DJ tips and tricks

DJ tips on Mixing 

mixing tips and tricks

• Beat mixing is where a DJ speeds up or slows down a record, so the beats of one record are in time with another record. Often this is aided by the intro, and ending of record being totally based on drumbeats. Almost all DJs will use this technique for every "mix" they do. House music is probably the best type of music to practice this technique with, as most house tunes will have a long beat-based introduction.
• Scratch mixing is where the DJ "pulls" and "pushes" the record to create a unique "scratching" sound. This is often employed by Rap, Hip Hop and RnB DJs.
• Pitch mixing (a.k.a. Key or tone mixing):- technically for a DJ to do this they would need to alter the pitch of the tunes they play, but often a DJ will have enough tunes to ensure the next song he plays will mix with the current one without clashing. A simple way to avoid this clashing is to simply wait until the end playing tune, where most dance music has a section of just beats (with no tone or background instruments), or ensure the next tune starts with just beats. The realtime-loop on more advanced CD players can help with this, as you can just make the first few beats loop. This is especially useful if you are playing more pop/commercial dance rather than 12" dance mixes.
• older music (such as soul, rare groove etc) or music recorded live will be very difficult to beat match well. This is purely because the drum beats are often produced by a human and not produced by a drum machine or synchronised using a computer sequencer, and hence aren't perfectly in rhythm.
• To get started your mixer needs to have a minimum of two channels so you can adjust the volume of the music playing on either turntable. A cross fader to cut quickly between the two channels and we would also recommend that you go for a mixer that has an EQ with 3 bands per channel - hi, mid and low.
• The hi frequency band can be used to decrease or increase the amount of high frequencies that are let through the mixer, hi hats, cymbals and percussion generally sit in these frequencies. Mid range frequencies are where the vocals sit and low frequencies hold the bass, which is where the low frequency parts of the drums and bass lines live.
• the human ear becomes accustomed to a certain frequency spectrum. So, avoid the trap of equalizing everything too sharp. If you see (you won't hear it) that your equalizing is completely out of balance fix it slowly. In fact not that many (modern) songs need equalizing anymore.
• Some DJ's like to turn their three equalizer buttons completely to the right when they play. This should not be done because it modifies the sound and often removes critical information from the music. Normally the sound is unmodified if all equalizers are set to 0, not to +15dB.
• Once you understand the principles, go stand behind a DJ and watch; see how well you can follow the correspondence between what the hands do and what you hear. Watch when a new record is coming in (typically the bass gets shut down and the high hats come in first, much less likely to be obnoxious if it slips off), listen as the sync gets fixed, think what you would do to it.
• never play to track with both basses all the way up.
• Most dance tracks have an "intro" (where you mix into it) and a break and/or "outro" (where you mix out of it). An"outro" area on a track is often the final opportunity to mix out of the song; while a "break" may be an earlier opportunity to mix out of a song. A song can have more than one break, but will have only one outro.
• When the mix is finished, be sure that the new song's volume is exactly at the volume of the previous song. Even if the new song seems as loud as the one being played, watch the bass or high-end volume (of the song you're "bringing in") to make sure that you don't muddle-distort the mix. You should be aware that not all songs are recorded at the same volume level.
• As you listen to the song being played (song one) on the dance floor, cue the song that you want to beat match (song two) through your headphones on the other turntable or CD player. When song one "breaks" to end in its outro section, start the new song at the first beat of its "intro" (thus, you're matching the "intro" of song two with the "break" or outro segment of song one). As you match the drum beats, place your hand on the turntable or CD player's pitch adjust to gradually adjust the speed. As one hand adjusts speed, place the other hand on the mixer and gradually slide the crossfader so that song one's volume declines and song two's volume increases.
• cheaper mixers often have a buzzing noise coming out of the mixer over really powerful sound systems. This is why you pay for a better mixer if you will be playing over big systems.
• Having more features in one mixer is a good idea. You can always chain mixers together but you will quickly degrade the sound quality and increase the complexity of your setup.
• Every channel has a switch which lets you cue the channel. It does not matter if that channel is open or not, the mixer will send the music to the headphones. This allows you to listen to record 2, while record 1 is playing. Cueing both channels (or more, if you have a multi channel mixer) will send the signal of both records to the headphone.
• The purpose of the mixer is to change the sound you can hear from one turntables output to the other ones, without having a break in sound. Typically, this means that deck 1 is in Channel 1 and deck 2 is in Channel 2. To change from one channel to another, a cross fader is normally included on the mixer, which, as you move it, moves the sound from one deck to the other.
• When you're starting off, you are going to be fine with a really basic mixer like Numark's BlueDog. Ok, if you have the money, get something better, but again, I'm just talking bare minimum equipment right now. The problems that you'll encounter with a very basic mixer should only add up to sound quality issues. With no kills or cuts on the mixer, you'll find that a lot of the times the bass drums and bass melodies will clash with each other, and with no Gain controls, or means to measure the strength of the incoming signal, you'll find that there will be mismatches in the levels (volumes) of each tune as you go through the mix process.
• have read comments that compression is the most misunderstood audio process but I really think it is equalization. It might be the most over and under used audio processing tool at the same time. What complicates the matter is factors intrinsic to our humanity. We perceive different frequencies different ways. Some frequencies will sound louder or quieter than their actual volume. This is why some audio hardware has a "loudness" button. Most people will try to improve sounds by boosting frequencies. But EQ is a sculpting process. The best result will be attained by boosting and cutting. You can accentuate one frequency by reducing another frequency , and it not make the sound muddy. Following is a basic overview of the spectrum of audible frequencies.
  
  20-40hz: Edge of human range of unwanted rumble often complete removed.
  40-80hz: Sub-bass or "feel" of bass. Can add low end kick or over power mix. Is not produced by small speakers..
  80-250hz: Bass 100-200hz can be boosted to add fullness or cut to reduce boomy sounds.
  250-600hz: Fullness or some vocals and percussion. The cardboard box sound of kick drum is around 300-400hz.
  600-4khz: Midrange all too easy to add mud. 800hz is where the "cheap" sound comes from. 2k-4khz is where the attack of most percussion and some other instruments reside.
  4-6khz: The "presence" range that determines how far out in front of the mix vocals sound. Can easily become grating.
  7khz: The nasty realm of sibilance, the unwanted "s" hiss
  8-20khz: This is the range of "air" or "brilliance", and its presence adds sparkle.
• When using the mixer it is important to keep the levels correct. If you exceed normal levels you may damage your amplifier and/or speakers. Don't forget that most mixers will allow much higher outputs than CD players and tape decks. As a rule try to keep the average output to +3dB. This will be shown on your level meters and will normally be indicated by red lights. When you exceed +3dB you will be distorting the audio signal. This may sound unpleasant and will ruin any recordings you may be doing. It is normal that there will be a volume fader for each deck and a master volume control. Set your deck faders to 75%, then adjust your master volume to show the correct reading on the level indicator (+3dB max) you can now adjust the amplifier to whatever volume you require. The reason for this is that you may have quieter records that will need a little volume boost to make the mix sound correct. You now have an extra 25% volume boost for when it is needed. If you want to record your mixing then the 'record out' output can be used and will be set correctly.
• Connect the record deck outputs to the phono 1 and phono 2 inputs on the rear of your mixer. Now connect the earth wires from both decks to the earth terminal (this will either be a screw or terminal post on the back of the mixer). If your amplifier has a similar earth connection then connect this as well using a thin piece of insulated single core wire. This will help to keep all hum and background noise to a minimum. Connect the line output on the mixer to a spare line input on your amplifier. If you do not have an aux input you can use tuner, CD, DAT, tape, video but NOT phono.

