Exploring the hybrid setup
When starting the journey into the hybrid setup, I had to troubleshoot some topics about how to get started and find a solution on how to convey my findings. Important subjects I discovered during this process were questions about how to use different DJ decks. How could I use different types of equipment? Was it necessary to have an additional sound card, or could I use the one from the DJ mixer? This way, I could more easily travel with the setup. My wish was to be able to implement variations of live elements, whether bigger or smaller, planned or improvised, in upcoming DJ gigs. I also wanted the chance to play longer live sets without having to produce and plan so much. To become more flexible in performing at a club night – and bring a unique experience to the audience. Below is a log extract from one of my rehearsals that shows some insight into my process:
Tuesday 21st of September 2023, rehearsal:
Today I played a hybrid set for 1h straight. I mixed my own elements and productions together with other people's tracks on the DJ-decks and it was so much fun! Lately I’ve been quite stuck on how to approach the set so it was a relief to see how I entered a flow state and the pieces kind of fell into place.
Today’s notes:
I get problems when I have the volume fader on the mixer from the Ableton channel, that I can’t add percussion in sync! Then I have to adjust the beat match live in the room and that seems a bit risky.
It was sometimes difficult to remember/recognise which channel I was playing on. Practising and getting used to playing with 3 channels will help this issue.
What do I want to have in my “sound bank”:
- synth with arpeggiator + midi-map reverb
- different clips with percussion
- bass to play live
- keys - melodic clips
- pads to play live
- vocal samples -> in the direction of speech/text/spoken word.
- effects and other clips?
Thoughts about today’s session:
Feels nice to be able to play for way longer than when I “only” play live-sets, and it was much more fun and creative to add live elements and vocals to the normal DJ-set. I will say my hypothesis of ‘why’ doing a hybrid set, saw some definite plus sides. I got inspired. Thoughts and potential downsides; how should I reconstruct this? Do I memorise the set as I made it now? Which other elements can I have ready so I can have freedom in how I want to play the set each time?
I can always check in my headphones the key and notes before playing in the room, which can help to give freedom.
Tomorrow I will check how I can play this set on another set of DJ decks and mixer. I am bringing the hybrid set to my DJ-students on Friday so I want to see if, and how, I can reproduce the hybrid set on another set of decks. This will make me more flexible and I won’t have to carry my heavy decks out from my studio.
Combining DAW (Ableton Live) and the DJ decks
There are several questions that arose throughout this artistic practice. I have explored and researched these questions in the studio and from several performances in front of an audience. The topics in this chapter are to be looked at as a contribution to the field, and not an aim to cover the full scope of the topics. Through my practice, I found two main results to be key findings in being able to create the hybrid setup with Ableton Live and the DJ decks. When you have these two functionalities in order, you are basically ready to play.
The first aspect is you need the right driver for the mixer you are using. This will differ depending on the decks and mixer available at the venue. Once the driver is downloaded, set it as the audio output in Ableton Live. To get the right channel on the mixer to register the sound coming from Ableton, see the mini-tutorial:
The second aspect is how to beatmatch. I found the best way between Ableton Live and the DJ decks is by key-mapping (the same functionality as the midi-map) the nudge buttons to the laptop keyboard. This means that you assign the nudge forward and back to two different buttons on the keyboard, allowing you to nudge the tempo accordingly. See video demonstration:
Beatmatching
To figure out how to make Ableton Live correspond to the DJ decks and how to perform beatmatching, it's crucial to understand the concept. Beatmatching essentially means matching the beats. In digital DJing, it involves setting the tempo fader at the same BPM. When the beat hits the first beat of the bar, commonly referred to as “the one”, you press play. After this, you listen in the headphones to check if they are matched, and if not, you adjust the jog-wheel accordingly. The jog-wheel is placed on top of each deck and is designed to mimic the vinyl players. For adding elements from Ableton Live, it was essential to figure out how to beat-match the decks and the software since otherwise, everything would have sounded completely out of time.
