Question for Ableton DJ's
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  1. #1
    Tech Wizard
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    Default Question for Ableton DJ's

    I've played a couple sets in the past few months as my immersion into the DJ world continues and one thing bothers me. First let me say that I use Ableton Live 8 with an APC40 and Saffire 6 sound card. My sets have pretty much been Deck A and Deck B style setups with extra columns for extra sounds etc. One thing that bothers me is sometimes I will be playing a song and feel like I have nothing to do. Sometimes I will use effects but don't want to "overdo it" I guess. For my set I am working on now I have been breaking up songs into smaller pieces so I can jump around and mix beats that way. I'll post a picture later when I am at my home to hopefully make it more clear if it isn't. Thanks for any help!

  2. #2
    Tech Guru tyfurious's Avatar
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    So your asking why you have nothing to do? If that's the case then try setting up some more labor intensive mashups... Otherwise Ableton is all about preparation and knowing what your going to do, so there won't be a whole lot to do because you're prepared instead of being spark of the moment like many Traktor users.

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  3. #3
    Tech Guru deevey's Avatar
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    Enjoy the Vibe, concentrate on the crowd and do some Jesus poses during the breaks

    The most enjoyable dj's to watch sometimes are the ones who make it look too easy ... watching one sweat it out and "work" too hard makes me uncomfortable (dunno bout anyone else).

    Breakin down the tracks into their respective intro/drop/phrase/outro can be fun though (so long as you make it look easy)

  4. #4
    Tech Mentor Buffalo Ill's Avatar
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    Routing in Ableton is the key to keeping it interesting.

    I used to have a template made up of 2 "decks". Each deck consisted of 3 channels in Live, routed into a single channel. Each "deck" had a Track (tune) channel, an accapella channel and a loop/one hit channel. There were insert effect chains/racks on each channel, and send effects on the two send channels.

    I used a UC-33e - so each "deck" had 3 faders, and 9 knobs. The 2 "decks" were routed into 2 send channels, and the remaining faders/knobs on the UC-33e controlled volume and send FX.

    Changing the way you route things keeps it interesting.

  5. #5
    Tech Guru Bunford's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by theclaus View Post
    One thing that bothers me is sometimes I will be playing a song and feel like I have nothing to do. Sometimes I will use effects but don't want to "overdo it" I guess.
    This is one thing that bugs me! WHilst a tune is playing, I'm too fiddly to just let it play to insert slices, echos, loops etc just to keep it interesting for myself.
    Ableton 9.7.5, Native Instruments Komplete Ultimate 11, MOTU 828 Mk2, Nektar Impact LX61+, Ableton Push, Native Instruments Kore 2, and a random selection of soft synths and sample libraries.
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  6. #6
    Tech Guru Steve Zorilow's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by deevey View Post
    Enjoy the Vibe, concentrate on the crowd and do some Jesus poses during the breaks
    Exactly This, AND if you know the Macarena dance...well, you're all set
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  7. #7
    Tech Wizard
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    just a thought: you could do a drum rack or some quantized clips and 'drum' along with the song. could be different hits, vocals, etc. Keep it low in the mix, and it won't really be 'overdoing' it. The other thing is you might want to do is have a master 'mix' knob for your effects like this guy http://www.synthtopia.com/content/20...ve-akai-apc40/

    Basically you can mess around and just keep it really subtle. You can trigger dummy clips and things with your buttons, keeping the modulations consistent, do alternate builds, etc. As long as you keep what you're doing low in the mix, you can't overdo it unless you want to.

  8. #8
    Tech Wizard
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    Thanks for the comments so far guys I will look into everything that has been mentioned!

  9. #9
    Tech Guru grazz16's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by deevey View Post
    Enjoy the Vibe, concentrate on the crowd and do some Jesus poses during the breaks

    The most enjoyable dj's to watch sometimes are the ones who make it look too easy ... watching one sweat it out and "work" too hard makes me uncomfortable (dunno bout anyone else).

    Breakin down the tracks into their respective intro/drop/phrase/outro can be fun though (so long as you make it look easy)
    this

    how cool is it to get to DJ exactly what you want to listen to and then be able to dance and party at the same time as opposed to be constantly looking down and worrying about the mix...i dunno just my opinion

  10. #10
    Tech Wizard
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    The Marshall template posted is really awesome. I want to try and make the dummy clips in my set just have no idea how to start so probably gonna have to reverse engineer.

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