How to prepare music for use in Traktor

Yep, I do the exact same thing!

You get my vote for that one!!!

@kimhill

That's an idea! I don't know that I would go as far as you, but there are HUGE advantages to using iTunes. Speaking of catorigizing music, my brother is just about to release a little application that I think some here will find extremely useful (I know I do) especially when using smart playlists in iTunes.

 

i do this

Hello, this i s what i do,
- "Analize" or not (most of the time, not analize)
- then i TAP about 20 beats
- then beatgrid on first or second beat
- then lock
note1: i have deck view disabled, which means i never see the decks
note2: i have the bpm value at the top of the wave disabled, i don't like too see the bpm value
note3. I beatmatch trusting my ears, this way i make perfect sets without any error

I use a MIDI keyboard "Evolution MK-425c" and the QWERTY keyboard with TRAKTOR on a Pentium4

See you guys

DJ Manu

my MSN: mendomania@hotmail.com

 

once again

Ohhh i forgot something,
- I never use the SYNC button

see you

DJ Manu

 

PT thanks for the info. They have made my mixes much much smoother!


:superdj:

 

Glad to hear that you found the info useful

 

Any new word on that, gmint?

 

can someone post what the settings they use with lame?

Here is what I use and have not been too impressed.

-v -V 2 -b 320 -h


anychanges that i need to make would help.

 

Soon, soon. My brother is kind of a lazy bastard...

 

There is...on the Mac version anyway, just click the tiny triangle in a circle to the left of the time remaining bar in the top centre of th eiTunes window and you'll see import time remaining...when you're importing that is

 

@sparky sanchez

I think he was talking about the iTunes import in Traktor...

 

Just open your file, select the region you want too process and go to the plugins menu, there you'll find your vsts and aus, the apple eq is of course in the au menu.

About the normalization, guess it's maybe more of an automatic gain control ie it scans the file, finds the peak then adjusts gain to maximise based on that peak. Sound fair? Especially in terms of Traktor use this appears to me to be the most faithful to any recordings you've made.

 

gah!

Maybe I'm just retarded or something but I ca't import anything into tractor dj. when I get to the the tracks collection the only that I can drag a folder to is the unknown ablums section and then a pop up box says: "Tree control dropped on me. Missing Implementation." I haven't a clue what else to try. When I click on load it goes to the browse my hd but none of the files I can open. Maybe you know.

 

I simply use mp3gain (http://mp3gain.sourceforge.net) to normalize all my tracks - and use the eq's to fatten the sound - i find that once i've got a good enough level to play with alot of the problems mysteriously go away.

PS - I use 89db as a reference.

 

Hey Pixletrance

I have worked with beatgrid on a number of trax and have had great success - I am absolutely stumped with this one track!! it is driving me nuts!

do you like a challenge? wanna have a go?

In anticipation

yours

Lou

 

erm isnt this just for PC?

I just looked on the site and cannot see Mac anywhere am I missing something?

 

@ LouSwimmin

Sure, bring it on! I always enjoy a challange
Of all the tracks I have beat-gridded I've only encountered a few that I have been un-able to beat-grid and all those have had a non constant tempo.
Drop me a line: pixeltrance@yahoo.com and we'll sort out the details. Note that I would prefer to get the original wav and not the mp3, just to rule out any encoding errors.

As for mp3gain for the Mac, check out: www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/10624
As always Macupdate is the way to go to find software for the Mac

 

@ LouSwimmin

I took a look at your track. (If you EVER tell anyone that I listened to a House track I will hunt you down! ) hehe
It turned out that the problem lies neither with you nor with Traktor. Instead the problem lies with the source. This track has been ripped from vinyl by using a turntable which doesn't keep a constant speed. The bmp in the beginning of the track is 127.31 but at the end of the track you are down to 127.24.
The solution is to rip it again with a better turntable. I have several tracks myself ripped from vinyl, all with a constant speed but then all are ripped on a 1210.
An even better option is to try to track down a digital version of the track from a CD or maybe from an online store that offers downloads of single tracks.
You can of course also play the track as it is in Traktor but not use a beatgrid. Just need to ride the pitch a bit more.

 

yeah, ripping from vinyl nearly always includes a slight shifting of the tempo.... :-/
this is the only point for cd's (IMHO): you can rip'em easier.

and the only working copy protection for music is now having it on vinyl... lol

 

snap to beat

For all of you out for perfect beatgrids, one thing about that one:

If you use the snap to beat when setting a beatmarker on a downbeat it can happen that Traktor misses the "kick" of the bassdrum, since in this case it snaps to the low frequencies at a high peak.

So if you trust on that snap thing here it can happen that if you set up an loop the first downbeat misses an essential part of the sound and all you get is a dark "bum"...

I'm discovering this with at least 40% of my tracks, and then I always set the beatmarker by hand:
I turn off snap to beat, move the track a tiny bit to the right (while holding shift, more accurate), and then use the cue button to hear if I'm already with the kick. If not, I move it annother bit, and so on.
Can take a little (10, 20 secs) but for me it's definitely worth the time.

 

I use winamp to edit all the ID3 & ID3 V2 Tags.

I load all the tracks into the playlist. Select All. Then go to Misc Options and select File Info (Or just press ALT & F3). Then go through them all one by one, everytime you press Update it moves onto the next. A very quick way to check and edit a whole folder full of MP3s I find rather than doing them all individually in traktor. Save's alot of clicking around. You can even play them as you are working through them, and even skip to the next track if you get bored.