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Behind the Scenes with Justice in Rio

by Peter Kirn

Here’s a unique chance to step onstage with electronic duo Justice – well, through photos, at least – on tour in Brazil. Behind a stack of Marshall Amps and other gear that looks ready to push back an invading horde of Barbarians with a battering ram, these two have some very lovely goodies for live laptop performance. No plain-vanilla DJ sets here.

Our friend Fabio “FZero” writes:

I came across some pictures of the gear Justice used to play in Rio. They were taken by a guy which works on Circo Voador (the place were they played) and uploaded to orkut. I’ve downloaded and zipped them to make things easier.

The name of the photographer is Henrique Kurtz and his orkut profile is at http://www.orkut.com.br/Main#Profile.aspx?uid=3218703684024828269

3 x Jazzmutant Lemur (THREE LEMURS. It’s good to be rich, I guess.)
2 x MacBook Pro (one is probably backup)
1 x Korg MicroKorg
1 x Korg ZERO8 Live Control
1 x Pioneer DJM800
Software: Ableton Live

Get up close and personal with the laptop rig itself. Okay, you may not be able to afford three Lemurs, but this wouldn’t be hard to scale to other setups. And there’s plenty here to make a “live PA” performance really a performance.

  

All photos © Copyright Henrique Kurtz. Used for createdigitalmusic.com by permission of the photographer. (Thanks, Henrique – beautiful shots!)

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  • Chris

    also some views from the manufacturer of the Lemur: http://www.jazzmutant.com/artists_justice.php

  • http://blog.soundsorange.net Nick

    ha! "And there’s plenty here to make a “live PA” performance really a performance."

    but from the audience, there's almost no "performance" visible from behind all the smoke, marshall amp stack and the gear "battering ram", except for the rock posing!

    not that it isn't a very cool show… i saw them at sonar this year and they totally cranked the BIG room at the night gigs.

    http://flickr.com/photos/nickmariette/2738309078/…

    actually even with a great video feed of their work behind the wall, it's not that clear how much they are performing live. and in their case it doesn't matter!

  • unkl3jun

    Hmmm….only six channels of audio in Ableton Live. I wonder what's on

    each of those channels…very efficient looking rig overall…

  • phelm

    whats all that stuff in front of the rig (between the amps, where the cross is)??

  • http://rvjaeger.com Ryan Jaeger
  • silvawhale

    dummies i think. i don't recognize any of the modules and the stuff on the left is mirrored almost 100% on the right.

    http://www.jazzmutant.com/images/artists/justice0…

  • tim

    uh, PROPS? haha

  • silvawhale

    hey, the most common thing /w rock bands. slayer had two 3 times 4 wall of standard 4×12" marhall-speaker cabinets. only two were working on the down corners closest to the drum set. the rest are blanks. you can rent them on every bigger backline rentals all over the world.

    if they are just faceplates woth couple of knobs, you can easily fit all those in one hardcase.

  • http://www.createdigitalmusic.com Peter Kirn

    Yeah, of course the Marshalls aren't so unusual, though not what you usually get from an electronic act. More interesting to me is the laptop rig. They certainly clame to make use of the Lemurs. And not sure how the dual laptop setup is arrayed exactly.

  • j250x

    I saw them in birmingham UK and the front rack stuff is all fake. It's all just random dials and buttons and all the LEDs flash in time with the music. Looks kinda cool but obviously fake, apart from everything else, it's facing away from them.

  • http://www.misturinha.com Jenner

    I´m not sure that Henrique works there.. but the pictures was definetly a good job… and @Peter Kim – I have this pictures on hi-res now… Fabio Zero ís a close friend.. the second laptop is really unplugged auhhauhauhuha !!! we can almost read the project on Live Ableton… and the notes they wrote on the Korg…

  • DJA

    looks good, now if only they could learn how to use the complex algorithm instead of beat, their shows wouldn't sound like a warbling mess.

  • http://vrble.com km

    Any idea what their live workflow is like? i.e. audio out from ableton live, then how are the lemurs and outboard gear (like the Korg Zero8) used to manipulate the audio? i'm guessing the lemurs are used to control abelton plug-ins — or do they actually affect the audio outside the laptop?

