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-- Need tips for DJing. It's my first time DJing
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If you want a break about half way through, once you're into you trance section, just fade the music down to silence. After a couple of seconds (not too long) of silence, hit go on your CD deck (which by coincidience has one of your tracks selected), just let it play, go get a drink or whatever. (I would suggest stepping out of the booth for at least a moment) When that track finishes, a short silence, then have your other track play, continue until you have played all your tracks (like a concert). Let it finish, a second of silence, then start playing tracks and mixing again. Just don't let the silences go too long.

It will give you the chance to have a break and collect yourself, and will really showcase your tracks as being something separate from your mix - it will make them noticable. Not only that but it will give you a short time where you don't have to worry about mixing.

what i'd suggest is get to know your tunes really well, suss out whats goes well with what. Listen to the energy of the songs, and put songs together with simalar energies. When your playing one song line up the other one just before the b of the bang!!!!!!!! Start your second one at the appropiate moment, as one phase ends. Even though u have started the second track, u dont need to touch the x fader or sliders yet, as u need to beatmatch them, get them in sync. Finally at the appropiate moment drop your second tune in. If i were u i'd keep it really simple, dont try to be oakenfold, be yourself and have fun, you'll make mistakes, we all do!!!!!!! Lets us know how u get on!!!!!!!

I normally wouldnt reccomend this...but in your case i think it would be a good idea to use the bpm on the mixer, and cd player (if it has them)

Agreed on the using BPM counter advice.

I would also strongly advise you on using some DJ software to practice/learn on, such as Tracktor DJ. This way you can see the waveform, get a grasp (visually) of the structure of the track (intro, main, breakdown, outro, etc). With the software you can not just only beatmatch but learn how to phrase and stage match as well.

This is an *excellent* tutorial site for you:
http://music.hyperreal.org/dj/AVH/

With several hours of practice/training each day you should be able to put together a workable set

You guys got me pumped now! :-) Well I'll definitely try using the BPM counter of the pioneer DJM600 mixer. Is that thing reliable, though??

I have to say, the kids are pumped to hear me play!

Well if you're a producer, I assume you already know basic track structures. As for the BPM counter on the DJM600, it is reliable for effects etc most of the time, but I wouldn't depend on that. DJs don't need beatcounters and Traktor isn't perfect either (I learned on that software 4 years ago, before I moved on to my equipment). However I do think that Traktor is good for learning the basics: EQing, phrasematching, and learning how do 2 tracks' beats together sound like. I have a small tutorial I made around 2 years ago on how to use this software, you can see it here if you like http://members.tripod.com/wrestling_fans0/ . It is sooo outdated lol
I don't advise you to rely on BPM counters; you may get dependent on them and that's not a good thing for sure IMO, and if you start growing a passion for DJing, you'll have to learn how to do it the "real" way anyways... As I said before, I think doing short mixes, 64 beats or so is better, find the right pitch, put it on beat and then don't try correcting it too much, do a quick bass change and that's it. BTW the DJM-600 has a real deep bass cut, can cut ALOT of the track, so try to get used to it before the gig (if you aren't practising with that mixer).
Cheers!

Hey thanks! By the way, I have the luxury of telling them what equipment I need.

Do you guys have any better suggestions maybe in terms of equipment? Should I go with a dual cd/mp3 player or two separate cd players?

They are both okay, it depends on what you'll be practising with. Ask for the same that you'll be using @ home

if you have your pick, i'd say Pioneer CDJ-800s or 1000s. most anyone who learns to spin on a CD deck can spin with these without any trouble. had a friend, who had only spun with his crappy American Audio CDS-1 decks for about 6 months, go up into the DJ booth of the club and give agreat set, flawlessly mixed, and he had never been within 10 feet of a CDJ-1000.

another tip, the faster the music is playing, the easier it is to keep on beat. why? slower tempo means more time between beats, meaning a 64 beat mix at 120BPM will go out of synch faster than a 64 beat mix at 135BPM, because, if you think about it, logically, the one with a faster tempo will be over sooner. this doesn't mean i'm advising you to play as if you were a hardstyle DJ, just something to consider.

quote:

Originally posted by Inertia if he puts in 2 hours of practice every single day, that is 120 hours of spinning he can get. sure, he won't me nailing mixes like Sasha, but he can actually learn to mix decently in 2 months of intense practice. just takes learning to get the "vibe" from it. then, and you know this, it comes out second nature.

you're not accounting for some major factors here:

1- equipment never works as well as it does at home
2- nervousness kicks in and you can't think straight
3- few people have time to practice two hours a day

but seeing that this is just a fun thing for your church, i understand why you're doing it. if you were spinning in a club that would be one thing, but doing something for your brother's youth group is a little different. the difference is trained ears vs. people who just want to have fun and dance.

you know alcohol makes music sound better! but i doubt that's allowed at a church youth group

good luck man,
pEy

Thanks man!

Even though it's for the church youth group, I will aim to deliver a near perfect performance... If I succeed, it will build my confidence... I also think kids will get more excited with trance.. :-) I also think some psy trance will energize them at the end even more..

I did experiment with traktor, and I sadly realized I have pleanty of work ahead of... (trainwrecks and again trainwrecks..) It sounded so bad that I panicked..

This is what I observed though:

1. Psy Trance has smoother transitions for me
2. Vocal trance has the worse transitions...
3. Different songs have more energy than other and going to one with lower energy is sooo noticeable..

One thing I cant seem to understand is eqing. Basically, as I transition to the next track, should I reduce the lows or mids of the next track and then increase them back? I mean the percussion of two trance songs is different and I just don't understand how to make them match...

