With Live’s Audio Warping engine and friendly “Session” layout, DJing is a very real possibility. Whether you’re sidegrading from turntables/CDJs to an all digital setup or are an existing Live user looking to use it for all aspects of your musical work, chances are you’re going to need to build a type of live performance/DJ rig.

Intro

Like I said above, you can use Live for just about anything. In this article, I’ll be focusing on the live performance and DJ-centered world.

There are several things that I think you’ll need for a live performance with Live:

1. An interface with at least two outputs (this should be a piece of cake) or four outputs for a DJ set
2. A laptop running Live 8, 7, or what have you
3. Some type of MIDI controller – for either scenario
4. A mixer – two-channel or larger (not really necessary, but I like having a mixer)
5. Proper cabling (a no brainer)

Interfaces

The goal for this section is to provide you with an interface that will allow you to use Ableton Live as a replacement for CD players or turntables. To effectively do this, you’ll need an interface with at least four line outputs. If you have a four channel mixer and and prefer to do four “deck” mixes, then find an interface with eight line outputs. For now, let’s just stick with basic two deck mixing.

The interface I like the most for this job is the one you see to right left: the Native Instruments Audio 4 DJ. It’s $199, small, has four line outputs, and sounds about as good as you could hope it to. Alternatively, if you already have the Traktor Scratch Pro package, you’ll be more than at home with the Audio 8 DJ, the big brother to the Audio 4.

The other solid option is the Focusrite Saffire 6 – four line outputs at -10dBv, two 1/4″ line outputs at +4dBu. Two XLR combo inputs (for instrument or mic level), phantom power, and headphone output makes this slightly more than your typical DJ interface.

Conclusion: If you already own a solid recording interface that lacks the line outputs for a DJ set, go with the Audio 4 DJ. If you’re looking at grabbing an interface that will do equally as well in the studio and at clubs, get the Saffire 6.

MIDI Controllers

Oh boy. There’s a lot of options and lot of good choices. As a performer using Live for live PA style sets or for straight DJ sets, your controller can be something to set you apart from the rest of the crowd using CDJs and 1200s.

Obviously there are two major choices: the Novation Launchpad and the Akai APC40 (the APC20 will soon be an option as well). Both have their pros and cons, but I suggest reading my Launchpad review to see if maybe that controller is for you.

There’s a couple of new controllers that you should be on the look out for if you’re looking to grab a new piece of gear: the Livid Instruments Ohm64 and Block. While I’ve yet to have any hands-on time with these units, I don’t see how they WOULDN’T be able to fit comfortably into your Live setup.

Conclusion: There’s a lot of options as far as MIDI controllers go. I didn’t even touch on the scenario of using an MPD in your setup, but that’s an option to. Here’s how I break down the choices of controllers for Live:

• The Launchpad is cheap, built to be moved around, and so much fun to use. That being said, it takes a little time with it to really get used to all the page/mode shuffling. The User Modes are a godsend and Automap just makes everything a bit easier to setup.
• The APC40 has a slightly smaller grid than the Launchpad, but also has faders (including a crossfader) and encoders. It’s slightly less cryptic and a little easier to use. It’s also bulkier, more expensive, and therefore a little less “travel friendly.” In my opinion, while the APC40 is completely usable live, it’s much more of a studio utility.
• The Ohm64 and Block are amazing pieces of gear. If you want to distance yourself from the more cookie cutter/mass produced looks that are apparent in the Launchpad/APC, then the Livid Instruments controllers might be your way to go. I’m sure they map to Live just fine, but they do carry a more “boutique” price tag. Summary: If you want to stand out, be prepared to shell out some more cash.

Mixers

Mixers are another field that can get kind of crazy. There’s a lot of options, but for what I’m doing, I typically will choose from three brands: Allen & Heath, Pioneer, or Denon.

It should also be known that a mixer may not be entirely necessary. You could easily take your four line outputs (or two for that matter) and run them into the Front of House console. If you are using Live as a CD/turntable replacement, however, then an external mixer is absolutely necessary.

Let’s take a look at a few mixers, then. We’ll look at a couple of two and four channel mixers from each of the three above brands.