  • dead_red_eyes

    @ Peter -"Yeah, of course the Marshalls aren’t so unusual, though not what you usually get from an electronic act."

    I use Oranges and Sunns live, it's not really that unusual. There's quite a few electronic artists out there that use guitar amps live.

    I'm also inclined to agree with silvawhale, about most of those Marshall's being nothing but empty cabs.

  • gbsr

    oh come on, everybody knows that a stack of amplifiers make you even better, its scientific fact.

    wait, what?

  • http://www.createdigitalmusic.com Peter Kirn

    Well, yes, it is scientific. All those magnetic coils create an immersive field of goodness. Without it, you're no good.

  • clay

    i wonder if the fake marshalls go to 11…..

  • VDF

    Scientific fact, specially when the Marshalls are filled with golden light…

    http://www.fotolog.com/vozdelfuego/20955233

  • Yellow

    Their music is simple enough for the six tracks in Live. And that's great!

    That pretty much dismisses the 'Garage Band' hoax, uh?

    Way to go, FZero! Cheers from all Recife re:combers!

  • chasedestroy

    i saw them 2 weeks ago @ Red Rocks here in Denver, they were headlining a festival. Apparently they had crappy voltage converters, because twice, everything died… dead silence. an electronic musicians worst fear… after the second power outage, they left the stage and that was it, show over.

    that being said, their marshall stacks and bank of gear kept on rocking… i guess the lighting guys knew better.

  • poorsod

    VDF beat me to it, but I was going to point out the same; that the Marshalls are as fake as the modular. They light up during "Let There Be Light".

    Six channels in Ableton is impressive, though surely that number of clips is not enough for an hour-long live set?

    So I suspect they DO use both laptops (no backups).

    They would run one song's Ableton set each, MIDI sync'd – and that is where the DJ mixer comes in. While one laptop is playing one song, the other loads up the next, which is then mixed in.

    You can hear this system as well – the way they drop in samples of other songs mid-loop would seem to fit my theory.

    They are a great band though, and their show is not to be missed! :)

  • poorsod

    Also. I think one of them is in charge of the lights, and the other the music? So two lemurs for music and one for lights. That's conjecture though.

  • http://xfader.com regend

    now why didn't i think of that? – Looking at the Styrofoam.

  • http://www.picnickibun.com herbie_west

    man, i cant believe they have the lemurs all the way back behind the mixers. they have to be hunching over the table all the time. my back hurts just to think about it…

    shit, I'm getting old…

  • http://www.createdigitalmusic.com Peter Kirn

    @dead_red_eyes …. agreed. Amps + electronics = delicious. Not necessarily advocating faux light-up Marshalls in a big wall. But it does sound like they're putting together a great show.

  • noiv

    I'm pretty sure they were using a microkontrol at the monolith festival (Red Rocks)… and after the outage the second time they threw it on the front of the stage, in which Xavier smashed it like a guitar before they left. So I wonder if they replaced it with the microkorg because Korg discontinued the microkontrol? Does it look like it's spitting a midi cable?

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  • spuff

    Its funny, they have a lot of money to have some big equipments, lemurs, zero8 and yet, they use a microkorg. I mean, there are better synths/midi controllers out there of that size.

  • http://myspace.com/djblip Blip

    Good that it really allows them to play live, not only Live. Shame that the music is as amazingly shit as it is.

  • gbsr

    @Blip: agreed.

  • http://www.myspace.com/caulfielddd Naku

    Can someone post the photo of the ableton live proyect in hi res? i wanna se that!

    thnx!

  • dphouse84

    yes please, would lve to see that photo too of their ableton screen shot.

  • noiv

    http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids…

    here you go. at the end they throw something else…

  • http://carolineg.com carolg88

    those marshalls were not working, they were just boxes with lightbulbs inside.

  • neu

    Jazzmutant have announced Version 2 firmware for their revolutionary Lemur multitouch-screen controller, making it, they say, even more powerful, more intuitive and more flexible…

    Here’s all the details in their own words…

    With the groundbreaking Lemur controller Jazzmutant have revolutionised the way in which performers can now interact with light, video and sound. The Lemur offers an unrivalled package of intuitive features beneath a futuristic multitouch-sensitive surface, and these have won it fans across the globe including the groundbreaking musicians Richie Hawtin, Björk and Ryuichi Sakamoto.