Nudge vs. follow
To be able to beatmatch the clips in Ableton with the ones playing on the decks, I figured out two possible ways for this: either the nudge function or tempo follow. Spoiler alert: the “nudge” function with beatmatching on the headphones became my desired technique.
Ableton Live has a function called Tempo Follower or Follow. Go to preferences in Ableton Live and set the input and output audio to the mixers. This feature will receive the signal from the decks. Ableton explains this feature as follows: “Tempo Follower analyses an incoming audio signal in real-time and interprets its tempo, allowing Live to follow along and keep in time” (Ableton, 2023). This sounded great to me. If this were activated, the tracks from the DJ decks and my elements in Ableton Live would be synced. Unfortunately, it was not so easy.
I tried this out, but this feature showed a significant downside. In the MIDI settings, I activated the mixer: the DJM-900nx2, and also enabled “show link toggle” and pressed 'follow' in the top bar on the left side in session view. The BPM changes in real-time by receiving the low-end input from the track playing on the decks, but it didn't manage to read the BPM correctly. I played a track that was 140 BPM on the CDJ, but in Ableton, it read 170 BPM – so, as you can understand, the timing was completely off. The second time I tried it with a track called 'Do us Part (Len Faki Remix)' by Par Grindvik, and it worked better, but it still continuously looked for and changed the BPM in real-time. However, when I played with Ableton, I couldn't hear much of the difference in BPM this time. While adding elements, they also stayed in sync, which is what I had especially been searching for.
Lastly, I tried going down with the BPM when the track didn't have a distinct kick, but the Ableton BPM wouldn't follow simultaneously. I thought that maybe the best solution was to put off ‘Follow’ when adjusting the BPM - and on againand redo the beat matching before bringing the tracks back in.
The Nudge, as explained in the chapter ‘Combining DAW (Ableton Live) and DJ decks’, makes it possible to adjust or nudge the BPM of Ableton. I used a key-map to an external laptop so I didn’t have to use the mouse on the screen to make the adjustments.
Fluidity when moving between different DJ decks
How to achieve fluidity when moving between different DJ decks and mixers was an important question for me. Would it be easy to just bring my laptop and midi-controllers and set up with any available decks? The short answer to this was yes – though the mixers might differ in which effects are available. To get used to the mixer you are going to use and have time to make sure you download the right driver, I would recommend getting enough time during the sound check at the venue you’re playing. This way, you don’t have to stress if any problems occur.
I have mainly worked with two different sets of equipment for DJing. In my home studio, I have a Pioneer XDJ-XZ – a built-in DJ deck and mixer. At UiA where I teach, they have Pioneer 2000nexus2 CDJs and the DJM-900nx2 mixer. On the XDJ-XZ, the setup between that one and Ableton was quite straightforward. I got the right driver, plugged in the laptop into the controller, and chose the XDJ-XZ as the audio output in Ableton preferences. The only thing that was confusing at first was that the output was on the master channel 5/6 in Ableton and channel 1 on the controller. At the DJM-900nx2 mixer, the master channel output from Ableton is on 1/2, and the same channel 1 on the mixer. This is something to look out for when using new equipment – where is the output channel playing from?
For the settings on the DJM-900nx2, I refer to the video in the chapter “Combining DAW (Ableton Live) and the DJ decks.”
What do I actually play live?
The answer to this question could be endless. I thought especially about two different approaches. One is to have other people’s tracks as the main frame of reference on the decks, adding elements through Ableton Live. These could be short percussion loops, live-midi-bass, live vocals, and so on. The second approach is to have my live set in focus and add tracks and elements from other people's songs on the DJ decks. The first option was the one that felt the most appealing to me, and I will explain this approach more in detail under the section “The Hybrid Performance.”
Working with “sound banks”
The “sound bank” is what I call the pre-produced clips, instruments, and live elements in Ableton Live. Figuring out what to produce led me to think about what I wanted to be able to add and what I could play live. When I use percussive elements, beatmatching becomes important, but if I only use melodic elements without a clear rhythmic pattern, it is easier to work around and not needing to beatmatch. When I have Ableton and the decks set to the same BPM, I would be able to beatmatch by ear, and they should stay in sync.