I just got a new Macbook to dj on (2.2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo; 2 GB RAM), and am curious to know any other additions or setting adjustments I should make for my machine to run as efficiently as possible? What, if any, changes should I make in the Preferences, such as in Record/Warp/Launch? Should I be running 24 bit depth instead of 16? Do I need to upgrade my sound card? Is there anything else I maybe just don't know about?
After "collecting all and saving" one of my sets and transferring over to the Macbook, I still am experiencing some minor dropouts and digital hits that occurred with my much slower, only half a gig of RAM Powerbook. (I thought that was the only problem causing that issue) Could this instead be due to the fact that most of the songs in that set are MP3 files? Does the fact that this set is a copy of a copy affect the performance? Any insight and suggestions would be helpful..
Thanks,
Alex
DJing with Live on new Macbook
Jesus you guys are lazy:
*** Beginners Guide to DJ'ing with Ableton Live ***
Firstly, we will not be going into too much detail on general use of Ableton Live.
This guide is about CONCEPTS and TECHNIQUE.
The Ableton Live manual is here:
http://www.ableton.com/pages/downloads/manuals
.. and this guide presumes you have spent at least some time reading it, aswell as doing the inbuilt tutorial in Ableton Live, under the help menu.
There is also a nice PDF guide to DJing here:
http://www.djkaizen.com/
One other site with a nice guide is tastyfresh.
http://www.tastyfresh.com/content/view/358/28/
and
http://www.tastyfresh.com/content/view/335/28/
..........
For live DJ'ing we [99% of us] use session view [hit tab] placing samples, [songs, loops, acapellas etc] in various slots on the grid and triggering them to play, while controlling volume, eq, effects, etc. Easy huh?
First have a gander at this:...........
.
.
.
.
DJ concepts:
beatmatching
Beatmatching is the cornerstone of DJing (there is a lot more to it than beatmatching though).
It basically involves having two tracks that have a different BPM and changing the speed of one
(or both) of them in order to match them, then launch one of them at the right point so that the beats coincide with the other ones.
How it is done with decks and how with ableton?
Fortunately, Live takes care of all that: you warp your music before you play it so it is always automatically
playing at the master tempo and with a global quantization of 1 bar, your tracks will (almost) always launch
at the right point in time.
harmonic mixing
Harmonic mixing is the art of selecting what tracks to mix based on their key.
There are a couple of programs that can be used at the moment to find the key of a track:
MixedInKey
Rapid Evolution
There is more info about harmonic mixing here:
http://www.abletonlivedj.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4609
When you know the key of a track, you can then select other tracks with the same, or similar keys to mix,
which will hopefully make your mix sound better!
A key wheel (like this one)
can help you find which keys fit with eachother!
Equipment
computer/laptop/imac
You might want something portable.
1 gig of ram is usually reccommended as a minimum requirement, especially if you plan on going crazy with racks/effects.
Wether you use Windows or OSX is mostly down to personal preference.
If you are planning on buying a budget laptop, make sure it has enough usb/firewire connectivity and battery life if applicable.
MIDI controllers:
A midi controller is used to control different parameters in Live, rather than using your mouse.
Once your midi controller is connected to your computer or soundcard, via USB or MIDI, you can press CTRL-M in Live and "map" different
knobs and sliders to different parameters.
You could for example, assign a slider to the main volume, a knob to the cross-fader and others to different tracks EQs etc.
Midi controllers can also be assigned to trigger clips or samples.
You can map almost any parameter in Lives main interface, or from an instrument or effect, to a midi controller,
or even your computer keyboard.
To map a parameter to a knob on your controller, simply press CTRL+M in Live, click the parameter you want mapped,
say a fader volume level, then move the knob on your controller... job done!
Midi controllers come in many different shapes and sizes.
There are some great suggestions here: http://abletonlivedj.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19
soudcards/interfaces
There are so many soundcards on the market, offering all sorts of features, it is beyond the scope of this guide to explain
EVERYTHING about soundcards for DJ'ing, but heres some pointers...
Firstly, we will deal here with external soundcards, ie those that connect to your laptop using USB/firewire.
These type of soundcards have become very popular with producers using desktop computers aswell as laptop DJs alike.
Why do you need a soundcard and why do people call them interfaces?
Well, hmm, ok, for starters you could probably get something like this:
a bit of cable [Mini-Jack 3.5mm - 2 RCA] to go between your onboard soundcard [the headphone socket on your laptop]
and your amp or active monitors. Then you could use a USB controller and youre rockin.
Pretty much...
But a good soundcard will offer features like MIDI i/o, direct monitoring, ad/da converters, high sample rates [24/96],
low latency drivers [ASIO/CORE AUDIO] and all sorts of other things which allow you to connect anything into or
out of your soundcard.
Heres a cheap and cheerful soundcard:
This soundcard, the M-Audio Firewire Audiophile, allows you to cue tracks in your headphones, while Live is playing out
your set on the main output.
To do this, you simply set up lives master output to 1/2 and cue output to 3/4.
With the switch of a button on the front of the audiophile, you can go between listening to the cue or the master,
on your headphones.
What soundcard to get?
Have a look here.....
http://abletonlivedj.com/forum/search.php?mode=results
One consideration which can easily be overlooked is USB vs Firewire.
Firewire might be a better option if you are short on USB ports and need them for multiple controllers, hard drives,
or a mouse/trackball.
mice/trackballs
Many people prefer to use a trackball to a mouse.
....... One reason is because you dont wanna look like youre checking your email!
