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Re: Kelly D - ableton-based mix - 14.07.04
Hey there guys.. Sorry - I hadn't been to this corner of the forum in a while because I wasn't getting the topic reply notifications on it - maybe there's a time limit on those..
Perhaps people saw it at the site, but I put up a free remix that I threw together of Kobbe & Nitro's 'America'.. The site explains the story behind it a little, but this particular mix is a bit abrasive, so many won't be into it, but it's an interesting listen regardless I hope.. The "real" remix I did isn't out yet.. It should hopefully come out sometime soon, but the label is in somewhat upheaval right now, so I'm not sure.. The other mix is a lot more suited to a progressive set - it's an 11 minute long thing that is a bit less in-your-face.. So even if the free remix on the site is not your style, if the real mix comes out, it is worth a listen..
On the topic of mixing with Ableton: I don't know if there are any real good guides to show you how to do it.. There are sort of different ways to do it.. It's not like mixing with CDJ's or Traktor or another program like that - in other words, I don't usually do it in real-time.. It *can* be done in real-time - it's just different that way.. The key thing is you have got to get all the "warp markers" set perfectly, which with some tracks can be an adventure and with others it takes seconds.. One other key is I pretty heavily use that 'auto-filter' plug-in, so that I can fade in a track without the bass in it, and then sort of crossfade between the frequencies of the 2 (or 3 or whatever) tracks.. Just like normal DJing, you can rarely have the bass frequencies playing thru from more than one track at a time.. But setting the warp markers can be a bit of a chore and that's something that is hard to describe without actually showing someone in person..
On the style of the two mixes currently up: I could have gotten a lot fancier with both of those, but for the *most* part they are both pretty conventional.. In other words, they could be duplicated pretty easily when spinning live, so that's why they don't sound a huge amount like they couldn't have been mixed on CDJs or 1200s or whatever.. But there *are* some subtle things in there that wouldn't be possible, or at least not that seamlessly.. One of the biggest things that would be difficult in something besides Ableton is that I actually edited some of the songs - I repeat certain sections, chop off ends or beginnings, even reorder some tracks once in a while.. Ableton also comes in with a lot of the FX I added.. Once again, that could be done live, but perhaps not as seamlessly.. There's actually a lot going on, but the majority of what I'm doing to the track ends up just sounding like it was part of the track..
I've always been a fan of DJs that were sort of 'transparent' - in other words, I don't want to be listening to something and say, "oh, listen to what the DJ is doing now".. I just want the music to flow and I want your direct interaction with the music.. As soon as you start to analyze or deconstruct what the DJ is doing, your brain is working analytically and not 'connecting' to the music as directly as possible.. Take for instance one of those DJs that will start scratching all of a sudden or something.. Sure the crowd goes nuts, but at that point, the crowd becomes a "spectator" crowd and watches the DJ or whatever.. When you become a spectator, you're not as 'lost' in the music..
So that's the thing you hit on that was pretty perceptive - the mixes try not to say, "Hey look what I can do" but just try to drop you in the correct mindset and keep you there by trying to be as seamless as possible..
I remember hearing Sasha spin a lot around 94/95 and for the life of me you couldn't tell when he was switching songs, but that made you just get lost in it more.. With the style of music on these mixes, you can hear when I switch songs usually, but hopefully it all flows in a way that makes sense..
Hopefully I'm not getting too deep there - a lot of this works on a subconscious level.. I don't sit there and analyze every second, but your subconscious just kind of says, "that mix works" or "that mix doesn't"..
One last thing - I actually remixed Iio recently, and while they are a pretty mainstream group, the mix I did is actually pretty underground, almost a bit techno-ish at times.. I'm looking forward to people's thoughts on it - it should be out pretty soon (a couple weeks I guess)..
Hey there guys.. Sorry - I hadn't been to this corner of the forum in a while because I wasn't getting the topic reply notifications on it - maybe there's a time limit on those..
Perhaps people saw it at the site, but I put up a free remix that I threw together of Kobbe & Nitro's 'America'.. The site explains the story behind it a little, but this particular mix is a bit abrasive, so many won't be into it, but it's an interesting listen regardless I hope.. The "real" remix I did isn't out yet.. It should hopefully come out sometime soon, but the label is in somewhat upheaval right now, so I'm not sure.. The other mix is a lot more suited to a progressive set - it's an 11 minute long thing that is a bit less in-your-face.. So even if the free remix on the site is not your style, if the real mix comes out, it is worth a listen..
On the topic of mixing with Ableton: I don't know if there are any real good guides to show you how to do it.. There are sort of different ways to do it.. It's not like mixing with CDJ's or Traktor or another program like that - in other words, I don't usually do it in real-time.. It *can* be done in real-time - it's just different that way.. The key thing is you have got to get all the "warp markers" set perfectly, which with some tracks can be an adventure and with others it takes seconds.. One other key is I pretty heavily use that 'auto-filter' plug-in, so that I can fade in a track without the bass in it, and then sort of crossfade between the frequencies of the 2 (or 3 or whatever) tracks.. Just like normal DJing, you can rarely have the bass frequencies playing thru from more than one track at a time.. But setting the warp markers can be a bit of a chore and that's something that is hard to describe without actually showing someone in person..
On the style of the two mixes currently up: I could have gotten a lot fancier with both of those, but for the *most* part they are both pretty conventional.. In other words, they could be duplicated pretty easily when spinning live, so that's why they don't sound a huge amount like they couldn't have been mixed on CDJs or 1200s or whatever.. But there *are* some subtle things in there that wouldn't be possible, or at least not that seamlessly.. One of the biggest things that would be difficult in something besides Ableton is that I actually edited some of the songs - I repeat certain sections, chop off ends or beginnings, even reorder some tracks once in a while.. Ableton also comes in with a lot of the FX I added.. Once again, that could be done live, but perhaps not as seamlessly.. There's actually a lot going on, but the majority of what I'm doing to the track ends up just sounding like it was part of the track..
I've always been a fan of DJs that were sort of 'transparent' - in other words, I don't want to be listening to something and say, "oh, listen to what the DJ is doing now".. I just want the music to flow and I want your direct interaction with the music.. As soon as you start to analyze or deconstruct what the DJ is doing, your brain is working analytically and not 'connecting' to the music as directly as possible.. Take for instance one of those DJs that will start scratching all of a sudden or something.. Sure the crowd goes nuts, but at that point, the crowd becomes a "spectator" crowd and watches the DJ or whatever.. When you become a spectator, you're not as 'lost' in the music..
So that's the thing you hit on that was pretty perceptive - the mixes try not to say, "Hey look what I can do" but just try to drop you in the correct mindset and keep you there by trying to be as seamless as possible..
I remember hearing Sasha spin a lot around 94/95 and for the life of me you couldn't tell when he was switching songs, but that made you just get lost in it more.. With the style of music on these mixes, you can hear when I switch songs usually, but hopefully it all flows in a way that makes sense..
Hopefully I'm not getting too deep there - a lot of this works on a subconscious level.. I don't sit there and analyze every second, but your subconscious just kind of says, "that mix works" or "that mix doesn't"..
One last thing - I actually remixed Iio recently, and while they are a pretty mainstream group, the mix I did is actually pretty underground, almost a bit techno-ish at times.. I'm looking forward to people's thoughts on it - it should be out pretty soon (a couple weeks I guess)..
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