DJ tips on turntables, CD turn tables and Digital turntables. 

• Cheap record decks or CD players might seem like value for money, but two years down the road you'll be cursing the fact that you haven't got an "instant" start when you release the record or press play on the CD player; cheap belt drive decks with low-torque motors are renowned for making scratching difficult if not impossible.
• It is generally considered that belt drive turntables aren't as good as direct drive, for the following reasons:
  
  * Belt drive turntables rely on tension in the belt to keep the platter spinning at a constant speed. After a while, the belt will lose its tension and that vital 'steadiness' will be lost
  
  * When mixing, quick release of records so that they 'drop' on the beat is quite important, where as direct drive decks can launch themselves up to speed quite quickly and accurately, belt drive turntables need a bit of coaxing and it takes a while to master this trick.
  The one bonus of having to use alternative, budget or belt drive decks is that they make you concentrate so hard to keep your mixes in time that when you finally upgrade you'll find mixing the easiest thing ever.
• Positioning the turntable
  For mixing its real easy because you have the pitch control right there for you to change whenever you want.
  For battling, it's real easy because turntables are close to the mixer, so you can do a lot of body tricks, real quick mixing. You have the start and the stop buttons right there for you to do all that stuff.
• There are a lot of battle records out there that have samples you can cut on, a lot of scratching sounds, you know, a lot of bass tones, weird noises that you can cut up. What makes a good scratch is something that doesn't really hurt the ear.
• Baby Scratch, which is just pulling the record forward and backwards. That's the most basic scratch and that's what you really gotta' learn if you wanna' ever start scratching - you can't run before you walk.
• The Military Scratch this is a scratch which incorporates the cross-fader and the Baby Scratch. So what I'm doing here is I'm clicking the fader once, in and out, while I'm doing the Baby Scratch.
• A good thing to do when you're scratching is to mark the record so you know exactly where the scratch begins, so you don't have to be all lost. You just look at the record, look at the point where it starts and that way you'll know where you're at, at all times.
  get a little piece of tape and put it on the middle of the record. You can just look at the middle of the record and you know where you're at.
• The flare It's an imaginary scratch because it sounds faster than I really am. When you scratch you start with start with the fader off. So right now you don't hear me moving the record. But here, you hear me moving the record. With this scratch I start with the fader on, I don't start with it off. I do the same as I was doing but I start with the fader on... that's why it's called an illusion scratch.
• The Crab This is one scratch I don't recommend you learn first. If you try to run before you can walk, you're gonna fall. What I'm basically doing is snapping all my fingers on my thumb. So it's like - the pinky, the other finger, the middle finger and the pointer finger, but I'm snapping them all on the fader. So what I do with the cut is move it forward and backwards. When I'm doing the crab all I'm doing is applying a little pressure on my thumb. And like I said, you snap your fingers on the fader.
• On the turntable, you have only two variables: position and speed. Where is the needle on the record, and how fast (and which direction) is it going? That's it, period. There's a pitch control for overall speed adjustments, but if you watch a DJ (which is always great practice, as is just plain old listening, anytime, anywhere), you'll also see his (or her) hands flying in little glances off the label, edge, spindle, whatever, anything it takes to get it into sync and keep it there.
• DO NOT be afraid to harm your record, turntable or stylus. Just about everyone who starts with DJ-ing for the first time will be TOO careful. Just build up confidence. As long as you follow the proper procedures you will not damage anything. It is just a matter of getting used to the feel and handling of vinyl.
• Slipmats, usually made from felt, are used instead of those thick rubber slabs most turntables have. They allow the turntable to keep on turning while you hold the record.
• Jump Starting means you start a record exactly at a beat, exactly WHEN you want to. (Also referred to as cue starting.)When you master this trick you can -at least for a moment- have 2 records run in phase. First you need to find the first beat of the record. You can do this by simply waiting to hear it, but of course there is a better way... And before you continue: there are more ways to start a record at exactly the right time. If you know or discover a different way to jump start a record, feel free to use it. As long as the result is the same.
• Connecting turntables can be a bit confusing at first. Remember these key points when connecting up turn tables:
  
  * Turntables go in the PHONO input (other devices, such as cd decks will almost always go in the LINE input
  * Turntables need to be grounded. That is what that third cable is from your decks with a metal end, and what the metal screw in thing is on your mixer
  * Then once its all connected, make sure that you change the switch on your mixer that says "LINE/PHONO" to phono - for obvious reasons (so the mixer uses the input from the phono input for that channel).
• Connecting 4 devices on a 2 channel mixer
  You can do this quite easily, for example having two turntables, and two cd decks (or mp3 players, whatever else works on the LINE input).
  Plug the 2 turn tables into the phono inputs (one on each channel), ground them, and then put the cd decks in the LINE input.
  Now all you need to do is switch that line/phono switch to switch between each input on each channel.
  Of course having a four channel mixer is better, but this way is cheaper...
• If the hole in the middle of your records is too small, you may notice that you have to force it onto the spindle. Removing it is equally just as difficult. All your records should be able to almost be dropped right onto it.
  The main problem however is when you start to mix and especially when you start to scratch. As it is stuck to the spindle (and therefore the platter) the spindle acts as a brake, so you can't spin it back very far at all.
  To fix this, just put a pen (or similar item) in the middle to stretch it.
• Made a vinyl centre hole too small? Grab a bit of paper, cut it to a small size, and put it through the centre. Then you can tape it in place.This slightly decreases the hole size, so should give you just enough extra room you need so it isn't too loose
• it's a good idea to spend as much as you can on the turntables, then whatever you have left on the rest of the gear. You can use a bad mixer with good decks without too much problems, but not even the best of mixers is going to compensate for bad decks. Plus, it's a lot cheaper to upgrade a mixer when you get round to that point than it is to upgrade your turntables.
• make sure of is that there is a control on the turntable which allows you to adjust the pitch (the pace at which the record will be played at) of the record. Just a 33 or 45rpm setting is not enough. You're looking for something that will allow the pitch to be adjusted by AT LEAST + or - 8%. The larger the pitch control, the better. One that runs most of the right hand side of the turntable is preferred and is the industry standard for pitch control. The length allows more fine adjustments than just a small control on the front of the unit
• direct drive decks are by far the preferred means of powering the deck. Simply, because the Belt Driven decks use a rubber band and an intermediate to drive the deck, a lot of the power and accuracy is lost through the transfer of that power. This means that the pitch settings that you choose might not be held for long enough, meaning the tempo of the song you are playing will change while in use, causing havoc when trying to beat match. It also means that the deck does not have the power (or TORQUE) to withstand the vigours of scratching, and has a very poor start up time.
• The purpose of the slip mat is to reduce the friction between the record and the turntable to the point where you can hold the record still, and the turntable will still turn underneath it (which is yet ANOTHER problem with basic, cheap decks, their power is so weak that this won't happen). The setup should go like this:- At the very bottom, is the deck plate in all it's shiny glory (make sure to take off the removable rubber mat that comes with the deck (NOT the rubber coating, the rubber mat). On top of that goes the slipmat, and on top of that goes your finest record
• there can sometimes be problems with the decks that causes the deck to come to a grinding halt when you are trying to cue up the record. The way to try to get around this is to reduce the friction further between the deckplate and the slipmat. This can be done by either cutting a six inch diameter circle piece of cardboard out, punching a hole in the middle, then sitting this between the slipmat and the deck plate or by cutting out a piece of wax paper (some inlays in record sleeves are wax paper) to the size of your slipmat, and putting THAT inbetween the plate and the slipmat. The second option there is by far preferred, by putting the piece of cardboard between the two, the friction IS reduced, but so if the stability of the record, so you may find the needle jumps a lot. Go for the wax paper if you're having issues.
• Try to steer clear of the mats with lots of printed designs on them too. They can (sometimes) damage your records, and they are (sometimes) not as effective as plain felt ones.
• When you cue up a record you will place extra strain on the stylus. This may cause the record to jump and making your mix near impossible. To help solve this problem you need to make sure your decks are set up correctly. First follow the instructions supplied with your cartridges. This will make sure that they track correctly. Make all the adjustments required until it sits on the record as shown in the supplied diagram (some cartridges come with a plastic alignment device). You may need to adjust the height of the tonearm along with the actual position of the cartridge in the headshell. Check your deck manual for the setting of the anti-skating control. The weight control on the deck may not provide enough weight to stop the needle skipping. To rectify this attach a coin to the headshell with some bluetack. Pay careful attention to the distance between the cartridge body (the plastic bit) and the record. If it is too close then either adjust the normal weight control or use a smaller coin.
• Always keep your stylus clean, use the little brush to remove any dust from the contact area.- Don't leave the stylus on the record when you have finished mixing. Even if the deck is off you will reduce the life of your stylus.
• The major cause of problems in sound and skipping on the vinyl is the lack of proper set up of the needle and turntable adjustments. The needle is designed to operate at a specific angle to the vinyl. The commonly used Technics SL-1200 turntable has several adjustments to correctly position the needle to the vinyl.
  
