This is the music-related blog for Jonathan (Scooter) Clark, also known in the electronica world as DJ Bolivia, a producer and DJ from Atlantic Canada. I listen to (and produce) a lot of folk, indie, rock, and hip hop music too!
I also run a company (Replant.ca Environmental) through which you can sponsor the planting of trees to build forest reserves and community forests, which are protected from commercial logging. Please visit: www.replant.ca/environmental
The other day, I was looking for a blog post from 2007, trying to find a copy of my live show at Velours (and the track listings). I couldn't find a copy of the set on my SoundCloud page for some reason, nor did I have the full unbroken set in Dropbox. I found a copy of the set that was cut in half, to accommodate fans who typically had to burn mixes to CD to listen in their car. Oh what a long way we've come in just fifteen years! We really don't appreciate how lucky we are these days when it comes to the power of computers and technology. A lot of the "hi-res graphics" from the early days of my website are only 340 pixels square, if that. And a lot of my photos were only 450 pixels wide.
Anyway, as I was digging around, I also noticed that I didn't have a track listing that made sense. I had a track listing in my "Complete Track History" spreadsheet, but as soon as I started to look at it, I realized it wasn't correct (having been listening to the set).
I had to dig deep to find it, but eventually I succeeded! But what a challenge. I had to go back into old data files on the Wayback Machine. But I'm fairly OCD, so it was worth the hunt.
If you'd like to download a copy of the mix, go into my "Live Shows" folder at this link:
You'll have to grab the 2+ hour long show as two separate segments for now, but I know that I have an original copy of the recording somewhere that I'll put into Dropbox eventually.
I have another tutorial video for you. This video is the last in a series of videos that Urban
Francis and I put together, as a techno production project for a track called Hijack.
The track was produced in Ableton Live, and we have all
of our Ableton project files available as a free download from Dropbox.
In this specific video, we wanted to explain what was
going on with the Side-chain compression.
Eventually, the two of us are going to do a very detailed and complex
set of tutorials about compression and side-chaining. They’re very complicated and moderately
advanced topics, and they take a little while to learn to do properly. However, because we have some side-chaining
happening in the Hijack project, we decided that it would be smart to give a
brief overview, so any producers who are moderately familiar with Ableton would
understand exactly what we’re doing here.
Here's a link to the video:
If you don’t understand what compression is, let’s start
there, even though it’s a pretty complex topic.
I tried to do an explanation in my Mastering & Marketing Your DJ Mix video
on YouTube, starting at the 21 minute mark. It’s worth a watch, because of the graphic
visuals. However, let me also try to
explain it here.
A lot of people,
when they hear about compression, they get the idea that compression makes
things louder. That’s incorrect. Compression by itself does not raise the
level of an audio signal. There are
several different settings in a compressor, but the main ones are this:
Threshold Value – this is the signal level above which
audio is being affected.
Ratio – tells how much the portion of the audio that is
above the threshold is getting squished.
Now obviously, if the audio is getting squished, then the
audio is getting pushed down from its original volume to a lower volume. So why, when people talk about compression,
do 99% of them think that the audio is getting louder? That’s a great question, and it’s something
that a lot of people don’t understand properly.
First, you need to understand that compression BY ITSELF does not make
the volume louder, it reduces the volume.
Now, let’s be honest – in the fight for volume to gain
prominence in the listening space, very few people want to reduce the volume of
their productions. So that’s where
another setting commonly associated with compression comes into play. That setting is the make-up gain.
After compression is done, if a producer applies make-up
gain to the compressed audio, it brings the volume back up. A producer may set the make-up gain to the
exact amount to bring the peak of the volume back up to where it was before the
audio was compressed. Sounds like a
rather useless practice, doesn’t it?
Drop the volume, then raise the volume.
But the key thing is that when the volume is compressed,
it is NOT dropped in a linear manner.
Louder parts are dropped more than quieter parts. Hence the reason that I said that the audio
gets squished. Therefore, the audio now
has a narrower dynamic range than before.
The peaks and valleys in the amplitude are not as significant; the
changes from the loud parts to the soft parts are less significant.