• Allen & Heath Xone:22 – In my opinion, you just can’t beat the A&H sound quality when it comes to DJ mixers. For $399, you get a beast of a two channel mixer that even includes a proper FX loop. The filters, EQs…the Xone series is legendary.
• Allen & Heath Xone:42 – Obviously the next step up from the Xone:22 and at around the same price as the soon-to-be-discussed DJM800 (around $1,300). The Xone:42 also boasts a USB port and the popular A&H filters and EQs.
• Pioneer DJM400 – For $599, you get a two channel mixer that sounds good and has a little more flash than the Xone:22. It has some pretty cool onboard FX (thus the lack of any aux sends/returns), and two 1/4″ mix inputs. Not much more expensive than the Xone:22, so if you really want/need some FX for your sets, maybe look the way of the DJM400.
• Pioneer DJM800 – Four channels, tons of FX, and the fact that this thing is found in just about every major club in the world make it the most popular option. It doesn’t have the USB connectivity of the Xone:42, but it does sport four digital (SPIDF) inputs as well as a digital out. Add to that an aux send/return and a ton of different I/Os and you’ve got one hell of a club mixer. At $1,699 it is slightly more expensive than the Xone:42, but it might be worth it.
• Denon DN-X120 – Denon don’t really have a lot of two channel options as far as DJ mixers. The DN-X120 is a two channel scratch mixer that definitely doesn’t look as club friendly as the Xone:22 or the DJM400. It will, however, do the job. At $199, it may be the best option if you’re on a budget.
• Denon DN-X1700 – Wow. What a club mixer. Two separate FX processors, bright LCD screens, and just about everything else the DJM800 has and a little more. Two different USB slots on the back are available. One for your flashdrive and the other to plug it into your computer. It’s got four digital inputs, one digital output, and the “world’s first” 32-bit DAC. It’s also got two different layers: MIDI and audio. It’s $1,799, but the extra money (versus the DJM800) seems to make it worth the money.

Conclusion

Whether its performing your original material live or strictly playing other people’s music, Live is up for it. The setup discussed here is just the tip of the iceberg – there’s a lot more innovation to be had and a lot of tweaks you can do to set yourself apart from the rest of the flock.

Obviously, if you’re looking for next level stuff, check out controllers like the Monome, JazzMutant Lemur, and even the Apple iPad when it comes out. Also, don’t be afraid to leave your mark on your DJ sets: get a mixer with an aux send/return so you can use some outboard FX gear (Kaosspad, etc). Don’t forget that you can easily create your own loops, sounds and FX inside Live to lay over an otherwise dry DJ set.

Next I’ll be discussing how to actually set up Live 8 to work for your live set. Stay tuned!

Soundcraft M12

First up is the M12, the largest desk in the Soundcraft M series. Twelve mono inputs, four stereo inputs, and four stereo returns.

Looking at the raw specs, this is a nice sized mixer for small churches, smaller home/project studios, and anything that might need less than 16/32 channels.

S/PDIF I/O is available on all the M12 which makes this desk very studio friendly. The pres are low noise, low distortion, and also include RF rejection inside of them. Souncraft also boasts “great sounding British EQs,” which is something we see on just about every mixer on the market (including the Behringer line of mixers). I’m sure the EQs sound good regardless of where they come from. The EQs are three-band and, also included, is a HPF (at 100Hz) on all the mono channels.

The M12 has four available aux sends making outboard effects processors possible to include while also giving you the option for a couple (or more) monitor mixes.

100mm fader throw means you’ll have precise control over each individual channel. Direct outputs (pre or post-fader) are available on all mono channels which makes this board extremely viable for recording. Mute/PFL controls are present, as well as metering on every channel and the master bus.

The M12 isn’t lacking much (it’s even rackmountable), but it is missing a couple of things.

• No onboard FX. For me, this wouldn’t be a big deal. I prefer to use outboard processors anyhow. However, for someone running sound at a church or smaller venue, this could be a problem and could prompt a potential buyer to walk on by. While external effects are great, most consumer level engineers don’t have the budget for outboard effects and don’t want to deal with hooking up and running separate reverbs, delays, etc. Obviously for recording onboard effects aren’t typically used, so this mainly confronts people buying an M12 for live sound purposes.
• No groups. In my opinion, this is not a viable desk for larger sized clubs, bars, or churches. Mixing drums, vocals, horns, to a group keeps you from having too much gear and is also flat out convenient. Again, most entry/mid level engineers probably aren’t worried about mixing to subgroups, but your more experience engineers will worry about that.

