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-- finding the inspiration...
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quote:

Originally posted by Zild For those of you who say you don't have time it is essential to realize that 30 minutes of practice every day is much better than 5 hours of practice every now and again.

one of the best fucking points ever too.

no need to spin a 6 hour set everyday. just give it a quickie whenever you can. spin 3 tracks. sit down, do some homework/actual work. watch TV, spin during commercials. take a shower, get out, spin naked (you know you've always wanted to. make sure you're dried of well though) and keep spinning as you get dressed.

i envy you myra. i'm not going to say that i don't make excuses for myself too, because i'm sure i do, but you have the means to do what i want bad right now. i've wanted to take up djing for years now...it's really sad that i haven't been able to by the equipment yet. i've come to a point though where i don't think i can go another year without it. this is something i think you really have to want...if you don't...you're not going to practice and you're not going to get better. i'm sure you are definitely capable of getting to a level you can be happy with...so really what are you waiting for? even if you just play an hour a day or something...any time more than what you put in now is improvement. you just have to get serious with yourself and decide what you want. if you decide you want to dj, you just gotta put some effort in.

I don't understand how you all can go about and just 'pick' tunes and mix them.

When starting out, I had a very random selection of tunes. Latin, tribal, electro, minimal house music.

After reading Nem's thread, I keyed all my tunes and that greatly diminishes my selection. (limits)

If I pick a tune with a 5A, I can only mix so much records with that, and even those don't fit well for the occassion. I don't want to hijack the thread. But when mixing, do you always have to HARMONIC mix? What if you just want to spin tracks you want, funky, upneat, etc, with no rules and limitations?

I think this is what is currently slowing me down, because there are tunes I want to spin, but cannot spin them due to them being harmonically incompatible and me being an overly rule following.

quote:

Originally posted by Ministerio I don't understand how you all can go about and just 'pick' tunes and mix them. When starting out, I had a very random selection of tunes. Latin, tribal, electro, minimal house music. After reading Nem's thread, I keyed all my tunes and that greatly diminishes my selection. (limits) If I pick a tune with a 5A, I can only mix so much records with that, and even those don't fit well for the occassion. I don't want to hijack the thread. But when mixing, do you always have to HARMONIC mix? What if you just want to spin tracks you want, funky, upneat, etc, with no rules and limitations? I think this is what is currently slowing me down, because there are tunes I want to spin, but cannot spin them due to them being harmonically incompatible and me being an overly rule following.

I know what you mean. I don't harmonically mix yet, considering I haven't had time, but i'm looking to delve into it some. It does seem to limit you a little. What i've done over the years is try to fit tracks that have similar levels of bass and treble, similar elements.. and tracks that don't have very big distances in BPM from each other, like no more than 4 or 5 BPMs. I also try to put various styles together with each other, so they flow, not play randomally, and study the structure of the tunes before hand. MixMeister gives me a Waveform graph of all the tunes, and it's really nice, so before I go to mix on my CDJs, I study up a few tunes and apply what I know from there onto my CDJs. They have a graph on there, but not nearly as detailed as MixMeister's. I don't think Harmonic mixing is a rule of DJing, rather a tool or a higher step, but I don't think every DJ out there harmonically mixes. I definitely know Armin does, but guys like Tiesto on the other hand....kinda doubt he does.

mixing harmonically is a great addition to skills IMO.

i dont mix harmonically yet but im planning to do so soon. it eliminates your choices of mixing but thats great in other ways. a dj has too many songs already so choice reduction is great at that point.

i currently mix harmonically a bit. when i can play another song in my head that has the same note as the song being played and fits the mood then ill play.

for now i mostly mix as buildup and flow. if i dont do this i really feel strange and uncomfortable. and as for songs, i mix them by sounds, effects, drums and percussion similarities. for example mixing mode hookers - breathe with the drill - the drill.

if you can mix harmonically, build a flow and mix songs with similar sounds, then youre A in my book.

quote:

Originally posted by stefanoc mixing harmonically is a great addition to skills IMO. i dont mix harmonically yet but im planning to do so soon. it eliminates your choices of mixing but thats great in other ways. a dj has too many songs already so choice reduction is great at that point. i currently mix harmonically a bit. when i can play another song in my head that has the same note as the song being played and fits the mood then ill play. for now i mostly mix as buildup and flow. if i dont do this i really feel strange and uncomfortable. and as for songs, i mix them by sounds, effects, drums and percussion similarities. for example mixing mode hookers - breathe with the drill - the drill. if you can mix harmonically, build a flow and mix songs with similar sounds, then youre A in my book.

