As music creation tools become more accessible and powerful it has never been easier to make great records without emptying your wallet. You may not realize it, but as a DJ, you already have a production-oriented mind. All you need to do is acquaint yourself with the right tools to get the music in your head on paper. So get pumped– you’ll be throwing original songs into your DJ set before you know it!

Before we jump into specific production tutorials, I want to get you thinking about what kind of music you really want to create. With this focus in mind you’ll be able to take it in the direction YOU want.

WHO ARE YOU?

You may already have an idea of the sound you’re aiming for, and that’s great. But for those who have no idea of the direction you want to go, don’t panic. Here’s a suggestion for narrowing down who you are musically:

1.    Get out a pen and paper.
2.    Now write down a list of three your favorite artists.
3.    Next to each artist draw 2 to 3 lines connecting to your favorite songs from that artist.
4.    Next to each of those songs, write why you love the song.

For this part, I suggest actually going back and listening to the songs rather than going from memory– you may find that you hear things you didn’t hear before when you analyze them. Do you love the pumping bass lines? The distorted vocal loop? The four-on-the-floor kick drum? Maybe the barely-audible high-pitched drone in the back of the mix. It doesn’t matter if it’s an instrument, a melody, or even just a fleeting moment; you know what you love about the song.

Here’s mine as an example:

You see the list on the right? That’s your sonic profile. You just musically eHarmonie’d yourself and found your match. These are musical elements that you find beauty in. Your aim should be to filter everything you love about your favorite artists and combine them into one package.

WHAT IS NEXT?

With a computer, the software of your preference, and a MIDI controller, you have a virtual symphony at your fingertips. Now go exploring. No rules or anything. Just explore the software, sounds, processors, and don’t worry about what’s right or not; just do what sounds good to you. Go put a bit crusher on an entire drum kit. I don’t even care. Go nuts, Trent Reznor.

After you’re done exploring, you can start adding some structure to your music. Here’s your first assignment:

1.    Take your favorite song, import it into an audio track,
2.    Using virtual instruments, do your best to recreate the drum part.
3.    Try to match the drum sounds as best you can

This is a good exercise not only in beat recognition, but also how to pick out sounds and samples that work well. It’s also the first step in figuring out what kind of music you want to craft. Don’t worry if it’s tough at first, step-by-step tutorial videos are on their way.

A note from Ean:
Just the other day I sat with one of our employees over lunch and explained how the Dj industry has dramatically changed in the 15 years I have been involved.  Back then, with mix CD’s and mix tapes as the dominant medium, Dj’s like Paul Oakenfeld and Carl Cox were not known for their productions but for their mixes. As we all know, this is no longer the case. Famous producers like DeadMau5 are the defacto dj super-stars and massive dance tracks seem to be the only road to stardom.  Since our mission has always been, and continues to be, making our readers the best that you can be, we will start including articles on the topic of producing great dance tracks in Logic and other software.

If you have any specific problems or questions post them in the comments!

CONTINUE READING

Compression Basics

Djs Guide To Mastering pt 1

Djs Guide To Mastering pt 2

In the first half of this two-part article, Phil Morse explains how booking guest DJs can cement your club night’s reputation and fast-track your DJ career

Let’s begin this crash course with a truism: Starting a club night is the best way of getting established as a DJ. You play week-in, week-out to a crowd who know you and your music. This loyalty builds your first fan base, and the skills you pick up at this stage of your career power your rise up the ranks.

Where else can you learn how to warm up, play at peak time, break new music and program a full night’s tunes? Where else can you learn how to keep a half-full dancefloor happy, as well as a rammed one? Where else can you learn about dealing with money, doormen, bar staff, managers, police, licensing, fights – hell, even the taxman? And be honest, where else are you going to get the pure hours of practice you need to become a great DJ, and fast?

We’re not talking a superclub here. Your night will be in a small venue (say 200 people). You may get 30 or 40 people some weeks, or even less. You will have to promote yourself like mad. You’ll have to find a sympathetic club owner. You’ll have to fight for a weekend slot. You’ll definitely need a partner to do it with. You may have to move to a bigger town to do it at all. You will definitely make loads of mistakes. And you’ll often wonder why the hell you’re doing it.