A bluetooth mouse [like Apples Mighty Mouse] will free up vital USB ports.
But dont forget to bring spare batteries to the gig!
Ideally, you will have your midi controller set up in a way which allows you not to need to use your mouse.
Mouseless DJ'ing is what its all about.
Dont forget clips in Live can be triggered with your keyboard. External wireless keyboards can be handy.
Consider something like this:
... You can assign each button, label it all up, and go nuts.
Headphones
Headphones are essential to vinyl DJs for beatmatching.
While not essential to Ableton Live DJs, they have many uses, one of which is Cueing.
This allows you to listen to a sample on headphones without it playing out on the speakers.
You could set up channels 1+2 for the main output and channels 3+4 for cueing.
Many soundcards [such as the m-audio firewire audiophile] support this kind of A/B monitoring,
where you could hear a track on headphones thats not going to the main speakers.
Speakers/monitors/amps etc
Here are some important concepts. Feel free to skip this section until later.
If you plan on getting into production/recording you need some good studio monitors [speakers]
These give you a true representation of the sound you are monitoring, rather than the "coloured" sound
you get from most hifi/club systems.
Active monitors have built in amplification, while passive monitors need separate amps.
If youre not getting into production and need a sound system for playing out ..
Many DJs need to haul around their own system (I know it's a pain, but it sometimes has to be done).
When you are browsing the market for a sound system consider where you will be playing.
If it's a large venue (gym,warehouse, etc) your going to need a large speaker (12"/15" is usually enough).
Also consider how you are going to be moving it around because you don't want a 200lb. speaker that you need to fit in a sedan.
Think about if you want a 2-way or 3-way speaker.
The difference is that 2-way pumps out your Mid and High frequencies and your 3-way pumps out those frequencies plus the bass.
Instead of buying a 3 way speaker, some people like to have a seperate subwoofer that pumps out your low frequencies and
creates a cross-over at a specific frequency to send out to your satellite 2-way speakers.
Now, I'll talk about the difference between Passive and Active Speakers
Passive means that you will need to buy a seperate amplifier to power your speakers.
In SOME cases this combination will offer you more power than active speakers.
When you buy an AMP make sure that the power of your amp does not exceed the power that your speakers can handle because
you will blow a speaker.
GUIDE TO MATCHING AMPS AND SPEAKERS HERE:
http://reviews.ebay.co.uk/Amplifier-and ... 0000957598
Active means that your amplifier is built into the speaker.
This is good for someone that is traveling a lot because your audio can go from your laptop to your soundcard (if it's pre-amped) and then out to your powered speakers.
Example system.
JBL Eons- great system, I've used it for a long time and it sounds superb as a 3-way speaker. However, it is a little weak in it's lower frequencies. Not heavy at all, and one of the best for mobility because of it being an active system. (Even has a handle to cary it!)
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/ ... sku=600210
So, to sum it up, if your thinking about a sound system, consider:
cone size
mobility
active vs. passive
Peak power
RMS power
Other/advanced equipment
You may also want to use some of the following equipment:
Microphone
Equipment Stands / flight cases
Rack equipment
_________________
Warping, Preparation, Organization
To match the beats of 2 or more loops or tunes they have to be "warped" so Live can stretch the sample to fit any given BPM.
This always gets people coming from Virtual DJ or other software!
Yes, its true, to mix mp3s in Live they have to be "prepped".
If this bothers you maybe you should use VDJ or Traktor.
But wait a sec! Think about the benefits!
You spend a couple of minutes "showing" Live where the beats are, and from then on, any time you open that mp3, it will be perfectly in sync with everything.
No hap-hazard mixing here. You are in complete control.
When you get used to warping, it will become second nature, and you will be able to warp 20 songs in a few minutes.
Live warps tracks automatically but rarely gets it 100% right.
Presuming you're playing dance/electronic stuff and want to beatmatch, you should warp all of your tracks, then
save the warp information.
Between the various warp modes, most people choose either "beats" or "complex"
online guides:
digital junkies brill PDF:
http://www.macclassified.co.uk/DJwarpingguide.pdf
video:
http://www.abletonlivedj.com/media/tuto ... arping.mov
http://www.abletonlivedj.com/media/tuto ... rping2.mov
also:
http://www.drum-aberdeen.co.uk/Ableton/ ... Track.html
or if you want my quickstart 4 step quickstart guide to warping.. read on.....................
1] Turn the metronome on, drag warp marker 1 just infront of the first beat of the track.
2] Zoom in to get it nice and precise, you want warp markers just before the peak transient.
3] Right click on that first warp marker and select "warp from here straight".....
4] Allign warp marker 5, "warp from here straight" again... then rinse and repeat a bit later in the track until everythings in time with the metronome.
CLICK SAVE! Just left of the waveform preview... now next time you import that mp3 it will be warped perfectly!
....
___________
als files, alc files
.asd files hold all the warping information for a track. (Warp makers, warp mode, BPM, ect)
They are created when you add a audio file into live and enable the “warp” button.
This is automatically done if auto-warping is enabled.
The file is created in the same directory as your audio file, with the .asd extension added to the filename.
Mysong.mp3
Mysong.mp3.asd
Once created, the audio file and .asd file can be moved to any directory as long as the Filenames remain the same.
Changing the filename of either file will break the relationship causing all your warping data to be lost.
If you need to rename a audio file, Right click the audio file in Live Browser Window and select rename.
This will update both filenames.
