The Echo and Saturday night 12 / 10 in SF at The Independent. Swing by the merch booth, I would love to say hi.
Wed. 12 / 7
NY: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah @ Webster Hall
LA: Tennis @ The Satellite
Thu. 12 / 8
LA: Tycho @ The Echoplex
NY: Prince Rama @ Public Assembly
Fri. 12 / 9
NY: Doldrums @ Shea Stadium
LA: Avey Tare @ Center For The Arts, Eagle Rock
Sat. 12 / 10
NY: Aziz Ansari @ The Bell House
LA: N/A
SF: Tycho @ The Independent
Sun. 12 / 11
NY: !!! chk chk chk @ 285 Kent
LA: N/A
Mon. 12 / 12
NY: The National @ Beacon Theater
LA: N/A
Tue. 12 / 13
NY: Laurel Halo & Forma @ Glasslands
LA: Snoop Dogg @ The Wiltern
Songkick put together a wonderful cause to get Tycho to play in London, UK on Dec. 14th. The site is Detour Dates which if 500 people buy tickets they’ll get Tycho over to London to play a show at XOYO and have Scott do his first proper gig in the EU with Zac Brown the bassist.
If the show happens we’ll also have an exclusive poster for some of the first people thru the door made by Scott Hansen.
Photo by: Ramunė Rastonis