Finally complaining about LIVE - took me some years

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
capo-wear-i
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Post by capo-wear-i » Sat Mar 22, 2008 11:19 pm

Probably a beats mode issue TBH - it messes with the Low end quite a bit because it chops up the waveform at transients , so cuts the bass up. try using re-pitch - less artifacts.

anti-banausic
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Post by anti-banausic » Sun Mar 23, 2008 4:40 am

So, here is my .02.....

The rockit5's.......you have to ask yourself...how well do they reproduce the lows.

The reason that I ask this is that I use the v.II rp6's and even though they should do the bass better than yours, I still have problems with bass in my mixes. It is just that bass is so hard to reproduce correctly. Too many options in a room for added revererations.....or not reproducing quite correctly if the woofer doesn't do it.

Lot's of problems...Also because club systems are almost based around increasing the bass, but most are sort of optimized for vinyl or CDjs'. Lots' of other things can go wrong when the medium is changed, and you are changing it further by optimizing for a different situation.

Best,
AB
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Machinesworking
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Post by Machinesworking » Sun Mar 23, 2008 5:12 am

djadonis206 wrote:
thefool wrote:Hm don't you just need a subwoofer to be able to fetch the lowest parts? Could you upload a sample of what sounds muddy so i can try it at one of the in house systems here?
just think about a wash of bass and no kick

sorry, no audio samples

.wav ah? curious


You need a sub, my mixes improved after introducing one, because like you I want to hear the bass, and without speakers that can reproduce that bass, your adding a lot of low end that you can't hear in your house. Only problem is getting that mix between loud enough to be fun to mix, and not having the neighbors up in arms. :twisted:

I have a post it note form the old lady next door that reads "Could you keep that beat down?" :lol:

Also what sound card are you using??

forge
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Post by forge » Sun Mar 23, 2008 9:11 am

djadonis206 wrote:Thanks for the tips

I think I need to figure out a way to mix around the small speakers for the big big speakers

for dance music 120 - 140 I use repitch
for hip hop 70 - 90 bpm's I use beats mode


and like I said, I put the set together at the house and it sounds pumping but at the club it sounds muddy

I'm also thinking it may be where I'm setting my beat markers. typically on the flattest part of the down beats - curious
I guess it's hard if just DJing but you really should sound check and set it up/EQ for the system

and +1 on re-pitch mode for Djing - if you need any of the stuff Beats offers just use it on the clips needed then go back to repitch

gerard
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Post by gerard » Sun Mar 23, 2008 10:02 am

I had the same problem before, I really wasn't satisfied with the sound on big speakers but now I put the PSP Vintage Warmer on the master channel and it's pumping as much lows as I want. :D (just don'tt overuse it)
Other people prefer the BBE enhancer or stuff from Ozone. I don't know if you use one but if not you should give it a try.
p.s. I use complex mode for warping
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djadonis206
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Post by djadonis206 » Sun Mar 23, 2008 4:30 pm

I'm using the conectiv soundcard

I'm thinking of upgrading to a second card. I need the conectiv for Torq but I'm def in the market for something more professional for exclusive ableton use

a sub is a great idea
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djadonis206
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Post by djadonis206 » Sun Mar 23, 2008 5:05 pm

AND what's up with this!

when I try to open a set from the desktop, ableton just loads my blank template

I have to open the set from OPEN RECENT SETS to get it to load the way I saved it

??????
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rikhyray
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Post by rikhyray » Sun Mar 23, 2008 8:28 pm

djadonis206 wrote:I'm using the conectiv soundcard

I'm thinking of upgrading to a second card. I need the conectiv for Torq but I'm def in the market for something more professional for exclusive ableton use

a sub is a great idea
If you make music aimed at listening in clubs or say, sub heavy car systems, sub in the studio is must. Unlike sub for listening pleasure in the studio it is primarily to detect possible problems. Without good sub it is kind of blind mixing- hit and miss. I was surprised how adding sub accelerated my speed of work.
Regarding mp3, I checked it when it was added to Live but see no point ever using it. HD prices are so low that it does not make sense anymore (if ever did).

tiltmonster
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Post by tiltmonster » Wed Apr 23, 2008 6:21 am

I know it isnt always feasible, but adjusting the mix to the room for 10 minutes or so is the most important part of playing out. What do bands call them, soundchecks? ;)

jasefos
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Post by jasefos » Wed Apr 23, 2008 10:47 am

rikhyray wrote:
djadonis206 wrote:I'm using the conectiv soundcard

I'm thinking of upgrading to a second card. I need the conectiv for Torq but I'm def in the market for something more professional for exclusive ableton use

a sub is a great idea
If you make music aimed at listening in clubs or say, sub heavy car systems, sub in the studio is must. Unlike sub for listening pleasure in the studio it is primarily to detect possible problems. Without good sub it is kind of blind mixing- hit and miss. I was surprised how adding sub accelerated my speed of work.
Regarding mp3, I checked it when it was added to Live but see no point ever using it. HD prices are so low that it does not make sense anymore (if ever did).


Wise move.

I've found that a subwoofer in your monitoring system is a must if the typical playback environment for your music is on club systems.

I remember mixing a track many years ago where, because I could not hear the bottom octave in my mix (the octave subs are designed to reproduce), I missed the fact that my big 808esque subsonic kick drum had too much decay. Each kick was feeding into and overlapping over the kick that followed which meant that on a club system the tune sounded like it was floating over a constantly low subsonic wave - eating power, and headroom substantially along the way (waves approaching DC waveshapes I believe are formidable for an amplifier to reproduce).

There was nothing which mastering would be able to salvage from this problem without severely damaging the tonal balance of the mix. If I had a sub in my rig at the time I could have addressed this problem long before the tune hit club PA systems since I would have hear the mud and sludge caused by something as simple as having the decay set too high on my 808 kick drum synth.

I make it common practise to tune my kicks to the same key of the song so, luckily, it piece wasn't a totaly dischordant tragedy. Back then I was using MAster Zap's Stomper to synthesize and render kicks drums which had the unique possibility of specifying precise music pitches for the start and end points of pitch and filter envelopes. If only I had set the decay to a substantially shorter time.

Preparing new material for use in a Live performance scenario is totally hit and miss without a sub I've found.

Sub introduce another level of complexity of placement and room treatment however. Getting the phase coherent with satellites can be quite a challenge.
JaseFOS

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muthafunka
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Post by muthafunka » Wed Apr 23, 2008 11:33 am

fwiw I tried djing w/ Live right when the complex algo was introduced, thought itwas going to be la bomb....BUT, sounded horrible, embarrassed to be playing the tunes, especially big long lows just get mangled and you hear old-skool mp3-esque artifacts all over the place, even playing wavs, aiffs, whatever, yeuch. However, been using re-pitch exclusively since late last year and found it to sound GREAT, even on big systems, clean and slamming.

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