It’s also important to note that any data added or deleted from your audio file will more then likely cause your warp markers to
be inserted at the wrong time.
Mp3 Id3 tags do not appear to have a problem with this.
__________
programs that help with organising
renaming, moving tracks,
Technical considerations
wav vs mp3:
Wav is an uncompressed format for storing sound, while mp3 is a format that compresses it, mainly by removing
information about frequencies that are not audible to the human ear..On lower bitrates it is very easy to hear,
so any mp3s below (about) 256kbps should not be played on a club system.
The quality of the sound depends on what encoder is used to make the mp3, the quality of the rip, etc. so you
might get mp3s that sound bad even at high bitrates!
Thus, wav is the preferred choice of Live DJs around the world! (note: Live will make a wav files out of the mp3s you use)
Wavs take up a LOT of space though, which means that you either have to have a laptop with really big hard discs or use an
external one (more on that later on).
You should note that when Live converts your mp3 to a wav, the quality of the wav is not regained, the quality loss
is permanent when you encode an mp3.
External Harddrive:
Your laptop probably wont have enough space, so getting an external hard drive is a good idea!
If you really need a small one, you can get a 2.5'' one (like those that are in laptops) but they will generally be more expensive,
slower and have less space than 3.5'' ones (like those that are in desktop computers).
Make sure you get one with either firewire or USB 2.0 (and make sure your computer has free ports of that kind)
otherwise Live might have problems with access speeds, etc.
Mixing
The idea is to play two (or more) tracks at the same time which are in perfect rythmic sync.
You can control [ride] their volume levels and eq using your midi controller. You can assign different channels to A or B
on the crossfader, but most people around here dont use the crossfader, preferring to just use the indicidual tracks volumes.
More on mixing a bit later..
First steps:
Firstly, just to reitterate: MAP MODE
CTRL - M goes into map mode.
This is how you assign different parameters to the knobs and sliders on your midi controller.
Select the parameter you wish to assign in Live, move the knob, button or slider on your midi controller, and whalla.
Ideally you would set up a template DJ set with your parameters assigned.
In session view, make sure global quantisation is set to something around 1 bar [for now] and the tempo [top left] around 128 bpm.
Create 2 audio channels, CTRL+T...
To rename them, select where is says "audio1" or "audio2" on top and hit CTRL - R
Lets call the channels DECK A and DECK B.
For starters you probably want to assign faders for the volume controls of your channels.
If you have buttons on your midi controller, it would be handy to assign buttons to "scene select" aswell as the play/stop
buttons for each channel (just above the faders in map mode)
Ok drag a song from the browser on the left into a slot on in DECK A and another song into DECK B.
Warp them if you havent already done so. Dont forget if you hit the "save" button on the bottom section where the waveform is,
your warping will be saved and next time you import the track it will be warped.
Trigger them to play by hitting the little arrows.
If they have been warped properly they will play in time, it might sound crap but its a start.
You can use your keyboards arrow buttons to select different boxes in the grid, we call them clips.
Hitting return will trigger the selected clip but it wont start playing until the quantise point is reached.
Drag one of the clips to the box beneath it whilst holding down ALT, - kool - its been duplicated. [or you could have pressed CTRL -D]
You might now decide to loop the first bar of the track. Hit "loop" so it lights up [just left of the waveform display]
Now you can drag around the start, end and loop points in the waveform display. Nifty.
Think of the possibilities, you can cut up tracks into different sections and trigger them at will.
Play around with it, maybe put an autofilter on one channel and mess around with some of the cool effects you can hear
from sweeping around the frequencys.
A handy thing to do is to have a track on loop mode, but with the loop section near the end of the track.
When the track is triggered it will play until the loop point, then loop the section until the track is stopped.
This would be a good point in a mix to bring in a new track and fade out the looping section.
Why not add another audio channel [CTRL+T] and put in some short drum loops or acapella.
With Live you can have as many channels as your computer can handle, all playing different samples and effects.
Mixing: - eq, effects etc..
When mixing two tracks together, you probably want some sort of EQ, as you have on a DJ mixer, as youll get clashing basslines etc.
All your effects (EQ, Filters, Delay, Reverb etc) can be found in the browser on the left, just hit the second button (below the arrow)
and navigate to "audio effects".
Using the effect is simply a matter of dragging it onto the track you want to use it on.
Instead of controll of the level of bass in the EQ, how about a highpass filter with control over the frequencey?
This serves two purposes, it is a cool effect, and provided resonance isn't TOO high, it can be used as a kind of eq when mixing.
For example, track 1 is playing, you start to bring in track 2.
Set the HPF at around 200hz, and bring the track in, slowly lowering the frequencey of the filter, whilst increasing the frequency of track 1,
so you are, in effect, slowly swapping basslines.
This can be done slowly or quickly, depending on the style of music.
You can also have a low pass filter on each channel, as an effect, as well as for mixing.
I find I dont need one on every channel. I have 2 channels for complete songs, and 2 channels for loops and acapellas etc.
On the 2 song channels, I have a bass EQ, a HPF, and control of the send, and this allows me to mix.
The other 2 channels have a LPF and HPF, and send level control.
They also have a normal EQ, which I just control witht the mouse if needed.
SENDS/RETURNS/INSERTS/AUXILLERYS/BUSES...WTF?
Dont worry if this language confuzes you. All those words basically mean the same thing... routing configuration.
Click INSERT>RETURN TRACK.
A new channel will appear on the right near the master channel.
This channel can be used to house effects which can be used by SENDing a certain amount of audio from any of the channels into it.
