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Author Topic: Can I record my DJ session?  (Read 3786 times)

David353

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Can I record my DJ session?
« on: May 05, 2017, 12:08:48 pm »

I'm DJing a tango dance (milonga) and for times when I'm way ideally I'd have an entire MP3 of a pre-recorded session to someone who just plays it in my place.  Without giving them my laptop/library.

I don't see a 'Record' function like MIXX has for recording a played session.

Does this exist on JRiver MC?

Actually,  I only require a recording of the playlist, and I don't need it to record in real-time.  Something to virtually play the playlist into MP3 format would be even better for me if alternatively available.

Thanks,  David
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~OHM~

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Re: Can I record my DJ session?
« Reply #1 on: May 05, 2017, 03:04:25 pm »


Actually,  I only require a recording of the playlist, and I don't need it to record in real-time.  Something to virtually play the playlist into MP3 format would be even better for me if alternatively available.

Thanks,  David
so make a cd of the playlist. you have like 78 minutes on a standard cd-r or put the tracks on a flash drive
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David353

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Re: Can I record my DJ session?
« Reply #2 on: May 05, 2017, 06:33:21 pm »

Thanks for the option, but I don't really want to make a CD.  In fact, I don't have a CD burner any more.  CDs are dying out.

Is there an option to record to file?  And 78 minutes is way to little anyway.  Tango dances can last 4 hours.  I want to simply record to hard drive, no complications, no fuss.
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~OHM~

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Re: Can I record my DJ session?
« Reply #3 on: May 06, 2017, 03:16:37 am »

Thanks for the option, but I don't really want to make a CD.  In fact, I don't have a CD burner any more.  CDs are dying out.

Is there an option to record to file?  And 78 minutes is way to little anyway.  Tango dances can last 4 hours.  I want to simply record to hard drive, no complications, no fuss.
what do you need to record to file? this makes no sense to me. (maybe it's the terminology your using)(maybe I'm missing something. users have mentioned using MC to transfer files to Iphones and the such to playback in their autos is that what your looking for? but not necessarily to playback in a auto) the files are there, just copy the files that are in the playlist to a flash drive of appropriate size and renumber files to match your sequence.

What would the "someone" use to playback the files in your absence? not that it matters just curious.

78 minutes reflects the length of a CD only, nothing else.

I have used Nero to make data dvds that can hold hours of music playback but that's a story for another time and requires a dvd rom.
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David353

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Re: Can I record my DJ session?
« Reply #4 on: May 06, 2017, 04:05:27 pm »

OK, Tao, thanks,  I'm going to try to be more explicit, and then I may be understood.

'm DJing a tango dance (milonga).  This entails making a new playlist every week for the milonga (tango dancers notice it quite quickly if you repeat a playlist),   The playlist would have around 80 songs and would run for about three hours.

Some skill and rules go into the construction of the list.  It's divided into 'tandas' of three or four songs of similar type, and order is critical.

Now, every once in a while I'm away and ideally the event isn't cancelled -- I just let someone play a new playlist that I write.  (We could call this 'static' DJ-ing, as opposed to dynamic DJ-ing which involves watching the crowd and making a list in real-time.  I find that static DJ-ing is quite satisfactory from a DJ who knows what he is doing).

So this replacement DJ (to misuse a word) needs no skill.  He or she ideally just runs my playlist.  Now:  I don't want to give them my laptop, my music files, or my library. What I would like to give them is essentially a 'recording' of the playing of my playlist.  A set of CDs COULD work but would be a pain to both write, and play.

Ideally I have just one .mp3 which is the playing of my playlist, encoded to .mp3.  The replacement 'DJ' just plays this.  This is all I give them.

Now, I know it is possible to do this using something like Audacity.  But, seriously, think about how tedious it would be to concatenate about 80 .mp3s in Audacity -- as well as how error-prone it would be and how hard to even check for mistakes.

So ideally,  (Perfect solution 1) I get JRiver to in a sense, write this playlist to .mp3.  It could be called an 'export'.  Ideally it's not done in 'real time', it's just written out in a file and should not take long, certainly not the three hours it takes to run and record.

