My 50 cent on LaptopBattle (at least in SF)

[russarteaga]

I went to the SF battle last night and was really let down. First of all whoever did the sound should get a new career it was atrocious! Sounds good? nope! How hard could it have been (with just a little fricken planning?) There were more PA problems then at an 88’ rave. Second, shit didn't get started till almost 11pm. That was straight ill. Third, the people involved in running the event had no clue i.e., sound, the roster, the way things were completely chaotic and the fact that the judges gave up their rights because people in the audience were booing. I was actually embarrassed for them all. Last, the contestants were a mixed bag of actually doing something (or at least trying), to the winner who flailed about like a cracked out Charleton Heston and who seemingly was just playing his audio files streaming from logic. Can you say "DJ"? Now almost everyone had dope tracks/compositions but when one guy is really attempting to trigger and tweak and another is just using winamp to play a pre-recorded track? C’mon that is not live! I compare it to a DJ playing a record to one who is scratching. Who should win? The one who rocks the crowd because he plays the loudest and most energetic tracks or the guy who is scratching and beat rocking/juggling? They both can be really talented but I will go with the later everytime. This was absolutely the most disappointing thing for me. Oh and the energy was akin to an underground dog fight. I respect what Zapan and the rest of the LaptopBattle crew are trying to do but it should have been way better organized. I am in support of this idea and arena and I think it could be really cool. But I will also say ya’ll really need to get shit straight before I continue to give my support. Get it together or hand over the torch to someone who can. PS check out www.modsquare.com/laptronica.php for a different side of the world.

[unknown8bit]

the winner was t. machine, not duran duran duran. daniel was actually triggering his shit live.

[justonesf]

I'll give my perspective from an inside point of view. Basically, the entire event was well thought out from the beginning. The structure of the event had been tested at 4 other battles, so they knew what they were doing in that regard. The main problem was that the guy charged with bringing the mixer and running it during the battle was 6 hours late and completely incompetent. So, everyone else who were trying their best to keep everything moving smoothly were basically sabotaged by this one idiot. Granted, there is something to be said about whomever decided to trust said idiot, but we don't know the details of that relationship. Anyhow, I don't think the organizers deserve to be knocked. They tried their best, but they need to think about who they trust with such a critical piece of gear.

Props to everyone who did their best!

[stiks]

It's true the vibe in that basement was scary, I thought I was in a scene from 8-mile for a second. It also has to be said that it sucked for all the kids who went at the beginning and ended up doing aborted and half-sets.

There's some talk about who was rocking a 'liver' or more improvisational set. It seems like maybe there needs to be a dedicated screen for projecting what the artist is doing? It was hard to get a feel for exactly what interaction the artist was having with the computer (which I think is a large part of what this is all about.)

I do know that I witnessed T.Machine doing some shit I have never seen before. It was pretty obvious that he was playing his laptop like a musical instrument. I dug that. Aneurysm also had some sick shit. CIA was sick, he got a bum deal. Andy W's first set was really dope. Nick Nice wasn't nice, and Turbo Ted almost busted my eardrums.

[unknown8bit]

there was a live projection of the contestants' screens during battle, but unfortunately you could only see it when people weren't standing in front of the projector.

[krismoon]

hey, i just wanted to clarify that t.machine won, not duranduranduran. the judges got heavy pressure from the crowd, but the decision was with t.machine. i think russ didn't know that's who won. the judges decision is always influenced by the crowd, but we did not change it due to the crowd.

sorry russ and anyone else from sf if you didn't have a good time. please forgive us. if we had had the mixer there on time, i think it would have gone off. we did the best we could with the space, which was not ideal.

an essential lesson that i learned from this battle, is that the space is just as much a part of the event as everything else. part of the reason we were successful in other venues has to do with the fact that there was a stage with a front of sound mixer, an elevated area for the judges, plenty of backstage room for contestants, vertical height for projections...etc, etc. it's hard to present our event properly when we're in a less than ideal situation. we did our best with what we had when we had it.

[unknown8bit]

krismoon said:

we did the best we could with the space, which was not ideal.

new venue next time! it was terrible enough that milk (original venue) cancelled our date.

[Tmachine]

Hi everyone...I just wanted to put my two cents in about the sf battle. i won the sf battle, i played all my shit LIVE and in person triggering sounds with the keys on keyboard. if anyone has any doubts about that i will gladly go into technical detail about how i prepared for the battle and how performed for it. shit man, i even injured my little G4 for that battle (but don't worry she's already in working shape preparing for seattle). i do think that maybe we needed see what the performers were doing a bit more, but you got to work with the space you have. thank you everyone who was there, thank you fourth city and a big thanx out to the judges for ignoring the hardcore friendly crowd response in the final round...
-daniel.
tmachine
[e-mail]

[russarteaga]

I was very excited to see this event and this is the main reason I was so down about the outcome. By the way, I was there from 8:45 till the very end and right up front so I could see exactly what was going on. I thought I saw everything... I thought the prizes were awarded to duran duran duran, I could swear that's who I saw at the end getting the wares. I am glad TMachine won... I felt from the begining he was my favorite. (TM, you pretty much came correct) I felt he was trying the hardest by far to perform along with AndyW. He was also doing some live rocking. I feel that the crowd was heavily biased by performers friends. (CIA, Duran) Which is why having reputable judges (not self apointed either) is SO important not to mention a comandering MC and everyone following the rules. Anyway I still think this thing was a disaster (at least in SF) but that a lot of lessons are to be learned. I am also bothered by the support system of the SF crew. I had emailed months ago and NEVER got a response till late last month. Then when I offered to help out no one ever returned my email. What is that about? I would really like to see this idea continue on, albeit open to more involvement from people who care about the outcome and the future. Not just the publicity.

[zapan]

whassup yall! i'm not surprised that several of the audience members didn't have a good time - the sound was malfunctional / downright bad throughout the evening. especially when that kind of thing happens early on - the first round takes as long as all the later rounds combined - it affects the mood of the participants, promoters & audience. that said, we gave it our all & heard a lot of great music throughout the evening, & i now know i need to buy a cattle-prod to handle unruly hecklers thanks to all of you for coming out & helping us do what we love! z

[russarteaga]

I did however appreciate the variety of tracks/performers even turbo and the broken but self-built meanderings of the MAX/MSP dude. I was hoping for a little NI action and more cycling 74 or girl or somthing other then Live but that is what we all have to look forward to By the way who did sound for this event and who chose club six? Toss those resumes in the trash please. Did they get paid? I think you need to consult more people before choosing these vital factors. Oh and anyone ever heard of a limiter? My fucking ears still hurt.. when I could actually hear something. And the fans? (talk about white noise) at least I could breathe... I guess and yes there was some asshole who think he new everything. I am sorry for that Zapan he did not represent SF by any means. I am not even sure he likes electronic music. (unless it is his friends)

[russarteaga]

I think you should have had people connect to the projector so we could REALLY see what they were working with. You would have to get the participants all there early enough to set up resolutions and any video drivers but that would be sick. Also did anyone record video? That would be fun to edit. I think there should be a standard for conectivity and the sound people should be much more prepared and briefed of what to expect. Also there is nothing wrong with people using different tools or media I just wish there was more emphasis on the term "live" If someone came in with traktor and rocked it. As long as they were really doing something with it and not just going from track to track that would even be dope. And what about protocol incase there are mishaps like "my laptop crashed" so next guy on the list goes. Gives the other guy time to reboot and doesn't stop the flow. There should be time alloted for everything, startup, during the battle, judges decision, changeover to next combatants and so on. In fact everyone competing (per round) should be connected at once so the sound guy can check levels (in headphones) and instantly turn someone on or off. I am sure there are quite a few things that can be done to improve the event overall. Hope this helps!

[russarteaga]

One last thing, I feel I should apologize for my first comment regarding the crew involved (at least the out of towners) if I came off sounding rude and sardonic. I don't care about the five dollars or who won or lost. I am mostly concerned with what I thought was a poor attempt at making the event all it should have been. kris, you sound like you really care and spent a good deal of energy/time on this event so I am sorry if I was negative. I can totally understand that problems occur there was just SOOO many! But none the less I will return to the next event, offer help, and continue to promote and even bring people.

[mobius]

Contestants need to perform, not just play their traxx

[ciasixty4k]

Damn, there were some definate issues, and some serious crowd rowdiness. That sucked, but I still had a good time (even with my vocal bitching about being robbed) And I'm down to help the next time a laptop battle happens (I'd love to see some sort of regular laptop showcase/battle happen in the bay area)
A good amount of heads seemed to have different ideas about how things should be done, and that's all fine and good, but if you don't like how it's getting done, well go do it your way, somewhere else.
All in all, a good job was done in the face of problems.
(I was, of course, still robbed