DJing Brostep with Ableton

[Dnov]

I'm looking for some tips on how do DJ with ableton, and not skrillex style. I want to be able to build by repeating smaller and smaller "chunks" of a song (like one measure, then on to a half, and then on to a fourth, and so on) and I don't know how to do that by hand in ableton during a set. also any other tips would be great!

Thank you!

[Attila]

I'm not sure what you mean by skrillex style, but if you're trying to build tracks piece by piece just get a launchpad and fill in the session cells how you want.

[Dnov]

I think the APC 40 would work.. .but if i was to repeat the section I wanted, wouldn't I have to make a new clip and set the trigger quantization different every time?

[Dnov]

And some of the piece by piece will work, but I want to do a lot of things live, since I will be with a bunch of really seasoned DJs at this gig.

[Coolschmid]

I want to be able to build by repeating smaller and smaller "chunks" of a song

Don't do that, it sounds like shit.

[Dnov]

When tied with highpass/lowpass and reverb? I'm open to ideas on how this should work. And I realize that every transition shouldn't sound that way.

[bodom418]

what you're looking for is Beat Repeat; it's under your audio effects in Ableton. get it hooked up with whatever knob on a midi controller and away you go

[mikeyp]

And some of the piece by piece will work, but I want to do a lot of things live, since I will be with a bunch of really seasoned DJs at this gig.

so you want to do this at a gig you already have lined up?

you realize it will take you at least a few months to get this down right?

[AxeD]

You can't really dj with Ableton. You can play tunes through the program but something like Traktor or just a pair
of decks would be a better option imo.

[hudson]

And some of the piece by piece will work, but I want to do a lot of things live, since I will be with a bunch of really seasoned DJs at this gig.

so you want to do this at a gig you already have lined up?

you realize it will take you at least a few months to get this down right?

That might be a bit of an exaggeration, unless the gig is tomorrow this dude will probably be fine if he spends some good time on it. In fact, the other day I taught a dude how to DJ the day of his first gig and it went pretty well. He had an opening slot and played it pretty safe and I don't think anyone noticed that it was his first time.

[mikeyp]

And some of the piece by piece will work, but I want to do a lot of things live, since I will be with a bunch of really seasoned DJs at this gig.

so you want to do this at a gig you already have lined up?

you realize it will take you at least a few months to get this down right?

That might be a bit of an exaggeration, unless the gig is tomorrow this dude will probably be fine if he spends some good time on it. In fact, the other day I taught a dude how to DJ the day of his first gig and it went pretty well. He had an opening slot and played it pretty safe and I don't think anyone noticed that it was his first time.

"djing" yeah you could pick it up quick if you've got a mind for music but ableton and a new controller is a whole different ballgame imo
i've had my apc for nearly 2 months and am nowhere near being ready to take it out

[motox2121]

It really shouldn't take you that long to learn how to use your apc to DJ if you already know how to use ableton in general, and you aren't trying to do anything too complex. Just learn to pre-warp and keep it simple, you really can get by with just an EQ3 on each deck and the crossfader as a minimum lol. I had no DJ experience and I had relatively smooth transitions for my first time, although it wasn't a big performance.

[AxeD]

Hah at this thread

[Dnov]

Yeah, I know about pre-warping and such. I don't really understand the beat repeat however. The only thing I could ever use it for is for glitches and such. I can usually pick stuff up fast too, so I hope I can this time. The gig is in like a month though, its not soon by any means.

[MassAphekt]

I want to be able to build by repeating smaller and smaller "chunks" of a song

Don't do that, it sounds like shit.

it can sound dope when both tracks are in key and at the right time of the song

[Dnov]

Agreed. And thank you all for your good replies.

[Altron]

Follow Actions are your friend. If you wanna have a smooth mix, take each song in your set (one by one) and drag them into the arrangement view. Now make sure the song in question is already warped correctly, and split the track into different cue points. For example if the intro of a track is 16 bars long, cut that section and then cut the bassline section, then the interlude section, then the second bassline and so on. This will make a single track into 5-10 different sections which you can then label accordingly. Then once you have a track cut into parts (intro,bassline,interlude,second bassline,outro,etc...), take and select all the parts of the track and load it back into the performance view. Double click on your cues one by one, and go through in the follow action tab and set the correct length of the clip. If the intro is 16 bars, then you would set the intro to play for 16 bars, then select the option "next" from the drop down menu underneath. What this does is sets each track to play from wherever you start it, then when another section comes, such as the bassline, it will automatically play that clip in the sequence. It also allows you to play these sections of songs the same way cues would on cdj's, enabling you to play different sections as to mashup different songs and time them correctly together (double drops, and cutting basslines together, etc...).

I used to load a full song in ableton and just mix from one interlude into the intro of another, but if you want a seriously noticable improvement in your mixes, use follow actions to make multiple cue points in each song. Mixing goes much smoother that way. You can even see how much time you have left in a cue point to know when to mix in another song if done correctly.

[Altron]

Also, as far as beat repeat goes, I use it a lot, and the way I have it set up is by using 4 different instances of beat repeat on each channel, all set at different speeds. 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, and 1/32. It allows me to stutter songs indefinetly, and if you become good enough, you can make what I like to call "false drops". This is where you stutter a track until you reach a point where you slam in a new bassline from a different song, and cut out the song that was stuttering simultaneously. It is quite a tough maneuver but when done right, it sounds really nice. I remember seeing EOTO use this sort of technique in their live sets and it was mindblowing, as they were the first dubstep style music I ever heard.

[mikeyp]

Also, as far as beat repeat goes, I use it a lot, and the way I have it set up is by using 4 different instances of beat repeat on each channel, all set at different speeds. 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, and 1/32. It allows me to stutter songs indefinetly, and if you become good enough, you can make what I like to call "false drops". This is where you stutter a track until you reach a point where you slam in a new bassline from a different song, and cut out the song that was stuttering simultaneously. It is quite a tough maneuver but when done right, it sounds really nice. I remember seeing EOTO use this sort of technique in their live sets and it was mindblowing, as they were the first dubstep style music I ever heard.

eoto

[Dnov]

Okay, so I need a little more info on follow actions. I've seen them, but I've never known how to use them. It seems like it will do things perfectly... and it also seems like i could drop into entirely different songs that way.