The Art of Digital DJing
                         Mixing Music,Video, and Technology
                              Lecture 6. Mar 20, 2010




Sunday, March 21, 2010
Agenda

                         •   Final Exam Details

                         •   Intro to Video manipulation using
                             Quartz

                         •   How to grab videos off YouTube
  Digital DJing W’10




Sunday, March 21, 2010
Final Exam


                                    •   Donʼt go to the big
                                        Air Conditioned on
                                        Lincoln!

                                    •
  Digital DJing W’10




                                        SUNDAY 3/28

                                    •   DJ Order is TBD




Sunday, March 21, 2010
Final Exam Notes
                       •   Aim for 20min sets - have an intro and outro planned

                       •   Practice - record yourself DJing 2-3 times and playback
                           in your car or iPod, ask yourself if you would rock this
                           mixtape! Note your trouble spots and where you can
                           improve on transitions/effects. See how you sound from
                           the audienceʼs perspective
  Digital DJing W’10




                       •   Read the crowd and respond - eg if you need to take the
                           tempo/energy up, give yourself a few options. Or if a
                           song kills the dance floor, mix quickly out of it, etc




Sunday, March 21, 2010
Final Exam Grading Criteria
                       •   Three main categories - 1) Technical 2) Creative, and 3) Presence and
                           your score is out of 100

                       •   Technical: transitions (mixing/blending on phrases), use of controllers
                           (and not mouse), covering up mistakes well, executing effects, mixing in
                           key (or transitioning from one key to another) in a pleasing way (worth 35
                           points); proper EQing (eg no bass clashing).
  Digital DJing W’10




                       •   Creative: flow - does the mix take you on a journey, build up, novel effects
                           and/or novel use of controller, basically, did you surprise us (in a good
                           way)? Original mashups and or improvisation - eg layering up a unique
                           3-4 (or more) clip creation in realtime (worth 35 points). Do your mashups
                           work?

                       •   Presence - Are you looking at and engaging the crowd? Do you not look
                           like youʼre playing mindsweeper? Do they love you? (worth 35 points -
                           yes, you can score over 100)

Sunday, March 21, 2010
Video and DJing
                             eg       http://vimeo.com/5616060

                                      http://vimeo.com/430483

                       •   Good tutorials on QC from DJ Shakinda in Ireland: http://vimeo.com/
  Digital DJing W’10




                           user233454/videos/page:3/sort:newest




                       •   Free Quartz Compositions: http://www.quartzcompositions.com/




Sunday, March 21, 2010
Using QC and Video
                       •   First Install QC by installing Xcode from Apple: http://
                           developer.apple.com/technologies/xcode.html

                       •   Shakinda has some extra pointers and references:
  Digital DJing W’10




                            http://vimeo.com/704322




Sunday, March 21, 2010
Your first Quartz Composition
                       •   Start with a blank
                           composition

                       •   You can play with the
                           templates later when you
                           get more comfortable with
                           QC
  Digital DJing W’10




Sunday, March 21, 2010
Your first Quartz Composition
                            patch creator
                                            •   Open the “Patch Creator”
                                                and find the “Billboard”
                                                patch

                                            •   Billboard is under the
                                                Category “Renderer”; we
                                                need a renderer to display
  Digital DJing W’10




                                                the output video




Sunday, March 21, 2010
Your first Quartz Composition

                                              •   Connect the “image” output
                                                  of your movie loader to the
                                                  “image” input of the
                                                  billboard

                                              •   Click on “viewer” and you
                                                  should see your movie clip
  Digital DJing W’10




                                                  playing




Sunday, March 21, 2010
Your first Quartz Composition

                                        •   Use the patch creator again and find
                                            the “MIDI Controller Receiver” patch
                                            and add that to your project. Once
                                            youʼve added this patch, select it and
                                            click on “Patch Inspector” from the
                                            toolbar (or hit -2) - that will give you
                                            settings for the patch. Choose “Learn
  Digital DJing W’10




                                            Controller to Observe: and twiddle a
                                            knob or hit a button on your MIDI
                                            controller - you will see an output on the
                                            patch show up for every control you
                                            twiddle)

                                        •   Click on “viewer” and you should see
                                            your movie clip playing



Sunday, March 21, 2010
Your first Quartz Composition
                                             •   Now decide how you want
                                                 your MIDI controller to modify
                                                 your image

                                             •   Hereʼs an easy but boring one
                                                 - connecting your controller
                                                 output to “Enable” on the
                                                 billboard, which means any
  Digital DJing W’10




                                                 positive value from your
                                                 controller means the video is
                                                 visible. If 0, then image is
                                                 hidden




Sunday, March 21, 2010
Effects
  Digital DJing W’10




                        •   Something more interesting to control with your controller are Effects


                        •   The above is an example of the effect of a Gaussian Blur. Here, the MIDI controller
                            to modify the “Radius” input of the Gaussian Blur Patch. MIDI controller values are
                            always 0-1, so Iʼve used a “Mathematical Expression” patch to multiply the
                            controller value by 50 (click patch inspector -> settings to edit expression).


