Live and In Studio

Today, mobile DJs are taking on more tasks that require more setup consideration.  One thing that most mobile DJ’s need to consider in their budget or future purchases is lighting.  How you are going to control them comes into consideration depending on what gigs you do and your budget.  First for your lighting setup, you need to decide if you want to go with DMX or non-DMX controlled lighting.  Depending on the size of your budget, you can start with non-DMX lighting and then upgrade to DMX lighting later on.  If you already can afford and want to go with DMX controlled lighting, it is a good choice for lighting.

I was asked to do a basic tutorial on how to get started in Cubase.  I won't tell you that the way I work in Cubase is the best way, it’s just the way I do it.  But, if you are new to electronic music production and you are starting out in Cubase, then hopefully some of the things I will show will be beneficial to you.

For writing a dance tune (you pick the subgenre, its basically going to be the same no matter what your preference is), you need three basic things: samples, VSTs (or software instruments/instruments), and automation.  Now, the core of it is obviously going to be the samples and sounds you use to write your tune. However, automation comes in handy when you want the musical experience to take you to new heights.  For the purposes of this tutorial we will not focus on automation or instruments much.  So lets begin: open cubase (I'm using SX3 for this, will upgrade soon).

It wasn’t until about three months ago that I seriously started to consider taking my music from the studio to the stage in the form of a live performance. Until January, I didn’t start collecting the gear I would need for it. Here’s my number one issue, despite having owned a slick pioneer DJ setup for years, I never had the time or the burning desire to practice and therefore it left me as anything but a DJ. Given that and the fact that I did not own a laptop and all of my music was built from softsynths, I basically decided to write any form of performance out of my life. Then, Oneel and Fitzpatrick approached me about doing a podcast on BTUlive.com. All of the sudden, I felt as though everything had changed.

I hate talk radio.  Actually, I like radio news and interview shows.  What I hate are call-in shows where people get on the air and rant on subjects they don't really know about.  Sometimes it seems like all of AM radio exists to provide a public forum for the uninformed and their ill-considered opinions.

What does this have to do with sample loops?  I'm getting there.  Stick with me.

When I first heard KRS-One declare, "We need to bring sampling back!" in his cover of We Will Rock You I thought, “Back?  When was it gone?  Wouldn’t I have noticed?”

I don’t know exactly what KRS-One meant by “sampling” in this case.  Even just in the context of music the word has a range of meanings from the very specific and technical (the binary encoding performed immediately after A-D conversion) to the sweepingly broad (playing a digital recording).  Without trying to tackle them all I am going to discuss several of sampling’s uses in production.

In this article I will show how I get ready to DJ with Ableton Live and also show one way to setup your DJ rig in Ableton.   The great thing about Ableton Live is just because this is how one person does it, you do not have to follow my setup exactly.  Ableton gives you the ability to setup your rig how ever you want.   We all think differently and Ableton frees us to mix the way we think rather than being stuck with 2 or 4 channels, a cross fader, and cue points.

If I said Ableton Live were like a Swiss Army Knife you might expect this article to be a laundry list of features.  So, I’m not going to say that.  A plethora of features doesn’t win the day.  Functionality and usability do.  Live is an elegantly designed audio program, built in such a clever way that it does a number of things well. Digital DJing is one of them.

Most people do not like to talk about money unless their day job directly involves sales or money. It is typically hard to bridge the gap from "Yes, I will play your event." to "How much are paying?" So, in this edition of "The Drop", we are going to talk about money. The Bible has lots to say about money and is clear about a worker's wage. Our obedience with money can and will effect our walk with God.

As you probably have noticed, there is no REAL Drop this issue. I sent out about 15 emails and private messages to people, and either they were not interested in writing a Drop or I did not receive any response. Because of this, there will be no official Drop this time out.

Unless you’re primary musical gig is as a choral vocalist, and maybe even then, you are going to end up owning music equipment.  Even if you see it as a necessary evil, you need to wrap your head around a hardware setup, get comfortable using it, and get busy making music.  Between here and there, you have a number of decisions to make.