How do guys clean up Traktor mixes in Ableton
I’m just looking for ways that I can give my mixtapes that extra oomph and boost in quality. Is there anything that can be done to improve overall sound in Ableton. I know I read Shiftee puts his through a limiter, whats the benefit of doing that?
If some tracks in your mix are way quieter than others, using something like this is great for levelling out your set. Normalising only boosts the overall volume, not boost up the quiet bits and squish the loud spots. In audition, i use a hard limiter to maximise boomage. basicaly you set a maximum level, say -.1db and a boost level, say +6db. In ableton i’m sure there are some similar tools mate, just experiment a bit with an old recording.
i was actually just thinking this exact same thing. im interested as well.
i think if i can figure out how to get ableton to do what i want (ive only been using it for a few weeks) - route traktor into ableton to record decks a/b how i mix em then clean up the transitions, ect. to use as a drop mix for like 10 min before midnight on NYE and 10 min after so the woman doesnt get mad that im paying more attention to mixing than i am to her at midnight 
. - i eventually want to route from traktor, to ableton (to record/apply EFX to the current tracks playing, then route from ableton out through my spin to the speakers (im using the spin as my soundcard when using traktor). is this type of set up even possible?
any tips/tricks are appreciated.
yeah a bit of compression as mentioned will lift the quieter parts, maybe a bit of EQ before the compressor if the quality of your tracks are low i.e. vinyl rips or low bit-rate mp3
If you record individual tracks in Live, you can fix errors…but you end up having to do the whole mix in Live and don’t really gain much over either getting it right while you’re spinning in Traktor or just doing the whole mix in Live.
Using a limiter or a mastering plugin (like the ones from iZotope or similar) will make the your mix sound louder…and if you do it wrong has the potential to completely kill dynamics.
All of my mixes in Live go through an EQ and a limiter set very subtle, and I like that for mixtapes and “produced” mixes. I’m pretty sure I’ve won battles on DJF just because everyone is susceptible to the loudness war and my mixes sound louder than those not sent through a limiter.
For spinning in a club or party…it’s almost just not worth doing. It increases the probability that something in the chain will fail and kill the sound more so than spending about $100 on a Behringer or even DBX compressor that will give you the same effect in a more robust way…if you’re running your own sound. If you’re in a club with an actual sound tech, they probably already do it for you between the FOH board and the amp stack, so it’s better to not do it there.
Ok, this is how I’m running my set right now, I have soundflower (Only for Mac OS X, but look up virtual audio cables for a windows solution) then I select the 16 channel soundflower as my output in Traktor, then I make a aggregate device in the audio midi setup (ASIO4ALL will work in windows) so I can route Traktors audio into ableton, and ableton to my speakers.
Then you can set traktor to mix externally, and create a scene in ableton for each deck from traktor and record separately! Then if you need to fix some mixing/timing issues, you can do so after the set in session view.
I also have a setup so I can control both pieces of software with one controller, (EX. One knob controls the volume in ableton, and the knob next to it controls the FX amount in Traktor)
If you want to set up to use one or more controllers for both pieces of software at the same time, just ask!
I hope this helps!
‘How do guys clean up Traktor mixes in Ableton’
Just the same way as the girls do.
Should Auld Acquaintance be forgot … ‘hic’ …
Brilliant set up mate, well done. What’s the specs on your laptop? I’m currently running two laptops with Ableton and Traktor but this sounds like a solid idea to ditch one and only have to lug on around to gigs.
How stable is it and are there any issues you’ve encountered using this set up?
Glad your interested! If this helps you carry less to a gig, so be it!
Alright, so I have the new MacBook Pro 13" late 2010, Its great for my mixes and productions, but I know pretty much any laptop that can run windows 7 well and smoothly will be able to do this.