  1. The first adjustment is the correct installation of the cartridge. Your Stanton cartridge is to be mounted into the headshell as per the mounting instructions included with every cartridge. The 500, 680 and 890 series of cartridges require the use of the two screw mounting into the headshell. For your convenience, these products can be purchased already mounted and per-adjusted from your local Stanton dealer. If you are using these 1/2 mounted products with a headshell in a mobile application or you are doing heavy scratching, you might benefit by using the extra shell weight provided. Once you have installed your cartridge into the headshell, make certain that you adjust the needle tip position to the notch in the overhang gauge provided with the turntable.
  
  2. The second adjustment is at the installation of the cartridge-headshell assembly into the tonearm tube lock. Holding the tone arm tube in one hand, insert the cartridge-headshell into the tube lock with the other hand. Turn the lock ring clockwise (when viewed from the rear) until the headshell is locked tightly into the tonearm. Remove the needle protector from the cartridge and place the needle on a record. View the needle from the front and insure that the needle is perpendicular to the record surface. If some adjustment is needed, simply loosen the lock ring and rotate the cartridge-headshell until the needle is perpendicular to the record surface. Then re-tighten the lock ring.
  
  3. The third adjustment is the needle (or stylus) pressure. Start with the cartridge-headshell assemble mounted into the tone arm. Remove any needle protectors provided. With the tone arm free, adjust the tone arm counterweight by rotating the rear section until the tone arm floats in a balanced condition above the record or mat. Do not allow the needle to drop onto the mat or the turntable platter during this adjustment. You might damage the needle tip. Now, carefully hold the tonearm in one hand while rotating the numbered ring on the front of the counterweight with the other hand to the "o" setting. Next, without touching the numbered ring, rotate the rear counterweight until the desired needle pressure reading is next to the line on top of the tonearm tube.
  
  4. The forth adjustment is the anti-skate adjustment. If you are using the turntable for playback or recording only, then set the anti-skate adjustment to the same number as the needle pressure setting. If you are using the turntable for back cueing, scratching or other record manipulation, then set the anti-skate setting to 0.
  
  5. The fifth and last adjustment is that of the tonearm height. This will set the tonearm pivot and needle relation with the vinyl. Unlock the tonearm base located in the base of the pivot assembly. Rotate the height adjust ring in the pivot base to read the correct setting for the height of the cartridge that you are using. Check the cartridge/arm height table for the correct setting. Be certain to re-lock the pivot base when adjustment is completed. The above are correct tone arm settings when using a Stanton cartridge on a Technics 1200 turntable. Please make certain that the tone arm is balanced to float horizontal above the platter at "0" setting before dialing in the desired correct stylus pressure.
• It is a good idea to have a spare stylus in case you damage one. Also headphones have a tendency to break when you most need them so keep a spare set in your record bag. Slipmats are often pinched from clubs and parties so a spare pair is also a good idea. A spare fuse for your mixer, and some normal fuses will useful if someone turns the amplifier up to loud!
• Slipmats are available with many different designs and logos on. They should be thin yet flexible and made out of felt or a similar material. Avoid massive printed logos and designs as they will grip the record.
• Your decks will probably come with all the required leads and your mixer will probably come with a power supply. You will need some leads to connect your mixer to your amplifier, these will need to be longer than normal as your amplifier may be part of your existing stereo system. You will also need a four way extension lead.

other DJ tips 

• find a friend or local community centre that already has some equipment that you can practice on. This way you won't have to spend lots of money on DJ equipment before you are sure you want to be a DJ. DJ equipment can be very expensive, and a new pair of decks are going to be worth hundreds of pounds less than what you bought them for as soon as you open the packaging. The main thing to focus on is buying records/CDs. DJing is an expensive hobby.
• To do any DJing there are only four essential items, amplifier and speakers; mixer; (dual) source of audio- decks, CD decks, mp3 players etc.
• Although not strictly essential for some styles of DJing, a DJ's audio sources will invariably be variable speed. As the most popular way of mixing dance music is to alter the speed until the beats are in time, most DJs rarely use a fixed-speed devices.
• To help you build up a large collection of up-to-date music, it is important that you find one or more good, reliable record stores. Any good vinyl record store should allow you to listen to the music before you buy it. This means that you won't have to constantly read the latest "buzz" charts, magazine reviews or listen nonstop to specialist radio shows to help you pick your music. Currently, it is rarer to find stores that let you play CDs before you buy (though most large stores have the most popular tunes playing in their listening booths). A more recent place to buy your music is right here on the Internet. There are several online dance music record shops out there, with one or two allowing you to listen to 20 second samples of each tune before you place you order.
• Before playing to the public, it's a very good idea to practice and refine your skills first. There is probably nothing worse than screwing up your first gig, as this is likely to dent your confidence and put you off DJing in the future. Provided you enjoy DJing and enjoy buying music, then with plenty of practice there's no reason why you can't become a successful DJ and make a living from what you enjoy doing. Even if you're not making a living from DJing, you can still do it alongside your day job, as nearly all gigs are in the evenings.
• don't be too put off by the fact that MP3 uses a lossy compression algorithm. Although in theory this reduces sound quality, using sound processing techniques such as realtime DSP and/or pre-processing can actually make them sound better than the original on your average home stereo or PA system.
• don't be too put off by the fact that MP3 uses a lossy compression algorithm. Although in theory this reduces sound quality, using sound processing techniques such as realtime DSP and/or pre-processing can actually make them sound better than the original on your average home stereo or PA system.
• Steer clear of in ear headphones, they let ambient sound from your surroundings into your ear which makes getting your beats in time harder.
  