                        •   Play with other “filters” too find something you like. Remember that MIDI control
                            can tie to a control in Ableton if you map it to do so. Just have QC running when
                            youʼre using Ableton to see your controller control video AND something in Ableton

Sunday, March 21, 2010
Effects - Triggering
  Digital DJing W’10




                         •   If you have a movie you want to re-trigger everytime you hit a controller (like a
                             pedal), you can use the controller to reset the time on a movie clip back to 0 with
                             every hit. By default, the movie loader patch will play at a constant rate. if you want
                             to re-trigger it, you will need to tell the movie loader to change itʼs “Timebase” to




Sunday, March 21, 2010

Lecture 6 Wrap Up And Video

  • 1.
    The Art ofDigital DJing Mixing Music,Video, and Technology Lecture 6. Mar 20, 2010 Sunday, March 21, 2010
  • 2.
    Agenda • Final Exam Details • Intro to Video manipulation using Quartz • How to grab videos off YouTube Digital DJing W’10 Sunday, March 21, 2010
  • 3.
    Final Exam • Donʼt go to the big Air Conditioned on Lincoln! • Digital DJing W’10 SUNDAY 3/28 • DJ Order is TBD Sunday, March 21, 2010
  • 4.
    Final Exam Notes • Aim for 20min sets - have an intro and outro planned • Practice - record yourself DJing 2-3 times and playback in your car or iPod, ask yourself if you would rock this mixtape! Note your trouble spots and where you can improve on transitions/effects. See how you sound from the audienceʼs perspective Digital DJing W’10 • Read the crowd and respond - eg if you need to take the tempo/energy up, give yourself a few options. Or if a song kills the dance floor, mix quickly out of it, etc Sunday, March 21, 2010
  • 5.
    Final Exam GradingCriteria • Three main categories - 1) Technical 2) Creative, and 3) Presence and your score is out of 100 • Technical: transitions (mixing/blending on phrases), use of controllers (and not mouse), covering up mistakes well, executing effects, mixing in key (or transitioning from one key to another) in a pleasing way (worth 35 points); proper EQing (eg no bass clashing). Digital DJing W’10 • Creative: flow - does the mix take you on a journey, build up, novel effects and/or novel use of controller, basically, did you surprise us (in a good way)? Original mashups and or improvisation - eg layering up a unique 3-4 (or more) clip creation in realtime (worth 35 points). Do your mashups work? • Presence - Are you looking at and engaging the crowd? Do you not look like youʼre playing mindsweeper? Do they love you? (worth 35 points - yes, you can score over 100) Sunday, March 21, 2010
  • 6.
    Video and DJing eg http://vimeo.com/5616060 http://vimeo.com/430483 • Good tutorials on QC from DJ Shakinda in Ireland: http://vimeo.com/ Digital DJing W’10 user233454/videos/page:3/sort:newest • Free Quartz Compositions: http://www.quartzcompositions.com/ Sunday, March 21, 2010
  • 7.
    Using QC andVideo • First Install QC by installing Xcode from Apple: http:// developer.apple.com/technologies/xcode.html • Shakinda has some extra pointers and references: Digital DJing W’10 http://vimeo.com/704322 Sunday, March 21, 2010
  • 8.
    Your first QuartzComposition • Start with a blank composition • You can play with the templates later when you get more comfortable with QC Digital DJing W’10 Sunday, March 21, 2010
  • 9.
    Your first QuartzComposition patch creator • Open the “Patch Creator” and find the “Billboard” patch • Billboard is under the Category “Renderer”; we need a renderer to display Digital DJing W’10 the output video Sunday, March 21, 2010
  • 10.
    Your first QuartzComposition • Connect the “image” output of your movie loader to the “image” input of the billboard • Click on “viewer” and you should see your movie clip Digital DJing W’10 playing Sunday, March 21, 2010
  • 11.
    Your first QuartzComposition • Use the patch creator again and find the “MIDI Controller Receiver” patch and add that to your project. Once youʼve added this patch, select it and click on “Patch Inspector” from the toolbar (or hit -2) - that will give you settings for the patch. Choose “Learn Digital DJing W’10 Controller to Observe: and twiddle a knob or hit a button on your MIDI controller - you will see an output on the patch show up for every control you twiddle) • Click on “viewer” and you should see your movie clip playing Sunday, March 21, 2010
  • 12.
    Your first QuartzComposition • Now decide how you want your MIDI controller to modify your image • Hereʼs an easy but boring one - connecting your controller output to “Enable” on the billboard, which means any Digital DJing W’10 positive value from your controller means the video is visible. If 0, then image is hidden Sunday, March 21, 2010
  • 13.
    Effects DigitalDJing W’10 • Something more interesting to control with your controller are Effects • The above is an example of the effect of a Gaussian Blur. Here, the MIDI controller to modify the “Radius” input of the Gaussian Blur Patch. MIDI controller values are always 0-1, so Iʼve used a “Mathematical Expression” patch to multiply the controller value by 50 (click patch inspector -> settings to edit expression). • Play with other “filters” too find something you like. Remember that MIDI control can tie to a control in Ableton if you map it to do so. Just have QC running when youʼre using Ableton to see your controller control video AND something in Ableton Sunday, March 21, 2010
  • 14.
    Effects - Triggering Digital DJing W’10 • If you have a movie you want to re-trigger everytime you hit a controller (like a pedal), you can use the controller to reset the time on a movie clip back to 0 with every hit. By default, the movie loader patch will play at a constant rate. if you want to re-trigger it, you will need to tell the movie loader to change itʼs “Timebase” to Sunday, March 21, 2010