Since the peak of the volume is unchanged from the
original, once the makeup gain was applied, and since the dynamic range from
loudest to softest is reduced, this means that the AVERAGE volume of the
processed audio is louder. And that’s
the source of the misconception that compressed audio is always louder. Compressed audio definitely has a narrower
dynamic range. If it is louder, that is
only because makeup gain has also been applied.
Side-chaining
Moving on to Side-chaining, the way that side-chaining
works, is that you’re taking a signal from somewhere else, and you’re analyzing
that signal, and you’re using the analysis of the side-chain signal to control
the compressor’s actions on whatever other audio is being compressed. So in other word’s, the compressor’s actions
are being dictated by the energy of the side-chain signal (side-chain audio
source) that’s being fed into the compressor.
Remember that the signal that’s being fed into the
compressor (the side-chain signal) may have nothing at all to do with the audio
that you’re processing. And also,
remember that you don’t have to have a signal being fed into the
side-chain. If you don’t have a
side-chain signal, the compressor just works at a steady set of values while it’s
processing audio. Essentially, a
side-chain compressor without a side-chain signal is just … a regular
compressor.
Ok, so imagine this.
Let’s pretend that the signal that is coming in to the side-chain input
of the compressor is some sort of signal that is steady and repeating. High energy/amplitude (lots of signal)
alternating with low energy/amplitude (quiet).
A good example might be a repeating kick drum. If you keep hitting a kick drum in a steady
pattern regularly, then the “signal” (amplitude) is essentially a constantly
repeating on/off/on/off/on/off/on/off pattern.
If this signal is what is controlling the compressor, then you’re basically
turning the compressor on/off/on/off/on/off/on/off in the same timing and
pattern.
Many producers DO use a kick drum as a side-chain signal,
so that a side-chain compressor keeps turning on and off in time with the kick
drum. The compressor may be processing
just about anything else while it keeps turning on and off. Maybe it’s processing a synth line. Maybe it’s processing a background pad. Doesn’t matter. It’s compressing some sort of audio, and it’s
turning on and off in time with the beating of the kick drum, since the kick
drum is being used as the side-chain signal.
A producer can use the kick drum from the track they’re
working on, as the side-chain. But they
don’t have to. They could use a
different kick drum track as the signal.
And that other kick drum which is being used as a side-chain signal to
the compressor does NOT necessarily have to be audible to listeners of the
track. So a producer could easily have
two kick drum tracks in their song: one
that is audible that the audience can hear, and a second one that is not
audible to listeners, but which is being used as a side-chain signal.
Why bother using two different kicks? Maybe the producer wants a signal with a fast
release for the side-chain (to turn the compressor off quickly), but doesn’t
want the listeners to hear a kick that has a fast release. Or maybe the muted side-chain kick needs to
act as a side-chain signal during parts of the song where there is no kick drum
playing.
If a producer brings an extra kick drum (or any other
type of instrument or midi notes) into a side-chain compressor, but that
audio/midi side-chain signal is not audible as part of the project, the
side-chain audio signal is called a ghost signal, or ghost notes.
Using a side-chain to turn your compressor on and off
allows you to compress audio when needed, to allow for a different part to
shine through a mix, but does not compress the audio at other times. This gives the producer a lot of
flexibility. It’s much better than if
the producer’s only option was to permanently decrease the volume of other
parts of the mix.
An advantage of using ghost notes or a muted side-chain
signal is that you can have it turn the compressor on and off in any pattern or
timing that’s convenient to you.
An advantage of using a regular audio source within the
song (one that the listeners hear) as a side-chain signal to affect another
track is that the timing may be perfect for your needs. For example, if you need a kick drum to cut
through a synth line, you can play the audio of the kick, and you can
simultaneously route that auto into the side-chain of a compressor that cuts
the volume of the synth, allowing the audio version of the kick to cut through
the mix.