  You need a pair of closed ear headphones with a 'can' that covers your whole ear. Sennheisser are the DJs choice with Sony coming up fast with their new models. Both these makes have a good level of loudness that works well both at home, in the studio and in the clubs.
• Hi-fi systems are made to make the best of what you put through them. They don't go particularly loud (which might be a bonus for your long suffering neighbours), and they tend to mash your mixes together, So they don't sound as tight as they should.
• Monitor speakers coming off the back of a powered amplifier are better if you can bear to part with the money. They are generally better for mixing because they separate the frequencies more than hi-fi speakers can, which will help you keep your mixes sounding sweet. You can pick up a decent package for under £200.
• You should learn how to mix before you start scratching. You need to have a good knowledge of your records and you need to listen to a lot of music to understand what goes with what, because a lot of stuff doesn't work. That's the problem with a lot of kids today they head towards technical scratching before they learn the basics - like the basics of mixing and listening to music and learning from other DJs
• Another important part of mixing is the breakdown, especially for drum & bass, house music or whatever you're into. The break down is the key. This is how you control the crowd. Wait for it to mix and once it goes into the breakdown you can be playing with EQ's right now, making it more interesting when you're mixing.
  Take out the bass and when the breakdown comes in, turn up the bass. There's a lot that goes into mixing, a lot that goes into controlling the crowd and these are good ways. So when the breakdown comes in, just turn up the bass... and you'll smash it!
• Playing music is not only using your intuition. The times you have an aha-erlebnis and you know what to play will be very small. If you play 300 songs overnight, 80% will be based on ratio. Only 20% on 'feeling'. Especially in the beginning because you will be nervous and will need to fall back to your technical skills.
• Do not expect everybody likes what you are playing. Often DJ's are very explicit about the music they like and the music they don't like. Don't be like that. It is not because you are playing music, that other music is bad, also don't insult somebody if he doesn't like what you like. You are not the center from which music comes. (technically this is true, but it doesn't go any further than that). There will be songs which you like, which nobody else will ever like, try to detect these and cut the crap, how painfully it might be to play a night without your favorite songs.
• Learn different styles. New influences are absolutely welcome for a DJ.
• For most DJ's the following holds true: you are playing for the audience, the audience isn't there for you. So, look at how people react to your music. You are playing music either for money, for personal reward or because nobody else wants to do it. In any case the result: 'the audience stays and is happy' is the most important.
• Whether you have CD's, vinyl or mp3's, have an index at hand, sorted by style, annotate with the BPM and marked with the 'sound-color'. This list should contain cross references between styles: 'switch to this style using this song'. On top of this style list, also have a full index by name available every time you play.
  Creating such a list takes time, a lot of time. You can easily spend months to create it, but when you have such a list it is your treasure. This will be half the money you make with DJ'ing. So never give this away.
• - Play every song between 2.0 - 2.5 minutes. If you play songs longer people will find it boring. If you play songs too short people will become irritated. Of course, a mistake in the 'short' direction is not that bad.
  - Minimum 4 songs of the same style in a row.
  - Work your tempo down until you reach a suitable tempo for a slow.
  - Always play two slows. After the first not everybody has the girl/the boy he/she wants. After a slow, kick in a beat again. No point in messing around with a 'good' build-up. Some (lonely) people are waiting to dance, and the people slowing will leave the floor anyway when you switch to a non-slow.
  - In the beginning of the night choose your end style of music. After 3:00, 4:00 o'clock people go home when you switch style, so stay to the same style after that.
• At any time during practice, stop and deliberately mess up, stop one deck, randomly change tracks, whatever. Do it until you're not afraid of it anymore. You're home alone; the part of your mind devoted to worrying could be put to better use, like listening.
• You should have several outputs on the back of your mixer, including MASTER and REC. Some often also have BOOTH.
  Connect, with an RCA cable, to your amp from the MASTER output. Make sure to connect it to a LINE input on your mixer (not PHONO input) [even if you're using turntables, as you're connecting the mixer to the amp, it doesn't matter if you're using turntables].
• The signal that comes out of the mixer is barely strong enough to power your headphones, so you need something which will increase (amplify) this signal so that it will drive (make 'em work) a pair of speakers.
  1) Buy a separate amplifier and speakers. This can be a bit costly, but it is a great way of doing it.
  2) Plug the output cable into either the CD or AUX port in the back of your stereo (if you have one) .
  3) Using POWERED speakers
• Monitors
  The ideal audio monitor will have a flat response curve across the whole spectrum so it is as transparent as possible. But there is no replacement for listening on different sound systems. Listen in a car, on a cheap CD player, on your home stereo, and anywhere else you can think to listen to it. This will give you valuable perspective that will help you improve your mixing, especially for getting the tricky low end right. Low sounds are harder to hear at low volumes. This is why a spectrum analyzer can be a useful tool to see what makes up a sound.
  
  Below is a list of guidelines of what frequency does what. And they are just that%u2026 guidelines. I used several sources and personal experience and experimentation to compile them. There are no hard and fast rules when it comes EQ. Sometimes I think professorial sound engineers do a disservice to amateurs and hobbyists by declaring what should be boosted and cut; it really depends on the source material and the entire mix. Also, pros benefit from skilled arrangements, professional musicians and vocalists, and quality gear throughout the entire signal chain. A lot of EQ advice is intend to get a "professional sound" which generally means sounding like everything else on the radio. That is fine but I would strongly suggest that you try and achieve the sound you want. Remember: equalization is not a magic bullet. If the sound is bad to start with, EQ is not going to fix it. You cannot boost what is not there.
• Try to place your decks and mixer in the centre of the longest wall. You will now have plenty of room for your records and you can hopefully fit any other furniture around this setup. The height of the decks should allow you to comfortably reach all the controls without your back being bent. If you are using a low table try placing something under the legs to bring it up to the required height.
• The speakers need to be ideally at head height mounted on stands or on wall brackets. They should be directly in front of you facing towards the center of the room. A separation of approx. 1 - 2 metres is normal. This will allow you to hear the music without any delays. The next problem will be reflected sound. When you are mixing it is important that you hear the sound from the speakers without any reflected sound (this will cause confusion when synchronizing and will mess up your mix), to achieve this the simplest method is to hang a curtain or other piece of material on the rear wall. This will absorb the sound and deaden any reflections.
• For optimum system performance, it is recommended that you keep all signal and speaker cabling as short as possible. If all your system components, such as your mixer, amplifier, equalizer and etc., are rack mounted, buy the shortest hookup cables you can that will fit the task. Purchase quality cables with good shielding and gold contacts. This will provide optimum signal quality and added protection from radio frequency interference (RFI). Likewise, try to keep your speaker cabling as short as possible. Long cable runs add additional load resistance and can make your amplifier work harder than necessary. For the best results, use multiple length speaker cables so you can select the length you need as opposed to using one long set of cables for every job. Noise and feedback. Unwanted feedback, in addition to clearing the dance floor, can result in damage to speaker components. Mic feedback, one of the most common, occurs when a mic picks up audio signals from speaker which are then amplified and redistributed causing a loud "howling" sound. Turntable feedback occurs when a turntable is placed too closed to a speaker also resulting in a loud "howling" sound when a record is played. To help eliminate mic feedback, try positioning the speakers so that they are not firing directly into the mic. In addition, use some type of feedback cancellation device such as a equalizer or notch filtering. Many DJ mixers today offer graphic equalization enabling you to filter out unwanted feedback. In the case of turntable feedback, try locating your turntables as far away from your speakers as possible. You can also help reduce feedback potential by placing your turntables on top of two-inch thick foam rubber. There are also a number of turntable isolation devices available on the market designed to help eliminate turntable feedback. Before making any purchase, see if you can try out the system in the store using your turntables.
• A record box will protect your records and also to allow you to take them to parties. Ideally it should hold 80 - 100 records and offer some protection whilst on the move. Most modern boxes are custom made and offer an aluminum or vinyl finish. A handle and secure catches (with locks) are essential. You will be able to organise your tunes in the box by style or in order for your set.
  
