Pro Tools 10 Demo

Mar 062012
 

Pro Tools 10I first purchased Pro Tools 8 M-Powered (herein PT8 MP) shortly after it was released.  My version of PT8 MP included the M-Audio Fast Track Pro interface which was required to operate PT8.  The Digidesign hardware requirement to run Pro Tools was eventually removed with the release of Pro Tools 9.  Unfortunately for me, I upgraded my iMac and MacBook Pro to OSX Lion which was no longer compatible with PT8.  On the other hand, I have been working with my licensed copy of Ableton Live and mainly using PT8 for mixing & mastering.  After working with Ableton exclusively for quite some time now, I really missed Pro Tools for a variety of reasons (I love the mix and edit windows, included plugins, powerful editing tools, and more.)  Although Ableton is great for quickly piecing together musical elements for quick edits, mashups, and remixing, I felt that the audio quality was not comparable to Pro Tools.  Just my taste, I guess, as there are many people online that argue the opposite.

When I DJ live, I find that I have enough specialized software to do what I need for just about any task.  For example, I use Traktor Scratch Pro 2 for mixing tunes and NI Maschine for triggering samples and playing live beats.  If I need to do a quick “radio edit” to cut out profanity (I keep my sets clean for all audiences), I would quickly open Ableton, do the edit, export, and drop the tune into Traktor.  Although you can DJ live with Ableton Live (hence “Live”), I prefer Traktor hands down.

Enter Pro Tools 10.  All I can say is WOW, what a huge difference from PT8.  I am currently using the PT10 30 day demo until mid March just to be sure, but as of today, I am extremely impressed with the upgrades and enhancements from PT8.  Not only is the software responsive, but I can quickly edit and export as fast as I did in Ableton.  No extra hardware required, although I do have to plug in my iLok authorization USB drive (the same one from PT8 works with PT10) into one of my 4 available USB ports.  If I was planning on streaming with PT10, I would probably run my sessions from my external OWC Firewire 800 drive to free up my MacBook Pro drive and to reduce or eliminate the inevitable hardware buffer size error that pops up when the hard drive is taxed.  Although I have pushed my laptop’s internal drive to initiate this error, PT10 has yet to crash because of it.  Just click on OK to acknowledge the error and keep on trucking.

As a matter of fact, I am so impressed with PT10 that I am conjuring up a series of podcasts dedicated to Pro Tools.  Although I subscribe to multiple sites specializing in PT tutorials and news (I especially enjoy Russ from Pro Tools Expert at http://www.pro-tools-expert.com, formerly the Air Users Blog), I feel compelled to address another PT niche, although I’m not quite sure what that niche is yet.  Anyways, stay tuned for more on this topic.

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Why Do I Need a Remix Template? (Part 2)

Jan 142012
 

In Part 1, we introduced the importance of using a remix template.  To summarize, the primary reason for using a remix template is to spend less time recreating the repetitive technical parts of a remix, and spend more time being creative.  In Part 2, we will examine Ableton’s factory default template and how to create a new template from an existing session.Ableton Live

By default, when opening Ableton Live, a blank session is created containing an empty audio and midi track, two return channels, and a master channel.  Like Ableton, most DAWs allow you to start with a fresh session, although the terminology, track/channel types, and other elements may vary.  If you are creating a remix, you are certainly going to need at a minimum one audio track and a master channel to start.  Although I cover remixing in depth in another series (stay tuned for my upcoming Smart Remixing tutorial series), I normally begin by importing the original song into an audio track at its original BPM (beats-per-minute) for warping and manipulating later.  Typically for house music, tracks are imported at 128 BPM, although you may want to increase or decrease (“warp”) the tempo later based on your project.  In order to listen to the audio track, you typically use a master channel for routing sound from the audio track to your system’s internal or external soundcard and eventually out to your headphones or speakers.

After you build a customized template, you have the option to save your settings as the default template when opening up Ableton or creating a new set.  To do this, go into Live’s Preferences, click on the File/Folder tab (left side, fourth tab down), and at the top you will see the ‘Save Current Set as Default’ option.  Just click on ‘Save’, confirm ‘Overwrite the Template Set’, and your new template is saved.  Depending on your DAW, I actually recommend leaving the default template alone so your DAW opens up cleanly and quickly.  As a DJ while in a live setting, I often open Ableton to quickly warp or edit tracks for immediate use in Traktor Scratch Pro.   In this scenario, speed, low CPU usage, and minimal disk activity is a priority.  As you will see, a large, feature-packed template can take some time to load and can really tax your system.

A cool option exists in Ableton if you decide that you want to revert back to Ableton’s factory default template.  Just open up a new session while holding down the [shift] key.  Then just follow the instructions described above to ‘Save Current Set as Default’.  Warning:  Once you save your new template, your old template will be deleted.  Knowing this, you may want to save your old template as a session prior to reverting back to Ableton’s factory default template.  This way, you can easily just open up any one of your saved sessions and ‘Save Current Set as Default’ to save your favorite session as the new default template.

In Part 3, we will begin building our remix template by analyzing the template I currently use to start a new remix.

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Friday the 13th: Live at TNL in Waterford, MI

Jan 022012
 

If you enjoy local music, come on out to the Tuesday Night Live (TNL) concert venue in Waterford, MI on Friday, Jan. 13th, 2012 at 6:30 pm to support local talent and to check out my latest DJ set.  Just go to the TNL Facebook Page for the latest announcements.

Although most events were originally scheduled on Tuesday nights (hence the name TNL), recent and future events have been moved to Friday nights by popular demand.  TNL is promoted and managed by Jamal Craft.  If you would like to play the event, contact Jamal via email at jamal.craft@gmail.com.