If for example, you have a return track called A, a little knob labelled "A" will appear above each audio channel.
As you turn this knob clockwise, more and more of the signal from your channel will be sent through Return A.
You could for example have a delay effect on return A, then send audio from 3 audio channels to it.
This would be more efficient that putting a delay (as an insert) on each of those 3 tracks.
If this confuses you, play around with it in Live and it will soon become obvious.
Theres a nice bit of info on EQ here:
http://www.ableton-live-fans.com/forum/ ... .php?t=233
___
Dont forget, once you set up Live for DJing, you can save your different templates.
Obviously its a good idea to get used to one.
Advanced Mixing and Template Set-up
Setting up a template with return tracks:
A return track is a track to which you send audio, it is processed somehow and then sent somewhere else!
A big problem many people encounter when using return tracks is the increase in volume, which can be solved with the utility invert trick.
In order to set up a return track, right click on a track or some empty space in session view and click insert return track.
Your audio tracks now have knobs on them that determine how much audio they will send to the return track.
On the return track you can put any kinds of effects which will affect the original audio coming from your audio track and
then be sent along either to the master channel, another return track, etc.
Levels, Master channel, limiting etc....
Consistent levels throughout the mix is what you want. Nothing sounds more amature than a track coming in as another fades out,
only to be much lower in volume than the previous track, and seeming like quite an anti-climax.
Linkage:
http://abletonlivedj.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6262
http://tarekith.com/assets/Leveling.html
LIVE 6 RACKS
Versions 6+ or Live allow the use of racks. These can be very handy for complex combinations of effects, especially where you want one knob (macro) to control many parameters.
dummy clips:
Dummy Clips allow you to save automated groups of effects.
more here:
http://www.teragon.org/wiki/index.php?title=Dummy_Clips
Tips and Tricks
- You can drag tracks, or whole playlists straight from itunes onto Live.
NICE!
- Take a couple of days off work, read the manual and do the tutorials.
They really are good and they explain a lot. It will stop you asking stupid questions.
Get yourself a copy of the manual printed out and have it by your workstation – it is an invaluable resource
- Practice warping.
If you use mainly electronic tracks direct from mp3s or WAVs then after a bit of practice it should take you no more than 1-2 minutes per track.
Read the postings on this forum about the different methods.
Warping your tracks is a ball breaker but there is no other way around it (unless you want to pay someone else to do it for you).
- DONT HIT SPACE DURING A SET!
- DONT HIT SPACE DURING A SET!
- DONT HIT SPACE DURING A SET!
.
.
.
______
For beatmatching ableton to TT/CDJs without controller:
Set quantization to none, map some key to TAP function (I set T button on my keyboard, since I've got no controller)
set 2 keys for that NUDGE function (I set y and x buttons)
Similiar to pitch bend function, depends on your GLOBAL QUANTIZATION settings, if GQ is set to NONE, then nudging is very accurate (and takes more presses on buttons you assigned this func. to )
I also set key 1 to start playing my first channel, key 2 to my second channel and so on
When spinning I press TAP on several beats (coming from TT/CDJ) and try to be as accurate as possible, if not, I do it again - never panic, since you have plenty of time to beatmatch
Then I start song on a first beat in a row(same as you normaly do when spinning), align it with NUDGE buttons, everything is like normal beatmatching, you align it with NUDGE as song goes off...for accurate setting of BPM value I use SHIFT + ARROW UP or DOWN buttons, to set BPM in decimals (like 140.20). Since there is no global quantization set, you have to align with nudge buttons also song you bring from another channel in ableton
It's true, that it requires a lot of work on NUDGE buttons, if you didn't TAP acurately and missed a little first beat(kick) in a row:)
______
Useful Tools
Use the scroll wheel on your mouse in ableton with this tool
(by Ilia/Tonearm)
disable your spacebar on PC with this app:
http://www.stillwaterrecords.com/blockspace.zip
dbpoweramp - batch music file converter
http://www.dbpoweramp.com/
Handy keyboard shortcuts
tab- go between session view and arrange view.
space bar- stop playing.
shift+space - continue playing from the location where it stopped.
F11 - fullscreen mode.
Useful websites
MP3 stores:
At ALDJ we do not condone piracy.
There are lots of great online stores where you can buy the newest and best tracks in your chosen genre.
You can buy high quality mp3s [320 kbps], wavs, and some sites even sell "ableton ready" mp3s which are pre-warped for convenience. 128 kbps mp3s are not considered suitable for professional DJ'ing.
2 of the most popular mp3 sites are:
https://www.beatport.com/
and
http://www.djdownload.com/
There is a more extensive list here:
http://abletonlivedj.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8
Dont rule out free-and-legal mp3s such as those available on the various "net-labels" online.
Thinner is a great example although there are many many more similar sites which offer superb music.
http://www.thinner.cc/main.php
http://www.ableton.com/tutorials
more tips and tutorials from the Ableton site.
ID3 tagging and organizing:
http://mediamonkey.com
http://www.id3-tagit.de
Beatmatching ableton to TT/CDJs free software style:
http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=41820
Taking it to the next level
Practice lots.
Experiment!
Listen to other DJ mixes and think about how they might have done different things.
Visit ALDJ regulary for discussion of tips and tricks.
If you plan on getting into production with Live, check out this thread:
http://abletonlivedj.com/forum/viewtopi ... sc&start=0
*******
This excellent guide would not have been possible without many contributions from some of ALDJs favourite members.
