Support NeoGAF

[Dilbert]

(This is probably a dumb question, but I know there are a lot of DJs/musicians on the board, so I thought I'd ask.)

What hardware/software options are out there for mixing digital music on a PC? By "digital music," I mean either CDs, uncompressed audio files (e.g. WAV), or compressed audio files (e.g. MP3 or AAC).

In my pidgin understanding of how DJs mix songs, the process goes something like this:

1) Calculate the BPM for each song.
2) While song A is playing, figure out how much of a pitch shift to apply to song B so that the BPM will match up.
3) Cue song B to the appropriate place.
4) Start playing song B over the top of song A, adjusting volume (and other factors?) so that the transition is smooth.
5) Repeat.

Of course, for a DJ working off vinyl, I'm sure that most of this process is intuitive -- you don't see someone behind the decks in a club with a calculator, after all...

In the past, when I had to create a mix for someone, I hacked something together with the tools I had on hand: Sound Forge and Acid. I started by ripping CDs to PCM (WAV) so that I could work with an uncompressed file. Next, I would calculate the BPM in Sound Forge by hand (loop a section so that I could assign an exact number of beats to the sample), then drop the entire song into Acid as a "sample" to do the beat matching. (Acid crashed all the time, of course -- it wasn't designed for that kind of thing.) Once those two "samples" were mixed together properly, I would export the Acid project as a WAV. Of course, I also had to go back and insert a break in the middle of the mixed WAV to separate the tracks again. Finally, I burned the whole thing to CD as a continuous mix by sequencing the WAV files correctly.

The whole process was a huge pain in the ass, and took FOREVER to do. There has GOT to be a better way....any ideas? Ideally, it would be a software-only solution, and would let me mix some of the stuff that I've already ripped to disk, although I realize that compressed audio isn't perfect quality. I wouldn't be averse to buying a hardware gadget which would help, since almost all of my source material is on CD, or could be put on CD. If it matters, my computer has an Audigy 2 ZS sound card.

On a somewhat related note: Is there anywhere that sells digital versions of 12" singles, or at least has a better selection of electronic music than the major online stores? As you might expect, there is a fairly limited selection of "club music" available for purchase online...which is somewhat disappointing, given that an online presence would overcome some of the distribution problems with vinyl.

Thanks for your recommendations...

 

[Saint Cornelius]

Jinx, the whole process you described - using Sound Forge & Acid - how did that sound? I mean, I understand that it's very time-consuming the way you've had to do it, but did your beats match up and everything?

I've always wanted to try what you're doing. Even if it's the "wrong way".

 

[DaCocoBrova]

There's actually some cheapy software you can find called E-DJay or something like that. Makes blending super-simple. They sell it at EB, Gamestop...

 

[Saint Cornelius]

I've seen that e-jay before. Does it work, though? If I recall correctly, it's like $99, which is a little rich for my blood if I don't know how well it works.

 

[type9]

Have you looked into Traktor?

 

[Dilbert]

Jinx, the whole process you described - using Sound Forge & Acid - how did that sound? I mean, I understand that it's very time-consuming the way you've had to do it, but did your beats match up and everything?

I've always wanted to try what you're doing. Even if it's the "wrong way".

It worked, but I strongly suspect that what I did would probably have made a real DJ laugh, and then cry. The beats matched just fine, but it still seemed to be missing...I dunno, SOMETHING. Actually, a lot of the work was done in Sound Forge: creating "loops" by cutting and pasting to extend intros or outros, dropping in samples copied from other songs, editing tracks for length if I only wanted to use certain segments, and so on. Like I said, it was a pain in the ass. I bet I could have done it all in just Sound Forge if I had used a pitch shift calculator, but Acid made that step much easier.

Then again, I WAS trying to mix together some fairly eclectic stuff, so that could have been part of the challenge, and part of the reason I only felt meh about the results. If you're just mixing track after track of 120 BPM house, it probably makes life easier.

 

[Saint Cornelius]

Jinx, that's cool man. I would be doing the electic mixes too so I'll look for new methods & share anything I come up with you!

type9, isn't that a sequencing program? hmmm... actually now that I think about it, maybe a sequencing program is what I would need.

 

[DaCocoBrova]

BPM matching never works. You need some kind of manual pitch option. The E-Djay software is only like 20 bucks, and it allows you to incrementally adjust the pitch/ BPMs etc to match the music.

I'd love to know how to do this in Soundforge/Acid.

 

[Saint Cornelius]

I must be thinking of something other than the e-jay thing then.

I've seen this box at Fry's that has software and some kind of hardware that you plug into the USB port. Looks kind of like a sampler/mixer.

 

[Dilbert]

Oh, one other thing -- the end product would have to be recorded so that I could burn CDs. I'm not interested in mixing "live," since I don't intend to throw any parties in my bedroom.

Well, I DO, but not 10,000 people.

 

[warabi-mochi]

For something a little more professional, I'd probably recommend Traktor Studio 2 from Native Instruments.

It's fairly easy to use, and there's a pretty large community at the N-I site that can help you out if you run into any problems you might have while using the problem. It's usually listed at around $200 US, but if you want to shop around online or at local music stores you should be able to grab it cheaper.

They also have Traktor DJ which is like an entry level version of Studio. I think you can direct download it off their site for $40 or so, and probably find it in stores for around $60.

 

[Dilbert]

Wow...that Traktor software looks pretty cool. type9, belmakor -- thanks for the recommendation!

Do you know what the difference would be between the direct download version of Traktor DJ and the boxed version, other than the inclusion of physical media and manuals? The price difference is $20, which seems pricey for just a book and a CD. Is the direct download software less functional?

 

[warabi-mochi]

Well, for just the standard version of traktor, the direct download version is just that. No cd, no manual, no box. They're the exact same program though.

Considering the inbox manuals for alot of music programs are pretty hefty, the pricing isn't as strange as it initially sounds. Looking at all of the PDF files that came with my latest copy of Cubase for example, the manual would be well over 600 pages. Traktor's manual probably wouldn't be that extensive, but the size of it is probably still up there, necessitating the cost.

Traktor DJ Studio 2 has quite a lot of features over the standard version of Traktor DJ. I'd probably recommend just reading over the site and seeing if you feel like you need any of those options. If not, Traktor DJ should be just fine.