It has a 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 4 GB’s of RAM. If one of your laptops has a dual core processor and at least 3 GB’s of ram this will run smoothly. (Considering its not one of the new netbooks with a dual core atom, I don’t think it will work smoothly, because the Intel atom’s are ment for more internet productivity, so probobly not the best thing to warp .WAV’s and up song’s pitches with traktor at the same time )
As for the stability, It’s great! I’ve stress tested my setup by pulling out my controllers usb cables in the middle of a set, and so far the programs don’t stop! Obviously a usb sound card may be different, but I’m out of town, and don’t have all of my gear, so I’ll write on here as soon as I test it.
As far as the windows vs. mac os x thing for stability, mac os x will run this setup smooth if you quit all unnecessary processes and keep only the apps you need open. And for windows, as long as you have a good anti virus program, or keep you system isolated, you should be set! (Provided you do the same thing for a mac, quit all unnecessary processes and keep only the apps you need open.) Oh, and turning off the wi-fi and bluetooth radios will provide a sandbox around your pc, so no outside network interference will have your computer working on other task while your djing.
And as far as issues go, I just figured this out while thinking of new creative ways to make/play music with my MacBook. Iv’e used it for about 3 days nonstop, and it runs buttery smooth, but if I encounter any problems ill post them here (along with the soundcard stress test)
I hope this helps, if you have any other question just ask!
When I record, I just route my mixer’s record output to my desktop input and use “Audacity” to record the mix. “Audacity” is a really nice, open source audio editor that allows you to limit and boost the wave form so every thing is just right. i’d highly recommend it
I second @Garygary1, if you don’t have a full daw, like FL Studio or Ableton, Audacity is a great way to record all of your sets. And another use is to make quick and dirty edits of songs that you think need more punch or a personal touch.
Run all your tracks through MP3Gain first. Set 'em all to the same level.
That’s the best starting point - it’s a very quick process, most tracks take less than 2s on my machine in MP3Gain.
[quote=“” TheDJCollision""]
Ok, this is how I’m running my set right now, I have soundflower (Only for Mac OS X, but look up virtual audio cables for a windows solution) then I select the 16 channel soundflower as my output in Traktor, then I make a aggregate device in the audio midi setup (ASIO4ALL will work in windows) so I can route Traktors audio into ableton, and ableton to my speakers.
Then you can set traktor to mix externally, and create a scene in ableton for each deck from traktor and record separately! Then if you need to fix some mixing/timing issues, you can do so after the set in session view.
I also have a setup so I can control both pieces of software with one controller, (EX. One knob controls the volume in ableton, and the knob next to it controls the FX amount in Traktor)
[/quote]
Multitrack recording from Traktor? Sounds pretty good. It also means that you can touch up any parts where your beatmatching is not spot on. (Just warp the parts each track where they mix in Ableton Arrange View).
You’re also gonna be able to do some post-production effects on each track seperately.
Anyone know of a FREE alternative to Soundflower for PC?
Sometimes a little bit on levels, otherwise practically no polishing on this end.
I don’t do any polishing on this end (right now). I ran one through a limiter once (this was on Live Lite so it was some VST plug).
Anyone wanna give me a nice “for morons, can’t screw it up too bad” run down? I assume a limiter and a compressor… then run it through? I’ve just busted my Live cherry recently, so I’m for the most part useless other than cutting bits out and adding in where necessary.
That’s it.
Yes. It’s called Jack. Available for Mac OSX and Windows and I can say from experience that Jack is more stable and more useful for live use than SoundFlower. There is a fault in the code of SoundFlower which causes buffer overflows (doesn’t matter what kind of system you use) sometimes. This will give you hearable latency issues. Cycling’74 (the creators of SoundFlower) pretty much stopped the development for SoundFlower, so only more reason to go for Jack. It’s a little bit more difficult to use than SoundFlower, so RTFM and be sure to set your latency in Traktor, Ableton and Jack to the same value!!!
Hey, good call on JACK. I remember messing around with that program while working with Ubuntu and couldn’t figure it out. That was a while ago so I’m sure the development has made things better/easier. Ill give this a go and see how it compares to soundflower.
I’m all in for alternatives for software with flower in its name