  Record bags are ideal for record shopping and for holding your headphones and other stuff. A record bag must be strong with a good shoulder strap.
• Your decks will probably come with all the required leads and your mixer will probably come with a power supply. You will need some leads to connect your mixer to your amplifier, these will need to be longer than normal as your amplifier may be part of your existing stereo system. You will also need a four way extension lead.
• Again you may already have this as part of your Hi-fi setup. If this is the case then you will simply need to connect the mixer to a spare aux input. Be careful using small Hi-fi speakers as excessive volumes may blow your speakers. Beware that a mixer will allow a much higher output than a CD player or tuner. If you need to buy an amplifier then the advice is simple. Don't buy anything more than you need. A simple amplifier that can power your speakers and has a line input will be adequate. Tone controls can be useful if you have complaining neighbours. As a rule your speakers need to handle twice the power that the amplifier delivers. A 50 watt a channel amplifier will require speakers that can handle 100 watts or more. Know your system's limits. All too often DJs try to push their systems beyond their normal operating limits. For example, a DJ may purchase a pair of speakers with an continuous RMS rating of 150 watts and drive them with an amplifier that delivers 300 watts continuous RMS per channel. Under normal circumstances this would not pose a serious problem. However, if the amplifier's output is not monitored properly, it could seriously damage your speakers. One way to avoid overdriving your system is to set gain limits for your mixer before each gig. Place masking tape across the master output or channel faders path to mark off maximum gain settings. These settings should be made with the amplifier's gain controls set at maximum.
• You can use normal Hi-fi speakers for learning to mix at home. As long as they are good quality and provide good bass they will do fine. If you need to purchase speakers then choose a higher power option as you will need to crank it up. Don't forget that quality is also important, you will need to hear the records you are playing and quality speakers will help your mixing. Don't just buy the biggest and the loudest. You will need to move the speakers to ear level in front of the decks. If you are using an existing Hi-fi setup then some compromise may be required.
• Your choice in headphones will depend on the intended use. For home use, normal open back headphones will be fine. It is important that they are lightweight, flexible and strong. Also worth considering is headphones with changeable leads. You will stand on the lead or stretch it at some stage and it is a shame to have to buy an entire new set. Headphones need to be loud and also reproduce the entire audio spectrum (especially bass). For more professional use consider closed back headphones. These have very good acoustic insulation which will help cut out external sounds. This is essential if you are playing in a club or at a party. These headphones are more expensive and are usually designed especially for mixing. The most popular headphones for mixing include Sony and Sennheiser.

