ppl that dj with turntables and ableton - what is ur setup?

[MINIMALTECHNOHOUSE]

Oh sorry yes, Mixed in Key...!

Ive been using this for a while now, everytime i by new tracks i run them over with MIK and label them accordingly...

"Harmonic Mixing" is pretty easy once you have mixed in key really...

I dont always follow it though, if i NEED to use a tune which is out of key to build a set ill do it, fck it lol I like ableton becuase you can transpose tracks, but obviously that ends up in you using complex or beats mode as you said....

Thanks for the advise dude, ill have a go next weekend and let you know how it goes...

[S.D.L]

Oh sorry yes, Mixed in Key...!

Ive been using this for a while now, everytime i by new tracks i run them over with MIK and label them accordingly...

"Harmonic Mixing" is pretty easy once you have mixed in key really...

I dont always follow it though, if i NEED to use a tune which is out of key to build a set ill do it, fck it lol I like ableton becuase you can transpose tracks, but obviously that ends up in you using complex or beats mode as you said....

Thanks for the advise dude, ill have a go next weekend and let you know how it goes...

I got my tracks in assorted by key also. Only I've got a friend who does this with his piano, because sometimes MIK can be a bit dodgy..

But yeah, what you said, don't rely on it. Use it as tool and your ears don't lie right?

Let me know how it went and if you liked it!

[hydrogen]

Playing next to vinyl and cd, the sound quality is wank..

Ive tried the old bbe + psp vintage warmer on the master but that just turns everything to mud if you push your gain too high...

Any tips dude, i know your a whizz on live?

Not exactly... i did i live pa/dj set a couple months ago it was challenging. Main problem was actually matching beats. The clock in live seem to shift.

In terms of sound... thats why I was asking. well... I run into problems like you are describing about everytime i write a tune. Its not the sound quality though, its all about getting your sound tight in the mix. I believe its possible, tracks don't mix themselves... haha... i usually get 1 out of 10 tracks mixed how i want them. I'm just not the tightest engineer and I require a lot of garbage on my master channel. However, the levels are less and less as I learn more about the mix down, So I'm proud about that.

Ok... so here is one thing i love about live... You can quickly gauge your track against others... As long as you aren't using the fader for anything in your live files then you should be fine.

1. create a new audio channel, drag one of your favorite tracks into the arrangement or session view.

2. Set the "Audio To" on the track to Ext. Out, This will prevent the track from going into your mastering rack.

3. Adjust all the crossfade settings, set the reference track to [ A ] and set all of your tracks to [ B ].

4. Make sure both parts are playing and then use the crossfader to blend between the two.

5. Assign the crossfader to a midi controller. and bam! INSTA-REFERENCE!



Now you can compare things like EQ.
Put 2 voxengo spans on master channels and this reference track channel.

Also, notice... some of these tracks you are mixing against are ultra limited. Watch out!!! its great to look at the wav forms, and without some serious mix downs individually for every one of your "live" tracks it will hard to match this without the destruction of your own music. which is why you are probably having the issue.

To resolve... play stuff that isn't uber-limited. haha... actually i disagree... you can mix it... its very possible... its just about track selection. the number one difficult thing about the live/pa dj thing. It really really does lock you into mixing with a limited set of tracks. You want to stay in Key, stay within the same mixing level, etc... all types of things you would normally think about when you are djing... yet you've got a limited set of tracks like... maybe 10 or 15. so coming up with new blends on the fly isn't going to be easy... plus you can't just sit there on your serato while a track is playing to select the next.... ha! because you are controlling one track you've got no choice but to quickly load another one and get it beatmatched. it's a nightmare really unless you've planned it.

[S.D.L]

Good stuff Hydrogen! Never thought about doing that.

[hydrogen]

The mix setting is key. 50% is like wet dry and it makes all the difference turning that down. Tune your hi and lo Freq where it feels like a good avg to ya ..

that is the key... I've finally figured out that its not about over doing it with any of gear all about getting the levels balanced, really with everything... I used to have my levels always maxed on each channel... now they run 3/4's and i can focus on the balance. My music has never sounded better.

[oblioblioblio]

for warping quality try changing the thing in beats mode with the fractional numbers. it seems to make quite a bit of difference.

[hydrogen]

Here is one setup i have tried:

5 channel mixer with these ins.

2 Decks
1 Ableton + Midi controllers(uc33,bcr2000,faderfox LX1)
1 REdsound soundbite XL
1 Roland Digital Delay.

aux out goes to in on the digital delay:
but the out goes back through the mixer for fader and eq control.

I honestly don't really like doing this... its really really hard and takes ridiculous like tons and tons of focus and some serious planning.

So unless you've got some tracks that already sound super pro and have incredible dj skills go for it. hehehe...

Personally, i'm gonna put it on hold while i build up a stronger live pa. I'm also looking for a better way to controll tempo in live. I think the clock in live gets on and off and thats fucking bad. dangerous.

anybody know of a good midi device... i'm looking for something like this...



basically it works as a master clock but has tempo controls and abilities to sync other midi devices up... so you and your friends all want to laptop up and do some live sh!t... this makes it easy to plugin and go. I've seen devices that do the syncing ...

oh sh!t i'm out of sync... you hit the sync button and it realigns the sync... good to go for another little while...

[Alexey Mirsky]

this thing is supposed to sync MIDI clock to the audio, dunno how well it works - http://www.redsound.com/products/SoundBITEmicro