DJing with Ableton Live

Doing about two events each week now. Ableton is awesome and I’m adding tricks every week.

Now … confession time … I’m not really DJing. What I’m doing is a combination of DJ and karaoke and video. Coming soon … I’ll be adding video to show my setup.   I use the arrangement view in Ableton and project video on TVs or projectors. The videos are a combination of live video and text OR karaoke style words over pictures.

At the events, people sing along and watch the videos. It is not solo karaoke performances but a sing-along. [you don't have to suffer through a lot of bad singers] The songs are taylored to the audience and what they know. Each event lasts about an hour or more … and the feedback from the audience has been great.  This is a performance with audience participation.

The videos are created using karaoke software.  If I can find a video I put words over the video.  If I can’t find a video I put words over pictures or just blank backgrounds.  I trigger each song with my Launchpad.  My DJ techniques are very basic … usually full songs and simple crossfades. Just starting to use multiple tracks and overlaying sounds and video.

Any tips and ideas are appreciated.

MG