Uclax Dj Course Lecture 2 Jan 23 2010

The Art of Digital DJing
Mixing Music,Video, and Technology
Lecture 2. Jan 23, 2010

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Agenda

• Warping Q&A - acapellas

• Looping; DJing with Loops

• Arrangement & Mixing
Digital DJing W’10

• Effects & Transitions

• Controllers


Warping Q&A

• Any questions from your last assignment?

• See Warping notes @ TheSmoothDJ.com

• Acapellas - ﬁnd them at Amazon.com, Jamglue.com,
and acapellas4u.co.uk

• You can always use google too; note that acapella
has various spellings!


Looping

• New DJ paradigm for Ableton

• Compare with Vinyl: Mixing two songs, no loops
(most of the time)

• Compare with CDJs: Mixing two songs, with one

loop per deck available; Same as Serato

• Ableton: Mixing as many loops as you want at the
same time, complex layering


Why work with loops?
• Flexibility when mixing - gives you time, more
options

• Building blocks for mashups and composition; like
having a sampler

• Isolate key phrases of songs: chorus, instrumental,

drum breaks, etc

• Add and subtract “layers” on the ﬂy to make unique.
creative soundscapes


Loops in Ableton
Looping on/off Loop bracket

• Every loop has a Loop-in and Loop-out point that you set by stretching and/or
dragging the bracket

• If looping is on, when your play-head is inside the loop, it doesnʼt come out
and loops forever unless:

1) you turn off looping
2) skip somewhere out of loop
3) hit stop [recommended]
4) hit play on another clip in same track (column) [recommended]
5) have some follow action setup [mostly for composition]

Loops in Ableton
outside loop inside loop

Progress bar / time left
circle/indicator
Counts down to end of clip OR
beginning of loop when looping is on counts how many loops youʼve
been through, and length of loop in

bars


Loops in Ableton

Start Playhead (cuepoint)

Be aware of your cuepoint -
thatʼs where the clip starts


Arrangement & Mixing


Arrangement
You can re-name any track (column) and
every individual clip to help you stay
organized (⌘R = rename)


Arrangement
Once you have a song warped and youʼve set a loop, hit
⌘D for duplicate, then set a new loop. Rename the clip to
remind you what itʼs about - be descriptive!

Use colors or nomenclature as aids, eg BL: is
our nomenclature for bassline. You can also
make all accapella tracks or drum loops a
certain color if you want, etc



• You can use as many columns as you want. You usually use up to 3 or 4
• Group things that sound good together (and save for later use by drag-and-drop
back to your ﬁle system)
• Work vertically - as your set progresses, you work your way down
• When you are blending / mashing on the ﬂy, you become a Sequencer, triggering
clips on and off and layering to make a unique mix
• Remember, each column is like a turntable (they can be blended)

scene Master keeps count of
each scene

• Each row is called a scene, and you can launch a whole scene at once by clicking
play in the far right “Master” column for corresponding scene
• Pre-load scenes with clips that sound great together; this is also a good transition Master stop -
method that sounds amazing when done right
stop everything!


Quantization
Universal Quantization set at the top

Default is 1 Bar - keep at 1 Bar

Quantization - helps you trigger clips on time. When itʼs set to one
bar, when you hit play on a clip, it wonʼt start until the next bar of
whateverʼs playing. Makes everything sound rhythmically pleasant!

Setting Quantization to zero means a clip comes in whenever you hit it - if you are out of
sync with your beat, the clip will be out of sync too - not good! Quantization essentially
ensures 1)beat matching and 2) lines up bars (so you donʼt start half way into a bar, for
example)

Even though clips are lined up by bar for you, itʼs still up to you to trigger clips so they line
up with phrases in the song; This is a key difference between good and bad DJs. Looping
helps makes this easier though!


Effects


Effects

• For DJing and producing/composition

• You can mimic classical DJ mixers and/or go way
beyond

• Ableton has rich palette of effects - fun to experiment

with

Look for the “razor blade” to
see effects folder


Effects

• Each effect can be expanded to show custom
presets

• For the most part, you only need the top level

• drag and drop to place on a track (columns) or on

the A or B Returns

• effects have on/off switches

• Select and hit delete to delete


Common Effects for DJs

• EQ Three & Auto Filter are your workhorses

• Ableton has some presets too (hit and miss)


EQ Three

• Mimics a standard DJ analog mixer

• 3-band equalizer (EQ) with kill switches, AKA “kills”

3 knobs; for low, mid and high gain/attenuation
kills, one for each band

knobs to set band crossover points (you can leave default)


Auto Filter
• Easy effect that packs lots of punch

• Can replace EQ-3; adds creative ﬂare

• Can use for transitioning/mixing

X-Y control to control steepness(“Q”, Y direction) and cutoff freq
(X direction)

