bob6397

So.. I’ll start by saying that any decent DAW will take a lot of learning – the workflow, the keyboard shortcuts, where everything is hidden, the plugins, what the plugins do etc. If you are coming from a background of never have done anything, this will be a learning curve. I myself have been using Apple’s Logic Pro 8 since 2008 and I am still learning features and tools that I didn’t know it has. I am now studying Music Technology at Uni here in the UK – and we get taught how to use DAW’s properly there. It takes time.

I’ll answer your points one-by-one to start with – in terms of practicality.

1) Adjusting tracks so they fit a beat grid
Some tracks simply don’t fit a beatgrid – unless they were recorded to a click track or metronome, you haven’t got a chance. And I wouldn’t attempt to fix it. There is no software I know of that will do this automatically. VDJ and Serato (and I think Cross) all have the capability to deal with a track with a bpm that changes over time, although you do have to tell it where the bpm changes through the track. I don’t think Traktor can do this though – so you may just be out of luck if that is the software you use.

2) Making Your Own Edits/Remixes
No DAW (that I know of) will automatically beatgrid itself to a track you give it. Most have a bpm analyser, but you will have to set the bpm manually and drag the audio to fit onto the grid yourself. It’s not tricky and normally takes me a few mins when I do this.
If you are wanting to do your own edits/remixes – go for it. This is the first step to producing yourself and will be easy enough if you understand basic song structure!

3) Post Process/Master Mixes
Firstly, any mixes you do shouldn’t need mastering. That’s done to the original track not when you mix. If you use autogain/gain normalization you should be fine without mastering. Whatever you do, don’t use any of the free “mastering” websites out there. They will do what’s known in the industry as “sausage” the tracks, removing any dynamic content. Not good.
Editing/shortening tracks is easy, as it applying basic effects like delay/sampler etc in almost any DAW.

4) Creating your own loops is easy – simply set the bpm to what you want and compose. Export the 4 bar section properly (method changes depending on software) and it will work fine.

5) Harmonic analysis is something I don’t know of in any DAW. Most will tell you what chord you are currently playing if you plug in a midi keyboard, but this isn’t something needed by the vast majority of users so they don’t include it.

Programs I would look at:

Apple Only:
Logic Pro – This is my preferred DAW and I in fact bought a Mac Pro (Desktop) from ebay fairly cheap just so I could run it. For me, its the most intuitive DAW out there and will work very well with both audio files and midi files. Probably tricky for you though unless you own a mac.

Windows Only:
FL Studio – This is a very good DAW for midi editing and composing (many many producers have used it) but it is not good for handling audio files so I wouldn’t recommend it for you.

Both Platforms:
Pro Tools – The supposed “Industry Standard”. This has been around since the invention of the DAW and is still used in almost every recording studio in the world today. Personally I find the interface very clunky and hard to use, and the plugins are no where near as logical as the ones within Logic.
Cubase – Personally I have never used this but I know many people who have and they have been impressed with it’s handling of audio and midi. Defo a possibility for you.
Bitwig Studio – Similar to Ableton (written by people who left Ableton a few years back as a spin-off) but very much a DAW in it’s own right. Not amazing for audio but the midi is very good.
Ableton Live – (Don’t get the lite/basic version – it’s very limiting) Apart from that, this is a very different DAW to all the other ones I have mentioned (with the exception of Bitwig) – it works in a very different manner, mostly organised around loops rather than sections of audio files. I personally struggle to work this way, but a lot of people love it for being different and make some remarkable productions using it. If you are particularly interested in how Synth’s work, you can also get Max for Live which lets you design your own synthesizer if you have enough time!
Reason – Pretty much midi only and I struggled to get along with it, although again I know many people who love the way the visual interface works.
Reaper – New kid on the block, and really really good with audio but this is not good with midi files so it’s a possibility for you but remixes would be hard.

In terms of pricing – don’t get a limited version as if you start remixing you will run out of tracks pretty quickly. I got a copy of Ableton Live Lite with my DAC and I ran out of track (max 8) after I had just put my drum kit into it, let alone any other parts. It’s not rare for me to use 60 tracks in a production, especially if I remix as I will have several track with samples from the original on top of any synth parts I create.
Prices are very rough – they may have changed recently – but should give you an idea of cost:
Pro Tools – £700
Ableton Live (Suite) – £600
Cubase – £360
BitWig – £250
Reason – £210
FL Studio – £200
Logic Pro – £150
Reaper – £40

Hope this helps!!

bob6397

The reason for this is they are not designed to be used for listening to music for long periods of time. They are designed for multi-track mixing and production work. So it is important that they show you all the faults within the music as true as they can. They are doing the job they are designed to do – provide a very flat frequency response.

Also make sure you aren’t driving them too hard. They have small drivers and are never going to give the same sound as larger pairs of speakers.

Hifi speakers on the other hand are designed to be easy to listen to. For simply mixing practice, I would use a pair of Hifi speakers every time. As indeed I do. I use my Sony Mini Hifi for DJing Practice at home

However, if I am producing or mixing a track then I either mix it in my headphones or go and use the studio up at Uni – when you have a studio with £60k of Dynaudio Acoustics monitors available it seems a shame not to use it.. I do appreciate that very few people have that opportunity though!

bob6397

Tried using foam pads to isolate the bass a bit maybe?

bob6397

So my understanding is that the audio should be:

ASIO Drivers

Master Output: 1&2
Headphone Output 3&4

Make sure that you have master output etc. set in VDJ as well.. There might be a dial on the controller for master volume?

bob6397

What software are you using? If it’s Virtual DJ it’s an easy fix… Serato or Traktor however and I don’t have a clue..

bob6397

Do your monitors take one TRS jack per speaker or one for both? (Which model are they – this might help us help you 🙂 )

If it is one per speaker, then they are not using a stereo signal, they are using a balanced signal (or at least they can) so this will plug into the RCA jacks fine, with one going to each speaker.

If it is one for both, then you will want a RCA – TRS Stereo adaptor (also available on the internet) to plug in with. Such things do exist and will do the job.

bob6397

They’re not Bulgin leads are they? I have heard of these being used for light boxes before..

bob6397

Haha.. it’s fine.. It’s been a long day!!

bob6397