Allen & Heath MizWizard WZ3 12:2

I’m a bit of an Allen & Heath fanboy. I’ve used the MixWizard enough to know I like it, and I drool weekly over their Xone DJ mixers. So how does the WZ3 12:2 stack up against the M12?

Eight mono channels and two stereo channels are available. The 12:2 has a four-band EQ (as opposed to the M12′s three) as well as a HPF on all the mono channels. The 12:2 also has mute switches and metering on the individual channels and the master bus, just like the M12. However, the 12:2 has two additional auxes compared to the M12 – six in total making it a little more live friendly. The 12:2 also has 100mm faders.

Where the MixWizard separates itself from the M12 is the onboard effects and computer friendly editing option that’s available with it. The MixWizard can talk to your laptop via MIDI making the effects tweaking a little more customizable. Once again, the 12:2 lends itself slightly more to live applications than the M12.

Conclusion

Both desks are plenty capable for studio or live settings. They’re both made from companies with solid reputations for sound quality and build quality. However, the major deciding factor for most people is price. The WZ3 12:2 sells for around $900 while the M12 sells for around $850 – once again proving that you pay for the Allen & Heath name. It’s not much of a price difference, but to most people $50 is enough to make a decision for them.

My personal opinion is go with the M12 for recording and the WZ3 12:2 for live applications. That being said, both mixers are solid and would do well in either application.

Will this iPad-thing be useful for musicians and engineers?

Do we really need to talk about the iPad? There’s so much tablet fodder out there that I doubt anyone will ever come across this, but just in case someone is interested, I’d like to offer my sound-guy perspective on the device.

First Thoughts:

My first impression of the device as images and tweets were pouring out of the closed-door press conference, was that this gadget looks a lot more square than I expected.  But my first music-related thought was that this device could be AWESOME at wireless, multi-touch-enabled MIDI controlling.  It’s not hard to imagine the iPad running a touchscreen version of Ableton’s Launchpad hardware unit.  There’s really enough space there to see mixing control surfaces like the Jazzmutant Lemur and Dexter app.  So, yeah, first thoughts were “this is kind of square” and “big multi-touch screen with wifi and bluetooth = totally rad control surface apps!”

Nitty Gritty:

Sadly, in tune with the general disappointment of the day, the features (or lack thereof) started to get in the way of the potential of this device to make an exceptional addition to a music-nerd’s arsenal.

As terrible as Apple’s 35mm line input jacks are on laptops and desktops, I wish there was one on the iPad.  An internal mic means you can interface with most apps that need audio input.  Except that you can’t plug any other mics or input into this device for use with the various stereo or multitrack recording apps already out for the iPhone.  I’m not thinking I’d use this to track important vocals, but the ability to record from a line input would have been incredibly useful given the supposed portability of the device.

Some might point out that there are peripherals that plug into the docking port of an iPhone or iPod and enable stereo recording with better line and mic inputs.  But this just brings up a new sore point – no USB connectivity.  I’m sorry, but just out of principal, a device this big which in some ways was designed to replace carrying around a laptop NEEDS USB ports.  Even one of those ridiculous mini USB ports would have been an improvement.  Sure I can add peripherals like card readers and improved sound cards at the docking port – but only ONE AT A TIME.  And even then, that’s contingent on what hardware features Apple has decided to prevent us from using through software (e.g. why can’t I transfer files over bluetooth with my iPhone?)

Next, and not really as vital is the lack of expandable memory.  The ability to add more flash cards to this device would have been useful if I could see the iPad being used as a regular portable audio recorder.  However, because of all the dang port-limitations mentioned above, you can either add a better sound card to the device or a card reader – but not both at the same time.  There goes my idea of using the iPad as fancy microtrack.

Final Thoughts:

If I had more money, I would buy this thing.  Yes, I just complained about it all over this post (and for about an hour at dinner last night – sorry to my girlfriend).  But it’s a giant touch screen that will run Automap, and touch-based synths and drum machines, etc. Like I said above, it won’t be an exceptional tool for audio-nerds, but it will definitely work for some people, and its undeniably cool to control your DAW with a little touchscreen.