By the way, if you want to see the project that we used as the basis for this tutorial, here's the music video (yes, the full project files for this track are available as a free Ableton or stems download):
I'm Jonathan Clark, known online as DJ Bolivia. Do you want to learn more about DJ'ing and music production? If so, visit:
I recently sponsored a remix contest for a track called "Courage" that Urban Francis and I put together. We were overwhelmed by a flood of entries for the contest! We had more than a hundred entries, which was a LOT more than we expected. Narrowing down a final winner was pretty difficult. Here's what we did:
Urban Francis picked about fifty of his preferred tracks, and we shared those with eight of our friends who are music producers or DJ's. Each of those eight friends got to pick two tracks out of the group. One track would become a finalist, and another was a "noteworthy entry" that didn't make it as a finalist, but which our panel judge felt deserved more exposure. We then pitted the eight finalists against each other to come up with a final winner.
In judging a winner, the judging panel looked at a number of factors, but mostly the following four considerations:
1. Creativity - Any genre was acceptable, and we were really pleased with the variety that we got!
2. Professional Sounding Production - Does the remix sound like it's ready for professional mastering?
3. Identifiable - Does the remix have some identifiable elements of at least one of the original mixes, either vocal samples and/or melody lines or chord progressions?
4. Playability - Is the track a suitable choice for a DJ or radio programmer to include in a set or a show?
The final winner that was picked was a mix by Lazarus, of New York. We'll feature it first in this post. But we also wanted to share the other tracks submitted by the other seven finalists, and the eight noteworthy entries that were picked, so we're including SoundCloud links in the this post to all of these sixteen tracks. All of these are downloadable, so feel free to grab copies and share them with your friends.
You can also grab copies of all of these tracks (and of our original Ableton project files for this track) from our public Dropbox folder at this link:
I have to give a huge thanks, on behalf of myself and Francis, to everyone who submitted entries. Above and beyond the sixteen tracks that we've featured above, I've already heard a number of really professional sounding other entries, and it's obvious that a lot of participants put a lot of time and effort into making their productions. There were a lot of entries, including some that aren't featured above, that could arguably be judged winners!
I'm currently doing forestry work in the Canadian bush, so I haven't had much time to be heavily involved in this contest. However, I have a few weeks of downtime in early August, and my first goal is to listen to every single track that was submitted, and I'll be sharing a few more of the remixes in our Dropbox folder at that time.
Thanks for your interest in this remix contest!
I'm Jonathan Clark, known online as DJ Bolivia. Do you want to learn more about DJ'ing and music production? If so, visit:
I recently did a collaboration with Urban Francis to create a comprehensive video tutorial series about the production of a progressive house track. The track is called "Courage." We've made the entire project file available for everyone as a free download! We're encouraging producers to remix and share our track freely. To find more information about the music production in Ableton, go to this link:
For the "Courage" track, I'm going to start by providing an index of clickable links to all of the content in the five videos, so you can find certain sections faster if you're referring back to the videos for additional review.
Here is the clickable index. Click on the timing numbers down the left side, and it will open the relevant video at the correct starting time.
Part 1 of 5 - General Overview of the "Courage" Progressive House Track
00:00 - Introduction. What's this about? 04:13 - Overview of the scope of the project. 10:40 - Introduction to Urban Francis. 14:58 - Permission to remix and share the track. 21:59 - Technical notes: OS, DAW, plug-ins. 26:43 - Making elements stand out within your mix. 34:26 - Overview of the track in Ableton's arrangement view.
Part 2 of 5 - The Rhythm Section: Kicks, Snares/Claps, Hi Hats
00:00 - Introduction. 02:02 - Play through of full track. 09:54 - Overall overview of all drum instruments. 18:47 - The importance of variety in your track. Make it evolve. 21:25 - Overview of kick drum group. 26:00 - Effects chains and processing of kicks. 38:32 - Overview of snares/claps group. 41:32 - Effects chains and processing of snares/claps. 43:12 - Overview of hi hats group. 49:51 - Effects chains and processing of hi hats.