GUEST DJS ARE YOUR SPRINGBOARD TO SUCCESS

But here’s the thing: If you start a club night and then book good guest DJs, you will advance into the big time in a way and at a pace that’s simply not possible otherwise. Here’s why:

• It helps to build your own and your club’s reputations: Let’s say you want to put on a dubstep night. You think of a good name. But alone this isn’t enough: people need to start associating that name (and yours) with the music you play. And the quickest way to do this is to book known names on your scene. It gives you credibility and it ’short-cuts’ the link in clubbers’ brains between your brand and your music.
• It improves your DJing: Meeting, watching and listening to good DJs means not only will you pick up music from them, but you’ll get to hear their experiences, watch their mixing techniques and see how they build a crowd they don’t know.
• You get a network of A-list players: Give guest DJs a good night in your venue, and they will tell other people. Lots of them. That means more people come to your club, and it also gets you guest DJ slots. I’m not an A-list DJ, but I’ve DJed in some stupendous places (from U2’s cool little Kitchen club in Dublin, Ireland, to Privilege in Ibiza, the biggest club in the world), simply by building good relationships with guest DJs.
• It gives people a reason to write about you: You can talk the media into covering your night every now and then, and maybe get the odd blog review, but once it’s done, it’s done. But if you’re booking guest DJs? Now there’s something your local newspaper, listings magazine, what’s on website and music blogs can write about; something people can talk about on Facebook, Twitter, in your city’s music forums and to each other…
• It’s fun!: To put the required effort into your DJ career to succeed, you need to enjoy what you’re doing. Grinding away week after week behind the decks with that ‘will my night ever take off?’ feeling can dent the firmest of wills. You need a lift every now and then, and the special nights that guest DJs can deliver for you are just that. You’re mixing with your scene’s stars, and it feels good!

YOU ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOUR GUESTS

Before we move on to how to choose and book your guest DJs, however, there’s a rule you must understand: the only guest DJs you can afford to book every week are the ones you don’t want.

When I started the club night that kicked off my DJing career back in the 90s, we booked everyone we could think of – as long as they would do it for next-to-nothing. We wanted a name on the flyers and posters for every single event. We booked friends, DJs from other clubs in our town and DJs from the next town. But our club was going nowhere, fast. A more experienced promoter said to me:

“Why are you booking these guys? You can do it better yourselves. Your bookings are all over the place! Cut back and take control. You’re good enough…”

It was a ‘eureka’ moment for us. At the end of the day, you’re more important than any of your guest DJs! Your ideas for your night are vital. After all, you’ve got the most invested in its success. That means that it has to be just you playing most weeks; your guest DJs should be the icing on the cake. You should book them occasionally and carefully to reinforce your night, not because you can’t think of any better ideas.

Once you realize this, guest DJs can be your springboard to success. So in part 2, we’ll learn who to book, how to afford them, how to book them, how to promote the event and how to handle the night itself.

Co-founder and resident at Manchester (England) club night ‘Tangled’ through most of the 1990s and early 2000s, Phil Morse is also a music journalist and currently edits the Digital DJ Tips blog. He has DJed across Europe, and currently lives in southern Spain where he plays Balearic beach sundowners on the weekends.

The introduction of the Dicer may have heralded a new marriage of turntables and controllers, but as with all new marriages, there is a lot to be fully explored. The current rash of YouTube videos featuring the Dicer have only begun to skim the surface of the technical and creative possibilities. While mapping my own Dicers in Traktor Pro, I discovered a whole slew of LED color options, as well as the possibility to control the LED intensity. In this article we have a short video and matching color table that will demonstrate how to map your DJ software to various color outputs on the dicer or other multi-LED controllers.

A RAINBOW OF POSSIBILITIES

Mapping different LED colors is straight-forward.  After following our LED programming article, you should be familiar with the process. The only little twist at the end here is that the MIDI range needs to be tweaked to allow the color of your choosing to be displayed. The below table explains the range and the color.

Red: 0-15

Pink: 16-31

Rose: 32-47

Dark Orange: 48-63

Light Orange: 64-79

Yellow: 80-95

Lime: 96-111

Green: 112-127

How does the Dicer display different colors? It has two LED under each button, and changing the MIDI range tells it how much of each color to ‘turn on’. Mixing the two LED intensities changes the color.

A side note here is that, as BradCee mentions in the LED programming article, when mapping Hotcue State, the behavior is not as predictable with the Controller Range of MIN=0 and MAX=1. Depending on what type of cue is set (Load, Grid, Cue, Fade In/Out or Loop), the behavior is different, with some requiring the blend to be checked and others no blend.

NOT THE BRIGHTEST CANDLE…

Changing the intensity of the LED is as easy as lowering the MAX number from the above list.  Another possibility is to increase the MIN number so that the button is visible even with the output control ‘off’. Apart from the latter, I don’t really see the benefit of this, but I mention it as it exists.

Support this blog and purchase your dicers here.

