With the arrival and massively hyped launch of the new 3G iPhone by Apple, there has been a real surge in the number of iPhone applications that you can download from the iTune app store, whilst some of these programs are free there are also some that you have to pay for. More interesting however is the number of iPhone apps, that have been created specfically for DJing on the iPhone and the iPod touch, some of the key ones to look out for are below:
Circle Theory - allows you to see the relationship between different musical notes
Ravers d’lite - more of a novalty item, allows you to sync images with the BPM of the music playing.
Proremote/ Proremote lite edition - a 32 channel touch sensitive platform that allows you to control Protools via your iPhone or iPod Touch.
virtual deck - basically a virtual deck this is great for creating loop samples you can then use with other iPod and iPhone applications
Beatloops - great for setting up drum loops.
iTM Matrix - allows you to setup an 88 touch pad MIDI controller using WIFI for your favourate DAW or VJ/DJ tool. Great for sampling various Loops
iTM MCU - allows you to setup 8 faders with solo and mute functions, allowing you to fade various sections of the track.
iTM XY pad - this is like having a kossilator in your iPod, its great and allows further meniputation of your tracks/loops and music.
BtBx - nice easy to use sample creator with drum loops and effects as well as synths.
BeatME - userful BPM finder that allows you to tap to the beat and find out the BPM of a track.
Diddy DJ lite - sampler mixer which allows to mix up samples on the iPod.
Beatmaker - literally a mobile DJ studio on your iPod
Beatmatching or Beatmixing is an intergral part of modern DJing, and for iPod DJing has always presented a challenge due to the lack of pitch control, there have been DIY solutions to help iPod DJs to Beatmach but they talke longer to setup and are not an ideal solution to beatmatching, you can find out more about Beatmatching with an iPod here, this DIY technique allos iPod DJs to beatmatch using some of the most simple and basic iPod DJing setups, however for a professional sound and mix, an iPod DJ would be better off with the Numark IDJ2 or the Cortex Dmix-300.
Beat matching on the Numark IDJ2 or the Cortex Dmix-300 is identical to beatmatching on vinyl or CD DJing setup, and as both units have pitch control, you can alter the pitch of the track mid mix, giving you more functionality and freedom as a DJ. So how do you beatmatch on the umark IDJ2 or the Cortex Dmix-300?
1. play a track from one channel
2. get the BPM
3. put a track on the second channel, and adjust the BPM to match the first channel
4. play the second track an try and line up the beats, using the pitch fader to control the tempo/pitch of the second track
5. once the two tracks are beatmatched, take the second track back to where you want to play from and wait for the first track to get to the point where you want to drop in the second track.
6. use the crossfader to bring in the second track
7. use the high, mid, low knobs to bring in and excentuate elements of either track to make you mix more interesting.
One of the great things about the iPod, is that when you create a smart playlist in iTunes, it gets transferred to the iPod, this helps greatly with planning sets, categorizing music using formats other than album, artist and genre, and in the case of iPod DJing, categorizing music by BPM.
Creating and iPod smartlist in iTunes is really simple. And allows you to catagorize music based on a variety of criteria. for the purposes of arranging music on the iPod for DJing, you first need to find out the BPM for each track in your iPod music library. Once your iPod music has got the BPM you need to open up iTunes.
In iTunes, go to file >> new smart playlist
a window opens where you can “match the following rule”, here you have a series of drop downs that correspond with the various info columns that are related to your iPod music collection.
In the drop downs select BPM as the criteria to categorize your music with. In the next field you can choose various parameters, here you want to select ‘contains’ or ‘is’ as the qualifier, in the last field, enter in the BPM number. If you want further customization, you can click the + button and add other perameters, this can help if you want to get really specific in your Playlists. The window will close and you’ll see a new playlist in iTunes, labeling the play list is also very important, the best way to label is to order it as follows *BPM 123 by adding ‘*’ all the BPM playlists will appear together on your iPod, ‘BPM’ obliviously sets that the tracks are arranged by BPM and the numbers show the BPM.
If you have a large collection of music this can be tough, but once its sorted, everything is very organized and any new music will automatically be sorted into these smart playlists…pucker.
When it comes to getting these smart playlists onto your iPod, its just a case of plugging in your iPod and syncing your iPod with iTunes.
