DJing ***FAQ*** methods and techniques, bump often

Sorry if this has been posted already - I've not read the thread 'cos I'm not a DJ, but here's one (best suited to techno DJs).
Get the beat of the record that you are mixing to on the off-beat of the record that you are mixing from - so it goes doof-doof-doof-doof (as opposed to doof-pause-doof).
Put the crossfader hard left or right. Let the track play for a bit, then (on the beat of the record you are playing), push the crossfader to the other side, then back again.
Its a cool effect if you can do it well - its not too hard either, I can't DJ for shit and I can do it... I think its called double-beating - it creates a kind of skipping sound, good way to break up the repeditivness of a loop.
smile.gif
 
Bizzzzzzzznuuuuump.
Whenever I do backspins, the needle jumps. I'm working with Gemini-500s. The needles/cartridges came with the tables, so I don't know the proper weight adjustment. I have it set so that cuing and working with the record doesn't cause any kind of jumps. Do i need to keep increasing the weight to get backspins to sound good also (when I do them on Techs I don't get this problem). My fear is that I'll end up setting them way to heavy, and will wear down my vinyl.
dave
------------------
http://www.kdvs.org:8080/ramgen/Archive/archive/DaveSteinwedel.rm
 
This is a very useful and interesting thread! I read the whole thing just now and I'll add a bit to the mix.
I noticed some musical syntax issues that may have been confusing for many. People who have a background in music are used to analyzing music in bars (measures) of a specific time signature. Since all, and I mean nearly all (including jungle), dance music is in 4/4 time signature 8 bars would translate into 32 beats. However you count music is somewhat irrelevant as long as you notice the patterns, but music people notice that it all goes 1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4,etc. I noticed a confusion between posts about this. Music tends to be broken down into 8, 16, 32, 64, etc. bar patterns, often you can notice things like small 4 or 8 bar patterns inside of bigger 32 bar stanzas. You can match the smaller patterns or wait an match the longer ones it depends on what you're going for.
Often in electronic music discussions people refer to house and trance and things that have bass drums on all beats as 4/4 but really it is all in this time signature. Waltzes are 3/4, Take Five by Dave Brubeck (an old jazz tune) is 5/4, Lusty by Lamb (a jungle tune which I have never heard mixed in a set due to its time signature) is 7/8. Most popular music is 4/4.
On to pitch bending. My use of this technique is different that some peoples. If the record I'm adjusting isn't playing I don't pitch bend, I use my fingers and adjust the pitch accordingly. If I've had two records mixed for quite a while with no problem and they start to get slightly off, I often don't pitch bend because I usually end up with the speed more mismatched than before. In this case I used the aformentioned spindle adjustments but this only is effective while being inaudible for slight corrections. If it gets off quickly pitch bending is a better, less audible alternative. Also, if I'm mixing fast and furious and taking very little time to beatmatch before throwing in the next record I pitch bend like a motherfucker. If you practice this you can start a record in your headphones and mix it in 8 bars (32 beats)later. Then you listen carefully in your headphones making pitch corrections as needed and *hopefully* finding a pich you can leave slider at for a while without adjusting.
These are all my theories and techniques since I'm more or less self taught they may not be for you. Something to think about though.
Happy mixing.
wink.gif

[This message has been edited by Aaron C (edited 08 October 2001).]
 
Ohhh man, how sweet it is to see this one coming around again! Maybe the level of conversation in there can temporarily move above the level of song id's and who's your favorite dj? Hehehe
wink.gif

Just a comment on the pitch bending thing. I use it almost completely backwards from you Aaron. I'll pitchbend at first to find a close match really quickly, then I'll just kinda bump the record forward or backward during the mix. This is, however, based solely on the fact that I'm too lazy to work on the mix, and pitch bend at the same time. (Plus I like listening to the mix, so I usually don't have on the headphones during a mix) That is unless, like you said, I'm riding a beat(mixing without prematching the beat) where you don't really have much choice except to be listening in the headphones the majority of the mix.
 
Ahh resurected..
Since this thread died I adopted pitch bending 100%. The only time i touch the record is immidiatly after i throw it, to correct for the inacuracy of the throw. I think my pitch adjusters are getting a bit of wear and tear, but i need to take the tables in for some general refubashment anyway (theyre about 6months old).
 
I do the same thing AB. 100% picth bend.
Thats not saying that I have perfected it yet...but I try. The only time I touch the record is after I throw it. I have found that it is a lot less noticable(during a mix) to make a pitch adjustment with the pitch rather than twisting the spindle or dragging your finger on the platter. I have a tendancy to speed up or slow down the record too much that way.
 
Pitch Bending
I do it more and more and get better every day as I get used to doing it. If I'm adjusting a track that isn't playing on the system, I still find it more convenient to put one finger on the label and keep the track matched while adjusting the pitch slider with the other hand. I seem to be able to get it accurately matched more quickly that way. Once it's playing though, I never ever touch the record or the platter, I might give the spindle slight, and I do mean slight adjustments in the middle of long difficult mixes but pitch bending is where it's at.
 
Well, I've seen a few people asking about scratching an whatnot. Check out www.turntablism.com they've got an awesome tutorial on scratching that has pictures and sound samples of all the major techniques.
 
My mixer (DJM-300) has headphone functions where you can hear the live sound in one ear and the cued track in the other. Or, you can put both tracks in both ears. Or one track in both ears. Or the live sound in both ears. All using buttons. The result is that I mix entirely in my headphones, usually using no monitor. The only other mixers I've used have been a 500 and a 600, so I'm not sure how much trouble I'll be in when I'm forced to use a different mixer.
I would suppose that most mixers will allow both tracks to be able to play in the cans at the same time. So I'm fine there. But do most mixers have a function to play only the live sound in the headphones? If this is uncommon, then I need to work on monitor technique.
 
Most mixers have a Cue/PFL switch/knob/something-or-other to switch between the live channel and the cue channel. The only thing your mixer does that I think most don't is to split the live cut and the cue between the phones. Honestly, I think that's sweet. I would love to be able to have ch 1 in my left ear and ch 2 going to my right, it seem like it would make perfection almost too easy.
peace
dave
------------------
http://www.kdvs.org:8080/ramgen/Archive/archive/DaveSteinwedel.rm
 
Well I got a question about headphones: when you're mixing, do you have your headphones on (or one on and one off, as I've seen many
DJ's do)? I can't have them on while I'm mixing cause I gotta hear what's going on.
Which do you think is the best way?
 
Pirulax, you will be able to listen to the music easier as time goes on and the more you practice...
My mixer, Vestax PCV-275 has the cue switch also, where you can put both channels in each ear, according the signals for each channnel that is...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top