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Topic: First big gig with atomix, the good and bad points, worth reading (i think)

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well i did my first "big gig with atomix and the laptop. about 600 people so big to me anyways

thought id share some impressions and what not

when i first showed up the sound guys thought it was rather lame to use a laptop since they had a portable cd player they were using for soundcheck and said they should of just got paid to dj if all i was doing was hooking up a computer

mostly the audience didnt seem to care all that much however, but no one thought it was cool to see a computer. I did wish a few times i was on turntables just cuz it would of looked cooler however.

the ability to have so many songs stored on the HD was very nice, main thing i love about mp3, but i did notice that some of those lower bitrate mp3's really did sound kinda bad on the PA system, but mostly it sounded fine enough to me

Atomix perfered perfectly and didnt give me any trouble, i was a little worried, about the computer in general. That certainly is an issue though to think about with live computer sets.

effects sound horrible on a big system !! nothing against atomix effects as they sound fine on my home monitors, but one the big system that already has the sounds bouncing all over the club and the highs way up over your head and the bass cabs on the ground, effects such as delay sounded horrible. Sounded like something was wrong instead of an effect. I think its just that the speakers are in different parts of the room and sound reaches you at different times and it all just mixes together with the delayed sounded and ends up sounding bad. Just saying keep this in mind if you do alot of effects at home cuz when you play out it might not sound so good.

Also on that note, dropping the hights or lows etc sounds alot worse on the big system. I often mix with cutting the hights and keeping just the bass and then bringing the other track in, but at least on a big PA, the bass has no "intelligibility" at all and is just a boom boom boom sound so if you cut the highs you really cut all identifable parts of the track. THe sound guys even told me they thought that technique was poor sounding. but it always worked great at home, i guess cuz my speakers had a more "musical" bass representation

SO overall it worked well i guess, no complaints with atomix, it did everything i asked, but it was kinda eye opening in some ways. Carrying my laptop, mixer, soundcards, mouse, power supplies etc and all wasnt that much work but kinda a pain still, would of been nice to just walk in with a case of records and go to it. Also being on decks looks cooler. not that it makes you better but its more fun to watch than just someone staring at a screen and clicking a mouse. yeah its about music etc etc, but i think we all know its true. And at times sound quality was kinda an issue too, but just from low quality mp3's i think mostly. But the cd's they played at soundtest did sound better i still have to admit sadly enough

After this gig, i went to another club and caught Sasha and Digweed perform. Man were they better than me, better mixing, better tracks, better sound etc etc. Seeing a dj that good just really blew me away. They could beatmatch so perfectly, the levels, phasing etc all were seamless !! Made me really want to be able to do something to that level of perfection.

So in closing this rather long summary, im sorta thinking about getting some turntables. I know i wont have the auto beatmatching, free mp3 downloads, it will cost tons more money, etc, but on the upside i can dj anywhere that has tables so i can just show up and get on the decks and not have to hook up everything, i dont have to worry about pc trouble, sound will be better.

so anyone have any opinions for me on this ? At this point i love music and dj'ing and really want to be able to get to that pro level of perfection. To me, it seems like having tables and being able to beatmatch perfectly by ear and make all those minor adjustments that turntables let you do is more of the way to go.
 

geposted Fri 19 Apr 02 @ 12:24 pm
Oh yeah, also i forgot to add, the other thing i like about the idea of the turntables is that at least any tracks i get on vinyl will usually have the longer intro and outro aspects making it easier to mix, whereas alot fo the mp3s i get seem to be edited down or maybe from mix cd's and kinda kick right in so theres no just drum beats only intro or something to make mixing easier

and the other thing, which i dont know if its true, maybe its just dj skill, but i see all the vinyl dj's sync up two tracks and once they get them right, they stay that way til the songs end out, whereas with atomix, i cant get more than like 30 seconds without them drifting apart, not to blame atomix, but whats the deal with that ? sure maybe thats enough for a mix, but its cool to be able to have two things play overlaped for a whole song too right...
 

geposted Fri 19 Apr 02 @ 12:27 pm
Nice little summary of your gig.. very interesting reading..

..about that P.S. however, I'm not so sure... I've LOADS of 12"-mixes, extended club-mixes etc of really good quality.. you just have to look for them and not EVER settle for just one premixed or album-cut track...
most of the MP3's I mix are over 10 minutes long and most of them are all cluboriented remixes of the regular anthems/hits people are throwing in your mixes...

What I generally do to find good tunes is to go to the shoutcaststation that's been nr.1 for god knows how long on shoutcast.com's charts and listen for a few hours... once I hear a track that sends me to that special place I track it down and get every mix possible, 160kbps and above just to be safe... (not going to get into a bitrate-rant now as I know some mix 128's and I do to.. but I'd never risk having a crappy MP3 in my list so I try to get better bitrates)

AND about the drifting.. it probably has to do with 2 (or 3) things:

* The Magic button is good, but not perfect.. with a little bit more practise you'll learn to adjust the pitch so they align perfectly.. I can do 4-5 minutes without even a nudge after a few pitch-adjustments (using the finetune pitch-shortcuts or a skin with long pitch-sliders for extra control (=my own work in progress or Grimm's Atomix 1280)

* Last but not least: trust your EARS, not the numbers.. although I REALLY like the functionality of "FAME" it's not perfect.. pumping the magic-button or the pitch/beat-sync-buttons will NOT make a perfect mix.. listening and finetuning it manually WILL :o)

* "Auto-pitch reset": turn that nasty, jumpy, unpleasant function OFF if you haven't all ready... it's no good! (Since you're doing live gigs I recon you've grasped this but ppl in general might not think that much about what this function does to a mix)


