Ableton Forum

I've spoken to many Ableton DJ's and they all seem to take a different approach in how to use Ableton Live to DJ.
A thread like this seemed interesting to me to learn from how others do it & maybe even refine and streamline your own workflow.

I'll start off myself. Please reply in a (more or less) similar fashion.

(1) I use MixMeister BPM Analyzer to accurately determine the track's tempo.

(2) The Mixed In Key software determines the key of my track.

(3) I import the track into Ableton Live and warp it.

(4) I organize my tracks according to the key I found in 2, so I can do some harmonic mixing.

(5) I chop the track up into several loops, as you can see here:



The number in front of the name tells me how long the loop is (64 = 64 beats = 16 bars)
The letter at the end will tell me if it's OK to repeat the clip or not (R = repeat / NR = no repeat)
The description of the clip is kind of self-explanatory. I also maintain the same color code in all my tracks, so I can instantly recognize everything.

(6) I try to extract as much additional loops out of the track as possible. Like vocal samples, short instrumental loops. If the track contains longer vocals, I'll try to find the acapella and save it with the song. Those additional loops will be used to mix into other songs to create live mash-ups.

That's pretty much it.
Hoping to see some interesting answers. Thanks in advance.

Hah, no DJ's on here?

Hi Mate,

I do this when i have the time, just recently i built a template with about 400 old school house tunes in it, because i knew them so well i had no need to do anything more than loop them....

The only difference i make to your workflow usually is i don't use mixed in key, if it sounds good it is good is my general rule.... The chopping into loops is something i regularily do though, once i've played a song out a few times i'll often just retain themes from it in the template to layer over other tracks, using the M4L devices i've built i'll usually have these directly routed to them so i can mash them up on the fly and use the actual song thats playing in it's original form. I don't like to rearrange a good song that significantly especially if it's a recognised one, nothing worse when your out on the dancefloor grooving away singing along to the main tune for it to suddenly drop unexpectedly....

Cheers
D