The Smooth DJ

Odds & Ends

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:25:46 -0800

Last class, everyone performed. And Channa brought in some Planet Earth video that he put a mirror effect on which made for a sublime experience. I think this is great footage to DJ with, especially for electronica. Erkon used his guitar in his set, along with some great Turkish grooves and some original recorded music. Very creative, Erkon. Good job. Anna brought in one of those new Korg nanoKontrol MIDI controllers - I think these things are great bang for the buck. And compact to boot. In other news, we are still in search of a venue. I think it's more likely we are going to have this on Dec 7th, a Sunday, rather than a Saturday. This is actually better for us because it increases our chances of getting a nicer venue. Al and I are still working on securing a location, but please let us know if you come across anything. I will post more info here as it develops. About your final sets, don't kill yourself. Aim for a great 10 minutes. If you want to go longer, do so as long as your comfortable. Don't forget to look at the audience. And Channa, we're throwing you up there, so work on something before you leave the country! So we do have our classroom available on the 6th. Al and I will be there practicing or working on something, so please feel free to drop on by if you need help with anything. I think we also have to do course evaluations, which are really important, so we might have to have you come in and do that anyway. I can't remember if you can do this online. Also, we may have a guest speaker, in which case, I will announce that here and you should all come in in that case. Other odds & ends: VDMX is a realtime video mixing and effects software that can be an alternative to Quartz Composer. It is more user friendly than Quartz in that it is a higher level of control, whereas QC is very low level and you have to do things by hand. VDMX is not free, but you can get a trial and check it out. There are some tutorials here. subOctave is a VJ from SF with some creative mashups. Check him out. Below the fold, some photos from class. How do you rotate an image in HTML??? Oh well.

How to Grab Flash Videos From the Web to use in your DJ Sets

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 19:08:41 -0800

Here's a quick tutorial on how to grab flash videos off the web. First of all, this is Safari specific. If you use Firefox, there are probably other methods (use Google and look it up if you really want to know). 1. From the page where the flash video you want is embedded, from "Window" menu in Safari, pick "Activity".

Roundup - Double Lecture Nov. 15th; Performance Venue Search

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 19:21:19 -0800

Announcements: Our next and last class is Nov. 15th. We're gonna have an optional extra session from about 1:30pm on for people who have missed lectures or who need help. This is your LAST chance to get feedback from us on your final performance/set. So please come prepared. Dec 6th is showtime, and we need help finding a venue. Please put your feelers out there and give us some ideas. We probably don't need a super large space. The hope is we can put on a good show for our friends and fellow artists. Just email me or Al and let us know if you can help secure a location, or have any leads. This is important! Get on it. Last class was pretty much a workshop. We had Channa lead the way with an acoustic performance that showcased another powerful aspect of Ableton: live instrumentation, recording and sampling on the fly. So you can see the possibilities here for adding novel aspects to your DJ set. That was straight ill, Channa. Blake pointed us towards one of the coolest MIDI controllers I've ever seen - an motion capture exo-skeleton called Gypsy from the UK. At $1000 bucks an arm, it's pricey but not ridiculously so. Your imagination is the only limitation with this thing. Good lookin out, Blake.

Sets

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 09:28:13 -0800

Reminder - we have class this Saturday, Halloween hangovers notwithstanding. Also, if you're interested in checking out other DJ's sets, there's a few good ones here.