Filter type - low pass, high pass, band pass, and band stop

Just worry about the ﬁlter type and X-Y control, leave everything else default
(unless you want to experiment)


Sends/Returns
• There are two Returns Slots, A and B

• When to use Sends/Returns? --> When you have one
effect with a particular setting you like, and you want to
use it across multiple tracks (eg Filter Delay)

• Donʼt use send/returns it when youʼre adjusting stuff on

the ﬂy (eg EQ)

• The Send knob now acts as a dry/wet control (how
much audio gets effected)

• Set wet/dry to 90-100% wet when using send/return
effects

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3ad-KHbitE

Using Filter Delay (Send/Return)
• Filter Delay is an echo effect that helps you transition
between songs

• Use when 1) the next song doesnʼt blend well [eg key
clash] 2) when youʼre not sure when to bring in the next
song 3) to end a set for the night 4) to make drastic
changes in BPM and/or switch genres (eg hip-hop at

80bpm to a disco track at 120bpm)

• To use, toggle the sends up all the way to let through
portion you want to echo, then kill the sound quickly

• To get longer echos, increase feedback

• watch your send volume - donʼt let it overpower


Using Filter Delay (Send/Return)

Keep Sync on Keep feedback high
I like keeping Delay Time on “4”
which will keep the last quarter
note echoing


Effects - contextual help window
Help/explanation window

You can collapse/expand mouse over anything to get
the help window a quick explanation


Effects - Keep experimenting!

• There are dozens of effects and thousands of settings to
go through. You can experiment with them to ﬁnd
something unique in your DJing


Keyboard and MIDI
Mapping


Keyboard Mapping
• Options -> “edit key map” or hit ⌘K, or click “KEY” button in top right
hand corner of screen

• This enters you into key mapping mode

• To exit key mapping mode, simply hit ⌘K again (or KEY button)

• While in key mapping mode, you can map your keyboard to the
Ableton layout, eg, “1”, “2” can be Mute Track 1, Mute Track 2, etc -
can be anything you want

• Every area that turns orange is mappable: Select something in
Ableton like a button, fader or knob, when it hi-lites, hit the key you
want it mapped to. And so on

• Exit Key mapping mode by hitting ⌘K; Thatʼs it!

Keyboard Mapping

• When in map mode, you can see a list of your mappings pop up on the
left - For knobs and faders, you can set the on/off limits [Min / Max]

• Keyʼs act as on/off toggle switches, even for knobs and faders, because
hitting keys is a binary action (on or off)

• Whatʼs good to Key map? Kill switches, tap tempo, mutes, stops, but
whatever youʼre comfortable with really


MIDI
• MIDI = Musical Instrument Digital Interface

• A standard for electronic instruments (keyboards,
computers, drum machines, etc) to talk to eachother -
meaning synchronize, control and exchange information

• Deﬁned in 1982 and widely adopted

• The ﬁrst MIDI instruments were keyboard synths

• MIDI is not a transmission of an audio signal, but
transmission of event-messages that contain instructions
about pitch, intensity, volume, and a tempo clock (and
other parameters)


MIDI Controllers
• Come in all kinds of different form factors and interfaces

• Allow for much more ﬂexibility than your mouse & keyboard!

• More natural human interface for music and effects


MIDI Controllers


MIDI Controllers

• You can use any MIDI controller you like for DJing

• Knobs and faders are especially good because they give
you natural, easy control over Ableton

• MIDI devices plug into your computer using USB


MIDI Mapping in Ableton
1. First make sure the device is plugged in correctly

2. Go to Ableton Live Preferences (in the “Live” menu or hit
“⌘,”)

3. Go to the MIDI Section

4. If your device is
connected properly, it will
appear in the MIDI ports
list


5. Find your device in the MIDI ports list

6. Make sure Track, Sync, and Remote are turned “On”


7. Close Preferences menu

8. Check to see if your computer is receiving MIDI signals
from your device -> move a knob, fader or hit a button.
You should see Abletonʼs MIDI activity indicator light up
when you do that (upper right most square in ableton
screen)

MIDI indicator light


• Now youʼre ready to map any function in Ableton to your MIDI
controller!

• To enter MIDI mapping mode, hit ⌘M, or hit the MIDI button in top
right-hand corner of screen

• Everything that is now blue is mappable

• select the parameter/control you want mapped in Ableton, then move
the corresponding MIDI control

• repeat for all other controls you want mapped

• Exit MIDI map mode by hitting the MIDI button or ⌘M

• Thatʼs it! Once you save the set, you wonʼt have to map again


Assignment #2

• 5 minute mini set using loops & effects

• Use a controller and/or keyboard mappings


Uclax Dj Course Lecture 2 Jan 23 2010

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