Part 3 of 5 - The Bass Tracks, Pianos, and Guitars
00:00 - Introduction. 01:46 - Overview of the bass lines. 08:55 - Effects chains and processing of the bass. 17:58 - How to resample a part. 32:51 - Examination of the piano/keys. 39:36 - Overview of the guitars. 43:45 - Effects chains and processing of the guitars. 46:50 - Audio effect racks and key mapping. 49:36 - Recording automation in real time. 50:55 - Editing automation by hand.
Part 4 of 5 - Chords, Melody, Pads, Vocals, and Effects
00:00 - Introduction. 01:45 - Overview of the chords/melody group. 09:14 - Effects chains and processing of the chords/melody. 12:33 - Adding a "track delay" timing offset. 17:26 - Overview of the pads and effects. 23:06 - Effects chains and processing of the chords/melody. 30:11 - Overview of the vocals. 38:55 - Automation inside a clip vs. on a track/channel. 40:16 - Slicing a sample to MIDI notes.
Part 5 of 5 - The Send/Returns, Master Track, and Tips for Producers
00:00 - Introduction. 01:35 - Details about all of the sends/returns. 17:58 - Overview of the master track. 23:22 - Exporting a final mixed-down audio track. 27:25 - Tips for producers. 32:52 - Using group folders for project volume control. 38:47 - Five subjects that upcoming producers must understand. 46:52 - Final thoughts. 49:14 - Contacting Urban Francis about collaborations.
Here are links to various versions of the track on SoundCloud. All may be downloaded and shared freely:
The full project files for this track, along with a comprehensive stems & samples folder and other material for producers/remixers, can be downloaded from my DropBox account at: djbolivia.ca/dropbox
If you remix a version of this track, we hereby give you permission to share it freely (in a non-commercial sense) on all of your social media and other websites, with no restrictions, as long as you name and share the track using the following filename format:
Bolivia & Urban Francis - Courage (YOUR NAME remix)
For commercial applications (ie. release on commercial CD compilations, placement in television/film), please contact us to arrange licensing. For release of your remixes on paid sites such as Beatport, Amazon, we'll probably allow you to earn the money off your remixes, but we'd like to be contacted about it first to confirm this, so we know which labels are distributing remixes and what the remixes sound like.
If you find these tutorials to be useful, we'd really appreciate if you could please share this post with other producers, or share my full list of tutorial and other music-related videos from djbolivia.ca/videos. Thanks for watching!
I'm Jonathan Clark, known online as DJ Bolivia. Do you want to learn more about DJ'ing and music production? If so, visit:
If you've found this blog post through an organic search, I've just (early 2024) consolidated the information from several distinct blog posts into one link on my main website:
You may prefer going to that page right now, as it has all the info from the post below, plus a lot more. But if you prefer the formatting of this blog post, feel free to carry on ...
The information that I covered in this part (#3) includes the following sections, which I talk about in more detail further down this page: Programming and set flow, do you need to beat mix, examining some popular DJ software, & thoughts about Ableton Live?
DJ'ing for Beginners, Part 3 of 4:
In this video I talk about music programming, set flow, mixing styles, beat-mixing (bars and beats and phrasing), mixing in key, DJ software, Ableton Live, and much more.
Here's the outline that I used when putting together this third part of the series:
Programming and Set Flow:
- Think about “contingencies,” ie. problems that might happen, and plan how you'd react to solve them.
- Theory about BPM's and energy levels. Gradually rising, sudden drops.
- Different mixing styles, drawn out versus abrupt.
- The importance of programming. Programming is 80% of your job. If you don't play songs that people like, it doesn't matter how technically skilled you are!
- For those of you playing venues where there will be more than one DJ, learn to be good at being an opening or closing DJ. Understand what the roles are for these two positions within a lineup. If you're the only DJ, you still need to think in terms of “warm-up” and “busy dance floor.”
- Dealing with an empty dance floor. Do you play your great tracks early, or save them?
- Never play a track twice in a night.
- Dealing with Requests.
- Using a microphone effectively.
- What if you need to go to the washroom?
Do you need to Beat Mix?
- Radio mixing, and "chop" mixing or "drop" mixing.
- What is beat mixing/matching?
- Understand counting, bars/beats, and phrasing.