Whist the iPod and iTunes are fantastic in their own right and offer tons of functionality, they have a major short coming, you can’t alter pitch on the iPod, or iTunes, to alter pitch you need DJ specific equipment to do this, which can be costly. However, as mentioned here, there are solutions to this iPod short coming.
Why is altering pitch so important for DJing? simply because of Beatmatching. Beats are matched from one channel to the other altering the pitch has the effect of altering the BPM (beats per minute) of the track. Assuming you’ve organized your music in the format shown here, you’ll be able to DJ music within the same BPM group, this will allows you to bypass the inherent flaw in DJing on the iPod.
BPM is calculated using various software that you can find free online, here are a few that you might be interested in:
iTunes BPM inspector
Vocalist BPM inspector
Whippinpost BPM inspector
Alternatively youc an calculate BPM by counting the number of beats in 15 seconds, then multiply that by 4.
You want to make sure you calculate BPM consistently on the most stable beat, so if your doing breakbeat you might find counting the cymbals more effective than the kick drum or snare for example.
Once you’ve got the BPM for a track it will make DJing with that track on an iPod a lot easier, and a lot more fun.
DJing on an iPod can be very different for a DJ compared to DJing on conventional DJ equipment. An iPod doesn’t react in the same way to a normal DJ Deck or DJ CD players, and the controls on the iPod are different, as such there are different ways to handle the iPod in a DJing context.
The iPod has a jog wheel, that is sensitive to pressure on rotation, this controls, the volume, and position in the track (and I’m confident some day will control pitch as well), pressing the iPod Job wheel north, gives you the menu and back button, east is fast forwards, wast is rewind and south is play and pause. the Center button on the iPod acts as the select or enter button.
Now that we have a clear idea of the iPod controls, lets look at cuing up a track.
Select playlist >> select the BPM playlist >> Select the track >> the track will automatically play so you want to hit pause on the iPod straight away >> assuming you have a fixed cue point, you’ll need to have noted down the time stamp of the cue point, click the center of the iPod jog wheel this brings up the time line, rotating clockwise or anticlock wise on the iPod jog wheel get to the cue point. The latancy of the iPod in this regards (latancy being the reaction of the controls of the iPod) is pretty good with virtually no delay.
Using the same technique above, you can also create loops although this takes lots of pratice on the iPod, as the controls are not as forgiving as that of a DJ turntable, this being said, if your loop is a few seconds long you can use the same technique as above as follows:
Follow the instructions above, once you play out the cue track, the screen will revert back to the static timeline>> hit the center iPod button, the editable time line will reappear>> rotating on the jog wheel, rotate back to the time stamp of the beginning of the loop>> the iPod will automatically restart the track from that point.
With a bit more refinement you can also create ’scratch-like’ effects as follows:
on the iPod with the track playing, click on the center iPod button to bring up the editable time line, rotate back to the cue time stamp, keep your finger on the iPod jog wheel, gently rock it in time with the rhythm/ beat, you’ll notice that as long as they iPod job wheel responses the track will rock back to that time stamp, making a stuttering type effect on the track. This is nowhere near as effective as true scratching, however, it can be a very effective sound effect in a DJ mix.
Other effects include rapidly presseing the play/pause button, pressing the pause button, pressing the centerl iPod control, rotating back to the cue time stamp, pressing play; and pressing the center iPod control whilst the track is playing, rotating back to the time stamp and letting the track playout.
Whilst these iPod techniques greatly enhance how you can control the music on an iPod when DJing, they do need loads of pratice and getting used to, but they will greatly make the effects and the experience of DJing with an iPod more fun and interesting.
Hopefully in the near future, there will be more functionality added to the iPod that will allow a DJ to control the iPod in a way more similar to DJ turntables or CD decks.
Assuming you’ve chosen not to use some of the iPod DJing units available, there are still ways to take advantage of the iPod in a DJing context.
By treating the iPod as a deck, you’ll need two iPods, preferably with screens but you can opt for an iPod Shuffle, from a cost perspective, the ipod mini or iPod nano, are the best compromise between the needs of iPod DJing and price.
First you need to organize your music on your iPod as shown here.This will help you to overcome some of the challenges DJing on an iPod will present, i.e. Beatmatching.
you need a mixer of some sort, if your on a budget, any basic mixer with two or more channels will do, however if your looking for portability there are mixers that will help you check them out here. Connect up the iPods to each channel.