The VMS4 MIDI controller is another entry into the newest rage for digital DJs: 4-channel controllers. The VMS4, however, offers a twist to the usual formula by serving double duty as a 4-channel analogue mixer. At a price of only $499, many DJs have asked: “Am I missing something? That sounds like a great deal.” DJTechTools investigates to find out if the first controller from American Audio is too good to be true.

Reviewed: AMERICAN DJ VMS4
Price: $499
Communication: MIDI over USB (requires power supply)  /  (Mac and Windows)
Available: Available now
Ships with: Virtual DJ LE (2 Decks) - Upgradable to Pro for $199
Weight: Approx. 20 pounds
Key Feature: Built-in sound card and analog mixer

THE GOOD
Great value at $499, you’re going to get a lot of functionality for your money with this controller if you already own Traktor Pro or Scratch Pro. The switchable analog/midi channels enable mixing computer outputs with traditional analogue inputs like CD players or iPods. Touch-sensitive jog wheels and touch strips have some interesting mapping potential for Traktor users. The steel chassis feels and looks more professional than the price suggests.

THE BAD

The VMS4 ships with Virtual DJ LE, so you will need to spend another $200 to get a decent piece of software. The outputs of the mixer in digital and analogue mode are noticeably lower than other mixers and sound cards. At a weight of almost 20 pounds, this is not exactly the most portable controller available on the market. The jog wheels don’t support scratching and pitch bending at the same time unless you use a protective rubber ring around the wheels, which detracts a lot from its curb appeal. The cross fader has a 1/4″ delay in action for both audio and midi, making it impossible to do fast cuts and crabs accurately.

THE BOTTOM LINE

If DJTechTools or another group comes out with a stellar Traktor Pro mapping, this could be a great winter toy for those that can’t quite plop down $999 for the Native Instruments S4. If you want an all-in-one controller/software combo that works really well out of the box, this is not quite it. The Virtual DJ LE software leaves much to be desired and there are no great mappings for Traktor Pro available yet.

OVERALL IMPRESSION

This 4-deck controller is no lightweight. Built out of an all-metal chassis, it weighs in at nearly 20 pounds. Thankfully there are four thick rubber bumpers on the corners, which keep it from knocking up the surroundings during transport. As shown in the photo above, the VMS4 is quite a bit longer than a 15″ laptop, taking it outside the easily portable size range, but it is still packable with a specialized bag or road case. A few specific notes on the various controls:

• Line Faders: 45mm and average quality with a less-than-smooth resistance
• Crossfaders: Comparable to most MIDI controllers in this price range
• Jog Wheels: Surprisingly smooth and pleasant to use with the 1200 style rivets, but the lack of pitch bending in scratch mode will annoy some
• Knobs: Rubberized for good grip but the LED marking system is not ideal for all conditions
• Pitch Faders: 60mm and comparable to most MIDI controllers in this price range
• Buttons: These are silicon rubber with a ‘cliquey’ tactile switch that are fairly squishy and not the most enjoyable to press
• Front Panel Controls: Very extensive with full crossfader assignment and mixer options
• Mouse Pad: Like most built-in mouse pads you will probably end up using the pad on your laptop because it just performs much better but the PAD can be used as an X/Y controller when the shift button is held.

GREAT FOR THE MOBILE DJ?

It is no surprise that this unit is going to be a hit with mobile DJs as American Audio’s business appears to be primarily aimed at that market. There are some really good features that will be ideal for that group:

• Balanced XLR outputs
• Full 4-channel analog mixer for blending CDs and vinyl with a computer output
• Dual XLR MIC inputs with 3-band EQ for each MIC
• Appropriate size and professional appearance for the standard wedding gig

I was concerned that the power supply is un-grounded, as some mobile DJs have reported ground problems when running powered speakers straight out of all-in-one controller like the VCI-300.

KNOB LIGHTING

All of the black rubberized knobs are marked not by a white line but by red LED backlighting. In theory, this is a very cool feature, and should help a lot in dark environments. In standard day/indoor light, however, it is actually worse than the usual white lines. The problem? In 90% of knob positions, only a small dot of red is visible, making the position hard to recognize. There are four knobs marked with standard white lines side-by-side so it’s very clear which method works better. To make things even more awkward, those knobs marked with white are actually endless encoders – the types of knobs you want with no marking!

Fortunately, in dark lighting – the more common scenario – the red LED lines are more fully visible and start to work slightly better than the traditional white marking.

VIRTUAL DJ LE

The controller ships with Virtual DJ software so you can start playing right out of the box (the screen shot above was taken from my 15″ Macbook). The first thing you notice is the 8-bit VMS4 skin. This one-to-one representation of the hardware is not LO-FI in a good way but looks more like a bad GIF from the late 90’s. On visual presentation alone, it’s hard to take the software seriously with graphics this bad (at 13″, full-screen looks better). Purchasing a 4-deck controller that ships with only two decks worth of software may also be a frustration, but you can upgrade to the newer version of Virtual DJ for $200. I am told the full version of Virtual DJ is much better but this VMS4 edition is very limited in its scope. The single most frustrating feature exclusion was a lack of itunes support. You can browse the itunes folders but have no access to Itunes playlists.

The included sampler has loop and one-shot modes. If you want to just trigger a few air horns then they will work OK, but with considerable latency. The loops are supposed to auto sync with playing tracks but even the supplied loops that come with the Virtual DJ software fail to sync up at all with basic electro.

Assuming that most of you will be looking to connect this to Traktor, lets go ahead and see how it performs in that department.

TRAKTOR PRO

I did some basic mapping inside Traktor to test the controller and used FreshFluke’s 4-deck  mapping, which is supplied by American Audio. I found the latter to be barely usable without an overlay and vinyl control, so instead focused on a few of the key points:

• Jog Wheels: High resolution, with a message sent when the top or side of the wheel is touched
• Pitch Faders: High resolution
• Shift Button: Hard wired, this changes the note values and turns the mouse pad into an X/Y controller
• Touch Strips: Standard resolution (0-127), with a single message sent when touched
• Everything else is standard MIDI and worked without issues. One bonus is that all controls, including crossfader assignment and even the MIC controls, are MIDI-assignable.

ANALOGUE MIXING

One of the VMS4’s strong points is their ‘MIDI-Log’ feature. This means that you can switch all 4 channels from either providing MIDI control for internal mixing or route sound out the VMS4 for traditional analogue mixing.  This would be most ideal for someone that needs to mix their computer output with a few analogue sources throughout the night.

As an analogue mixer the unit performs reasonably well, although I found it fairly easy to distort the outputs with very crunchy results when the low end was pushed particularly hard. As mentioned earlier, one noticeable shortcoming is that the outputs are quite a bit quieter than the average mixer or sound card (more below).

The crossfader is the one major drawback of using this controller as a traditional mixer. I noticed there is about 1/4″ of travel into the fader before it actually starts to activate. This would be a major problem if you wanted to use the VMS4 as a combo mixer/controller with a DVS system like Scratch Pro. Although not as noticeable when set to a soft crossfader curve, in the hard-cut setting it becomes unusable for fast cuts and transforms. It’s worth noting that this was only apparent in analog mode and not when using the crossfader as a MIDI controller.

There are some reports on the web of analog mixer bleed between channels. I personally did not encounter this issue but it has been a problem for some early adopters.

AUDIO QUALITY

I A/B’d the VMS4 audio outputs against the popular Audio 4 DJ (which has shown to be one of the stronger DJ sound cards in our roundup). The results were not exactly great. In order to get the levels even I had to boost the VMS4 outputs up by approximately 3 dB (see above photo), which adds a lot of noise to the channel. Once at an even level, the sound did have some thin characteristics. It was slightly lacking in low end and did not have as good of a stereo field as the Audio 4 DJ.

These tests were performed in our labs, which are equipped with the following DJ system.

• Mains: 2 x Mackie SRM-450 + 1 x 18″ QSC sub
• Monitors: 2 x Genelecs

SCRATCHING

Don’t buy this unit, or almost any controller for that matter, if you expect to do any serious scratching. The accuracy of the MIDI just does not support it. I had really poor results in attempting to scratch in a track with Virtual DJ and average results with Traktor Pro (comparable to the VCI-100)

SUMMARY

The value-packed $499 controller from American Audio surprised us by performing above expectations. Although not exactly Rane or Vestax quality, everything is solidly built and looks like it may stand the test of time. If you already own Traktor Pro, can’t rationalize spending $999 on the Native Instruments S4 or simply can’t wait to get your hands on a reasonably priced 4-deck controller, the VMS4 is a good value with 4 channels of controls and a built-in sound card. I can’t see many people taking it to the club because of its weight and sound card shortcomings, but for home use and casual DJing, it will be sufficient. The included software won’t take you very far, so take into consideration the extra $200 to be spent on software when doing price comparisons.

DJ TECHTOOLS MAPPING

If there are enough interested parties, we may create a mapping/overlay combo for Traktor Pro and the VMS4. Sign up bellow to express your interest and we will e-mail you more info if a DJ TechTools VMS4 mapping for Traktor Pro is created!

Written By: Alexander (HedgeHog)
Party-pictures by: Michael Andrew Martin
Editing and Article Structure by: Ean

After four years of steady growth here at Dj TechTools, everyone decided it was about time for a first official meeting of the DJTechTools community in Europe. This entry is a report about the event from the perspective of everyone involved and may also give you a few tips on how to throw your very own first epic party.

HOW IT ALL STARTED

Since most of the DJTechTools-members are DJs (surprised?) throwing a party was given to be the best way to meet them in real-life. It was first proposed to hold the party in Berlin 10 months ago on the forums. I was instantly on fire regarding the idea and since I’m near Berlin on weekends – eventually took over the planning.

The goal?

1) Get the German Dj TechTools community together for dj sets and a real life meet-up

2) Give some of the less experienced guys a chance to play

3) Expose more people to the world of djing beyond turntables and CDJ’s

Everyone told us to start small, so we planned to have around 300 people at the party which seemed realistic. Well…in the end the event ended up much bigger with over 1000 people at one of the most famous clubs in Berlin- Tresor! In typical TechTools fashion, it was decided in a poll that the event should be held in the summer.  Ean linked me to Native Instruments, which linked me to a local promoter. Luckily for me the promoter knew venues, people to talk to and how to run a successful party.

If you have no clue how the business works. Seek advice from someone who does or find a promoter who knows the scene in the city where your event shall take place. They often get discounts from hotels or can negotiate better conditions with clubs because of their regular business.

The promoter helped out big time and was able to claim the famous club,  Tresor on a Friday-night. On the one hand that was very cool, because it is such a well-known club, on the other hand the Tresor is way bigger than what we initially planned. Its maze-like structure needs at least 900 people to not look empty. That made it necessary to have at least one well-known headliner to drag people in.

THE SPONSORS

Big thanks to Native Instruments and the owner of a DJ- and instrument-shop called AudioPalace for their sponsorship! They made the budget possible and brought in connections to artists.

Improve your monetary situation by adding sponsors to your event. These can be family, friends or companies and it will take a lot of stress off you- the one guy responsible if the parties goes broke. Be prepared to explain what you are offering in exchange for sponsorship- for example, booking a dj on the companies artist roster.

THE HEADLINERS

I was looking to book one locally known DJ and another one with some mad controllerism-skills so we decided to fly in the current DMC Champion DJ Shiftee and Boyz Noize Records’ Strip Steve. Native Instruments was super kind to help us out with Shiftee’s flight, but sadly that single detail ended up busting the budget because it was a lot more expensive than what we planned for.
Start as early as possible to book artist, hotels, flight etc.! You should do that at least two to three months in advance. Besides lower prices you’ll have enough time to negotiate better deals and the artists will be more likely to be available.

PROMOTION

When all details got finalized, it left only 3 weeks to promote the event but we still pulled everything together. There were flyers (thanks to Controlled Demolition), and a post on my blog to galvanize traffic. Both Native Instruments and Numark wrote about it on their Facebook-pages and DJTechTools had a large banner on the sidebar. I also contacted two big radio-stations in Berlin. One mentioned it a dozen times in their event-hints and the other one, namely Radio Fritz, invited me and Shiftee for an interview followed by a short performance of Shiftee. That was great promotion for the event and what DJTechTools stands for in general. You can watch listen to the interview and his performance here:

Although our promotion was somewhat  weak I still believe that these two radio-stations dragged in a lot of the 850 paying guests (plus around 200 on the guest list) to the Tresor that night. Some regular Tresor-visitors told me that the crowd that night was pretty different from the one who comes to regular Tresor-parties suggesting that most of them were TechTools driven!

If your event (or lineup) has an interesting twist, go after local radio-stations or magazines. That is great promotion and usually for free.

THE PARTY

Midi-Fight club was very lucky to have an open-minded crowd which gave us a great time despite of the wide diversity of genres played. Instead of telling you how great it was, just see yourself:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks to “Honestly Who”for putting together the video with footage collected through to the party.

A few things didn’t work out quite well. The party was a big success but I ended up losing a little money due to Shiftee’s flight and wasn’t able to reimburse most costs of the DJTechTools-members. There also was some trouble with the hotel (I’m still wondering which DJ-pair claimed the band-suite and didn’t notice this one was actually for four people).  Besides those few hiccups everything went smoothly

You may be the big shot at that night, but don’t act like one! Bring bartenders, security and nightmanager on your side. They can make your task even more cumbersome than it already is.

WHAT ABOUT THE DJS?

I asked all DJs for their impressions of the party, remarkable events and their setup. Here’s what they said:

Honestly Who

“I was the opener on the Globus Floor hitting a Videomix with Virtual DJ. Even though I opened, the floor was filling up quickly. One hour into my set the crowd totally went with me, dancing their butts off or enjoying the Videomix. For the first time I understood the benefits of crowd-control and bar-rotation. I really want to point out how much this article helped me with this.
Setup: Samsung R780, DJ-Tech i-Mix Reload, Korg nanoPad, Virtual DJ (Videomix)

K.T.I.T.

“Although I opened on the +4 Bar there was already a good atmosphere at 1 AM. Sadly the PA wasn’t powerful enough. I had to push the mixer into the red in order to keep a good volume-level. Meeting all the guys I normally only talk to in the forum was a fun experience. I also liked the diversity of EDM-genres which were played that night.
Setup: MacBook Pro, Audio 8 DJ, Vestax VCI-100, Korg nanoPad (for Cue-Points), Korg nanoKontrol (for effects), Traktor Pro

DJ Shiftee

“This was my first time playing a true Berlin club. The crowd was super into it, and some people stayed until 10AM dancing. I realize for Berliners that’s nothing, but for a New Yorker like me, that’s impressive.   It was incredibly refreshing to see the atmosphere of the night and the attitude’s of the people. No pretentiousness, no “look at how cool I am” or “you can only get if you’re a model or you buy a bottle.” It was all about the music, and I loved that! I realized after my set that I was DJing the whole time with my fly unzipped”
Setup: Macbook Pro, 2x Technics 1210 MK2 (timecode), Xone:92, NI Kontrol X1, NI Maschine as Midi-Controller, Traktor Scratch Pro

Controlled Demolition

“Since I didn’t really get to play, I had plenty of time to look around. The sets were pretty clean, but I didn’t see any MIDI-Fighting except for a few cool bits by Shiftee . Strip Steve had to borrow my headphones because he didn’t bring his own. The best thing about the night was meeting the people involved, and the hotel.”
Setup: Macbook, IBM W701, RME Fireface 400, 2x vestax pdx3000, Ecler Evo5, Akai APC80, Akai LPD8 Although bringing that much stuff he sadly didn’t get to use it…
Funk-A-Tron

“I enjoyed playing and the crowd was amazing; they really came out to party! One thing that stood out for me was that in the middle of my performance, I got some latency problems. There were a lot pops and crackles. After putting my pokerface on, I
killed the volume, increased the latency and put the music back on. Right after the music
kicked in, the crowd went wild! In a strange way the latency problems indirectly
contributed to the ambiance. For me, this was an experience I will gladly remember.”
Setup: Macbook Pro,  Vestax VCM-600, Evolution UC-33e (for effects) routing Traktor Pro through  Ableton Live (4 Traktor decks and two sample and loop-decks)

MadsMission vs Lasse Buhl

I did a back to back set with one of my DJ mates from Copenhagen. We are used to play together at clubs, but had never played at a Tresor-size club. We were looking forward to the evening, especially because the Berlin crowd traditionally digs the kind of music we play – deep and heavy techno.  The crowd totally fulfilled our expectations.  We started with easy going Techno, but the crowd kept asking for harder tunes. Finally our hardest techno tracks, seemed to satisfy them. Everyone was filled with energy from the hard pumping beats. What a crowd, what a place, what a party! “
Setup: MacBook Pro, Ecler Evo 5, 2x Technics 1210 MK2 (timecode), Traktor Scratch Pro

Müller & Graf

“We began to set up our stuff when the nightmanager told us that he´s going to close the +4 bar. I was pissed and so were Eric and Controlled Demolition. Luckily Hedge shared his timeslot with us. So we had an hour to rock the Globus floor. We started with some Dubstep but have been told to switch to Electro later into our set. We joined the Restricted-guys for another hour and headed back to the hotel. All in all I have to say that I had a nice time to finally meet some of the djtt guys.”
Setup:
Müller: Asus Eee PC, NI Audio Control 1, NI Kontrol X1,  Behringer BCD-3000, Traktor Scratch Pro
Graf: Sony Vaio Notebook, NI Audio8DJ , Vestax VCI-100SE, Traktor Scratch Pro

Hedgehog

“The +4 bar was closed down without my permission which caused Controlled Demolition and Müller & Graf not being able to play. I shared my spot with the latter ones, but messed up dealing with Controlled Demolition, which I still regret. Honestly Who, Shiftee and I went to a bakery for breakfast with some tasty DJ-talk. When we went back to the Tresor at 8AM I was very happy that Restricted Sessions finally arrived and were already spinning their Trance-set. It was really mind-blowing to see that there were actually more people in the Tresor than before going to the bakery. The most hilarious thing I noticed was one guy who did stretch-exercises on the dance floor ALL NIGHT long”
Setup: Thinkpad T61, Vestax VCI-300 (for 4-deck control), Vestax VCI-100 (for effects), Akai MPC-1000 (for added samples and loops), Traktor Pro, Alesis Palmtrack to record the sets

Restricted Sessions
”We had a long way to go from the Netherlands. The DJ gear was installed on the backseat of the Volvo and beats were blazing through the car stereo. After chasing 3 hours through Berlin (who knew there are like 31 Köpenicker Straßes in Berlin?) We made it to the Tresor 20 minutes before our set started. We have been told by the staff, that 30 minutes into our set, they would judge whether to close down the Tresor-floor or our Globus-floor. They shut down the other floor. We would never have expected Tresor, which is the stomping ground of minimal & techno to open up their warm arms and welcome us as a Progressive act as that they did.”
Setup: MacBook Pro, NI Audio4DJ, A&H Xone:92, Behringer BCR 2000, Midi-Fighter, Traktor Pro

LIVE SETS

So you couldn’t make it? There is no need to be sad. We recorded all but two of the livesets. You can listen to and download them in our custom Official.fm-player (formerly Fairtilizer) below.

A WORD OF THANKS

Thanks to everyone involved (especially the DJs and sponsors) for making this party possible. There might be another Midi-Fight-Club in 2011. Become a fan on our Facebook-page to receive the latest updates! I’ll soon set up www.midifightclub.com as well.

With several hundred thousand TechTools fans worldwide, I am not surprised that a big group came out for the first midi-fight club. Our biggest fan centers are the US, Germany, Netherlands, UK and South America. If your interested in putting together a Dj TechTools get together in your town- get in touch with us! – Ean

Its been a while since we had a light Friday, so here are some fun dj related videos that are light on the thinking but heavy on the fun. Above we have the worlds most excited dj ever (enthusiasm truly is contagious!) and after the break its Dj Shiftee having some fun with the S4 live @ the Dj expo plus a few other fun videos for your Friday!

While we are on the topic of “older” djs. Wondering what it might look like if your grandmother had a late-life crisis and reinvented her self as a electro dj? Wonder no more! TechTools is putting together an article on “dj gimmicks” later this month. If you know of some others, share them in the comments!

Dj Shiftee gets down with the s4 and shows how much fun you can have with just 1 loop and an airhorn sample

We finally got around to shooting a video that explains just what the midi-fighter is. I hope it captures the fun, relaxed vibe of the product we have all come to love and enjoy. Wondering about that lovely controller at the end of the video? Stay tuned for next weeks Friday article where we show those and 4 other customer midi-fighters built by our staff. Just like the picture bellow- we are now offering some very cool matte acrylic for existing midi-fighter owners.

When Thomas Edison introduced the phonograph to the world, I doubt anyone could have foreseen what a ground-breaking invention it would prove to be or what legacy it would spawn. Just like VHS vs Betamax or HD-DVD vs BluRay, a format war emerged; the cylindrical disc used on Edison’s machine against the German Emile Berliner’s format, a gramophone disc sometimes referred to as a phonograph disc or, as it is more commonly called, a record. Although Edison’s phonograph cylinder was both a storage and a playback medium (when using wax cylinders) as opposed to the disc’s mere playback ability, the record eventually won out in the late 1920s. We still, however, pay homage to both machines in the modern DJ world with the “phono” inputs on our mixers, and of course every musician wants an HMV-style gramophone in the guise of the prestigious Grammy award! Lets take a look back through time in order to understand where things might be headed.

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE DJ

There was a novel buzz about popular music in the 1930s, and it was in 1935 that Walter Winchell, a commentator and early gossip columnist, introduced the term ‘Disc Jockey’ – a label referring to the radio announcers who were playing music discs between their news and discussion broadcasts. This type of program quickly became the economic basis of many radio stations. These Disc Jockeys (DJs) also played at functions and performed like a human jukebox whilst acting as a master of ceremonies with dialogue between records until the ‘40s, when British DJ Jimmy Savile claims he was the first to use two turntables to facilitate continuous music play. Uninterrupted music flow was the first step towards the job that comes to mind today when we hear the term ‘DJ’, and in the following years nightclubs with discotheques sprung up all over the world.

The material the records were made from changed from shellac to vinyl yet the disc format remains unchanged; this medium from the turn of the last century is still going strong!  All through the constant use of the record in the second half of the last century, new performance styles appeared as DJs matched tempos, started at cue points, slip-drop cued and scratched.  It is amazing to think now that it was in 1972 that a division of Matsushita called Technics released a record player you may well have heard of, the SL 1200. Although it was actually marketed as a Hi-Fi turntable, due to it’s +/- 8% pitch and strong direct-drive motor it soon became the must-have tool for the new wave. Armed with the SL 1200 and cutting edge techniques, “turntablists”  appeared and would continue for the next 35 odd years!!!

The SL 1200 would go through many revisions in this time, the longest running and most common model being the MK II. It was only when Pioneer launched their CDJ 1000 that a suitable alternative to the turntable for the DJ became a realistic option.

THE CLEAR AND PRESENT…

The CDJ 1000 is still de rigueur with most venues around the globe, but we have reached another milestone as a new type of DJ system, the computer DJ set-up, landed on our planet not so long ago. These are able to support many software platforms and each play various file types from mp3 to WAV to FLAC to AAC. The mp3 dates back to the 90s and its compressed size made it easy to store and quickly transfer files over the ‘Net or e-mail. Digital files were a technological step forward yet at the same time marked a step backwards in terms of fidelity. None-the-less, consumers accepted the wow factor of the “want it right now” mentality at the expense of quality. Fortunately, as internet bandwidth has icnreased dramatically so has the standard mp3 quality. Its now common to find a club playable file almost anywhere.

Due to the explosion in mp3 usage, software companies jumped on the opportunity of using these files in a environment where they could be manipulated and mixed in a hardware free manner. Although fine for mobile style djing due to the sheer amount of music they could have at their disposal, the mouse and keyboard driven software did not catch on well with the masses.

Final scratch appeared in 2002 and by using a time-code record it allowed the user to manipulate digital audio from the computer directly on the oh-so-familiar turntable. However, in the same way as the CD’s first arrival, the software was a little clunky and hit/miss at best. After years of development and slow market adoption we now have 2 market leaders in the DVS department (digital vinyl control system): Serato’s Scratch and Native Instrument’s Traktor. These mature programs at last provided the feel and response that DJs wanted, combined with the flexibility of the software effectively sealing the deal on the newest industry standard.

FLASH FORWARD

Today, we may be seeing an emerging trend in djing that is gently moving away from the iconic phonographic circle that has been with us for so long.  Many performers seem to be leaving traditional interfaces like turntables and CDJs behind in favor of high performance controllers that can be manipulated and controlled like musical instruments. Software now enables almost unlimited creative control over music allowing djs today to completely de-construct and re-image songs live.

These are things you simply cannot do in the same way with just a pair of CDs / turntables and mixer…  Hyper London DJ Phil Drummond once said to me, “I’ve been mixing on 1200‘s for over 20 years, nothing to prove there. Now with Traktor I sometimes CHOOSE not to and to concentrate on something else far more interesting instead!” I’m sure you all saw the video posted here recently of five- time DMC World Champion DJ Craze impressively showing just what can be achieved with the vinyl control, effects and a few controllers. Our own Ean Golden has demonstrated superlative and inspirational skills with control surfaces many times in his quest to use and inspire others to work with software as a true musical instrument.

Without a new industry standard defined in this space, we are still in the golden age of controllers and controllerism where options abound but quality may not always prevail. This forces many to cobble together a mish mash of technolgy that suits their needs. A turntable here, a controller there, a few mixers and a random FX unit all get brought together to create a unique presentation. Companies like NI are attempting to define the next standard with all in one Software/Hardware combinations like the s4 but the jury is still out as to whether thats the road this industry will take in the long run.

TIME TO DUST OFF THE CRYSTAL BALL…

So, what’s next? Looking at the trends right now, it would seem that there are certainly exciting times ahead! Now that a majority of music is in a computer-readable format, it is clear that physical media is out. As the Internet becomes quicker and storage cheaper, we can have our large uncompressed files in less time than making a good cup of coffee with promises that is will soon be instantaneous.

The software heart of our systems is advancing at a great rate and as new and exciting concepts are being developed every month. I personally believe that technology found in Melodyne’s polyphonic analysis will soon become common place, allowing the user to strip elements out of a complete track in real time, creating mind blowing live remixes of any material.

The most visual aspect – and perhaps the most exciting – is how we control our software. We are seeing an emergence of interest in touch technology. Ipad djing and large touch sensitive tables all offer a glimpse into what the future may hold. While these technologies hold promise, they have failed to really gain momentum yet. Could that be because they only 2 dimensions?  In the 80s Jean-Michel Jarre was triggering MIDI with a pair of white gloves over an array of laser beams. I therefore propose a new type of interface medium, a different type of screen, a screen technology that is in 3 dimensions and works on motion, hand manipulation and touch. Yes, a true “Minority Report” type system. Science fiction from a movie? I think not. Have a peep at this and decide for yourself:

Additional Reading on Dj History:

The Drums that last forever

HISTORY of DVS @ CDM