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Acapellas...

Anyone here use them a lot in their sets? I noticed a lot of big name djs tend to use acapellas quite frequently in their sets.. I wanna start using some to but don't really know how. Like do you have to beatmatch them just the same or let them run at default pitch? I tried using them once but it was all over the place cause i found it hard to beatmatch without a beat...

any tips would be great

I try to beatmatch then but its difficult. I dont really use them anymore now that i play more tech/minimal but i used to use them frequently when i played tribal and progressive.

Re: Acapellas...

quote:

Originally posted by Shudder Anyone here use them a lot in their sets? I noticed a lot of big name djs tend to use acapellas quite frequently in their sets.. I wanna start using some to but don't really know how. Like do you have to beatmatch them just the same or let them run at default pitch? I tried using them once but it was all over the place cause i found it hard to beatmatch without a beat... any tips would be great

You have to beatmatch them like any other song. Starting them at the right time can be quite a pain though, because vocals often tend to start 'off beat'.

Another solution could be to just create a few cd's with pre-made mashups, and play those.

As far as the beatmatching is concerned: listen to the original song, so you can get a feel for when the vocals start. After that, you'll find yourself correcting the pitch a lot, because it's almost impossible to beatmatch them perfectly.

While we're on this topic, anyone know where to obtain some free vocals/samples?

http://www.acapellas4u.co.uk

Re: Acapellas...

quote:

Originally posted by Shudder I tried using them once but it was all over the place cause i found it hard to beatmatch without a beat... any tips would be great

Practice, practice, practice really!

Otherwise, as already mentioned you could make a pre-made mashup and play that instead. Alternatively, add a 4x4 kick drum underneath the acapella and use that to beatmatch it, then use the EQ on your mixer to take the bass out when you use it on top of something else.

Also, acapellas are one area where harmonic mixing REALLY pays off... if you know what works and what doesn't already in your head then lucky you, but if you find them clashing a lot of the time try working out and writing down the keys of your acapellas and the tracks you're likely to want to layer acapellas over so you know what will work with what.

quote:

Originally posted by Owsey2008 Was reading on this the other night...I've never been to fond of it though... Theres and ellaskins tutorial on youtube that you might find handy.

Link?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=sQW9r6B7c9E

Not one of his strongest tutorials but its a start...

Here's a cool way to do it:

Track A is playing (house beat going on), so you bring in an acapella of near the same speed as your track B. Then you slowly get rid of the bass and other sounds of track A so that you only hear track B for a few seconds (which is the vocal/acapella), then instantly you drop in a new house track as track A that the audience didn't see coming (and since you do this quickly, you won't have time to beatmatch it perfectly, so you can even pitchbend the acapella live so it sounds okay with the newly introduced track A beat). Make sure you have Master Tempo or Key Lock enabled so the pitchbending doesn't sound too pitchy. Also, if you know your tracks well and prepare them ahead of time, you won't have to worry about the quick beatmatching since you'll already know approximately what range you should bend the vocal to match it.

Good idea to bend the acapella to make it fit with beat on other track instead of pitchbending the beat to make it go with the vocal (pitchbending beats sounds more obvious to the ear than pitchbending vocals, and doing this live can sound very annoying).

good advice, gives you a lot of appreciation for the djs who get up there and do it perfect and make it look easy

http://youtube.com/watch?v=9KQCly4DTMg&feature=related

> *


Morillo is the master of acapellas.

morillo has his assistant set every one of the songs on his cds at the same tempo. Pretty good to be good at mixing when EVERY song is the same exact speed.

quote:

Originally posted by Scolomon morillo has his assistant set every one of the songs on his cds at the same tempo. Pretty good to be good at mixing when EVERY song is the same exact speed.

Not convinced that's true, but either way - still takes a good ear to know what works with what and he still rocks the crowd, so personally I couldn't care less.

I don't know why people have this obsession that DJs should have to beatmatch live - if Ableton had been invented before Francis Grasso had the idea of speeding up and slowing down records to get them in time, you'd think it was completely ridiculous that you'd want to make a DJ's life unnecessarily harder like that... surely the easier it is for him the less likely he is to fuck up your good night out by trainwrecking it?

There's so much more to mixing than beatmatching anyway, even with that out the way there are still 101 ways you can fudge a mix by deciding to mix at the wrong time, letting things clash, etc.

What I do is beatmatch the incoming record to the track currently playing, flip over the record, and preview the a capella track to make sure it flows correctly with the playing song.

It works best if you have three decks. One for the current track, another for the incoming instrumental track, and a third with the full incoming track. The following is my mixing process:

If only two decks are being used, you have to beatmatch a record on one turntable (deck B), take the record off deck B to put a duplicate deck A instrumental record on, readjust deck B to the same speed as deck A, mix out, put the deck B record on deck A, readjust deck A to the previous speed of deck B.....yeah.

