DJing for Beginners...

[rhopkins]

So I've been practising now since the beginning of February and whilst I'm enjoying this and having the equipment I still don't think I'm very good at all.

I like to mix a bit of, erm, a mix of stuff. From techno to house to electro to a bit of dubstep (no WUB WUB WUB WUB stuff though - you know what I mean!). Sometimes I wonder whether my attempts to mix varied stuff works against me as a beginner?

Most of the time I can beat match/start records at the right time (I use timecode vinyl) but then I do think I sometimes rely on Cross to tell me the BPM of a track too often (like all the time!). But even if two tracks match, I find the hardest problem I have is volume. The mix just sounds swamped, even when I experiment fading out bass, mid and high. I think I understand what should sound good together quite well, understanding the different parts of a track etc. I just never seem to get the volume of the individual tracks right. Either the next track comes in too quiet, or when I fade across to the next track there's a sudden jump in volume - way too noticeable.

The other thing I wondered is, during a set, how do you increase the BPM? For example, if the first track is at 125bpm, and the next track I want to play is 128bpm, what do you do? If you slow down the second track, isn't all of your set going to be at 125BPM? Is it acceptable to slowly increase the speed of the current track whilst it is playing, or is that a big no-no?

I've only ever had one lesson that inspired me to buy all the equipment and start this hobby seriously, but I just wondered what other people did to help themselves at the start of their DJing hobby? Any good online guides? I know the basic basics, but it's that next step.

Hope I've explained myself well enough and don't look like too much of a noob!

[bigworm1063]

I would tell you to practice, practice, practice! I know guys that have been doing this for 15-20 years and still have a hard time beatmatching some stuff.

One thing you might want to invest in is a portable recorder so that you can record your mixes. Give them a listen when your done and find what you need to improve on.

Just stick with it and you'll be sounding good in no time!

[Hannes]

Hey,

I guess everyone struggled from your problems (i still do when not taking care )

1)
Most importantl is how to count bars/tempo in music:
( 1,2,3,4 = the dj-mantra )
If you can do that, It´ll immediatly increase your ability to mix stuff of different tempo, as you will feel which track is faster and which one slower.

2)
The Volume thing: listen to both tracks in your Headphones, that´s what i do.
Level-meters are usually off as the human-ear isn´t linear to all frequencies.

3)
Tempo: Slowly de/increasing speed is absolutely legit in my eyes (though unless you do a real mashup, everything beyond+- 8% usually irritates people)
Cant find the right tempo, just do basic baby-scratch transition.

If you dont try to be QBert or AndyC and just stick to the stuff you´re able to your mixes will sound a lot better.

regards
J

And welcome to world of aural madness

[rhopkins]

I would tell you to practice, practice, practice! I know guys that have been doing this for 15-20 years and still have a hard time beatmatching some stuff.

One thing you might want to invest in is a portable recorder so that you can record your mixes. Give them a listen when your done and find what you need to improve on.

Just stick with it and you'll be sounding good in no time!

I actually record all of my practices and probably spend an unhealthy amount of time listening to them! That's where I'm surprised at home often my transitions don't work.

[rhopkins]

2)
The Volume thing: listen to both tracks in your Headphones, that´s what i do.
Level-meters are usually off as the human-ear isn´t linear to all frequencies.

Do you meant both together, or individually?

As I say, I'm always surprised by how swamped everything sounds. For example, I like the melody for the track A, and as track B comes in I want to keep that melody in place. Taking out the low and/or high changes the sound too much, but leaving them in sounds like too much going on or you can't distinguish both melodies.

As this is all sound, it's really hard to explain!

[Hannes]

I know what you mean,

for this I usually kill the bass on the track i want to keep the melody, roll off the highs a little and slightly boost the mids.
The incoming track I usually eq normal but take the gain back a little.

And I mean listening to both in the headphones.

cheers

[rhopkins]

I know what you mean,

for this I usually kill the bass on the track i want to keep the melody, roll off the highs a little and slightly boost the mids.
The incoming track I usually eq normal but take the gain back a little.

And I mean listening to both in the headphones.

cheers

Excellent, thanks. I know that you're meant to develop your own style but its good to get a bit of advice and be told that you're not going about things in totally the wrong way!

[Hannes]

When it comes to basic mixing, noone has his/her own style.
We all do the same.

It´s how you arrange your transitions and tracks.
Make the track your own!

[Robbie23]

I had the same problem. I think I am dependent on the BPM too much. What I did to solve the problem was use the turntable's pitch control. I would drop the track I wanted to mix in on the turntable. Then match up the BPM's with the pitch control, then start from the beginning. It all used to take about 2 minutes to do, not I am getting it done in less than a minute.

Steer away from Virtual DJ. It gives you a false sense of talent.

Being a turntablist RHopkins, feel free to baby scratch the next track in. Expecially in dubstep as almost every dubstep song is 140bpm.

Another piece of advice I can offer is that you master one genre at a time. Spend 2 hours on techno today, dubstep tomorrow, rap next week. What I have found is that transitions work well if you keep the same song but change the genre. Do a remix of a pop track in techno, then change it to drum and bass or dubstep. That way the music doesn't seem to change so abruptly.

Hope you're still having fun though.

[daniel clark]

Hope you're still having fun though.

plus 10

Sombody find the mans karma button