Specialist section: Beatmatching 

• It's really easy once you get the hang of it. On my right turntable I have one beat and on my left turntable I have another beat.
  First I'll start off by playing the left beat. Okay, so I've got that beat, in my headphones I'll be queuing up the other record, looking for it and where it starts. The other beat is playing and I'll throw it in on the four. What you're trying to do here is make both the snares match up.
  If you give it a little push and you adjust the pitch to make it go a little faster it can match up with the other snare on the left turntable. So once you get that sorted out, you bring the right turntable back to the beginning and you just count a couple bars until you feel you're ready.
  It's almost never gonna be perfect so you gotta give it a little push with your hands and keep adjusting the pitch. Once the two snares are perfectly matched you have a mix.
• 1. Place the volume slider of channel B to zero
  2. Set the gain of channel B to zero
  3. Push the PFL button of channel B. Be sure that the PFL of channel A is off.
  4. Change the gain until we have maximum signal without clipping. Do not touch the volume slider. If you do this the audience will hear what you are planning to play.
  5. Now change the equalizing if necessary. For most songs not much equalizing is needed, unless you are playing very old songs of course. Don't equalize everything too sharp. It is quite easy to hear nothing at all if you don't boost the high frequencies. Don't do this. Change the volume of the headphones or increase the gain if possible.
  6. After equalizing, maximize the gain again. If you cut the frequencies, the gain is not maximum anymore.
  7. Now the real work can begin, look for a good position to kick the song in.
  8. While sliding down channel A, slide up channel B.
• Beat mixing is mixing two beats exactly over each other during a certain period. The difficulty with this is that different songs have different tempos. In the upcoming discussion we refer to song B as the one which will be mixed over song A. Synchronizing B with A is the first problem, keeping them synchronized is the second.
• Two aspects: sync and speed/tempo. Two records that have their tempos/bpm (beats-per-minute) perfectly matched can still be out of sync, like two clocks, both the same speed, just set to different times. More likely, the initial condition is that the speeds will be different, but they'll slowly drift in and out of sync, as the faster one passes the slow one again. even if you do nothing. First, you push and nudge, whatever, to get the second (incoming) record into sync with the first: pick a snare part or some regular sound, imagine in your ear where you want it to stick it in the first record (like right on top of the other snare), and PUT it there. Then, through further nudging back and forth and mad troubling of the speed control, you keep it in sync. When it goes out of sync, put it back in, and start again, and again. Someone once told me to just use the speed control a lot at first, don't even touch the record until the speed is very close, and this sometimes seems to actually work pretty well.
• Listen with your body, move your toes. It helps to bob your head vigorously to the beat you're trying to match to; it can get pretty distracting to keep two big kicks separate in your ear otherwise. Move faster, too fast to be thinking about it; stay in your senses, not your thoughts.
• Generally you'll want to cut the incoming bass out and match the high hats first, bring them in and make sure they're right, then either gradually or all at once swap the basses: oh that is so satisfying.
• Time to add Track Structure to Manipulating Vinyl and try to synchronise 2 records... Start with 2 records which have, judging by listening to them, about the same BMP (Beats Per Minute). Start the first record. (Check the RPM.) Set the gain for the record in such a way that the VU meter will peak between 0 dB and +3 dB. Get the 2nd record and perform the same operation. The first matching has been done: the volume of both records are the same. Make sure that you set the gain when the record is playing the body or at least an equally loud part. If you would perform this while the intro is playing you could end up with a record peaking between +3 dB and +6 dB when it is playing the normally louder body.
• HOW TO detect any difference in speed or phase
  Use only one of the 2 speakers of your headphone to listen to the incoming record, record 2. Leave the other ear open to hear the currently playing record, record 1. Decide for yourself which side and put one of the pads of the headphone behind the ear or in your neck. It is also possible to hang the headphone around your neck and put one of the pads on your shoulder. With a tilted head and a pushed up shoulder you can listen to the pad. This results in a very typical DJ stance and, possibly, some aching neck and shoulder muscles
  How much you need to change pitch and brake/speed up a record depends on the initial difference in speed between the 2 records. It simply takes a lot of practice. Once you have some experience you will be able to determine if braking or speeding up is required. Later on, with more experience, you will also be able to determine how much to brake or speed up and how much to change pitch given a certain difference.
• Try to avoid mixing records close to the 0% pitch. In practice most turntables show some decrease in pitch accuracy around the point where you feel the slider click. If you are within 2 mm (1/10th inch) of the 0% point, and you suspect you might end up at 0%, change the pitch of record 1 so you stay outside the -0.5% +0.5 % pitch region.
• how do I detect any difference in speed or phase?Use only one of the 2 speakers of your headphone to listen to the incoming record, record 2. Leave the other ear open to hear the currently playing record, record 1. Decide for yourself which side and put one of the pads of the headphone behind the ear or in your neck. It is also possible to hang the headphone around your neck and put one of the pads on your shoulder. With a tilted head and a pushed up shoulder you can listen to the pad. This results in a very typical DJ stance and, possibly, some aching neck and shoulder muscles. if there is a difference after jump starting try to determine what it is: Lag or Ahead, and try to correct it. * Incoming record lags behind: push it and increase pitch. * Incoming record is ahead: slow it down and decrease pitch.
  How much you need to change pitch and brake/speed up a record depends on the initial difference in speed between the 2 records. It simply takes a lot of practice. Once you have some experience you will be able to determine if braking or speeding up is required. Later on, with more experience, you will also be able to determine how much to brake or speed up and how much to change pitch given a certain difference.
• You have two sources of audio (for example two turn tables, we will call them TTL [turn table left] and TTR [turn table right]).
  You play the first track on TTL (and this plays through the speakers). Then you start playing the second track on TTR but you cue it so it is only heard through your headphones (you do this by selecting what channel to hear through your mixer).
  So you now have two tunes playing. Now, on the cued track (on TTR) you alter the pitch (that sliding thing on your deck), until the tempo is the same as the track on TTL. You then adjust it so it is also in the right "place" as well as right tempo - so the beats are at the exact same time for both tracks
  So now the songs are both "beat matched"! You then simply wait for a suitable time to switch the songs over, and use the cross fader on your mixer to change between TTL and TTR.
  Of course there is much more to it. For example it is important that you don't fade them over when one has vocals (well, thats not true in all cases). And for another example you'd often kill the bass on one of them and gradually bring it back up once its faded over. But again this isn't always true.
  There are no set rules on how to DJ. Do what you like and what you think sounds best. Thats all there is to DJing. What you want.
• point of beat-matching is to take two tunes, and make them run at exactly the same tempo (BPM). Why? So you can play the two tunes together and go from one to the other without there being a change in the beat. Why? So that the people on the floor don't have to shuffle step to get back into the rhythm of the music.
• If you've started the beat too soon, and it's running ahead of the one that has been playing, then you need to slow the deck down a bit. By far the safest and easiest way of doing this is to rest your finger on the side of the deck plate lightly (where the bumpy bits are) and apply a little pressure to slow the deck down very slightly. When you've slowed it down so the beats are now aligned, take your finger away.
• If you've not started the beat fast enough, and it's now lagging behind the other one, you need to speed the deck up slightly. The way I do this is to place my finger on the label of the record, and 'help' it turn a little faster. There's a couple of problems that can be associated with this though. 1) That you thump your finger onto the record, and make the needle jump (easily fixed, don't do it again!) and 2) that with your finger on the record, if you're not helping it round fast enough, you'll actually be SLOWING down the deck, something you DON'T want to do. Just make sure to get it right.
• Instead of using the label of the record to turn the record faster, grip the centre spindle of the deck and turn that - a lot of people do it that way, so maybe it works best for you
• Instead of touching the side of the deck to slow it down, a lot of people just use the pitch fader, decrease the pitch until the records are in time, then return it to the original position. The only problem with this is that it's tricky to get the pitch fader EXACTLY back to the original position - unless that position was the 0 pitch mark of course.
• you have learn is how to change the tempo of the tunes using the pitch control in order to make the tempos of the two tunes be same.
• If you have cheap decks, then they probably won't hold their pitch that well, so though you're adjusting things the way you should by the book, the deck is throwing up wildcards, changing the speed it's running at - making your adjustments almost pointless.
• sometimes a record can actually change its pitch through the course of its playing. Either because it's been recorded with a slight tempo change, or the record is warped, or has been badly pressed or something.
• hen two tunes are slightly out of time, they will make a slightly different sound when your cued tune is running too fast, and when it's running too slow. To try to put it in really basic terms when trying to put it in words, when two tunes are in time, you'll hear "BOOM" - when the cued track is running to fast, you'll hear "B-Loom" and when it's running to slow, "L-Boom"
• there is a definate difference in the sound the two tunes make when the cued tune is running slightly too fast, and when it's running slightly too slow.
• Breakdown Mixing: This one can be funky if you pull it off. There's a few ways this is done, but I'll just mention a couple:
  Firstly, deck A is about to go into a breakdown. Tune B starts with a bass drum and not much else. The breakdown of A and the intro of B are the same length. Match the two tunes so they both run at the same tempo. Cue B to the opening Bass drum. As deck A hits the first beat of the breakdown, move the x fader to the middle, and let B go. Run them at the same time, and when A's breakdown finishes, the main part of B begins, all you have to do is move the x-fader over, and the mix is done. Try to avoid a big whoosh as you start deck B . You'll get the hang of it after a while, even if it means putting the x-fader quarter of the way when you start, and almost immediately bringing it to the center. As the breakdown in A starts to finish, move the X-fader so that it now favours tunes B , you can still hear A clearly, but B now has more clarity. This stops there being a sudden change in the music.
  The second is when the intro of B is quiet. It's almost a breakdown in itself. As the break in A begins, drop in the intro of B . Can take a while to get right (Even longer to find two records that match) but with skillful use of kill switches to EQ out the bass, (Explained later) it can work out nice.
• pinback. This can be great, but beware, use it too much and people will think the only reason you do it is because you can't mix! It can whip people into a frenzy though, and if things aren't going you're way in a mix, it can sometimes help you out. It goes like this, beat match two tunes, run them together so that both bars finish at the same time, then as A finishes the bar, and B is about to get into a pumping part of the tune, place your finger on the label of A, and pull the record back, reasonably sharply. I used to do it from the outer portion of the record, but soon realised why the needle kept on skipping across the record!! Anyway, as you spinback A, bring in B . With correct timing, A will stop spinning backwards as you bring the x-fader all the way across to the start of B (I didn't realise how difficult this was all going to be to describe in words) I use it most often to fix a mix between tunes that have different hi-hat sounds/clarity. If the tune you're taking out has sharper, clearer Hi-hats etc than the one you are about to bring in, it can make the incoming tune sound really dull, so by letting A run overB a little, then using a spinback to take it out, the difference isn't as immediate and noticeable.
• Power-offs and Dead-Stops Kind of in the same family as the spin back I guess. On most higher level decks, which have a good braking system to the deck plate, if you hit the stop/start button during play, the deck will comes to a halt within a second. This is the concept. on the final beat of a bar, hit the stop button on the deck that is playing out. Assuming the braking force on your deck is the correct length, the record will come to a complete halt in the space of one beat - meaning it's dead just in time for the next beat. Of course, the nest beat is the first beat of a new section (or phrase) so you whip the crossfader across to your other record, which of course was already running in time with the first record - sorted! You'll have to work out the best combinations yourself of when, where and what tunes to use for doing this - some times it sounds incredible and the floor go nuts, other times you just sound like an amateur.
• The power off is to turn off the power to the deck, as to make it gradually run slower and slower until it comes to a halt. This is a really good one to do if you have a good lighting jock next to you. Wait until you're at the point you want to do this, and turn off the power to the deck (using the proper switch that you use to switch off the deck at the end of the night). If the light guy is cool, get him to kill the lights at the same time - chances are, everyone will think "Power Cut!!". Then slam in the next tune. And I mean SLAM it in, it'll take em all by surprise, and hopefully really jazz them up.
• Cutting The Treble. There's not many times you HAVE to cut the treble, but sometimes, a shrill hi-hat or voice can make a mix sound really fuzzy, or the two Hi-hats will key together, either cancelling each other out, or producing some (sometimes cool) phasing effects. So even killing the treble so that it's not quite as powerful as the out record - yet still present, can alter the state of a mix (Just remember to put it back in once you fully put in record. But a good trick is to cut the treble on the incoming tune for a couple of bars, then swap it over with the treble of the outgoing tune - it can really tidy up the mix. Just be careful not to take too much out - or you'll end up losing the dynamics of the outgoing tune.
• Cutting the Bass. This can have many uses, cutting the bass can help to introduce two tunes that are out of key. Kill the bass in tune B , then drop it in, have A and B running at the same time, then as the bar ends, crash in the Bass in tuneB , and crash out the Bass in tune A. This does work out better with tunes that are in key, in fact, if there is any melody or singing in the out of key tunes, even cutting the bass isn't going to help that much, the voice'll still sound out of tune. It can take a lot of practice, sometimes killing the bass altogether sounds horrific, but leaving a little bit of it in sounds Ok.
• Sometimes, it's cool NOT to follow the 8 bar / 16 bar format of the intro. By doing it that way, the mixing can become pretty predictable. So if you have the right two tunes, and are brave enough to risk the look of people going "uh?" then try the last two options, but instead of 16 or 8 bars before, try 12 and 4. Admittedly, 4 bars before the end will probably work lot better, even though there will be a few bars of just drums in this case, but that can add to the anticipation of the crowd - as long as the set's going so well that you have people in the palm of your hands by now anyway.