Select the track you wish to play from one channel, move the cross fader to that channel. in the second channel, select the incoming track, make sure your headphones are hearing that channel, use the pause button, to set the start point. (assuming you have chosen two tracks with the same BPM or the same BPM smartlist on your iPod) once you’re ready, wait for the Beat on the first track and press play on the second track, listen in your headphones and make sure the two are aligned…then move the crossfader accross.
Once the two tracks are aligned you are in the mix, so thats when you can start to doing interesting stuff with the EQ or cross fader. As you can see once you have smartlists of the BPM of tracks and only mix tracks with same BPM, there’s very little difference between iPod DJing and other DJing. No doubt soon there will be an add-on to iTunes and the iPod that will allow you to alter the pitch of your music, this will make the iPod far more DJ friendly and allow DJs to beatmatch properly and with songs of different BPM.
iPods benefit for having their own software, in the form of iTunes. Whilst this is great for organizing your music on your iPod. In order to DJ with an iPod, you’ll also want to have some additional software, and while your at it, so DJ software on your computer as well (1. cause its fun and 2. to help support your DJing on an iPod).
Here are some very useful software that will help you to both organize music in a DJ -able format and help with you DJ on your iPod.
YamiPod 1.6 - This allows you to make backups of iTunes, one of the inherent problems with iTunes is that it only allows an iPod associated with that specific iTunes to sync, your mates iPod would sync and you wouldn’t be able to transfer their music to your iTunes, naturally this was put in place to prevent pirating of music. YamiPod is an open source iPod program that allows you to back up your iPod, so if your tracks are on your iPod and you end up with a new computer and a new iTunes, you can still transfer your music across quickly and easily with your iPod. To add to this, you can edit song information, import lyrics, read copy and edit playlists. One unique feature is the ‘repair iPod’ feature which allows you to restore the database of music on your iPod.
iTunes BPM inspector (when you get to the site click more and scroll down), this is a fantastic tool that helps you calculate BPM, which for any DJ is useful and to key your music organized on an iPod for DJing, this is invaluable. This works by tapping out the beat. Beatunes is another iPod software that does this as an automated process, however, whilst its good, there can be times when the BPM is not measured accurately, usually when the music is very complex with no obvious beat.
Beatport.com - beatport offer a download of their DJ software which is really a cut down version of Traktor, the great thing about this is that Beatport are great for downloading music for your iPod and they specialize in DJ music.
These iPod and iTunes compatible programs will help you to iPod DJ and keep your music in order.
The software for an iPod essentially organizes your music, however if you plan on DJing music on your iPod, you’ll need to consider the limitations and features of iTunes and the iPod and use these to your advantage. Good organization helps when you DJ. Lucky for you here is a decent solution for anyone looking to DJ with an iPod.
First, before moving any further there is one key aspect that needs to be considered: an iPod and the iPod software doesn’t yet allow you as a DJ to alter the pitch on its own, whilst there is DJ equipment that allows you to alter pitch, the iPod itself and iTunes doesn’t currently have a feature to do this, after all this would requre the software to edit the structure of the track. there is however a slight work around, we’ll look at that later.
To organize music on an iPod, you need to look at iTunes. An iPod, stores music naturally in groups, these are as follows:
Artists
Albums
Songs
Genres
Composers
(and podcasts and audiobooks, but we won’t need this)
If you are using the iPod to play music, then usually using the Album group is fine. Now, for the organization.
You can get tools that help you to identify the BPM (Beats per minute) of tracks, these include: beatunes for iTunes on Mac and this manual application, there are loads out there. now once every single track you have has BPM, you want to create Playlists in iTunes, the easiest way to do this is to use the Smart Playlist set the limit range, ie the BPM, now the groups in the playlist section of your iPod contain tracks by BPM.
Next, if you wish to setup other playlists on your iPod, you want to make sure they are allocated a number, by labeling the BPM related playlists as BPM 130, and your normal playlists as 1. xyz when you search through playlists on your iPod you’ll find the BPM playlists grouped together.
With in the playlist, iTunes allows you to dictate the order of your tracks, this is a great opportunity to think about how to order your tracks.
With this your iPod, now allows you to select playlists based on BPM, album, song, artist, and genre. when you are organizing your music, make sure that you enter this information into iTunes.