Now,  MIXXX doesn't have exactly what I want above.  But it has a pretty good substitute, Adequate Solution 2.  In MIXXX, you can 'Record' as you play a playlist -- what you play is recorded to an audio file.  So, using MIXXX,  I can play my playlist, and record it to an audio file.  It's not a perfect solution, because I have to wait about three hours for it to record in real-time as it plays in real-time.  But at least the computer is working that time while I'm not, and I can be sleeping.  And it's not error-prone.  It's a MUCH better solution for me than using audacity and tediously trying to concatenate 80 files without making a mistake.

Do you understand now?  Really, I want to concatenate all the .mp3s of a playlist, but a 'Record' function while I play is second-best.

Thanks.
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~OHM~

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Re: Can I record my DJ session?
« Reply #5 on: May 06, 2017, 07:14:54 pm »

I do understand now...thanks....MC has no option to record what is being played by it or to it...sorry.

Maybe a guru will see your post and pipe up with some options for you.

You did not mention how the temp DJ would playback your "playlist" having this knowledge would help.

good luck....I will be watching to see if anyone comes up with a solution for you.
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BryanC

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Re: Can I record my DJ session?
« Reply #6 on: May 07, 2017, 12:54:57 am »

Normally how this would be handled is by using the handheld sync tool to copy the files in a playlist to an external device (say a flash drive) along with the appropriate playlist format (of which there are several to choose from). The static DJ would just load the playlist in any decent music software and it will play the files in the correct order.
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David353

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Re: Can I record my DJ session?
« Reply #7 on: May 08, 2017, 07:18:52 am »

Brian, thanks for telling me about the handheld synch tool.  This will be part of the solution.

One other thing though is that I don't WANT the 'static DJ' to have my actual INDIVIDUAL .mp3 files.  My collection us my intellectual property as a DJ.  For this reason I want it all in a single .mp3 file so they just play it but can't 'steal' my collection for their own DJing.

(Yes, they could extract the individual songs using audacity, but that is work for them...  I want a barrier to being plagiarized, not a perfect prevention.)

I have found an 'mp3wrap' tool which is available for free.  This tool will help.  it won't read from a playlist, but I can make a script which sends the playlist to it.

Thanks.
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Alex B

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Re: Can I record my DJ session?
« Reply #8 on: May 08, 2017, 09:22:28 am »

You can use the built-in "Disk Writer" audio device to record the output stream. It will create a wav file, so you will need to convert it to mp3 afterwards.

Here are some links to my old "Disk Writer" replies: https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,67204.msg455852/topicseen.html#msg455852 . I think they are still mostly valid.

Disk Writer will apply all currently set DSP including internal volume, so you should maximize the volume level if it is set to use the internal mode. It will also include the cross-fade and volume leveling effects, which probably is exactly what you want in this particular case.

You may want to create a separate playback zone for the Disk Writer output to avoid changing your regular playback options. A link: https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,64551.msg448873.html#msg448873
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David353

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Re: Can I record my DJ session?
« Reply #9 on: May 08, 2017, 11:34:40 am »

Thanks a lot!  This looks like EXACTLY what I want.  It's better than the mp3wrap option because it will include cross-fade etc.

Later, I can easily convert the .wav file to .mp3 in audacity if I want.
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Alex B

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Re: Can I record my DJ session?
« Reply #10 on: May 08, 2017, 11:59:29 am »

Later, I can easily convert the .wav file to .mp3 in audacity if I want.

MC has a high quality MP3 converter. You can simply drag and drop the resulting wave file into Playing Now (without separately importing it), right-click it and select Library Tools > Convert Format...

The conversion options will show up in Action Window (lower left corner).
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David353

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Re: Can I record my DJ session?
« Reply #11 on: May 09, 2017, 05:39:17 am »

Thanks a lot Alex!
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David353

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Re: Can I record my DJ session?
« Reply #12 on: May 10, 2017, 03:24:31 pm »

Alex,  I've followed your previous writings and found out that there are some snags.  The .wav file gets split arbitrarily into several files.  I would have thought that it would be based somewhat on file size, but there are very small files there too.