specialist section: ableton live 

• Pre-listening allows you to privately cue your music through headphones as you would when using a DJ mixer. In order to accomplish this, you need a multi-channel audio interface with at least four dedicated outputs (or two dedicated stereo outputs). any audio interface with enough outputs will work. The Pre-Listening output is set in Live's Preferences Audio tab, in the Routing section,he Master output routing is the output you hear at the Master track (outputs 3/4 in this case). The Pre-Listen output is reflected on an additional pair of outputs from your audio interface.Once pre-listening is set up in the preferences, look at the Master track above the Pre-Listening Volume knob, and set the Solo/PFL switch to PFL.
• Sometimes it's good to have your music do things a human normally could not. The technique I call microediting has gained much popularity in the past decade, and it is featured in music such as Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, Mum, etc. To get that stuttery, robotic, glitchy sound, you have to zoom in really close on your notes. 1/64 is a good resolution to view at.
  Try setting your snap resolution to 1/64 and drawing sequential 64th on/off bars in your master or lead part volume automation. You can create really interesting, rhythmic stutter patterns this way.
• One of the most popular reverse hits is a reverse cymbal. You hear it all the time in pop or techno songs. The reverse cymbal crash leads to the next bar. It works well as a buildup and transition. To make your own reverse hit, try taking a nice loud percussive sound that hits and then gets quieter from there on out. Then in any sound editor reverse the sound. Save it and import it into your sequencer with a sampler. Then experiment with the amount of time you have to play the sound so that it reaches its peak right at the point where the next bar begins.
• The best buildups I can think of are by Infected Mushroom. They use many of the techniques described to create tension before a beat busts in and you just HAVE to dance. Buildups will combine many of the following tricks all in one go for full effect.They used a very long reverse hit, they introduced new, different layers each bar or so. They also automated the cutoff filter of the lead gated synth. Then when the buildup reached its peak, everything was silenced as a drumloop kicked in and another shorter reverse cymbal played. Then it reintroduces the full ensemble of layers for that full intensity effect.
• making your bassline thump:
  The Frequency Range
  If you want your bass to bang in a system with nice subwoofers AND in crappy home shelf systems, it is pointless to use a bass patch whose energy lies only below 40 Hz, because most home systems will not play sounds that low in frequency. You need to make sure bass has a lot going on in the 70-90 Hz frequency range. So just how do you do this? How do you get a sound that is both felt and heard on a number of different speaker systems?
  
  Layering Other Waveforms
  The sine and triangle wave produces that low thumping bass tone we electronic composers love (e.g. sub bass, 808 boom, DnB drone). These waveforms have few or no harmonics, so they are felt more than they are heard. If using a synth (or even a sampler), try layering these waveforms with a waveform rich in harmonics, such as a square or saw wave. After layering, use the synth's or sampler's low pass filter cutoff to trim away some of the higher harmonics from this new bass patch.
  
  Distorting for Harmonics
  Start with your favorite bass sound, one that happens to be low in harmonics (like the sub bass and synth bass discussed above), and add some distortion/overdrive. Use anything with a tube (e.g. tube preamps, tube compressors) or a dedicated distortion unit (e.g. guitar distortion pedals, computer plug-ins, etc). This will add harmonics to the bass sound so that it will be heard in a higher register for those people with less ideal speaker systems, but still felt for those of us using speakers with more bass response.
  
  Octaves
  If programming with a synth or sampler, use two oscillators (or create a multi-layered sampler patch). Set one the oscillators/layers to be an octave below the other. Lower the volume on the higher octave layer so that it is just heard. This will ensure that your thumping bass patch can be heard in both the lower and mid frequency range.
  
  Percussive Attack
  Another approach is to layer your bass patch with a percussive sound, such as a bass drum. Lengthen the attack of the percussive sound to make it less drum like. To do this, raise the attack time on the amp envelop of your sampler or synth (this is usually the "A" of the ADSR on most synth's and samplers). If you cannot do this with your sampler, use any wave editing software you may have (or your sampler's sample editor) to slightly fade in the percussive sound, then save it as a new sound. Layer this new percussive sound with your bass patch. This will make the bass patch punchier, and thus help it to cut through the mix, even on a system with low bass response.
  
  Real Bass
  Yet another layering approach is to layer your deep synth bass patch with a real bass. This can either be an actual recorded bass guitar, or a patch in your sample library that sounds like a real bass. Since real basses are usually higher in frequency and more punchy than synth basses, your the deep bass will be heard and felt more on systems with good bass response, but the real bass layered over the top will be heard more for those with less fortunate systems.
  
