uclax dj course lecture 2 jan 23 2010

The Art of Digital DJingMixing Music, Video, and Technology

Lecture 2. Jan 23, 2010

Saturday, January 23, 2010

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Agenda

• Warping Q&A - acapellas

• Looping; DJing with Loops

• Arrangement & Mixing

• Effects & Transitions

• Controllers

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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!

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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

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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

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Loops in AbletonLoop bracketLooping on/off

• 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]

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Loops in Ableton

outside loop

Progress bar / time left

Counts down to end of clip OR beginning of loop when looping is on

circle/indicator

inside loop

counts how many loops youʼve been through, and length of loop in bars

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Loops in Ableton

Start Playhead (cuepoint)

Be aware of your cuepoint - thatʼs where the clip starts

Arrangement & Mixing

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

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ArrangementOnce 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

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• 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)

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• 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 method that sounds amazing when done right

scene Master keeps count of each scene

Master stop - stop everything!

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Quantization

Default is 1 Bar - keep at 1 Bar

Universal Quantization set at the top

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

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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

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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

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Common Effects for DJs

• EQ Three & Auto Filter are your workhorses

• Ableton has some presets too (hit and miss)

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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)

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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)

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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

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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

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Using Filter Delay (Send/Return)

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

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Effects - contextual help window

You can collapse/expand the help window

Help/explanation window

mouse over anything to get a quick explanation

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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

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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!

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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

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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)

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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

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MIDI Controllers

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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

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MIDI Mapping in Ableton1. 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

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MIDI Mapping in Ableton5. Find your device in the MIDI ports list

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

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MIDI Mapping in Ableton7. 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

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MIDI Mapping in Ableton• 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

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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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