    With the new version 2 firmware update Jazzmutant are taking the Lemur to another level of control, flexibility and intuitive operation. A host of new object features allows users to really interact with sound and manipulate it in real time like never before. Workflow improvements, scripting additions and other features allow the controller to be used better, faster and more in tune with some of the most popular software applications around with Ableton Live users, in particular, benefiting from some of the new features.

    New v2 features in detail

    Breakpoint object – Offers total control of synthesiser or sampler envelopes with a multi-segment envelope editor to allow you to really get inside a sound, live on stage! Rather than assigning knobs to these sound shapers, jump right in and directly tweak an on-screen representation of the envelope. This familiar, visual interface allows you to see – and hear – exactly how you are changing the sound and you can easily add extra breakpoints with a simple double touch.

    Gesture object – This emulates a trackpad control with advanced gesture recognition and has three novel ways to interact with your sound. You can send different control messages to your computer simply by pinching, rotating or tracing your fingers. An example could be with surround sound: rotate to change the source position, pinch to change the source level, and trace to apply some filter to it. Total control in three steps!

    Alias – Now you can easily produce a copy or alias of a controller object that sends exactly the same information to your computer. This takes up less memory and is much less time consuming than setting up a new object with identical characteristics. Manipulating the original or its doppelganger can now control the same computer parameters but from different interface screens. Moving one will automatically update its "mirror image".

    Tabbed Container – Containers are virtual panels that contain a selection of controls. Tabbed containers allow you to change the contents of this panel at the tap of a finger. Put all the controls you need for one part of your performance in one tab, then simply push the next tab to reveal a whole new bank with zero hassle. This feature allows you to greatly improve interface layouts.

    Mouse and keyboard control – Still finding yourself reaching over to the computer during your live show? Not any more! Now Lemur's objects can be used to remotely control the mouse cursor or computer keyboard.

    Workflow improvements – Setting up your custom performance interface is a breeze with the improved and new-look Jazzeditor. Workflow improvements include the ability to simply drag objects from the new palette into the work area – any custom-made modules from your library will also appear here. It's now no longer necessary to select a MIDI or OSC target for each parameter within an object – just choose a "parent" target and you're done. There’s also a new ‘colour chooser’ to make your interfaces visually distinctive.

    Extended scripting abilities – A new multi-line script pane opens up a whole new world of possibilities. You can now modify the physical behaviour, appearance or size of an object in real time. Add a ball to a Multiball object by touching a pad, or zoom in on a fader for ultimate precision. These scripts can act locally or be received from the computer. For Ableton users that means it is now possible to receive clip names and colours and display them on the Lemur. Any changes in your Live set are automatically reflected on the Lemur. Now you can really put that computer behind you and concentrate on your performance!

    About the Jazzmutant Lemur:

    The Lemur is a top-of-the-range control surface for audio and media applications. Its major innovation is in its modular graphic interface concept and the exclusive multitouch sensor technology. The continuously growing palette of user-configurable graphic objects enables you to design made-to-measure interfaces by using the bundled JazzEditor. This endows the Lemur with the unique capacity to adapt to all of your projects and software applications; whether you need advanced control of sequencers, modular synthesisers, virtual instruments, VJ software, 3D animation tools or light control.

    Pricing and Availability:

    The public beta of the v2 firmware update will launched at AES (October 3rd to 5th) with the full version released Q4 2008. The full update will be free

  • http://www.rolandreinke.com Roland Reinke

    That live DVD looks interesting. I love their heavy electronic sound!

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  • http://www.deftek.net tendo

    I saw them here in Seattle. I assumed that not much of what was going on was live, but it was still an amazing set. Those guys have a lot of talent even if they aren't doing all the much live, it beats showing up at the venue and seeing some f*g with an ibook or powerwhatever you call them and hit play and then dance to it (like girl talk, god that pissed me off!!)

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  • http://www.ilovelumix.fr/2008/11/09/photos-manchester/ really?

    now if we could only find some proof that Justice ever actually uses this stuff…

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