DJ'ing w/ Live Tempo use

gRave Robber · Post by **gRave Robber** » Sat Oct 31, 2009 4:17 am

I've mostly used Live to produce. Lately I've been exploring the DJing side of Live's features and find it fun and challenging. I've never learned to DJ using anything but Live and I'd like to keep it that way.

In regards to Tempo, I've seen many Live DJ Sets on the web, youtube etc that make use of a tempo slider/knob. Most of the stuff i click is Tech House around 128-130 so its not a big deal.

When exactly would tempo come into play during a mix? does it even matter if it's all warped properly?

thanks

Alextronica · Post by **Alextronica** » Sat Oct 31, 2009 4:49 am

Warping is pretty key if you want to use alot of what Live brings to the table.

Its not hard and you probably already know how to do it. but Yes assign the Tempo to a knob or fader. you can strict the knob to only the Tempos you use. Like 120 - 135 or what ever. I use 70 - 140 so I can play any style but thats just me. Dubstep at 75 BPM and Breaks at 135 Hip hop 100 BPM and every thing in between. Also a help ful tip is you can write the BPM in the scene and live will launch at that tempo

Have fun.

squidot · Post by **squidot** » Sat Oct 31, 2009 4:55 am

in my eyes there are a couple of times when tempo adjustment come into play. i dj a lot of different styles of music at different tempos. sometimes just within my collection of house music i'll have a track thats around say 124 bpms and i want to bring in a track that fits style and flavor wise but it will be at a much higher bpm...lets say around 137 or so. now if i have my master tempo around 127ish the slower track will sound fine, but the higher bpm track just wont jive quite right, especially if its a track with vocals, or one that everyone knows. i would assume that the farther away you get from the song tempo the more artifacts or audio disturbances youre going to notice. in this situation i would probably raise my master bpms up slowly before i mix in the faster song and keep raising it up unitl i get close enough to the high bpms of the second song. that is a drastic example but one reason to adjust the bpms.

you could also slowly do it over the evening introducing slightly higher bpm tracks over time to create more of a sense of building tempo and anticipation and likewise bring it back down to mellow the evening out. depends on the mood and vibe i suppose.

ive seen a couple of djs drastically reduce the tempo in a way that makes sense through a breakdown or buildup in order to jump to an entirely different faster/slower genre of music. a good example of this is steve lawlers lights out 2nd disc. midway through the set he slows it way down for some downtempo electro type tracks and then brings it back up to house tempo again after a couple of songs - to me it puts some character or an out of the ordinary feel to sets if its done properly.

in your case if you only have warped tracks from 128-130 then you could just keep your tempo at that level and probably never have to worry about touching it.

outershpongolia · Post by **outershpongolia** » Sat Oct 31, 2009 5:01 am

and try to keep in the back of your head, one mans 70 is another mans 140..

gRave Robber · Post by **gRave Robber** » Sat Oct 31, 2009 1:33 pm

Thanks All!
Definetly gives me some direction.

contakt321 · Post by **contakt321** » Sat Oct 31, 2009 1:57 pm

I map a fader to tempo as well. Usually 130 - 140 because I go from UK Funky and 2 Step to Dubstep.

Additionally, even staying within one genre as I progress through my set, I will slowly bump the tempo up a few BPMs to build the energy.

gRave Robber · Post by **gRave Robber** » Sun Nov 01, 2009 2:11 am

building energy w/ tempo? I hadn't even considered that approach, i just habitually put it at w/e the tracks are. Usually 128-130 but I see what you mean about speeding it up slightly. tnx

outershpongolia · Post by **outershpongolia** » Sun Nov 01, 2009 7:09 am

Gonna have to try a tempo build up with my drummer soon.. My buddies have a band that is like grateful dead/phish-inspired jam band, they love speeding their jams up slowly to add tension, or slowing it down to chill the groove out a little bit.

When I started using Live for jamming I was fascinated with the fact that you could play live drums to a constant tempo and still be able to "speed up" the groove, or at least make the illusion of the groove being faster by variations in your drum hits and doubling the groove or just playing a little more intensely.

DJ'ing w/ Live Tempo use

DJ'ing w/ Live Tempo use

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