By the way, I did UNCHECK some option like "write tracks to separate files".   It is putting several tracks together, which is good.  But it's not quite what I want.

 It is putting several tracks together, which is good.  But it's not quite what I want.

C:\Users\David\Music\JRiver Disk Writer>dir *.wav
 Volume in drive C is Windows
 Volume Serial Number is BAB4-0CB6

 Directory of C:\Users\David\Music\JRiver Disk Writer

10/05/2017  20:50         4,716,844 Disk Writer - 10 May 20_50 (0).wav
10/05/2017  20:50           787,500 Disk Writer - 10 May 20_50 (1).wav
10/05/2017  20:50       100,203,340 Disk Writer - 10 May 20_50 (2).wav
10/05/2017  20:50           851,756 Disk Writer - 10 May 20_50 (3).wav
10/05/2017  20:51        98,464,536 Disk Writer - 10 May 20_50 (4).wav
10/05/2017  20:51         1,003,564 Disk Writer - 10 May 20_51 (0).wav
10/05/2017  20:51        78,023,980 Disk Writer - 10 May 20_51 (1).wav
10/05/2017  20:51           885,036 Disk Writer - 10 May 20_51 (10).wav
10/05/2017  20:51           867,372 Disk Writer - 10 May 20_51 (2).wav
10/05/2017  20:51        91,528,552 Disk Writer - 10 May 20_51 (3).wav
10/05/2017  20:51           839,980 Disk Writer - 10 May 20_51 (4).wav
10/05/2017  20:51        97,954,828 Disk Writer - 10 May 20_51 (5).wav
10/05/2017  20:51           884,012 Disk Writer - 10 May 20_51 (6).wav
10/05/2017  20:51        86,928,652 Disk Writer - 10 May 20_51 (7).wav
10/05/2017  20:51         1,053,740 Disk Writer - 10 May 20_51 (8).wav
10/05/2017  20:51        97,681,836 Disk Writer - 10 May 20_51 (9).wav
10/05/2017  20:52       106,139,108 Disk Writer - 10 May 20_52 (0).wav
10/05/2017  20:52         1,079,084 Disk Writer - 10 May 20_52 (1).wav
10/05/2017  20:52        75,603,680 Disk Writer - 10 May 20_52 (2).wav
10/05/2017  20:52           934,956 Disk Writer - 10 May 20_52 (3).wav
10/05/2017  20:52        97,107,016 Disk Writer - 10 May 20_52 (4).wav
10/05/2017  20:52           787,500 Disk Writer - 10 May 20_52 (5).wav
10/05/2017  20:52        35,848,780 Disk Writer - 10 May 20_52 (6).wav
              23 File(s)    980,175,652 bytes
               0 Dir(s)  755,977,879,552 bytes free

C:\Users\David\Music\JRiver Disk Writer>


(I changed some names so that they have a version (0) thing so they list in the right order above.  And drop properly into Playing Now the way I want them.

Now what happens when I convert is that I STILL have separate .mp3s.  22 in this case!

Files which I CAN now join in mp3wrap.  With a certain amount of tedium, although it is not error-prone.

Is there any way around this?  There is no way to get it to stop splitting the files this way, is there?

Thanks!
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Alex B

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Re: Can I record my DJ session?
« Reply #13 on: May 10, 2017, 04:55:03 pm »

Probably the source files have various sample rates. An audio file can have only a single sample rate. Disk Writer splits the output on each sample rate change.

If this is what happened, you can add the sample rate converter to the DSP chain. Set all output sample rates in DSP studio > Output Format > Sample rate to 44100 Hz.

If in addition you have other than standard 2 channel stereo files, you may need to set the DSP studio > Output Format > Channels setting to 2 channels (stereo).
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David353

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Re: Can I record my DJ session?
« Reply #14 on: May 13, 2017, 03:49:50 pm »

Yes, that worked perfectly, thanks.
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