- Maintaining a flow is the most important.
- Planning out a set in advance. Pros and cons. Mostly cons.
- Beat-mixing on CD players. I have a sample mix online.
- Beat-mixing on vinyl. I have a sample mix online.
- Using the cross fader, or not.
- If you're getting frustrated when learning to beat-mix, just walk away for a bit. It's not easy. Practice is the only way to get better, but don't practice when you're frustrated.
- Mixing in Key.
Let's Examine some popular DJ Software:
- DJ'ing software changes very frequently, every couple of years. Rather than reviewing various programs in this video, and making it stale within a year or two, I'll be producing a separate set of review videos. Not available yet.
- General notes about using laptops, CPU, hard drive size, windows versus PC, etc.
- Summary of some of the programs that are currently available, including Virtual DJ, Serato, Traktor, Deckadance, AtomixMP3, DSS DJ, and PCDJ DEX.
What About Ableton Live?
- What is it used for? Can be used for production, for DJ'ing, for remixing, for live PA (performance art) in front of audiences, etc.
- DJ'ing capabilities: it is set up differently than all of the other DJ-specific programs. It seems more like a production suite, but in some ways, it is the most powerful software for DJ'ing.
- Incorporating production work into your set.
- Making a studio DJ mix, my first popular videos.
- Learning to DJ live with Ableton. Mention video series.
Here are all the other videos that were mentioned in Part 3 of the "DJ'ing For Beginners" series:
DJ'ing for Beginners: Beat-Mixing on CD Players:
Sample DJ Set on CD's (SHG 150) using the DJ's CUE perspective:
Sample DJ Set on CD's (SHG 156) using the DJ's CUE perspective:
DJ'ing for Beginners: Beat-Mixing on Vinyl:
Sample DJ Set on Vinyl (SHG 160) using the DJ's CUE perspective:
Sample DJ Set on Ableton (SHG 155) using the Audience's audio perspective:
Sample DJ Set on Ableton (SHG 155) using the DJ's CUE perspective:
Warping Tracks in Ableton:
Making a Studio DJ Mix using Ableton:
Mastering & Marketing your DJ Mix:
First Video in the "Live DJ Performances with Ableton" series:
Finally, if you'd like to download or listen to an audio transcript of this video, as an mp3 from Soundcloud, here's the link:
If you like the sound of any of the tracks played during the breaks between sections, I've got all of them available as free downloads. Go to SoundCloud and do a search for: "dj bolivia global underground"
I'm Jonathan Clark, known online as DJ Bolivia. Do you want to learn more about DJ'ing and music production? If so, visit:
For anyone who was at this party last night and wondering about my setlist, here you go. As you can see from the track listings below, this was a mainstream/top40 event. I started out with an hour or so of hip hop, then moved into indie/pop, and then to upbeat dance tracks for the rest of the evening:
01. Migos & Drake, "Versace"
02. Pusha T, "Numbers On The Boards"
03. Big Sean, "Control"
04. Jay Z, "Picasso Baby"
05. Kanye West, "Blood On The Leaves"
06. Future & Lil Wayne, "Karate Chop"
07. 2 Chainz feat Pharrell, "Feds Watching"
08. Kevin Gates, "Wylin"
09. Rich Homie Quan, "Some Type Of Way"
10. Major Lazer, "Bubble Butt"
11. Jay Z, "Tom Ford"
12. Chance The Rapper, "Chain Smoker"
13. Drake, "Wu Tang Forever"
14. Ace Hood, "Bugatti"
15. J Cole, "Crooked Smile"
16. Lorde, "White Teeth Teens"
17. Blood Orange, "Chamakay"
18. Jay Z & Justin Timberlake, "Holy Grail"
19. Cali Swag District, "Teach Me How To Dougie"
20. Daft Punk feat Panda Bear, "Doin' It Right"
21. Parquet Courts, "Stoned & Starving"
22. Arctic Monkeys, "Do I Wanna Know"
23. Laura Marling, "Master Hunter"
24. Justin Timberlake, "Mirrors"
25. Elvis Costello & The Roots, "Walk Us Uptown"
26. Franz Ferdinand, "Treasons, Animals"
27. Betty Who, "You're In Love"
28. Haim, "The Wire"
29. One Direction, "Little Black Dress"
30. Thundercat, "Oh Sheit It's X"
31. Miley Cyrus, "Maybe You're Right"
32. Lorde, "Royals"
33. Snoop Lion & Miley Cyrus, "Ashtrays & Heartbreaks"
34. Kelly Rowland, "Freak"
35. Superchunk, "Me & You & Jackie Mittoo"
36. Eleanor Friedberger, "Stare At The Sun"
37. Paramore, "Still Into You"
38. Macklemore, "Can't Hold Us"
39. One Direction, "Best Song Ever"
40. Fall Out Boy, "My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark"