Thanks so much to all the contributers:
jOshua, alexhard, djamp, maxbaun, SoulOnIce, lyteo, saad, Blake Jarrell, Biggo86, digitaljunkie, kaizen
*** Beginners Guide to DJ'ing with Ableton Live ***
Firstly, we will not be going into too much detail on general use of Ableton Live.
This guide is about CONCEPTS and TECHNIQUE.
The Ableton Live manual is here:
http://www.ableton.com/pages/downloads/manuals
.. and this guide presumes you have spent at least some time reading it, aswell as doing the inbuilt tutorial in Ableton Live, under the help menu.
There is also a nice PDF guide to DJing here:
http://www.djkaizen.com/
One other site with a nice guide is tastyfresh.
http://www.tastyfresh.com/content/view/358/28/
and
http://www.tastyfresh.com/content/view/335/28/
..........
For live DJ'ing we [99% of us] use session view [hit tab] placing samples, [songs, loops, acapellas etc] in various slots on the grid and triggering them to play, while controlling volume, eq, effects, etc. Easy huh?
First have a gander at this:...........
.
.
.
.
DJ concepts:
beatmatching
Beatmatching is the cornerstone of DJing (there is a lot more to it than beatmatching though).
It basically involves having two tracks that have a different BPM and changing the speed of one
(or both) of them in order to match them, then launch one of them at the right point so that the beats coincide with the other ones.
How it is done with decks and how with ableton?
Fortunately, Live takes care of all that: you warp your music before you play it so it is always automatically
playing at the master tempo and with a global quantization of 1 bar, your tracks will (almost) always launch
at the right point in time.
harmonic mixing
Harmonic mixing is the art of selecting what tracks to mix based on their key.
There are a couple of programs that can be used at the moment to find the key of a track:
MixedInKey
Rapid Evolution
There is more info about harmonic mixing here:
http://www.abletonlivedj.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4609
When you know the key of a track, you can then select other tracks with the same, or similar keys to mix,
which will hopefully make your mix sound better!
A key wheel (like this one)
can help you find which keys fit with eachother!
Equipment
computer/laptop/imac
You might want something portable.
1 gig of ram is usually reccommended as a minimum requirement, especially if you plan on going crazy with racks/effects.
Wether you use Windows or OSX is mostly down to personal preference.
If you are planning on buying a budget laptop, make sure it has enough usb/firewire connectivity and battery life if applicable.
MIDI controllers:
A midi controller is used to control different parameters in Live, rather than using your mouse.
Once your midi controller is connected to your computer or soundcard, via USB or MIDI, you can press CTRL-M in Live and "map" different
knobs and sliders to different parameters.
You could for example, assign a slider to the main volume, a knob to the cross-fader and others to different tracks EQs etc.
Midi controllers can also be assigned to trigger clips or samples.
You can map almost any parameter in Lives main interface, or from an instrument or effect, to a midi controller,
or even your computer keyboard.
To map a parameter to a knob on your controller, simply press CTRL+M in Live, click the parameter you want mapped,
say a fader volume level, then move the knob on your controller... job done!
Midi controllers come in many different shapes and sizes.
There are some great suggestions here: http://abletonlivedj.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19
soudcards/interfaces
There are so many soundcards on the market, offering all sorts of features, it is beyond the scope of this guide to explain
EVERYTHING about soundcards for DJ'ing, but heres some pointers...
Firstly, we will deal here with external soundcards, ie those that connect to your laptop using USB/firewire.
These type of soundcards have become very popular with producers using desktop computers aswell as laptop DJs alike.
Why do you need a soundcard and why do people call them interfaces?
Well, hmm, ok, for starters you could probably get something like this:
a bit of cable [Mini-Jack 3.5mm - 2 RCA] to go between your onboard soundcard [the headphone socket on your laptop]
and your amp or active monitors. Then you could use a USB controller and youre rockin.
Pretty much...
But a good soundcard will offer features like MIDI i/o, direct monitoring, ad/da converters, high sample rates [24/96],
low latency drivers [ASIO/CORE AUDIO] and all sorts of other things which allow you to connect anything into or
out of your soundcard.
Heres a cheap and cheerful soundcard:
This soundcard, the M-Audio Firewire Audiophile, allows you to cue tracks in your headphones, while Live is playing out
your set on the main output.
To do this, you simply set up lives master output to 1/2 and cue output to 3/4.
With the switch of a button on the front of the audiophile, you can go between listening to the cue or the master,
on your headphones.
What soundcard to get?
Have a look here.....
http://abletonlivedj.com/forum/search.php?mode=results
One consideration which can easily be overlooked is USB vs Firewire.
Firewire might be a better option if you are short on USB ports and need them for multiple controllers, hard drives,
or a mouse/trackball.
mice/trackballs
Many people prefer to use a trackball to a mouse.
....... One reason is because you dont wanna look like youre checking your email!
A bluetooth mouse [like Apples Mighty Mouse] will free up vital USB ports. But dont forget to bring spare batteries to the gig!
Ideally, you will have your midi controller set up in a way which allows you not to need to use your mouse.
Mouseless DJ'ing is what its all about.
Dont forget clips in Live can be triggered with your keyboard. External wireless keyboards can be handy.
Consider something like this:
... You can assign each button, label it all up, and go nuts.
Headphones
Headphones are essential to vinyl DJs for beatmatching.
While not essential to Ableton Live DJs, they have many uses, one of which is Cueing.
This allows you to listen to a sample on headphones without it playing out on the speakers.
