Posted on by caustik

December 2007 – MP3

December 2007 MP3 Download [Part 1, Part 2]

Moonbeam – Uaret (Ambient Mix)
Elektrochemie – Get Yourself (Original Mix)
Dousk – The Simplest Thing (Original Mix)
Far East Band – The Call Up feat Suzie (Klee) (Martin Buttrich Rework)
The Flying Doctors – We Make Contact (Oliver Lieb Remix)
Dubfire – I Feel Speed (Original Club Mix)
Sasha – Park It In The Shade (Original Mix)
Deadmau5 – Everything Before (Original Mix)
Federico Epis – Brasilia (AMB Remix)
Nick Muir – G Platz (Dan Remix)
Soulwax – Accidents And Compliments (Original Mix)
AMB – Seka Federico (Epis Remix)
AMB – Seka Federico (Original Remix)
Itamar Sagi, Gel Abril – Sparta (Original Mix)

Caustik – Intro x1
Markus Schulz – Fly To Colors (Genix Remix)
Find feat El (Andy Moor Remix)
Andrew W.K. – Closure (Inkfish & Tronso Remix)
Adam K – I Can Feel (Original Mix)
Bastards Of Funk, Sonic Union – You’re To Blame feat. Matt Wasley (Subsky Mix)
Chuck Luis – Collision (Original Mix)
Cicada – The Things You Say (Dirty South Remix)
Shawn Mitiska, Joey Medina – After Hours (David West Remix)
Bedrock – Heaven Scent (Greg Downey Remix)
Jelo, Deadmau5 – The Reward Is Cheese (Original Mix)
Meck feat. Dino – Feels Like Home (Dirty South Remix)
Mass Effect – Alphascan (Original Mix)
Perry Oneil and Ozgur Can – Wave Force (Ozgur Vs Yilmaz Remix)

Posted on by caustik · 8 Comments

Mini-Mix 003

I have recorded a new mix, using the Xone:3D mixer and Ableton Live software. This particular mix has lots of bass, so be sure to enjoy it on a speaker system with nice quality subs if you have one available. A good car stereo system, home theater , or set of high quality headphones will do the trick 🙂

Mini-Mix 003 Mini-Mix 003 : Download MP3

For anybody interested in technical details … I utilized something called Harmonic Mixing a lot in this mix. Basically that means taking the musical key of each track into consideration when creating transitions and selecting loops. Just like combining different keys on a piano will make different chords, combining loops in a similar fashion makes for a much more coherent mix.

I’m really just scratching the surface of harmonic mixing, but the results in my mind are pretty clearly an improvement. When mixing without regard for musical key, instruments tend to clash in subtle ways. Being conscious of the keys of your tracks, and choosing them carefully, is a very valuable heuristic for making a smoother mix.

Posted on by caustik

Xone+Ableton DJ Techniques #1

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

Posted on by caustik · 7 Comments

Xone:3D – Micro-Mix 001

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)

Posted on by caustik

Caustik’s New Xone:3D

3D + Ableton Live

My new Xone:3D equipment arrived on Friday. Since then I have been spending a fair amount of my free time obsessing over it, learning all the features, and getting all the components properly pieced together.

The Xone:3D comes with custom face-plates specifically for Ableton Live (which is my DJ tool of choice). There is also a template available for download on the Allen & Heath web site. This template sets up all the configurations for a really great integration with Ableton Live.

The biggest difficulty I have had so far is the lack of Vista 64-bit drivers. Actually, I was unable to get the drivers loaded even on my Vista 32-bit laptop. So, for now, I am actually DJ’ing over remote desktop…as bizarre as that seems.

Current, I have 3 Ableton tracks mapped to 3 mixer inputs on the Xone 3D. From here I can use all the powerful A&H mixing and MIDI controls to manipulate the sounds in whatever ways I’d like. Later I will post some videos of mixer tricks I have figured out.

I then use ASIO4ALL and Ableton Live to wire the Xone 3D’s sound card output (Mix Output) to the sound output of a small USB sound card on my PC which is running over remote desktop. This allows me to hear and record the output of the mixer without having to use special hardware. In a gig scenario, this would instead pipe directly to the house stereo.

So I gotta say I really love this new setup and I can’t wait to see all the things that can be done with it. I will be posting more about this new equipment as I get more familiar with it.

Posted on by caustik · 1 Comment

APU 003

APU logo

Released the next edition of APU.

Lot of energy this time, and plenty of delicious dirty bass.

01: Johan Gielen – Revelations (Filterheadz Remix)
02: M.I.K.E. – Salvation (Valentino Kanzyani Remix)
03: Force Majeure – Out Of My Mind (Blake Jarrel And Jeff Devas Vocal Mix)
04: Roland Klinkenberg, Gery Menu – Shockadelic (Original Mix)
05: Mikael Jonasson – Chlorophyll (Original Mix)
06: Terry Grant – I’ll Kill You feat Jennifer Horne (Beaumont & Nathanial’s Substrata Remix)
07: Hipp-E – Major Waves (John Acquaviva & Oliver Giacomotto Remix)
08: Safi Connection – Absorve (Original Mix)
09: Way Out West – Killa (Orkidea Vs Dallas Superstars Mix)
10: Way Out West – The Fall (Richard Durand Remix)
11: Nick Sentience – Transcender (Original Mix)
12: Subsource – This Town (Hook N Sling Remix)
13: Cicada – The Things You Say (Dirty South Remix)

Caustik – A.P.U. – 003.mp3

Caustik – A.P.U. – 003.cue

Enjoy!

Posted on by caustik · 2 Comments

Mini-Mix 002

Further evidence as to how addicted I am to Ableton Live – I put together a short (~35 min) mix of some electronic tracks I have been listening to the past few days. This mix was put together pretty quickly, so the style may be noticeably different than my APU mixes.

Anyway, here’s the MP3: Mini-Mix 002 (08.30.2007).mp3