The EM Poll

Playing Concerts in Second Life

Mar 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Jeff Klopmeyer

           

Learn how to play live music in a 3-dimensional virtual world.

FIG. 1: Jeff Klopmeyer’s Second Life avatar, Zak Claxton, plays a New Year’s Eve event for a crowd of revelers.

Picture this: you're at a gig, tuning up your guitar, when suddenly an 8-foot-tall, pointy-eared gothic elf flies into the room. He is greeted by a purple-skinned, scantily clad woman, who then teleports herself into a seat near the stage.

No, you're not hallucinating. You've entered the online world of Second Life (www.secondlife.com), which is quickly becoming a popular new place for musicians to perform live in front of appreciative audiences.

Brave New World

Developed by Linden Lab (www.lindenlab.com), Second Life (SL) debuted in 2003, but it has taken off over the last two years, with the number of participants soaring from 100,000 to almost 13 million. While that doesn't mean you'll meet 13 million SL residents every time you enter, you'll see that 40,000 to 50,000 folks are on at any given time.

The Second Life experience is simple — think of it as a three-dimensional version of the Internet. Each resident is represented by an avatar, a kind of cartoon version of a person that users can customize. Some residents create outlandish avatars for themselves that range from anthropomorphized raccoons to muscle-bound he-men and well-endowed supermodels. Others (myself included) try to re-create their own real-life image as much as possible (see Fig. 1). When you sign up, you choose from a list of available last names, which is how I became the resident known as Zak Claxton when I got involved in 2006.

The Second Life world is laid out on a giant grid and is created completely by its users. Chances are, if you can imagine it, someone in SL has created it. To get around, you can teleport directly to locations, fly around the grid, or (for a slower-paced experience) simply walk. Dozens of virtual venues have been built specifically for the purpose of live music performance.

Gigging Online

Compared with other audio projects, setting up a performance in SL is fairly simple. First, you need a sound source, which for me consists of a Martin D-18V acoustic guitar, a set of Hohner harmonicas, and my voice. To capture the sound, I run two condenser mics — a Groove Tubes GT57 for my voice and harp, and a GT30 for my guitar — into a Mackie 1202-VLZ mixer. The stereo output goes into a Digidesign Mbox interface followed by an Apple MacBook Pro. (The mixer isn't necessary, but I like having a tangible control surface for levels, pans, EQ, and so on.) Most performers in SL are singer-songwriters like me, but if you have more than one person playing, simply send a stereo mix of your sources into your computer interface.

FIG. 2: Klopmeyer’s simple real-life setup consists of two Groove Tubes mics, a Mackie mixer, a Digidesign Mbox, and an Apple MacBook Pro laptop computer.
Photo: Courtesy Jeff Klopmeyer

Next, you stream the audio, like an Internet radio station, so it can be received in Second Life. I use Rogue Amoeba's inexpensive Nicecast application (Mac, $40); Windows users can use WinAmp's Shoutcast plug-in or a third-party app like SpacialAudio SimpleCast ($139). If I'm playing for only a couple of people, that's all I need. The software provides a streaming address that gets plugged into the virtual venue's media stream, and everyone in the area where I am performing can hear me play.

Once your audience grows beyond two or three people, the limitations of your Internet connection's bandwidth (even on cable or DSL) won't serve the audio correctly, or at all. At that point, you need to rent a Shoutcast server, which typically can stream to 100 listeners at 128 Kbps, which is similar in audio quality to a standard MP3. Although you can rent your own stream through Shoutcast, it's easier and cheaper to rent it by the hour from an SL resident who offers this service. However, I rarely need to provide my own stream, because the venues where I perform almost always have their own. The venue gives me a stream URL and password, which I plug into Nicecast's server settings. Once that's done, I'm ready to play.

Delayed Reactions

Because you are streaming audio through multiple servers, you won't want to monitor the playback through SL. The resulting latency is pretty high, and it can take up to 30 seconds or more before your music is heard by the audience. Consequently, I monitor only my input signal, and that generally works fine. Speaking from experience, I can tell you that the audience will let you know if there's a problem with your sound.

In my small studio, I position the mics so I can watch the computer running SL, which allows me to interact with my audience like at a real-life gig (see Fig. 2). I can chat with folks between songs by responding to the text messages that pop up onscreen as the audience communicates with each other. I even take requests from time to time.

The only disconcerting aspect of this much latency is that after I finish a song, 30 seconds can go by before I get any kind of audience reaction. I just assume the folks are going to applaud, so I thank them proactively before I've even seen the first kudos, which arrive as text messages.

Autostrumming

You're probably wondering how you control your virtual self while in real life you have both hands on your instrument. You simply plant your avatar on the stage, and the animations built into your virtual instrument will strum the guitar or play the piano with enough realism to be entertaining to your fans. This allows you to concentrate fully on playing and singing your music.

Some instruments have a variety of animations built in, so you can pick the movement that works best for your style. These range from gentle strumming to Pete Townshend—like windmilling and jumping around the stage.

Showtime in the Metaverse

I recommend attending several shows in Second Life before attempting to do one of your own. You can check out SL's in-world event listings under the Live Music category. (Events are also published on the Second Life Web site at www.secondlife.com/events.) If you find an event that looks interesting, simply click on the Teleport button and you'll appear at the show.

Residents have built a wide variety of venue types, ranging from giant amphitheaters to small clubs, jazz lounges, and dive bars (see the sidebar “Building a Second Career”). Typically, you can just walk up and find a seat, or hit the dance floor if you're in the mood. Every kind of music is welcome, from mellow folk and jazz to house, techno, and metal.

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