First Steps

First steps:
In session view, make sure global quantisation is set to something around 1 bar [for now] and the tempo [top left] around 128 bpm.
Create some audio channels, CTRL+T... Lets call the channels DECK A and DECK B.
Ok drag a song from the browser into a slot on in DECK A and another song into DECK B.
Warp them if you havent already done so.
Trigger them to play by hitting the little arrows.
If they have been warped properly they will play in time, it might sound shit but its a start.

You can use your keyboards arrow buttons to select different boxes in the grid, we call them clips. Hitting return will trigger the selected clip but it wont start playing until the quantise point is reached.

Drag one of the clips to the box beneath it whilst holding down ALT, - kool - its been duplicated.
You might now decide to loop the first bar of the track. Hit "loop" so it lights up [just left of the waveform display] Now you can drag around the start, end and loop points in the waveform display. Nifty. Think of the possibilities, you can cut up tracks into different sections and trigger them at will.
Play around with it, maybe put an autofilter on one channel and mess around with some of the cool effects you can hear from sweeping around the frequencys.

Why not add another audio channel [CTRL+T] and put in some short drum loops or acapella. With Live you can have as many channels as your computer can handle, all playing different samples and effects.

Mixing: - eq, effects etc..
When mixing two tracks together, you need some sort of EQ, as you have on a DJ mixer, as youll get clashing basslines and kick drums.

Usually we have a limited number of knobs, and changing channel is no use unless the knobs are of the endless rotary type.

So it is here that a compromise needs to be made. Instead of controll of the level of bass in the EQ, how about a highpass filter with control over the frequencey? This serves two purposes, it is a cool effect, and provided resonance isn't TOO high, it can be used as a kind of eq when mixing.

For example, track 1 is playing, you start to bring in track 2. Set the HPF at around 200hz, and bring the track in, slowly lowering the frequencey of the filter, whilst increasing the frequency of track 1, so you are, in effect, slowly swapping basslines.

This can be done slowly or quickly, depending on the style of music.

You can also have a low pass filter on each channel, as an effect, as well as for mixing. I find I dont need one on every channel. I have 2 channels for complete songs, and 2 channels for loops and acapellas etc. On the 2 song channels, I have a bass EQ, a HPF, and control of the send, and this allows me to mix. The other 2 channels have a LPF and HPF, and send level control.
They also have a normal EQ, which I just control witht the mouse if needed.

Back to FX and what not, since we only have a limited number of knobs etc (I use a UC 33e), I cant have separate effects for each channel.

So I have 2 busses that I have set up. [Live menu - Insert - return track]
I output tracks 1 and 3 to bus 1, and tracks 2 and 4 to bus 2. So I have one full tracks and loops channel each to a bus.

This requires some plnning and thinking, but its not too bad. I just have a delay on a send channel, whihc I can control independantly on each channel.

The master channel also has some effects, with more control over parameter, notably, a beat repeat with control over grid, and the bars. On the busses the beat repeat only has control over the grid.

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Dont forget, once you set up Live for DJing, you can save your different templates. Obviously its a good idea to get used to one.