41. Lonely Island, "Yolo"
42. Katy Perry, "Roar"
43. Avril Lavigne, "Here's To Never Growing Up"
44. Daft Punk, "Get Lucky"
45. Disclosure, "When A Fire Starts To Burn"
46. Taio Cruz, "Dynamite"
47. Robin Thicke, "Blurred Lines"
48. Katy Perry, "Dark Horse"
49. Bruno Mars, "Treasure"
50. Selena Gomez, "Come And Get It"
51. Sak Noel & Sito Rocks, "Party On My Level"
52. Demi Lovato, "Heart Attack"
53. Inna, "Be My Lover"
54. Psy, "Gentleman"
55. Miley Cyrus, "Wrecking Ball"
56. Eminem & Rihanna, "Monster"
57. Ylvis, "What Does The Fox Say"
58. Martin Garrix, "Animals"
59. Avicii, "Wake Me Up"
60. Darius Rucker, "Wagon Wheel"
I didn't list the remixes that I used for any of the dance tracks (starting around track 40 onward) because I've edited a lot of them to make them unique. So in other words, you wouldn't be able to find them on the internet.
My helper, Amanda, playing some music early in the evening.
To download any of my studio mixes or recordings of lives shows, visit:
I just put together a pair of videos that will teach you how to cut breakdowns out of dance music tracks. And then I added a third video, which is even more useful, to show you how to enhance breakdowns by adding extra loops or other clips (basic remixing). If you're a DJ, you might find these to be pretty useful. But before I begin, what exactly is a breakdown and why might you want to remove it? Well, in simple terms, a breakdown is a short section of a song that's a lot quieter than the rest of the track. It probably has no bass or kick drum, or maybe no rhythm at all. If you're on the dance floor, this is the section where you suddenly have less structure to guide you, and it gives you a moment to catch your breath.
Breakdowns aren't necessarily bad. I find that they're often the most interesting part of a song. If I'm playing to a captive audience where most listeners are driving, studying, working out, going for a run, etc., then I prefer to leave the breakdowns in place. And even on a packed dance floor, it's nice to play an occasional breakdown to give the dancers a few seconds to catch their breath. But when the dance floor is packed, I don't want to play several breakdowns in every song I play. That's too much "down time." So I'll cut a lot of breakdowns out, which lets me keep the energy levels higher on the dance floor. Or, as you can see from the third video, sometimes a better approach than cutting out a breakdown is to spice it up by adding a strong back beat to it.
I have three videos to describe everything you need to know. They go through all the technical steps in enough detail that you should be able to figure out how to edit/remove breakdowns using common audio editing software. The first video covers the process in depth, and the second video shows a faster way to remove sections of a track if you're an Ableton user. The third is probably the best (but you should watch the other two first) because it will start to teach you basic remixing techniques:
I'm Jonathan Clark, known online as DJ Bolivia. Do you want to learn more about DJ'ing and music production? If so, visit:
About a year ago, I made three videos to teach people how to produce DJ mixes using Ableton. About 250,000 views later between the three videos (and many more since then), I decided it was time to make more. After all, the original intent was that these were going to be part of a bigger series about how DJ's can use Ableton. You can see those first three videos (and many more related videos) here: djbolivia.ca/ableton
Although those first three videos focused on studio-based aspects of DJ'ing and Ableton, I just finished up a second series which focuses specifically on live performance aspects of using Ableton. I hope that these are just as popular. Here are the links to those new videos. I
Live DJ'ing with Ableton, Part 1 of 4:
I start off with an overview of what you need to know about DJ'ing and what Ableton has to offer. We cover a review of beat-mixing and the need to understand "warping" in Ableton, a background on what you need to know/learn about audio mixers before you can go any further, and finally, a quick discussion of optional equipment and peripherals that can make your setup more powerful and flexible (ie. headphones, MIDI controllers, an audio mixer, and external soundcard).