I know Apple treats their pro-sumer customers (i.e. Logic Pro or Final Cut users) like children – locking us out from obviously useful features and forcing us to upgrade every year or so.  Maybe the next round of iPads will fare better with the blogosphere elites, but despite being slap a hundred time by it, Apple is the hand that feeds me gadget-treats.

Unless google comes out with an awesome tablet and figures out how to run pro-tools in Android.  Then I’m google all-the-way.

TC Electronic Polytune Polyphonic Tuner Pedal

In the world of guitar gear, there are thousands of sleek, gritty, cool or knob-overloaded boxes out there.  With all the flashy pedals out there with “X-treme!!!” names, it’s easy to overlook some of their less-than-exciting counterparts – namely tuners.

Sure, they’re brilliant devices that provide important and necessary features, but let’s be real about it.  Every time I see someone walking out of a guitar shop with a $100 tuning pedal in his hand, he seems less than excited.  No new sounds or tones? No badass names?  In most cases, there aren’t even any novel tech features.  But no more!

<trumpet fanfare>

Finally something new!

<enthusiastic fingers-on-desk drumroll>

Polyphonic tuning!

You can just strum your guitar open and see which of the six strings are out of tune (no need to listen to them anymore!).  I love the concept, but I’m not totally convinced that replacing a functioning $100 chromatic tuner with a $100 polyphonic tuner is worth it, but if you don’t have a tuner yet (and you should have one) then you might as well get this new and relatively badass kind of tuner.

Well here’s a quick rundown of the World’s First* Polyphonic Tuner.

*commercially available

TC Electronics Polytune (pictured above):

Major Features:

• Polyphonic Tuning – see the tuning state of all the strings on your guitar, bass, etc at once.
• Chromatic Tuner – the tuner knows when you’re playing just one string and switches to the familiar chromatic tuner mode.
• True Bypass – not exciting, but important.
• Made out of Metal – this is super important because you step on it everyday.

Sales Pitch:

Just for fun I’m embedding this video of guy with an awesome accent demonstrating a software version of a polyphonic tuner! What an exciting day!

The update will take place in the form of routine maintainence and will be out in the first quarter of 2010 to all registered AAS users.

One of the questions we posed on the AASG Google Wave group was this: Would you, at any time in your production workflow, normalize your audio? The response to the question was good and definitely varied. Andrew decided to weigh in on the subject via this post, so read it and feel free to comment. If you comment with your email, I may just send you a Wave invite!

Regarding the question of when to normalize audio I’d like to put that in perspective with regards to my work-flow.

When I do the final down-mix of a project (mostly in the domain of classical music, jazz or avantgarde), with material at the final sample rate and a dither plug-in in the last slot of the master bus (to reduce to 16 bit for CD-A), I check the peak levels of the loudest passages to make sure they stay below -0.2 dBFS.

You need some headroom when you plan to possibly trans-code the audio, e.g. to an mp3, as peaks can crop up and you definitely don’t want to go above 0 dBFS.

If you plan on sending the file to someone for mastering, or if you are bouncing a file that is to be placed in a compilation of material from other projects, it is useful to preserve headroom in the range of 3 to 6 dB–without clipping the material! Bounce to 24 bit fixed or 32 bit float and don’t maximize levels before you know where this piece of music will fit in.

If I see that there are occasional (and few!) peaks that would either create overs or force me to lower the overall level there are two choices: manually and musically lower the level of the clipping passages (I’ll pick up the topic of “automated gain riding” in a followup) or insert a brick-wall limiter in the processing chain (before the dithering plug-in).

So, when do I personally normalize?

If I have a file that was rendered with some headroom and want to hand it on I normalize it (to -0.2 dBFS) before reducing the bit depth and transcoding it. If I want to send off a small group of similar files I’ll do the same, normalizing all audio to the same level, so that the recipient has an easier job. And that’s about it :-)

Sanjay and I started this site in February and really didn’t know what we were aiming for. Over the past several months, however, the site has picked up some steam and hopefully a ton of readers. I thought I’d go through the posts (all 334 of them) and pick out my favorite posts, products, and more.

Videos

This site started out as a type of Q&A site where we’d post tutorials (both video and text), so that was the first part of our major content. While the tutorials have kind of taken a back seat to new product news and reviews (more coming soon), we can’t forget the first few posts on our beloved site: FX bussing and sidechain compression inside Reaper.