  Enhancements
  Another tip is to use a bass enhancement plug-in (such as Waves MaxxBass), which essentially adds psychoacoustically calculated harmonics to the sound in order to trick the human ear into believing that the missing lower bass frequencies are actually there. This occurs because the human's auditory system has the ability to recreate missing fundamental frequencies from remaining harmonics present in the bass tone. Bass enhancement systems will allow you to bring this out in your bass sound.
  
  Compression is Key
  Ever made a bassline that switched between lower and higher notes throughout the song? The low notes are fine in relation to the volume, but the higher notes stick out like a sore thumb? Or the higher notes are fine, but the lower notes are too low to be heard? To correct that problem, try a little compression. Do not over do it though, or you will kill all the dynamics and emotion in the bass part. With basses, start with a threshold of between -5db to -15db, and a ratio of between 3:1 to 8:1. If you are using a synth-like bass, a quick attack would be advised. If you are using a more plucked or slappy type bass, use a longer attack to allow for the initial "pluck" to pass through uncompressed, but the rest of the note to be compressed.
• Live pays no attention to what MIDI instruments are declared in the Apple Audio MIDI Setup utility, so as long as Live is aware of your MIDI interface, it can talk to whatever you connect to it.
• There's a difference in how the Auto monitoring mode operates between audio and MIDI tracks. When a Clip is playing back on an audio track, the input is muted. On a MIDI track, however, you can hear both a Clip that is playing back and what you play on the keyboard. Be sure to check whether MIDI Overdub mode is active in the Options menu, because if it is and you play the keyboard while a MIDI Clip is playing on a record armed track, you'll be recording into the Clip
• Most of the big sequencing and audio packages have functions on their MIDI and instrument tracks for making patch (program) changes on the MIDI device they are controlling. This allows you to browse patches, but also means that the device recalls the correct one when you re-open the session at a later date. Unfortunately, Live doesn't have an equivalent track-based Program Change setting. Instead, you can set a bank and program in any MIDI Clip that sends a Bank Select and Program Change message when the Clip plays. This is fine for recalling sounds when you open a project, but is not much use for browsing sounds. Before we look for a workaround, let's see how the Clip-based Program Change messages work.
  live Box Pic
  If you select a MIDI Clip and display it in the Clip view, you will see that in the Notes Parameters section there are three fields labelled Bank, Sub Bank, and Program. Any values you enter here will be sent when the Clip plays. Different MIDI devices have slightly different ways of storing their patches and don't always respond in the same way. The standard is for patches to be stored in banks of 128. If a device has more than 128 Banks (very unusual), the Sub Bank command may be needed. In fact, you may find that only the Program Change command works. The Matrix 1000, for example, does not respond to the Bank commands sent by Live. Scanning the user forums suggests that Live's Bank Select function is rather hit and miss, but there's been no word from Ableton about this. Each Clip can have a different Program Change, so you can have a MIDI track that plays completely different sounds each time you launch a new Clip.
  So what about browsing sounds? The first and simplest answer is that due to Live's lack of dedicated Program Change buttons, it's easier to use the front panel of your synth to browse through patches. However, if this is inconvenient because the synth is out of reach, there is an uglyish workaround, which is to use a MIDI Clip to send the Program Change messages. You could use a Clip on the MIDI track for the instrument, but it's fiddly because you'd have to keep switching monitoring modes and you may have other Clips on the track.
  A better option is to make another temporary MIDI track, and assign it to the same MIDI destination. Then double-click in the first Clip slot to create a blank Clip. You can now enter values into this Clip to change patches remotely. As long as you are playing back and the Clip is looping, it will quickly send out any changes you make. Otherwise you will need to play the Clip manually to force the message to be sent.
  Probably the best alternative is to use a MIDI librarian program, or find a dedicated editor utilty for your synth so you can remotely control it outside of Live.
• Live has two main views; Session view and Arrangement view. Session view is Live's unique take on doing on-the-fly looping, composing, and remixing. The Arrangement view follows the 'linear timeline' recording model, much like conventional DAWs. You can go into record mode, then record into the arrangement as you would any DAW track.
• Live can also act like Acid or Sonar, where you can drag loops directly into the Arrangement view. These will be converted into 'warped' Clips that loop, and stretch with any changes in tempo. You can also work in this manner with portions of a recorded track, or even an entire track.
• By default a new Live Set will include an Audio track, a MIDI track, and two Return tracks (although they may be hidden). Each track has 20 scenes.
• you can remove additional scenes by Selecting All from the Edit menu (Ctrl/Apple + A) and then selecting Cut Scenes, also from the Edit menu. One scene will be left, because all tracks must have one scene.
• Live's Mixer has several show/hide options on the bottom right-hand side of the main Session screen. To most closely mimic a traditional mixer view, click on 'IO' to show the I/O section, 'S' to show sends, 'R' to show return tracks, and 'M' to (of course!) show the mixing controls (fader, pan and so on).
• Each track in Session view corresponds to a track in the Arrangement view. To create a track, right- or Control-click on any blank space within the Clip/Device drop area, and select the type of track you want to insert (Audio, MIDI or Return). For now, let's create a mixer with six audio tracks, two MIDI tracks, and two Return tracks (which should already exist if you started with a default new Live Set).
• To delete a track, click on the track name to select it, then hit the Delete key or select Delete from the Edit menu. To move a track, for example to have all the audio or MIDI tracks together, click on the track name and drag it to the desired new position.
• The Live channel strip works a bit differently to those in other sequencers, but there are also a great deal of similarities. Let's start at the top and work our way downward.
  
  At the top is the track title bar, which contains the track name. To rename, right/ Control click on it and type in a new name.
  live 5 InputOptions
  The 'Audio From' drop-down menu lists a variety of possible signal inputs to the selected channel.
  
  Now comes our first major point of departure: where are the insert slots for plug-ins? Live has a separate Track view pane (which is keyed to the selected track) where you can drag effects in from Live's browser. If this isn't visible, the easiest option is to just double-click on the track name; this opens up the Track view and displays any effects that are present for that track. If the Track view is already open, a single click on the track name will reveal the Track view for that track.
  
  Signal flow is from left to right, with audio hitting the input, and the output going to the pan/fader/send section. Interestingly, Live has a feature I wish all sequencers would adopt: in the Track view, there's a level meter at the input and output of the chain, as well as between each effect. This makes it very easy to do gain staging with multiple effects.
  
  Unlike conventional sequencers, when one of its a built-in plug-ins is inserted, Live automatically shows that plug-in's GUI in the Track view. VST effects are handled differently; there are four interface editing options, depending on which button you click on and select to the immediate left of the plug-in name.
  
  If neither button is on, you'll see an X-Y controller where you can choose the X and Y parameters from drop-down menus. This allows for fast tweaking of important parameters.
  
  If the right arrow button is selected, the effect 'unfolds' toward the right to reveal the various parameters offered by the effect, but presented as linear faders using graphics provided by Live. Once selected, this button turns into a left arrow button; click on it to fold the parameters back up.
  
  If the 'wrench' (Edit Panel) button is on, Live shows the effect's native graphic interface. This can be enabled with either the parameters unfolded or not, give you two editing variations.