The Art of Digital DJing: Class 3,Oct 18, 2008

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 19:13:21 -0800

Things we covered: some DJing tips, more about controllers, an intro to Quartz Composer and Video, and Effects in Ableton. DJing Tips for Ableton we talked about: 1. Work Vertically. Al and I don't go more than 4 tracks wide, and we work our way down (and up) when we are performing sets. And Group stuff that sounds good together so you don't have to hunt around much. 2. You can drag your clips in the clip view back into your file browser, and Ableton will remember those clips as is - ie, specific loops, the stop/start marker, etc. That way you don't have to set it every time. You can save loops that work well and then recall them anytime. You can also drag and drop groups of clips that mix well together, and bring those in to any project in the future, or even during a live set on the fly. 3. Use meaningful names. It's easy to forget which clip is what, so useful naming helps. Name the intros, the choruses, and even use lyrics out of the song to remind you what the vocals say. You can use your own naming convention, such that D can mean drums, and B can mean Bassline, and C means chorus, etc. 4. More on warping - other tips: turn off that metronome once in a while and rock your body to the beat just like you're on the dance floor. Your body moves with the beat and you'll be able to pluck out that one in your head because you'll feel it. When you've located a "1", move any numbered marker there, right click and set it to your 1.1.1. If the marker doesn't move (because of anchors on either side), double click it to yellow and it will move. Next, right click again and say "warp from here straight". Adjust your next few bars, then hop to bar 30 or so and check there, and then check and align near the end. With some hip-hop, it's easier to pick up the 2nd and 4th beats per bar. You can then use those markers (the X.2 and X.4) to line up those 2nd and 4th beats and it works just as well. So, what is the 2nd and 4th beat in hip-hop? Usually the beat you clap your hands to (a snare). Listen to the clip: Hip-hop hooray (clap) hooo (clap) heyyyyy (clap) Hoooo (clap). etc. It's easier to hear that sometimes.

College Night at The Getty Center

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 12:57:07 -0800

Al and I will be DJing at the Getty for College Night on Thursday. Dan Savage is gonna be there! The theme is politics and humor with a special exhibition in the West Pavilion. Hope you guys can make it. Bring friends. I'll be opening for Al and then helping him out with video during his performance. Here's the 411: College Night at the Getty Center Date: Thursday, October 16, 2008 Time: 6:30–9:30 p.m. Location: Getty Center Admission: FREE with student ID; reservations suggested, but not required. Call (310) 440-7300 or check out their site and use the "Make Reservation" link. It's probably gonna be chilly so dress warm. Although they will have warmers, they tell me.

The Art of Digital DJing: Class 2, Oct 4th, 2008

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 12:48:03 -0800

We had an exciting class 2, and you were able to control music with the iPhone and a game controller. Next class: Oct. 18th. In two weeks. Assignment: 5 track set, 3 loops per track, with controllers and effects. Warping - some of us were still having trouble. Tips - your "1" doesn't have to be at the beginning, it can be anywhere. So if you're having trouble, drop that 1 down somewhere else you're comfortable. Next, look at bar 2,3,4,5 and line those up. Then jump to bar 30 and check there. You can check the end of the track too and see if it's lined up there as well. You should be good to go. Trouble shooting - if you're having trouble warping, you can just warp a loop that you want. Go to that area, and you can anchor down the markers and force them to the beats in the loop. That's the poor man's method, but hey, it works. Also, I think Channa will post up a YouTube tutorial in the comment section. Just practice and you will get really comfortable. MIDI controllers - we went in to how to plug in, have your computer recognize them and how to map them in Live. It's really a taste thing - what you choose to map where, like if you prefer knobs to faders for effects, etc. And remember, you can use more than one MIDI controller too [Channa - that's another answer to your question of running out of things to map too - you can always add another controller to your setup]. You just need USB ports. And MIDI and non-MIDI controllers come in all kinds of styles, from a simple standalone crossfader to a Wii controller. It takes some practice and experimentation to figure out what you like, and it's really fun. PS - the website for that Just Add Music guy is here. And if you get stuck or have questions, post them in the comments section on this blog so everyone can see. Emailing is so Gen X. -G

The Art of Digital DJing - Class 1 Sept 27th, 2008

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 13:06:07 -0800

Hi Guys, Thanks for a great first class. I think we're off to a good start. So, next class is next week, October 4th. First week assignment - play around with importing your own music to Ableton, and "warp" those markers so the songs are lined up with the master tempo. Then look for interesting loops in that song, cut and paste that track down one vertical "Audio Track", and find other loops that you like (this is deconstructing the song into loops). Now you can trigger a bassline or vocals when you're DJing. Remember, with Ableton we're always DJing with loops. Next bring in another track (or 2 or 3) and do the same thing. Play with how and where you introduce these songs into your mix. That's it. If you like what you have, play it for the class. We'll talk more about mixing techniques and monitoring next class, as well as how to use physical controllers. Also, don't forget our "Breakers" segment - that's where you break new tracks/artists that you have dug up, or your own music or compositions. This is part of your grade, so don't forget. Ideally, it's new stuff, but it doesn't have to be. If you've dug rare stuff, you can drop that too. Just use the comment section of this post to post questions, and Al and I will respond to them. -G