You could set up channels 1+2 for the main output and channels 3+4 for cueing.
Many soundcards [such as the m-audio firewire audiophile] support this kind of A/B monitoring,
where you could hear a track on headphones thats not going to the main speakers.
Speakers/monitors/amps etc
Here are some important concepts. Feel free to skip this section until later.
If you plan on getting into production/recording you need some good studio monitors [speakers]
These give you a true representation of the sound you are monitoring, rather than the "coloured" sound
you get from most hifi/club systems.
Active monitors have built in amplification, while passive monitors need separate amps.
If youre not getting into production and need a sound system for playing out ..
Many DJs need to haul around their own system (I know it's a pain, but it sometimes has to be done).
When you are browsing the market for a sound system consider where you will be playing.
If it's a large venue (gym,warehouse, etc) your going to need a large speaker (12"/15" is usually enough).
Also consider how you are going to be moving it around because you don't want a 200lb. speaker that you need to fit in a sedan.
Think about if you want a 2-way or 3-way speaker.
The difference is that 2-way pumps out your Mid and High frequencies and your 3-way pumps out those frequencies plus the bass.
Instead of buying a 3 way speaker, some people like to have a seperate subwoofer that pumps out your low frequencies and
creates a cross-over at a specific frequency to send out to your satellite 2-way speakers.
Now, I'll talk about the difference between Passive and Active Speakers
Passive means that you will need to buy a seperate amplifier to power your speakers.
In SOME cases this combination will offer you more power than active speakers.
When you buy an AMP make sure that the power of your amp does not exceed the power that your speakers can handle because
you will blow a speaker.
GUIDE TO MATCHING AMPS AND SPEAKERS HERE:
http://reviews.ebay.co.uk/Amplifier-and ... 0000957598
Active means that your amplifier is built into the speaker.
This is good for someone that is traveling a lot because your audio can go from your laptop to your soundcard (if it's pre-amped) and then out to your powered speakers.
Example system.
JBL Eons- great system, I've used it for a long time and it sounds superb as a 3-way speaker. However, it is a little weak in it's lower frequencies. Not heavy at all, and one of the best for mobility because of it being an active system. (Even has a handle to cary it!)
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/ ... sku=600210
So, to sum it up, if your thinking about a sound system, consider:
cone size
mobility
active vs. passive
Peak power
RMS power
Other/advanced equipment
You may also want to use some of the following equipment:
Microphone
Equipment Stands / flight cases
Rack equipment
_________________
Warping, Preparation, Organization
To match the beats of 2 or more loops or tunes they have to be "warped" so Live can stretch the sample to fit any given BPM.
This always gets people coming from Virtual DJ or other software!
Yes, its true, to mix mp3s in Live they have to be "prepped".
If this bothers you maybe you should use VDJ or Traktor.
But wait a sec! Think about the benefits!
You spend a couple of minutes "showing" Live where the beats are, and from then on, any time you open that mp3, it will be perfectly in sync with everything.
No hap-hazard mixing here. You are in complete control.
When you get used to warping, it will become second nature, and you will be able to warp 20 songs in a few minutes.
Live warps tracks automatically but rarely gets it 100% right.
Presuming you're playing dance/electronic stuff and want to beatmatch, you should warp all of your tracks, then
save the warp information.
Between the various warp modes, most people choose either "beats" or "complex"
online guides:
digital junkies brill PDF:
http://www.macclassified.co.uk/DJwarpingguide.pdf
video:
http://www.abletonlivedj.com/media/tuto ... arping.mov
http://www.abletonlivedj.com/media/tuto ... rping2.mov
also:
http://www.drum-aberdeen.co.uk/Ableton/ ... Track.html
or if you want my quickstart 4 step quickstart guide to warping.. read on.....................
1] Turn the metronome on, drag warp marker 1 just infront of the first beat of the track.
2] Zoom in to get it nice and precise, you want warp markers just before the peak transient.
3] Right click on that first warp marker and select "warp from here straight".....
4] Allign warp marker 5, "warp from here straight" again... then rinse and repeat a bit later in the track until everythings in time with the metronome.
CLICK SAVE! Just left of the waveform preview... now next time you import that mp3 it will be warped perfectly!
....
___________
als files, alc files
.asd files hold all the warping information for a track. (Warp makers, warp mode, BPM, ect)
They are created when you add a audio file into live and enable the “warp” button.
This is automatically done if auto-warping is enabled.
The file is created in the same directory as your audio file, with the .asd extension added to the filename.
Mysong.mp3
Mysong.mp3.asd
Once created, the audio file and .asd file can be moved to any directory as long as the Filenames remain the same.
Changing the filename of either file will break the relationship causing all your warping data to be lost.
If you need to rename a audio file, Right click the audio file in Live Browser Window and select rename.
This will update both filenames.
It’s also important to note that any data added or deleted from your audio file will more then likely cause your warp markers to
be inserted at the wrong time.
Mp3 Id3 tags do not appear to have a problem with this.
__________
programs that help with organising
renaming, moving tracks,
Technical considerations
wav vs mp3:
Wav is an uncompressed format for storing sound, while mp3 is a format that compresses it, mainly by removing
information about frequencies that are not audible to the human ear..On lower bitrates it is very easy to hear,
so any mp3s below (about) 256kbps should not be played on a club system.
The quality of the sound depends on what encoder is used to make the mp3, the quality of the rip, etc. so you
might get mp3s that sound bad even at high bitrates!
