In this thesis, two different ways of music performing will be compared:

• Music as recorded in a recording studio

• Music performed on stage before an audience.

My main focus was to compose music that was complex enough so that the band might face some problems when playing it live but rehearse it well enough to overcome those problems.

I started by making “produced” versions of the songs in Ableton, where I recorded every single part with sampled instruments. These versions had the finished arrangements and sounded pretty close to what I wanted to achieve with the band. Then I wrote the sheet music carefully and sent it, along with the recordings, to the band. I made a rehearsing schedule and booked rooms well in advance to minimize the risk of problems later on. I also booked a studio to record the music after the rehearsals and before the concert.

In the studio, we first recorded the jazz band and later recorded the string quartet as an overdub. After I had mixed those two recordings together, I listened very carefully to everything that could be improved. Some musicians wanted to overdub their solos afterwards and I overdubbed some solos myself as well. When listening back and going through all the details the days before the concert, I found out what could be improved and made a list of possible improvements for the dress rehearsal.

I ended up being more satisfied with the studio recording though than the concert, sound and performance-wise. I had much more control over the sound, which made the end result better to my ears than the concert. Of course, the concert had its pros as well. The concert went very well according to plan thanks to good planning in advance as well as well written-out arrangements and problem-free parts.

One of the research questions was if mistakes could possibly benefit the music at the concert.I think mistakes don’t necessarily benefit the music, but the live scenario might sometimes be more exciting since nothing is edited and the players have to find their way back home if they go out of the road. However, the profoundness of a well recorded recording can be very pleasing to listen to as well so both have their strengths and weaknesses.

Those two recordings, the one from the studio and the one from the concert are obviously different and in this thesis, the difference between the two will be investigated furthermore.