However, I doubt vinyl is used much my way. With CDs and time-coded vinyl these days it is more cost effective to just buy the song once and burn multiple copies.

quote:

Originally posted by Scolomon morillo has his assistant set every one of the songs on his cds at the same tempo. Pretty good to be good at mixing when EVERY song is the same exact speed.

No, he does not. I have heard him wreck mixes various times when looping/throwing acapellas.

quote:

Originally posted by Stu Cox Not convinced that's true, but either way - still takes a good ear to know what works with what and he still rocks the crowd, so personally I couldn't care less. I don't know why people have this obsession that DJs should have to beatmatch live - if Ableton had been invented before Francis Grasso had the idea of speeding up and slowing down records to get them in time, you'd think it was completely ridiculous that you'd want to make a DJ's life unnecessarily harder like that... surely the easier it is for him the less likely he is to fuck up your good night out by trainwrecking it? There's so much more to mixing than beatmatching anyway, even with that out the way there are still 101 ways you can fudge a mix by deciding to mix at the wrong time, letting things clash, etc.

I have watched how he spins from the 2nd floor of pacha NYC where you can look down. Its obvious from observing him he isn't beatmatching. It's true. Just because he wrecks a mix, doesnt mean everything isnt beatmatched. It just means he is retarded

Good thread! Plz keep something like this coming, it's a benefit for all of us DJs

quote:

Originally posted by Scolomon I have watched how he spins from the 2nd floor of pacha NYC where you can look down. Its obvious from observing him he isn't beatmatching. It's true. Just because he wrecks a mix, doesnt mean everything isnt beatmatched. It just means he is retarded

right....

quote:

Originally posted by Scolomon I have watched how he spins from the 2nd floor of pacha NYC where you can look down. Its obvious from observing him he isn't beatmatching. It's true. Just because he wrecks a mix, doesnt mean everything isnt beatmatched. It just means he is retarded

Well fair enough, it wasn't me who said he must be beatmatching if he wrecked a mix...!

The point of my post was very much the rest of it, i.e. "who gives a fuck", which I stand by.

yes,i suppose he wouldnt be able to do so much stuff on the fly if everything wasnt the same tempo. He makes the most of it and he does a lot of crazy mashups of acapellas and songs and even two or three songs at once so at least he makes the most of it, and isnt just lazy playing one cd into the next

quote:

Originally posted by Scolomon morillo has his assistant set every one of the songs on his cds at the same tempo. Pretty good to be good at mixing when EVERY song is the same exact speed.

I'm not sure I buy this - not that I'm a huge morillo fan or anything (he's good if you're in to that and sometimes I am), but it just seems that someone with that much experience in DJ'ing wouldn't have a problem beatmatching for 10 secs or so before a mix.

I saw cassius at Pacha ibiza (where you can look down on the DJ booth too from only about 9 foot away) and I too thought he wans't beatmatching when I first looked. In fact he was just able to match in under about 5 secs which meant you missed pretty fast.

Also, I've seen morillo play vinyl in sets often too - he's gotta beatmatch that hasn't he?

And how do you know he has his assistant do it? Sounds like you heard this from someone rather than observing it.

quote:

Originally posted by DJ RANN I'm not sure I buy this - not that I'm a huge morillo fan or anything (he's good if you're in to that and sometimes I am), but it just seems that someone with that much experience in DJ'ing wouldn't have a problem beatmatching for 10 secs or so before a mix. I saw cassius at Pacha ibiza (where you can look down on the DJ booth too from only about 9 foot away) and I too thought he wans't beatmatching when I first looked. In fact he was just able to match in under about 5 secs which meant you missed pretty fast. Also, I've seen morillo play vinyl in sets often too - he's gotta beatmatch that hasn't he? And how do you know he has his assistant do it? Sounds like you heard this from someone rather than observing it.

He doesn't do it because he isnt capable of beatmatching. He does it because its way easier to mix things like acapellas in on the fly. You are right I heard it after I started asking around because I noticed there is no possible way he was beatmatching after I observed him (on a few occasions). I know what it looks like when someone beatmatches, even if it's quick, as I DJ too.

It's rare that I use acapellas live. If i have a track that will layer will with a given acapella, I'll usually make a re-edit ahead of time. I do have a couple CD's of classic acapellas that I like to throw on from time to time though. What I usually do is edit them an add some very subtle hi hats to make beat matching quicker/easier. That is particularly helpful because vocals are almost always off-beat, so making some edits ahead of time and adding soft percs makes it easier to find the right place to throw it in.

quote:

Originally posted by Stu Cox I don't know why people have this obsession that DJs should have to beatmatch live

While I agree with you completely on there is MORE to beatmatching, i'm asking this more as a question than arguing your point:

Isn't that one of the foundations of being a good DJ? Being able to take a fresh track and beatmatch it? Whenever i play house, i've noticed i really don't have to do much beatmatching, they are usually within 126-130, usually 128. With trance, I find the range to be larger. You are obviously a good DJ (not being sarcastic), so i'm asking you, do you sort of already know what to adjust pitch to (how else would you beatmatch as oppose to live?)

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