Thus, wav is the preferred choice of Live DJs around the world! (note: Live will make a wav files out of the mp3s you use)
Wavs take up a LOT of space though, which means that you either have to have a laptop with really big hard discs or use an
external one (more on that later on).
You should note that when Live converts your mp3 to a wav, the quality of the wav is not regained, the quality loss
is permanent when you encode an mp3.
External Harddrive:
Your laptop probably wont have enough space, so getting an external hard drive is a good idea!
If you really need a small one, you can get a 2.5'' one (like those that are in laptops) but they will generally be more expensive,
slower and have less space than 3.5'' ones (like those that are in desktop computers).
Make sure you get one with either firewire or USB 2.0 (and make sure your computer has free ports of that kind)
otherwise Live might have problems with access speeds, etc.
Mixing
The idea is to play two (or more) tracks at the same time which are in perfect rythmic sync.
You can control [ride] their volume levels and eq using your midi controller. You can assign different channels to A or B
on the crossfader, but most people around here dont use the crossfader, preferring to just use the indicidual tracks volumes.
More on mixing a bit later..
First steps:
Firstly, just to reitterate: MAP MODE
CTRL - M goes into map mode.
This is how you assign different parameters to the knobs and sliders on your midi controller.
Select the parameter you wish to assign in Live, move the knob, button or slider on your midi controller, and whalla.
Ideally you would set up a template DJ set with your parameters assigned.
In session view, make sure global quantisation is set to something around 1 bar [for now] and the tempo [top left] around 128 bpm.
Create 2 audio channels, CTRL+T...
To rename them, select where is says "audio1" or "audio2" on top and hit CTRL - R
Lets call the channels DECK A and DECK B.
For starters you probably want to assign faders for the volume controls of your channels.
If you have buttons on your midi controller, it would be handy to assign buttons to "scene select" aswell as the play/stop
buttons for each channel (just above the faders in map mode)
Ok drag a song from the browser on the left into a slot on in DECK A and another song into DECK B.
Warp them if you havent already done so. Dont forget if you hit the "save" button on the bottom section where the waveform is,
your warping will be saved and next time you import the track it will be warped.
Trigger them to play by hitting the little arrows.
If they have been warped properly they will play in time, it might sound crap but its a start.
You can use your keyboards arrow buttons to select different boxes in the grid, we call them clips.
Hitting return will trigger the selected clip but it wont start playing until the quantise point is reached.
Drag one of the clips to the box beneath it whilst holding down ALT, - kool - its been duplicated. [or you could have pressed CTRL -D]
You might now decide to loop the first bar of the track. Hit "loop" so it lights up [just left of the waveform display]
Now you can drag around the start, end and loop points in the waveform display. Nifty.
Think of the possibilities, you can cut up tracks into different sections and trigger them at will.
Play around with it, maybe put an autofilter on one channel and mess around with some of the cool effects you can hear
from sweeping around the frequencys.
A handy thing to do is to have a track on loop mode, but with the loop section near the end of the track.
When the track is triggered it will play until the loop point, then loop the section until the track is stopped.
This would be a good point in a mix to bring in a new track and fade out the looping section.
Why not add another audio channel [CTRL+T] and put in some short drum loops or acapella.
With Live you can have as many channels as your computer can handle, all playing different samples and effects.
Mixing: - eq, effects etc..
When mixing two tracks together, you probably want some sort of EQ, as you have on a DJ mixer, as youll get clashing basslines etc.
All your effects (EQ, Filters, Delay, Reverb etc) can be found in the browser on the left, just hit the second button (below the arrow)
and navigate to "audio effects".
Using the effect is simply a matter of dragging it onto the track you want to use it on.
Instead of controll of the level of bass in the EQ, how about a highpass filter with control over the frequencey?
This serves two purposes, it is a cool effect, and provided resonance isn't TOO high, it can be used as a kind of eq when mixing.
For example, track 1 is playing, you start to bring in track 2.
Set the HPF at around 200hz, and bring the track in, slowly lowering the frequencey of the filter, whilst increasing the frequency of track 1,
so you are, in effect, slowly swapping basslines.
This can be done slowly or quickly, depending on the style of music.
You can also have a low pass filter on each channel, as an effect, as well as for mixing.
I find I dont need one on every channel. I have 2 channels for complete songs, and 2 channels for loops and acapellas etc.
On the 2 song channels, I have a bass EQ, a HPF, and control of the send, and this allows me to mix.
The other 2 channels have a LPF and HPF, and send level control.
They also have a normal EQ, which I just control witht the mouse if needed.
SENDS/RETURNS/INSERTS/AUXILLERYS/BUSES...WTF?
Dont worry if this language confuzes you. All those words basically mean the same thing... routing configuration.
Click INSERT>RETURN TRACK.
A new channel will appear on the right near the master channel.
This channel can be used to house effects which can be used by SENDing a certain amount of audio from any of the channels into it.
If for example, you have a return track called A, a little knob labelled "A" will appear above each audio channel.
As you turn this knob clockwise, more and more of the signal from your channel will be sent through Return A.
You could for example have a delay effect on return A, then send audio from 3 audio channels to it.
This would be more efficient that putting a delay (as an insert) on each of those 3 tracks.
If this confuses you, play around with it in Live and it will soon become obvious.
Theres a nice bit of info on EQ here:
http://www.ableton-live-fans.com/forum/ ... .php?t=233
___
Dont forget, once you set up Live for DJing, you can save your different templates.
Obviously its a good idea to get used to one.
