Ableton Forum

Hi,has anyone any tips or tricks for getting a warmer sound out of Ableton whilst djing as the warping seems to make the sound of the tunes a bit thin. I'm using the latest version of Ableton on a sony viao pc laptop,dual core processor with a M Audio firewire audiophile soundcard.

Kingbee wrote:Hi,has anyone any tips or tricks for getting a warmer sound out of Ableton whilst djing as the warping seems to make the sound of the tunes a bit thin. I'm using the latest version of Ableton on a sony viao pc laptop,dual core processor with a M Audio firewire audiophile soundcard.

repitch mode.

Cheers will try,

friend_kami wrote:

Kingbee wrote:Hi,has anyone any tips or tricks for getting a warmer sound out of Ableton whilst djing as the warping seems to make the sound of the tunes a bit thin. I'm using the latest version of Ableton on a sony viao pc laptop,dual core processor with a M Audio firewire audiophile soundcard.

repitch mode.

Yeah, repitch will help. Complex and beat kinda squashes the brightness and warmth. Also you can throw a saturator and limiter on the channel.

yes a saturator with Suuper subtle settings on Sine curve with and an eq8 with a tiny dip in the mids and or highs can make for a warm sound. ALso ik-multimedia t-racks (plugin version) limiter has a nice warmish sound to it

Cheers guys excellent

a few comments/thoughts:

1. Live's warp modes like Complex/Pro definitely rob the music of some of its warmth and texture; so like kami and dreamr said repitch is a good alternative (if you are close enough to the native tempo)

2. *Very Subjective Opinion Warning* As a straight, unprocessed WAV playback client, IMHO, comparing Live to VLC and itunes on OSX, and Live to say itunes, MediaMonkey, and Samplitude on Windows, I think Live always sounds a touch more "clinical" and "sterile" than other playback clients. This is something better heard in the studio vs. in the club, so to speak.

3. I have seen a lot of DJs who use Live prefer the higher end Allen & Heath Xone series of mixers since they tend to have a "warmer" sound which compliments Live's sound. Obviously plenty of Live DJs use a Rane, Vestax or Pioneer, but there is definitely a group who strongly prefers the higher end Allen & Heath Xones.

4. You may want to revisit your audio interface. Many of the higher priced units have better DACs, better jitter specs, better analog output stages-- all which help to produce a higher quality sound that isn't necessarily warm (ie: the goal in most product designs is neutral and transparent) but does not accidentally emphasize or skimp on any part of the frequency spectrum.

I borrowed this trick from sound engineers and tweaked it myself.

On the master channel..
I like to use a compressor set to 2.0 ratio/threshold -4 (API-2500)-->(Vintage warmer)--> (Compressor) 1.2-2.0 ratio/threshold -4 ---> (ableton multiband exciter)-->(ableton 8band EQ)-->(Limiter)..I like sonnox

I know API is a little steap in price. But; Cytomic, The Glue i've heard great things about and Sonalksis 315, great cheaper alternatives. Abletons compressors are decent, but not superb IMHO.

Try it and play with the setting on each. Remember that minimal adjustments can have a dramatic impact on the flow of the waveforms, so be easy. Tweak, listen and think.

Also one more word of advice. Get good at adjusting your volumes on each channel. Ive had friends with great tracks come to me with levels way off. By pulling some tracks back and raising others we dramatically changed the overall harmonic composition.
Most club tracks you hear are based from just a few main channels, with sends of the same audio routed to auxillary channels with effects on them...gating, reverbs..sidechain compressors for pumping sounds..etc. Try that. Adds depth to tracks without making things sound chaotic and lost.