Warping, Cueing, and Ableton DJing in general

[Punky921]

Hey folks,

So I just got Ableton the other day and I started warping my tracks. I THINK I've roughly got the hang of it. I can warp tracks and they stay more or less on beat IF I trigger the clip that holds the incoming track right before the 1 beat of any given measure of the currently playing song.

This is a bit confusing to me, as I thought Ableton kept everything in sync no matter what, regardless of when the clip launch button was hit. Did I miss something somewhere?

For the record, I've got the warp setting set to "Beats", the Transients set to "1/16" and the quantization set to "1 Bar"

Any advice you could render would be greatly appreciated!!

Justin

[Tarekith]

http://abletonlivedj.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=15

Some of those might help.

[Punky921]

I'm actually already asking around there.

[Patch]

Use re-pitch mode for DJ'ing. Beats will introduce artifacts into the song you are playing - especially when long notes are played.

Check this thread for some tutorials:

http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic. ... =tutorials

Launch quantise confuses a lot of people. There are 2 schools of thought:

1) Set launch quantise REALLY short. I use 1/4bar. This works for me.
2) Set launch quantise REALLY long. 4, 8 or 16 bars. This is useful for beginners, as it means that the next clip will be launched at the start of a phrase in the track that's being mixed into (as long as you've warped BOTH tracks correctly).

[maomao]

for DJing purposes, I'd recommend to set the global quantise to 1 bar and the all clip quantise to global

[logic_user99]

Good times.

I really need to get into some track warping & DJ'ing. I guess it's all just practice...

[Punky921]

Use re-pitch mode for DJ'ing. Beats will introduce artifacts into the song you are playing - especially when long notes are played.

Check this thread for some tutorials:

http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic. ... =tutorials

Launch quantise confuses a lot of people. There are 2 schools of thought:

1) Set launch quantise REALLY short. I use 1/4bar. This works for me.
2) Set launch quantise REALLY long. 4, 8 or 16 bars. This is useful for beginners, as it means that the next clip will be launched at the start of a phrase in the track that's being mixed into (as long as you've warped BOTH tracks correctly).

I figured this out - 1 bar works for me - I don't like waiting.

J

[brom]

After warping a track, I then make a clip for each section of a song, those usually being 4, 8, 12 or 16 bars long.

I set the 'follow action' of the clip to 'Play Next' at the length of the section. I set the clip quantization to 'Global'. I set the 'Global Quantization' to 4 Bars.

I put all sections of the song in 'Track 1' in sequential order, then any 'one hit' samples samples in 'Track 2'. Some of these one hit samples change the 'Launch Mode' to 'Gate', so I can fire them at any time.

It helps to have a well organised library at this stage. I have Warped Tracks\Artist\Title. That's right, a folder for each track, in which I can store the track's project file and any samples from the track or ones that I often use with the track (drum loops, accapellas etc).

I label each clip as such: "1[8]Artist - Title" 1 being the section number, [8] being the section length.

Once I have sampled a track into sections and labeled the clips, I highlight them all and drag them onto the track in the file browser. When the 'Copied/moved documents' dialogue box appears I select don't copy.

A project for the track is automatically created in the tracks folder, which I label the same as the track.

This project can then be dragged from the browser into any set in the future.

This may seem time consuming, but by using practice and knowing hot keys, I have this process down to about five minutes for most electronically produced tracks in 4/4 time.

This technique essentially gives me hot cues to the start of any section in the song. I can also use this to skip sections with vocals in them, which can prevent muddy mixing.

By having the Global Quantization to 4 bars, I can launch up coming clips way before they actually start, allowing me time to launch clips on other tracks. Also with 4 bar Quantization, not only am I always beat matched, but I am 'Phrase' matched also, which is what you want most of the time.

Let me know if you want anything cleared up.

P.S. I also colour-code my clips as such:
Red: Sparse samples (ie drum loops with a little synth, pad, bass or vocal etc)
Orange: Not-so-sparse samples (ie a drum loop with more synth, pad bass or vocal)
Yellow: Cacaphonic (the meat and veg of the track, ie verse and chorus)
Green: drum loop/percusion
Violet: Vocal/accapella/dialogue
Blue: Bass-line, synth or pad

[Punky921]

Wow. That's a really fantastic way to organize your tracks! I was thinking about doing something like that but it felt really intimidating for a beginner like me. Once I get a handle on more standard DJ mixing, I'll probably get into what you're doing.

[brom]

Once I get a handle on more standard DJ mixing, I'll probably get into what you're doing.

I created this set up because I couldn't get a handle on 'standard DJ mixing'.
I read up on some music theory, and came up with a system that would allow me create really tight sets without knowing how to "DJ".

This system works really well with a midi controller with buttons for 'Track Launch' and a rotary encoder for 'Scene Select'

I use four tracks, two for the tracks being mixed and two for one-hit samples, drum loops and accapellas.

[Punky921]

Interesting. IT's funny that you totally jumped over the "standard DJing" fence and landed directly in the "Live Remix" phase of skill. That's pretty awesome.

[brom]

I am amazed by what I see some turntablists do with couple of decks and a mixer, but I have never really been interested in the technique of turntablism (i.e. I found beatmatching infuriating and I and did not have the drive to learn it). Also, a digital library is much is to manage.
I was more interested in the creative process of mixing tracks. I just had an idea of what I wanted hear and set about finding a way I could make it happen.

All though I have an interest in the heritage of DJing, I would not let it hold me back as some tradionalists would. We have this amazing technology at our disposal, why not use it.

"Well my grandad used to dj with 2 gramaphones and when he got a monkey to wind the thing up while he was putting on another record, others were dissing him saying he was cheating and shit, but then he got one vinyl to play right after the other one and the dust was flyin' the other guys understood."
-Unknown Author

[hambone1]

Interesting. IT's funny that you totally jumped over the "standard DJing" fence and landed directly in the "Live Remix" phase of skill. That's pretty awesome.

IMO, it's better to NOT be clouded by the way everybody else does things. Innovate. Carve your own path. Don't be a copycat lemming (unless that's what you want to do, of course). There are billions of soundalike, lookalike DJs out there already!

There is SO much creativity, musicianship, and innovation that Live's capabilities bring to DJing. Let Live do the mundane monkey work (beatmatching, crossfading, etc) so you can play an instrument... do on-the-fly remixes... build songs an instrument at a time... do interactive audience stuff... surround audio... video... lighting... communicate with the crowd... set yourself apart from the clones!

Otherwise, there are far more basic and easier-to-use programs (Traktor, etc) out there.

[Punky921]

Yes, yes I know I know. God, believe me I know. I'm the poor bastard house DJ in a city full of hip hop.

J

[Trypset]

dood....learn to beatmacth. Its a skill that once learned will help everything else times 10....and its not that you need to have everything you play matched %100 of the time...it teaches your brain and your hands to work together for an end goal. Don't give up on it.