Gaming: Apple's Final Frontier

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 07:54:46 -0800

I predicted 18 months ago that gaming would be a part of Apple's competative strategy, and I was right. In fact, I called Apple "Sony 2.0" before the first iPhone was even announced. Now I'm wondering if Apple will go full console like Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo. If they are presenting the App store as a gaming marketplace, it would make sense to have console like experiences in the home through AppleTV.

Welcome UCLAX Students

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 17:36:58 -0800

For now, this will serve as the course blog. View the course description and register here. Check out our syllabus here [pdf].

RIP: Operating Systems?

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 16:14:14 -0800

Even though there's been an unofficial deathwatches for the OS for at least 5 years (probably 10), the MSM has picked up the meme now that Google is proudly marching out their new Chrome browser. Chrome is a smart play by Google. It's a natural extension of organizing information, which is what Google strives to do. And Chrome is getting raves for it's speediness and neat features like incognito mode. So, are OSes really obsolete? I've been pondering this question for some time. In a sense, relinquishing our computing entirely to the clouds with a mix of surfing and rich internet applications isn't a technical leap. And for most of us, email-surf-post-IM-streaming are 95% of our activities anyway. But that's personal computing. What about corporate or power computing? And privacy? There's quite a few situations that benefit greatly from having an OS controlled microprocessor on your desk - you need "oomph" to edit video, photos, play games, and if you're an engineer, to code, run simulations, etc. Let's not even talk about the bandwidth requirements of an all-cloud ecosystem. Yikes. So sure, there will be a market for thin-clients that connect to the clouds with essentially just a browser on it, but microprocessors and the OSes that sit on them will be here to stay. And while Windows is a horrid OS that the world can do without, efficient, light, or highly vertical OSes (optimized for gaming, multimedia, etc) will likely stick around.

In Rotation: Elzhi, The Preface

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 16:27:14 -0800

I'm a HUGE slum village fan. A big part of that was due to a young J Dilla on production. And that's why I like The Preface, the first solo release by slum v alumnus Elzhi. I feel like it's 2000 all over again. The production, all handled by Black Milk, could easily be mistaken for Dilla himself. And Elzhi holds his own on the mic. Highly recommended.

Cuil not so Cool

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 19:04:32 -0800

Cuil, a new search engine launched today by ex-Googlers certainly got a lot of media hype: front page billing on CNN.com and HuffPo. So I took a look.... First impression: 1. The black screen homepage doesn't look too inviting. Then search results come back at you with a white background. That color transition isn't easy on the eyes. 2. Content wise, Cuil seems competent with popular search terms, although it did hiccup because of the deluge of hits it received today. I got a few goose-eggs when I cuiled my name and again when I searched "highspeed ADC" earlier in the day, although it seems to be behaving now. Cuiling "The Smooth DJ" didn't return my website, or much anything related to music or DJing, but strange pictures of women's underwear. Compare that to Googling the same thing. 3. It's hard to discern ranking of search results. The results page is arranged in columns with no number pairing. After nearly a decade of Googling, this feels counter-intuitive.

Predicting Churn

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:21:33 -0800

Elaine Warner over at Compete.com offers a glimpse of her company's tools and the insight analytics can provide. It appears that RIM owners are 3.7x more likely than the average internet user (and more likely than owners of other phones) to check out Apple's website. Ok, you might be wondering how she figured out what kind of phone internet users have. Me too. She just observed the visitor behavior at the OEM sites and made some logical assumptions: if they did things only a phone owner would do, like click on "my-account", they were counted.

Dilla & Mos Def Video Mashup

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 20:50:07 -0800

Amazing.