Virtual DJ – your head will be up your own a$$

If you’ve been looking for a way to DJ without all the expensive hardware Virtual DJ is essential for you to try out.

It’s as easy as “slapping” down your mp3 tracks onto one of the two turn tables. Throw track A on a four beat loop, beat match with deck two, and then listen to the magic. All you need to get started is a PC or Laptop… and some nice speakers!

Once i play around with the video mixing capabilities i will make a new post.

Just some of the features below (and i do mean “some”… there are heaps!):

• Twin independent zero-latency players with:
  • Standard controls (play, pause, stop, cue)
  • Volume control
  • Pitch control (from -34 to +34%)
  • 3 band equalizers with Kill + gain
• One-click beat matching and synchronisation (new FAME algorithm)
• BeatLock engine: your songs will always stay in time, and you can work your mixes incredibly faster than any other DJ could
• Automatic beat-matched crossfading
• On-the-fly automatic BPM calculation
• Automatic pitch matching
• Automatic level matching
• Automatic beat matching
• Dynamic beat visualizer for easy drag’n'drop beat-matching

Download Virtual DJ trial here

Here’s a nice beginners tutorial… seriously… try the trial

GirlTalk using Audiomulch

Girl Talk creating a mashup from Elvis Costello’s Radio

Audacity – Free, Easy and Powerful

“It’s free so it must be average”. No.

Audio editing and recording for everyone. Audicity is definately a must have for anyone interested in mashing up thier favorite tunes. The amount of features this software has is quite remarkable.

Features include:
- Record live audio.
- Convert tapes and records into digital recordings or CDs.
- Edit Ogg Vorbis, MP3, WAV or AIFF sound files.
- Cut, copy, splice or mix sounds together.
- Change the speed or pitch of a recording.

Audacity Screenshot

Download Audacity

Audio Mulch – as used by GirlTalk

Gregg Gillis- I use Audio Mulch. Basically Audio Mulch is a program that you can do a variety of things in. It is primarily used for sound processing, running things through it and putting effects on it, or manipulating pre-existing source material. But I use it in a way that utilizes the looping functions on it. I use a lot of loop players, and kind of work around having hundreds of loops in front of me. I then isolate the actual pieces of music that you hear as much as possible. (source: Aural States)

Download Trial of Audio Mulch here

Audio Mulch Screen Shot