Questions and Answers

Recording, mixing, producing, mastering…there’s a lot of different avenues to express your creativity sonically. Inevitably, however, you’re going to run into some questions. That’s where we come in. We’ve covered some pretty important (albeit it dry) topics thus far, so feel free to catch up on our past Q&As:

• Acoustic Guitar Maintenance
• Creating MIDI Regions with Ultrabeat
• I/O Buffer Size and Latency
• Vocal Isolation
• Recording in Reaper
• Recording Education
• Vocal Reverb
• Why Do I Need Mastering?
• Building A DJ/Production Rig
• How to Deal with Compression That Pumps
• DJ Controller on a Budget
• Uneven Levels in a DJ Mix?

Tutorials + Articles

Aside from the video tutorials we’ve done, we’ve also done a few text-and-picture tutorials and a whole bunch of topical tutorials.

• Changing Your I/O Buffer Size
• Recording Your DJ Mixes in Audacity
• Miking Guitar Amps
• EQ Basics
• Using Inserts as Direct Outputs
• Intro to Mixers
• Parallel Compression
• Real Life Reverb
• Intro to Preamps
• Seeing Your Mix
• Know Your Signals
• Getting A “Warm” Sound
• Polar Patterns
• Processing Vocals
• Sidechain Compression in Reason
• Rewiring Reason Into Reaper
• Quantizing MIDI in Reaper
• Input Modes
• Reverb in GarageBand
• Parallel Compression in Live 7
• “What Programs Can I Make Beats In?”
• Super Simple Mastering in Logic
• Intro to Compressors / Part 2
• Recording Inside Live
• Practically Using Compression
• Basic Routing in Live
• Creating Mono Output Sends in Logic
• Logic 8 Tutorials You’ll Probably Like
• Vocal Editing Basics
• De-Essing De-Mistified
• Basic Vocal Mixing
• Grid Settings in Reaper
• GarageBand to Logic Part 1 / Part 2
• So You Want to Start Making Music?

2009 and Beyond…

2009 was a pretty big year for us. Not only did we start the site, but we also started building contacts and relationships with pro-audio and music manufacturers all across the world. We got some gear to review and also brought you news on some new and exciting gear. We attended our first trade show (AES in NYC), and hopefully we’ll be attending some more this year.

Be sure to keep a look out for more gear reviews, new articles, and more tutorials in the new year.

Either way, keep the emails and comments coming! Without them, there’s not much of a site!

So Ultrabeat is a monster of a plugin, but there are a few simple tricks to using that save a lot of time and make the plugin really flexible for something that comes bundled with a DAW.

Setting up a multichannel version of Ultrabeat allows you to group your samples and play them out of ultrabeat into different aux tracks.  I chose to have kicks come out of the main track, snares out of another aux, toms a second aux and cymbals out of a third. Basically I can put different compressors and EQ’s on the kicks than I do on the snares.  Then I can tweak the hi-end of the cymbals and gate the toms – all on separate channels.  Pretty cool, right?  Check out the video!

The European Commission is talking about limiting the default volume limit of mp3 players sold in the EU.

They’re suggesting 85 dB as a default maximum volume while still allowing users to override the max volume up to 100 dB.

Sounds good right?  Makes sense that we need to protect our ears.  Most audio engineers know that they listening to things too loud, too long will hurt your hearing.  It’s just a little sad that we can’t just manage our own volume. But sometimes it has to come down to laws to get people take care of their heads.

I suppose this isn’t entirely new news either.  iPods have had the ability to volume limit for a long while now, it’s just like smoking, eating incredibly fatty foods, or drinking a ton of alcohol.  We might know why its not good for us, but just keep doing it.

Any thoughts? Would you like to have governments telling you how loud is too loud?

Batt-O-Meter

Here’s a great idea for the Sound Guy or Guitarist in your life.  The Batt-O-Meter by Keith McMillen Instruments will tell you how much life you’ve got left on a battery without having to take it out of your guitar or effects pedal.  Basically you can check a 9 volt or 1.5 volt battery by plugging this guy into a quarter-inch jack of a guitar pedal or guitar.  It can tell you how many volts the battery is putting out, and how long it will last.  Pretty neat trick.

This would be great for Sound Guy toolboxes or Guitarist gig kits.  It’ll also save you some money being more efficient with your batteries.