One more thing: I have no equipment as of now... oh well...

Isn't trance the music of the devil?

LOL I am just kidding.Hope those church parents(if any) don't give you crap about playing music that's associated with raves/clubs.

HAHAHA... Well first of all, parents won't be there.. Which is good.. In the previous party last year they were playing HipHop, Rap and Regae... Which could be classified as music of violence. This is not my words but from Insurers. They refuse to insure hip hop/rap parties..

Anyway, I DON'T believe it's the music of the devil (not sure about psy-trance). What concerns me the most is that people here in the US associate trance with drugs. It's soooo annoying, because to me, it's good music. I don't do drugs, and I am not affraid to admit it.

But hey, what the heck, I'll play trance and psytrance and if it shocks them, SO BE IT!!!

good luck man!! i started spinning just before this summer and im getting really into it. But in one month... damn... I could beat- and phrasematch okay in a few weeks, do short good transitions, but i admit i dont know my records well enough, i sometimes get 2 songs attached in perfect timing and phrase, only way to early or way to late. This i still have to work in.

What i also advice to you ( if this havent been said before ). In your case, i would construct a set for the most part. You dont wanna fuck up this party, even if it is your first etc. Just get a good beginning and a good feeling. If you are feeling comfortable with it after half a hour of good mixing you will start to get a feeling for it. If you fuck those tracks up then you start feeling shitty and irritated, not a good thing! Even if you cant mix. As a intro choose tracks you know, know how fast they should be and practice them at home. This way you get a really good feel for the decks and mixer and the PA system. After that just try things, just dont try anything fancy, hell if you just spend alot of time beatmatching and youre just mixing outro's and intro's from the tracks into each other, it'll be a good dancable thing. Just not alot of variation in mixing, but the audience almost never really notices that. ( unless you spin at a Trance exclusive party etc. There will be diehards there haha )

Well we DO want a full report when this is over!!!! Best of luck!

quote:

Originally posted by nectario One thing I cant seem to understand is eqing. Basically, as I transition to the next track, should I reduce the lows or mids of the next track and then increase them back? I mean the percussion of two trance songs is different and I just don't understand how to make them match... One more thing: I have no equipment as of now... oh well...

it depends on the tracks and you should not get used to a single procedure and do it every time, but here are some tips:
1- put both tracks on PFL (on your headphones) so that you can listen to both and adjust the volume so that both tracks are at the same volume
2- bring in the incoming track either slowly with the volume fader and with less bass, or push the fader all the way up but with less bass and at least mids. (depends on the track though)
when you do the bass changeover, the incoming track should have all knobs at around 12 o'clock.. the outgoing track has less bass, 'cos you did the changeover, and you can gradually fade it out, either by slowly pushing the fader down, or by turning the knobs. I usually like to enhance the outgoing track's mids while lowering the fader so that the outgoing track doesn't loose a lot of energy.
As for energy, well I like to program my sets from the least energetic to the most energetic track, or sometimes the rollercoaster set (ups and downs throughout, depends on the time I'm playing) but get to know your tracks really well so that the set is smooth

Thanks guys! You've all been really helpful... Expect a full report when it's done.. Hmm maybe I should do a live stream for you guys to listen as it's going on! :-)

I'll pretend I'm like Tiesto,(moving like him, and smiling at the crowd etc etc) lol

Your going to play psytrance to a church group!?. Just make sure it isn't 1200 micrograms or something. I dont think all those substance references would appeal to a straight, god loving community. But thats cool that your going to be exposing them to the beauty of trance.

You can do all sorts of stuff with EQ-ing

Sometimes I'll just fade a track in with the bass turned almost right down and everything else at 12 o'clock. Then when the first track is coming into its final breakdown, i'll kill the bass on the first and up the bass on the incoming track. Then just slowly fade the first track out.

If your new to EQing... go slowly. Better to have a slightly muddy mix than go nuts and have it sounding shit due to the fact that you have both the lows turned up to the max.

Wow, cool... That's really helpful.

Concerning Psy trance, I actually do plan on playing 1200 micrograms! I'll play one song from them called: "Acid For Nothing" It makes no references to drugs, which is good... I love that song...

Everyone will be shocked a bit... It's dream come true for me: a 10000 square feet space with a stage with arround 300/400 people.. AND I'll be playing for 4 hours....! :-)

I better not screw up..

All I can say man, is get practicing on your beatmatching. Don't even worry about harmonics yet... get the beatmatching down first (I still suck with harmonics :P) I'm sure you can learn a good amount until November

Good luck with keeping the crowd entertained, I'm 15 years old and have tried to introduce tons of people in my school to Trance music.. most don't like it (they wanna keep that "Hip-Hop ONLY" mind set ) ... but some people do really like it, they enjoy it when I finish new mixes and stuff So basically don't spin stuff that's too repetitive, and try to play LOTS of different songs, don't play stuff for the whole 7-10 minutes if possible. If you can, try mixing in early to the next song so the audience doesn't get bored. Teenagers have very little patience... if they get bored, they get mad.

Good luck, dude

Thx.

If crowd likes hip hop, it will be very challenging to get them going...

Do what ever non talentless DJ does....play track after track lol. Im jp

But good luck
200 is a good crowed for me lol

quote:

Originally posted by DJDREO Do what ever non talentless DJ does....play track after track lol. Im jp But good luck 200 is a good crowed for me lol

U mean "non-talented" or just plain "talentless"?

Non-talentless = talented

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