Live DJ'ing with Ableton, Part 2 of 4:
This video covers basic navigation of the Ableton software, creating a project, importing tracks, adding effects, and doing simple DJ'ing without cue capabilities. If you know that your tracks are warped properly, and know your music well, the need to cue incoming tracks is minimized.
Live DJ'ing with Ableton, Part 3 of 4:
In this part of the series, we start getting into a proper setup. I cover external sound cards, audio mixers, and external MIDI controllers. I also start to talk about signal routing. Understanding proper signal routing is critical for using Ableton in a professional capacity.
Live DJ'ing with Ableton, Part 4 of 4:
This video covers advanced routing and signal flow ideas and examples, and also covers integrating Ableton with a professional piece of equipment, the Allen & Heath Xone 4D. I use the Xone 4D as an integrated component that contains an external sound card, an audio mixer, and a full-fledged MIDI controller all in one standalone unit.
Live DJ'ing with Ableton, Unofficial Part 5:
I really should have made the series a five-part series. Although technically speaking, I covered everything in the first four parts, this video definitely complements the rest of the series, especially the fourth part. In this video, I walk you through the steps of setting up a project with a slightly different approach than in part four, and then use that project to perform an hour-long set, which then became episode 155 of my weekly radio show, Subterranean Homesick Grooves. This video is produced completely from the DJ's perspective, ie. you'll hear the booth monitor output in your right channel, and the DJ's cue audio in your left channel, so you'll be able to understand exactly what I'm doing.
The Final Result, a Live Performance:
This is the companion video to the previous unofficial "part five" of the series. This shows the same view as the previous video, but this one only has audio for what the dance floor hears. So this is completely just an extra video that you can watch or listen to for fun. No learning here, this is just for relaxing after you've finished studying the other videos!
I have a lot more videos that help teach you about using Ableton Live for DJ'ing. Find them at this link:
I just got back from a quick trip to Ottawa, where I was booked to play a show for Ritual Nights. This was another psy-trance set, which you can download below.
I was booked at this event by Ian Chardine, a promoter who helps with bookings at a couple events and venues in Ottawa. I think I've been pretty lucky with the promoters that have booked me in the past few years, because once again, things went flawlessly, from transportation to accommodations to hospitality.
To download any of my studio mixes or recordings of lives shows, visit:
Then go into the folder called "Bolivia's DJ Mixes & Live Shows"
Thanks for your support!
Obviously, psy-trance is not quite my normal style for DJ'ing, since I usually play progressive-house or tech-house in EDM-focused venues, or more mainstream dance tracks at some other clubs. But this was my second psy-trance event in the past couple of months, and the high energy is pretty infecting. I think I'm actually going to try to play more psy-trance events and less tech-house in the future. If you want to check out a psy-trance set that I played recently in Beijing (China), after you're done on this page, click here for the Beijing set.
This set was mixed live on CD players. The venue had a Pioneer DJM-800 for a mixer, and a pair of CDJ-900's for decks. I took a signal off the record-out into a Sony PCM-M10 audio recorder.
I'm Jonathan Clark, known online as DJ Bolivia. Do you want to learn more about DJ'ing and music production? If so, visit:
I’ve generally been using my DJ Bolivia YouTube channel
for educational purposes. My goal has
always been to feature videos teaching about a number of music-related
topics: DJ’ing, using audio editors such
as Ableton and Cubase and ProTools and other DAW’s, production of dance music
from scratch, and the occasional music video.