Advanced Mixing and Template Set-up
Setting up a template with return tracks:
A return track is a track to which you send audio, it is processed somehow and then sent somewhere else!
A big problem many people encounter when using return tracks is the increase in volume, which can be solved with the utility invert trick.
In order to set up a return track, right click on a track or some empty space in session view and click insert return track.
Your audio tracks now have knobs on them that determine how much audio they will send to the return track.
On the return track you can put any kinds of effects which will affect the original audio coming from your audio track and
then be sent along either to the master channel, another return track, etc.
Levels, Master channel, limiting etc....
Consistent levels throughout the mix is what you want. Nothing sounds more amature than a track coming in as another fades out,
only to be much lower in volume than the previous track, and seeming like quite an anti-climax.
Linkage:
http://abletonlivedj.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6262
http://tarekith.com/assets/Leveling.html
LIVE 6 RACKS
Versions 6+ or Live allow the use of racks. These can be very handy for complex combinations of effects, especially where you want one knob (macro) to control many parameters.
dummy clips:
Dummy Clips allow you to save automated groups of effects.
more here:
http://www.teragon.org/wiki/index.php?title=Dummy_Clips
Tips and Tricks
- You can drag tracks, or whole playlists straight from itunes onto Live.
NICE!
- Take a couple of days off work, read the manual and do the tutorials.
They really are good and they explain a lot. It will stop you asking stupid questions.
Get yourself a copy of the manual printed out and have it by your workstation – it is an invaluable resource
- Practice warping.
If you use mainly electronic tracks direct from mp3s or WAVs then after a bit of practice it should take you no more than 1-2 minutes per track.
Read the postings on this forum about the different methods.
Warping your tracks is a ball breaker but there is no other way around it (unless you want to pay someone else to do it for you).
- DONT HIT SPACE DURING A SET!
- DONT HIT SPACE DURING A SET!
- DONT HIT SPACE DURING A SET!
.
.
.
______
For beatmatching ableton to TT/CDJs without controller:
Set quantization to none, map some key to TAP function (I set T button on my keyboard, since I've got no controller)
set 2 keys for that NUDGE function (I set y and x buttons)
Similiar to pitch bend function, depends on your GLOBAL QUANTIZATION settings, if GQ is set to NONE, then nudging is very accurate (and takes more presses on buttons you assigned this func. to )
I also set key 1 to start playing my first channel, key 2 to my second channel and so on
When spinning I press TAP on several beats (coming from TT/CDJ) and try to be as accurate as possible, if not, I do it again - never panic, since you have plenty of time to beatmatch
Then I start song on a first beat in a row(same as you normaly do when spinning), align it with NUDGE buttons, everything is like normal beatmatching, you align it with NUDGE as song goes off...for accurate setting of BPM value I use SHIFT + ARROW UP or DOWN buttons, to set BPM in decimals (like 140.20). Since there is no global quantization set, you have to align with nudge buttons also song you bring from another channel in ableton
It's true, that it requires a lot of work on NUDGE buttons, if you didn't TAP acurately and missed a little first beat(kick) in a row:)
______
Useful Tools
Use the scroll wheel on your mouse in ableton with this tool
(by Ilia/Tonearm)
disable your spacebar on PC with this app:
http://www.stillwaterrecords.com/blockspace.zip
dbpoweramp - batch music file converter
http://www.dbpoweramp.com/
Handy keyboard shortcuts
tab- go between session view and arrange view.
space bar- stop playing.
shift+space - continue playing from the location where it stopped.
F11 - fullscreen mode.
Useful websites
MP3 stores:
At ALDJ we do not condone piracy.
There are lots of great online stores where you can buy the newest and best tracks in your chosen genre.
You can buy high quality mp3s [320 kbps], wavs, and some sites even sell "ableton ready" mp3s which are pre-warped for convenience. 128 kbps mp3s are not considered suitable for professional DJ'ing.
2 of the most popular mp3 sites are:
https://www.beatport.com/
and
http://www.djdownload.com/
There is a more extensive list here:
http://abletonlivedj.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8
Dont rule out free-and-legal mp3s such as those available on the various "net-labels" online.
Thinner is a great example although there are many many more similar sites which offer superb music.
http://www.thinner.cc/main.php
http://www.ableton.com/tutorials
more tips and tutorials from the Ableton site.
ID3 tagging and organizing:
http://mediamonkey.com
http://www.id3-tagit.de
Beatmatching ableton to TT/CDJs free software style:
http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=41820
Taking it to the next level
Practice lots.
Experiment!
Listen to other DJ mixes and think about how they might have done different things.
Visit ALDJ regulary for discussion of tips and tricks.
If you plan on getting into production with Live, check out this thread:
http://abletonlivedj.com/forum/viewtopi ... sc&start=0
*******
This excellent guide would not have been possible without many contributions from some of ALDJs favourite members.
Thanks so much to all the contributers:
jOshua, alexhard, djamp, maxbaun, SoulOnIce, lyteo, saad, Blake Jarrell, Biggo86, digitaljunkie, kaizen
tarekith
https://tarekith.com
https://tarekith.com
Cool
you da man Tarekith. Thanks!
Live 7
15" MacBook Pro OS X 10.5 Leopard
Intel C2D,2.4 GHz,2 GB RAM
Novation X-Station, Korg T-2, BDJ-3000, Ms Pinky vinyl.
15" MacBook Pro OS X 10.5 Leopard
Intel C2D,2.4 GHz,2 GB RAM
Novation X-Station, Korg T-2, BDJ-3000, Ms Pinky vinyl.