Being a n00bie I might have gone a few notches too low on the skills-recognition but I have no problem with de-synching tunes.. my only problem at the moment is not having a sub' at home so I can't really hear if I f**k up with the equalizers..
Bringing in the bass so it sounds good to me doesn't sound that good when heard on a decent set of home-stereo speakers for instance..
I don't even want to think of how lousy it'd sound under the circumstances you described :)
 

geposted Fri 19 Apr 02 @ 1:23 pm
crundlePRO InfinityMember since 2003
nice to hear from someone using atomix in a big way, would be an awesome experience I bet, but just home mixing for me I think!!!
In a few years, it will probably be commonplace to see products like atomix used in clubs etc, just the same as when cd players were first introduced, and how much flak those guys copped from the vinyl faithful, but every tool has it's place in music, so I think use what you want as long as the music rocks.
I have noticed the difference you mention of effects sounding good at home, and then on a decent sound system they don't, but I think just subtle effects are best anyhow....
best of luck with your live sets, you will only get better with more experience....
=)
 

geposted Fri 19 Apr 02 @ 2:23 pm
Yeah.. think it'll be more and more common but probably never take over due to legality problems...

About two summers ago I heard someone mixing with MD's for the first time.. I'd been like.. "Yeaah right.. it fits nicely in my pocket but it'll never reach the DJ'ing community"...

Maybe people ought to open up their eyes a bit as this seems to be kind of the same with all these folks saying "It's nice to hear new and rare tunes at home it'll never go beyond that"...

...the word "retardation" pops into my mind.. not the "idiot"-kinda retardation but the opposite of acceleration.. people are striving backwards because they are uncertain of what the future holds in store...

..but I'm drifting of the subject now.. :)


Excellent reading.. hope to see more posts like this one!
 

geposted Fri 19 Apr 02 @ 2:30 pm
Interesting Points Guys !!!!!! It's nice to see someone give such an honest view, looking at both the positives and the negatives.

Yeah, effects aren't the greatest to use over large PA systems. They are more of a toy IMO. Just as said above, the FAME is great !!! but its still better to trust your ears.

But you guys took the words right out of my mouth !! Some very good points made here !
 

geposted Fri 19 Apr 02 @ 3:50 pm
manuelHome userMember since 2002
interesting in deed.
I use atomix strictly for home mixing/making demos but i wouldn't give it the benifit of a doubt of it standing 4-5 hours of mixing.
I stick with vinyl,much more fun and truly (imho) more pleesable to the crowd,and in the end that's what matters what the crowd think,also the sound is just plai nicer on vinyl...
just my 0.2$
 

geposted Fri 19 Apr 02 @ 4:00 pm
HomeboyPRO InfinitySupport ManagerMember since 2003
Awesome 600 people ! Wow ! I use Atomix every weekend for my bussiness. I have my own DJ company. But my crowds have never exceeded 400. Most of my gigs are at a small bar in a small town LOL ! I do weddings and parties also they pay better. Great to hear all the input.

Best Regards,

DJ Homeboy
 

geposted Sat 20 Apr 02 @ 9:14 am
thanks for the encourangement everyone. I know alot of times whenever anything is posted that doenst say atomix is the greatest thing ever, people just automatically jump down your throat and dont even bother to read and think about what is being said.

Thanks for the tips and suggestions from everyone as well, they were all very valuable to me. If i do try to switch over to vinyl im not really sure. Its a bit more money than just buying a $60 program thats for sure.

at anyrate, i hope everyone thinks about dj'ing differently now that they have some idea of what effects sound like on a big system etc. It totally changed the way i go about things and made me realize i cant count on effects, and also how important level matching etc is. On the home system it doenst seem to matter but if the bass is just a few db higher or lower on a big PA it really is a night and day difference, no doubt due to the fact the system has differetn amps and such for the highs and lows etc.

well once again thanks for reading
 

geposted Sat 20 Apr 02 @ 9:43 am
DJtalonHome userMember since 2001
If anything, why switch to Vinyl? The format is old, bulky, and degrades. The decks don't have that many options besides start, stop, and pitch control. And they still cost too much!

Why not get a CDJ? I've got a CDJ-1000 on the way, it should be fun. I'm not going to give up the convenience of being able to buy music anywhere or burn it free. I'm not going to give up the advantages of a more portable system...

having started out with Atomix, there's no way I'm ever buying vinyl. Noo way. Would you go buy a pitch-controlled 8-track player to mix on?

Sure, they make it sound real good, of course it can sound good. New records, high quality decks and cartridges, and years of experience make it possible. To me, though, it looks like an analog hell I'd just as soon avoid.
 

geposted Sat 20 Apr 02 @ 7:28 pm
i like the vinyl idea for the ability to be able to show up and play anywhere they have decks. Not likey to find cdj1000's very many places, so if i got used to using that and they only had older cd players id be stuck. CDJ is pretty cool however, ive used on a few times. Plus the $1000 a peice price tag is pretty steep. To an extent im trying to get away from the MP3s in general due to sound quality which i felt was lacking, and really that means buying vinyl and copying to cd most of the time so id need a table anyways. Lastly for scratching and things like that, the table still lets you do more, cdj sounded pretty good but the fact the jobwheel doenst spin under your fingers was kinda a disapointment to me. Still a great product and id love to have one, but til they get more popular it would mean having to take them to dj gigs and i really dont want to carry $2000 worth of cd decks with me and have to worry about them
 

geposted Sat 20 Apr 02 @ 11:21 pm


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