I found this series of vides via pedx1ng’s post on the Ableton Live forum, who found it on Matrixsynth. These videos by Sonic State cover Howard Jone's tour in Australia. I've re-blogged them here with annotation.
I've always liked Howard Jones's music and the fact that he's not all about nostalgia but is still writing and experimenting with technology in Live performance.
Also, my first exposure to Ableton Live was at a Howard Jones show back in the day of Ableton 3.0. Like now, he was using it to play scenes on the fly so he wasn’t locked into one arrangement for the whole song. After the show, I ran home and did some research and then bought Ableton Live 3.0 right away. Thanks Howard and Robbie and Ableton for changing the way I compose :^).
Video 1: In this first installment, Howard Jones has Robbie Bronnimmann leave a blizzard strewn UK and head for Australia and meet up with Laura Clapp in Adelaide Australia. He also talks about he now uses the Roland Fantom G8 to simplify his rig and work in a graphical way. He also discusses the polyphony and feel of the Fantom.
http://www.sonicstate.com/tv/flvplayer.swf
Video 2: In this video Howard Jones and Robbie Bronnimmann are in Perth Australia and explain the how they use Ableton Live, and bus powered devices (Motu audio interface, Novation Remote SL, Novation Nocturn) on their tour in Australia. Robbie describes who he uses Live to trigger sequences on-the-fly, do real-time FX processing on backing tracks and live vocals using built-in Ableton Live plugins.
http://www.sonicstate.com/tv/flvplayer.swf
Video 3: Howard Jones has Robbie Bronnimmann, Laura Clapp at sound check in Brisbane. A little taste of "Always Asking Questions". Laura discusses how shes uses TC-Helicon Voice Live and a Novation ReMote SL Compact to create harmonies and vocal effects on the fly. The also explains that he's his own warm-up band as he's doing a 30 minute acoustic set prior to the electronic trio taking the stage.
http://www.sonicstate.com/tv/flvplayer.swf
Links:
- Howard Jones Web Site
- Robbie Bronnimmann MySpace Page
- Laura Clap Official Web Site| Laura Clap's Blog
Mark Mosher
www.markmoshermusic.com
www.modulatethis.com
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Mark Mosher 
2 responses to “Sonic State Behind the Scenes Video – Howard Jones, Robbie Bronnimann, and Laura Clapp On Tour in Australia”
I agree, Imogen Heap is great. The new Looper in Ableton Live 8 will also make for some interesting perforamnces as well –http://www.ableton.com/pages/live_8/announcement/looper.
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Nice material about creating vocal harmonies on the fly. Imogen Heap also does some really cool stuff like this with Electrix loopers!
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