Neil. Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 Hello my little enfants de la nuit, I'm currently learning to DJ. My setup at the moment is a complete and utter mix of random equipment, that I'm fairly sure could be put together better. Anyway, it's basically: Laptop (Ableton Live 8) > Korg miniKP > Mixer > Amp (NOT A GUITAR AMP LAWL!) I've spent the last 2 days putting together a set in Ableton, that's mainly electro, house and dubstep (i know, wtf?!). It sounds ok, and i'm just tidying it up in arrangement at the moment. When I was recording it, I had a lot of the keys on my midi controller assigned for mixing. Things like crossfades, eq, fade + delay/reverb, channel volume, song queues etc etc. For the mastering part, I'd like to reassign these for effects and such, to make the mix sound a little sexier. I've seen a few local djs do this, where their set is essentially already prepared before they play life, and then they just make fun noises/effects during the set. So, one of the ones I really want set up can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blR-7v_hC6E On my miniKP, that's the looper effect. I like the way skrilly can just do loops by pressing the pads. That would be fucking sweet. On a note of effects, I'm open to suggestions. Right now, the two I use a lot are EQ based effects, and downsampler. Hopefuly, I'll be putting the mix up on soundcloud in the next few days. I'll type up the setlist anyway. N Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomrulez Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 Skrillex is just using an M-Audio trigger finger to turn on and off the beat repeater in ableton. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MegaEBoy Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 Skrillex is all show, he barely does anything. I used to Dj, (mostly Daft Punk and Deadmau5) I used vinyls, but went to computer software, and I still have an hour long set made in Garageband ( Yes. I know. Garageband. It's filters an effects are pretty cool actually. ) And I tried some free software Called Virtual Dj. It's absolutely great for beginners, Just shows you that things don't only do what it says on the tin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil. Posted December 29, 2011 Author Share Posted December 29, 2011 Skrillex is just using an M-Audio trigger finger to turn on and off the beat repeater in ableton. on the master channel? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomrulez Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 on the master channel? Yep! Easy as that haha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil. Posted December 30, 2011 Author Share Posted December 30, 2011 off to find some tutorials. Any other suggestions for effects? I just setup a sort of stutter. One pad enables/disables an autopan with a very square wave tremolo type effect, while a knob controls the rate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomrulez Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 I do actually DJ using ableton fairly often and all I use is the beat repeater a bit crusher and then use a KP2 for other filters/effects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil. Posted December 30, 2011 Author Share Posted December 30, 2011 yeah, i'm thinking that might be the direction I'll go in. I found this tutorial, which is fucking perfect: http://audio.tutsplus.com/tutorials/mixing-mastering/how-to-use-ableton%E2%80%99s-beat-repeat-effect-for-live-performance/ I'm thinking what I'll probably do is have the set all ready to go, use beat repeat + redux for effects in ableton, EQ in ableton, and any other effects via KP. Basically, the same as yours . From what i've learnt so far, the absolute #1 priority, above successful mixing between songs etc etc, is having a selection of really good songs that people will want to actually grove and/or seisure to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil. Posted December 30, 2011 Author Share Posted December 30, 2011 hahahahaha! A friend of mine just asked me if i have an alias for playing live, in the event that i get asked to play creamfields. I asked him "Is Skrillex already taken?" Jack the Ripper, with a filthy white stripes intro, would be a good one, but I'm far too new to be thinking of shit like that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomrulez Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 Here is a quick screenshot of my ableton setup Here is my actual DJ setup also for live use: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil. Posted December 30, 2011 Author Share Posted December 30, 2011 hmmm.... I'm using 4 'channels' in ableton, but realistically, 2 makes more sense. I started with 4 cos i was organising them into categories like house and electro, but 2 makes way more sense, even for working with things like crossfader etc. edit: also, we have a lot of songs in common i'll go get a screenshot. edit2: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomrulez Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 It just 'feels' more like a conventional dj setup with two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil. Posted December 30, 2011 Author Share Posted December 30, 2011 yeah, that's what I'm thinking. I might do something like set up a 3rd channel for one-shot sound effects. That could be handy. edit: have you played much live? is it as fucking phenomenal as everyone is telling me? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomrulez Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 yeah, that's what I'm thinking. I might do something like set up a 3rd channel for one-shot sound effects. That could be handy. edit: have you played much live? is it as fucking phenomenal as everyone is telling me? It's good fun...well as long as you don't accidentally launch a track or hit stop by accident Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil. Posted December 30, 2011 Author Share Posted December 30, 2011 lawl! nice. If you've any suggestions for good house tracks, pm the fuck out of my inbox. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimboMansonMB-1 Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 Jack the Ripper, with a filthy white stripes intro, would be a good one, but I'm far too new to be thinking of shit like that I'm stealing this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil. Posted December 30, 2011 Author Share Posted December 30, 2011 I'm stealing this. what you need is this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1i6hWeoWWU running into this from 0:50 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cadxHrMpoBg move the fuck over 2manydjs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MegaEBoy Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 Hey, Niel, Have you heard of the Launchpad? It's a brilliant way of controlling ableton, I love it. theres something like 64 tracks you can have on there, it's absolutely amazing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil. Posted December 30, 2011 Author Share Posted December 30, 2011 yes I know it well. it was out of my price range at the time, so I bought an AKAI MPK mini. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MegaEBoy Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 I hadn't really heard of them so I wasn't sure what to think Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haze015 Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 Never use Beat Repeat when you're DJ'ing other people's material, so easy to lose where you are and end up with really dodgy mixing. Do all your re-editing before you perform. DJ'ing is all about preparation, not effects. edit: have you played much live? is it as fucking phenomenal as everyone is telling me? In reality it's a bit annoying. Everyone thinks they know better because they want to hear their favourite song. The best kind of "DJ'ing" is doing purely your own material, as you can do whatever you like. I'm just used to having to do it at house parties and nights organised by friends as my music collection is far bigger than theirs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil. Posted December 30, 2011 Author Share Posted December 30, 2011 that's how i plan on starting off. house parties with friends seems the way to go, cos if you make a mistake, they wont really give a shit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don'tPostThePear Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 edit2: DAT WATERS OF NAZARETH btw i know nothing about the subject but this is supposedly what sonny's screen look like when he "plays" a gig also this: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dramatic Hammer Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 that's how i plan on starting off. house parties with friends seems the way to go, cos if you make a mistake, they wont really give a shit. No but they will think you're a dick if all you're doing is adding effects to a pre-programmed set..! I mean you may as well just play someone else's mix off an ipod through the kaos pad. 1.) Put an identical set of tracks on both 'decks', otherwise you are limiting the tracks you can mix together. 2.) Set each deck up with the DJ EQ 3.) Put filters, beat repeats and delays on the master channel (either have one per type or get clever with the mapping so one knob twist turns it on and changes speed/depth/cutoff/resonance/etc) The most important thing if you insist on using ableton, is to get the transitions in the right place - there's no excuse for not having them perfect if you take beatmatching out of the picture:p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil. Posted December 30, 2011 Author Share Posted December 30, 2011 DAT WATERS OF NAZARETH btw i know nothing about the subject but this is supposedly what sonny's screen look like when he "plays" a gig also this: I came multiple times at that post. Also, that gif is when he was attacked by a bee. Where did you find the screenshot of his setup btw? No but they will think you're a dick if all you're doing is adding effects to a pre-programmed set..! I mean you may as well just play someone else's mix off an ipod through the kaos pad. 1.) Put an identical set of tracks on both 'decks', otherwise you are limiting the tracks you can mix together. 2.) Set each deck up with the DJ EQ 3.) Put filters, beat repeats and delays on the master channel (either have one per type or get clever with the mapping so one knob twist turns it on and changes speed/depth/cutoff/resonance/etc) The most important thing if you insist on using ableton, is to get the transitions in the right place - there's no excuse for not having them perfect if you take beatmatching out of the picture:p Yeah that's what i was doing first, through the arrangement window, but one or two songs were giving me a bit of trouble to get it right. practice makes perfect, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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