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Remix Update 2: J Scott G’s Live The Life ft. Adam Lambert

Dec 172011
 

UPDATE 3/27/12:  I will remixing my remix in Pro Tools 10 to fix some quality issues.  Stay tuned!

My final remix can be heard below, and is live on the Fixt Remix website under my artist page or on the contest page.  I was able to finish just ahead of schedule thanks to some new techniques and tools.  I will be creating a few videos on my process which involved editing and initial mixing in Ableton Live on my Apple Macbook Pro laptop and Shure studio headphones before switching to my 27″ Apple iMac and Yamaha HS50M studio monitors for final mixing and mastering.

Unlike my other trashed remixes, I exclusively used Native Instruments Maschine to create my beat and undelying melody.  The beauty of Maschine is you can create all your beat variations (four-on-the-floor, prechorus, chorus, verses, etc.), apply effects and such (eq, compression, etc.) and export each loop easily by simply holding down the mouse and dragging/dropping each loop into Ableton Live.  Easy as pie.  The only kicker (no pun intended) is I will need to create one “sidechain” audio channel containing a clean four-on-the-floor kick that matches the kick timing in my cluttered Maschine channel.  This way, I can use a clean, uncluttered kick for all my sidechaining and ducking needs.  More on all this later.

With my mastered wave file in hand, I drop the wave file in Apple iTunes, convert the wave file to a 320 kbps mp3 file, and I drop the mp3 file it into Mixed in Key to confirm my remix as a whole is still in the original key of A Minor (code 8A, more on this later.)  I then open the mp3 file in Traktor Scratch Pro 2, lock the bpm at 128 which Traktor detected properly, set a few cue points and loops, and I then attempt to create a quick mashup with another genre related tune in key A Minor (8A) to ensure everything sounds good and is “DJ ready,” so to speak.  This time around I got lucky and everything fell into place nicely.  Of course, this was only possible due to trial-and-error experience,  some preparation, and creating my edits while keeping the DJ in mind throughout the entire process.  More on all this later as well.

So if you get a chance, go check out my remix, along with the 53 or so remixes and feel free to vote.  I actually have a few favorites that I will be voting on soon.  Although I will give my own remix a 5/5 star rating (duh), I am certainly man enough to rate other remixes  5/5 stars as well and comment appropriately.  Although I have no desire to win the fabulous cash and prizes, I do enjoy the whole process of setting a goal and eventually whipping out a piece of crap music by a set deadline.

Download NOW: Live the Life (DJ Luke Stevens Remix)

UPDATE 3/27/12:  I will remixing my remix in Pro Tools 10 to fix some quality issues.  Stay tuned!

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Tuesday Night Live (TNL) Concert Venue

Dec 132011
 

If you enjoy local music, come on out to the Tuesday Night Live (TNL) concert venue in Waterford, MI to support local talent and to check out my latest DJ sets.  Just go to the TNL Facebook Page to for the latest announcements.  Although most events were originally scheduled on Tuesday nights (hence the name TNL), recent and future events have been moved to Friday nights by popular demand.

TNL is promoted and managed by Jamal Craft.  Jamal was recently interviewed and featured in Ambassador Magazine.  If you would like to play the event, contact Jamal via email at jamal.craft@gmail.com.

During the last two shows on 12/9/11 and 12/2/11, I was approached by multiple people with questions about my DJ set, mostly about where they could get a list of the songs I was playing and such.  Good news, I was able to compile the list here:  TNL Playlist 12/9/11.   Also for those listeners who asked, I am currently using Traktor Scratch Pro 2.  A complete list of my gear can be found on my About Page.

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Welcome to the Official Site of DJ Luke Stevens

Nov 302011
 

Hello and welcome, my name is DJ Luke Stevens.  I am a DJ, Turntablist, Producer, and Remixer from Detroit, MI, USA.  I specialize in all flavors of House music, although I still have a place in my heart for Hip Hop music.  Welcome to my new blog dedicated to remixing.  More importantly, my blog is dedicated to the process of remixing music by analyzing the detailed steps and tools used by some of today’s hottest remixers.

I began Djing in the mid-80′s when Hip Hop (the rated PG version) was on the rise.  In order to be taken seriously as a DJ during this time, you needed to be proficient in spinning the wheels of steel, a.k.a.turntablism.  To this day, I still utilize the same basic DJ setup (two turntables and a mixer) but I have kept up with technology and have added a Traktor Scratch Pro setup (laptop, Traktor software, Traktor X1 controller, etc.) to my arsenal.

Initially I will examine my recent attempt at remixing J Scott G’s “Live The Life ft. Adam Lambert.”  Anyone interested in remixing this song can head on over to the Fixt Remix website hosted by my friend Klayton (a.k.a. Celldweller.)  Just sign up as a listener (free), upgrade your account to artist (free again), download the assets (my favorite word in this paragraph), remix to taste, and submit your remix by the deadline to be eligible for fabulous cash and prizes!  As the famous (or infamous depending on your view) radio host Don Geronimo likes to say, “Yeah, baby!

I have spent countless hours remixing various electronic songs without too much success, if success is measured in satisfied listeners.  Like many remixers before me, I tend to lack in the creativity department.  When I initially envisioned starting a remixing blog, I was interested in creating a venue where I would start a remixing project and record my progress in video segments where you, the interested reader/blogger, could post your creative ideas for me to implement into the remix.  Eventually, we would have a finished product that people may actually want to play every now and again.  In general, I wanted to create a “community remix” so to speak.  Although I haven’t ruled this idea out, I did decide I needed to start my blog now while I was still working on the aforementioned J Scott G remix which is due a few weeks away on Dec. 16, 2011.

Once again, hello, welcome to my blog, and thanks for taking a moment out of your day to be here.

DJ Luke Stevens :}

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