But one additional group of videos that I’ve wanted to put together has
been a series on basic audio recording techniques.
I just put together the first video in that series. This one deals with very simple audio
recording using the microphone on a HD video camera, and using a portable audio
recording device. It talks about some of
the basic types of processing that a studio engineer would put on an audio
track (particularly on vocals), which includes reverb, delay, chorus, and
EQ’ing, although it only goes into any detail on the last of those four
topics. I predominantly use Audacity to
illustrate some basic concepts, with just a bit of use of Audition and VLC to
help out with some other tasks.
Essentially, I’ve recorded a song (acoustic guitar and singing) and then
extracted the audio from the recording devices, then I did some very simple
processing in order to come up with a better quality audio file.
Here’s the video:
The video touches on quite a few different topics that a
musician should become familiar with if you want to do any recording. Here is a list of some suggested additional
reference sites that you might want to check out, in order to learn more about
topics that I mentioned:
If you want to download the audio files that I was using
in this video, to better hear the audio in your own home studio setup, here’s a
link to a zipped folder containing the relevant files and a _readme.txt file
which describes the contents:
I played at the annual Graffiti party at St. Thomas University in Fredericton again last night. A fun crowd, as always. I didn't take any photos this year.
For anyone who was at the party and wanted to figure out any of the songs that I played, here's the set list:
01. The Lumineers, "Ho Hey"
02. Phillip Phillips, "Home"
03. Train, "Fifty Ways To Say Goodbye"
04. Demi Lovato, "Give Your Heart A Break"
05. Gold Fields, "Dark Again"
06. Fun, "We Are Young"
07. J Cole, "Work Out"
08. Imagine Dragons, "It’s Time"
09. Taylor Swift, "We Are Never"
10. Passion Pit, "Take A Walk"
11. Ellie Golding, "Lights"
12. Fun, "Some Nights"
13. Carrie Underwood, "Good Girl"
14. Maroon 5, "One More Night"
15. Griswolds, "Heart Of A Lion"
16. Sleeper Agent, "Get Burned"
17. Neon Trees, "Everybody Talks"
18. Atlas Genius, "Back Seat"
19. Gotye, "Somebody That I Used To Know"
20. Katy Perry, "Wide Awake"
21. Linkin Park, "Burn It Down"
22. Karmin, "Brokenhearted"
23. Ellie Goulding, "Anything Could Happen"
24. Maroon 5, "Pay Phone"
25. Selena Gomez, "Love You Like A Love Song"
26. Jjamz, "Heartbeat"
27. Christina Aguilera, "Your Body"
28. Yuna, "Live Your Life"
29. Gym Class Heroes, "Ass Back Home"
30. Justin Bieber & Nicki Minaj, "Beauty & A Beat"
31. Ke$ha, "Die Young"
32. Pink, "Blow Me One Last Kiss"
33. Pitbull, "Back In Time"
34. Flo Rida, "Whistle"
35. Calvin Harris & Flo, "Sweet Nothing"
36. Nicki Minaj, "Pound The Alarm"
37. Psy, "Gangnam Style"
38. Calvin Harris & Ne Yo, "Let Me Love You"
39. Katy Perry, "Part Of Me"
40. Pitbull & Chris Brown, "International Love"
41. Usher, "Scream"
42. Nicki Minaj, "Starships"
43. One Direction, "What Makes You Beautiful"
44. Icona Pop, "I Love It"
45. David Guetta & Sia, "Titanium"
46. Kylie Minogue, "Timebomb"
47. Swedish House Mafia, "Don’t You Worry Child"
48. Flo Rida & Sia, "Wild Ones"
49. J-Lo & Pitbull, "Dance Again"
50. David Guetta & Usher, "Without You"
51. One Direction, "Live While You’re Young"
52. Carly Rae Jepsen, "Call Me Maybe"
53. Snow Patrol, "Chasing Cars"
As you can see, the music that I played at this event was mostly mainstream club dance hits, and top40. It's the same sort of music that I put on all my Workout Mixes. If you'd like to check out any of my Workout Mixes, you can download them from this page:
