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Xone+Ableton DJ Techniques #1

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Filing this one under “DJ Techniques” :)

As I am becoming more and more comfortable with my new Xone:3D hardware, I am learning a variety of fun tricks.

The hallmark of a great DJ is the ability to take a track and make it his (or hers). A technique that really piqued my interest, at a recent rave (EDC), is the layering of the same track twice, offset by a few beats or bars.

John “00″ Flemming completely blew me away with a set at EDC 2007 using this technique. He was playing some great psyc-trance rhythms with delicious dirty bass, and using the multi-track technique to tease on each drop. I have been recently experimenting with similar techniques.

Here is a recording of this type of technique that I made using Ableton Live and my Xone:3D. The first dramatic drop is done by duplicating the track, offset, applying a High Pass Filter (HPF) to the currently playing track, along with a “ping-pong” Ableton filter, and then sliding in the 2nd track when the bass drops. The result is a climax which leaves behind some mids and highs which are then manipulated as the track progresses. Later in this example, the two tracks are faded in and out, which is another funky effect.

The sloshing highs through the middle of this example, before the track fading, is not part of the source track and is done using only the HPF on the remainder of the HPF+ping-pong effect.

Enjoy: http://www.caustik.com/blog/dj/2track2.mp3

Xone:3D – Micro-Mix 001

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This is my first live recording of a mix on my Xone:3D. This mix is intentionally very short for two reasons:

1. It is bite-sized! Sometimes you want to check out a mix, but you don’t have an hour or two to dedicate to listening.

2. I’m still pretty new with my Xone:3D, so the shorter the mix is, the less likely I will screw up the mix :)

So this is a pretty good showcase of basic mixing on a Xone:3D. The transitions are done primarily using the EQ and High Pass Filters (HPF). The Xone filters have an amazing clean sound, and since sliding the HPF on slowly filters out the bassline, it is a great transition tool when switching up a bassline.

Micro-Mix 001.mp3 (~15 minutes)