I've been mixing harmonically for a bit now, but that's the thing. I don't have 6000000 records. So in each "Chamelot Category" I only have a few records, and these records vary from TRIBAL house to ELECTRO house, so even if they mix harmonically, they won't sound right, because mixing electro and tribal all the way through a mix, does not lead to FLOW.

Right now I'm at a point where I am WAY TOO FOCUSED on the technicalities of DJing, harmonic mixing etc, that I leave no room for fun, and that is what puts me off. Also everytime I mix, I feel like I'm making a demo, which is also fucking me up, because I feel under pressure. Whereas few days, I mix just for fun, and those mixing somehow turn out fantastic... but I digress..

quote:

Originally posted by Ministerio I don't understand how you all can go about and just 'pick' tunes and mix them. When starting out, I had a very random selection of tunes. Latin, tribal, electro, minimal house music. After reading Nem's thread, I keyed all my tunes and that greatly diminishes my selection. (limits) If I pick a tune with a 5A, I can only mix so much records with that, and even those don't fit well for the occassion. I don't want to hijack the thread. But when mixing, do you always have to HARMONIC mix? What if you just want to spin tracks you want, funky, upneat, etc, with no rules and limitations? I think this is what is currently slowing me down, because there are tunes I want to spin, but cannot spin them due to them being harmonically incompatible and me being an overly rule following.

No you don't always have to mix harmonically. I almost always mix harmonically but on Friday there was a song I need to play but I didn't have the tracks to bridge to it harmonically, so I did otherwise keeping in mind not to layer the tracks for very long because they're keys were slightly clashing. It isn't a hard and fast rule but keep in mind harmonic mixes will always sound better than mixes with key clashes.

Re: finding the inspiration...

quote:

Originally posted by l�cid alright, so here's the deal... last October i purchased 2 CDJ-800s and a DJM-500 mixer as a birthday present to myself. at first i was really excited and i burned a bunch of CDs, but i only played around on them maybe once or twice a week on average. then probably sometime in November/December i just got ultra-lazy and haven't really touched them since then, except for a few nights here and there. my full-time job has been insane lately so i usually work 45-50 hours a week and usually by the time i get home (around 7 or 8pm) i just don't want to do anything, and my weekends are always reserved for chill time with my boyfriend since i don't see him all week. i mean i think i've been reasonably busy these last few months but i wonder if i'm just making excuses for myself. i keep buying new tracks off all the digital download sites so i've got plenty of new music, but i still feel like i can never keep up. i understand the concept of beatmatching but i'm still not great at it. i understand how to use my equipment but i'm still not totally comfortable with it. Rob (DJ RJT - my boyfriend, for any of you who haven't picked up on that yet, heh) has really been pushing me lately, telling me i can't let my talents go to waste... and i REALLY want to get better at DJing, i just never seem to find the time or the inspiration to get on my decks to practice! i don't have dreams of being some hot-shot superstar DJ, i just want to be able to spin for myself and my friends, and play sets with Rob. have any of you gone through the same thing? i know that only time and practice will help me to improve my skills and learn more, but what can i do to get past this block that i have as a beginner? thanks in advance for any input.

You are probably looking for specific advise on how to mix.
Here is a long post full of ''tried and tested'' advise
that will help anybody who is struggling with beatmixing.
None of this general ''practice and try'' shit here.

Find a day you dont have to do anything and do a continious 8 hour marathon.
Plan the first 2 1/2 hours and then inprovise.
Split cuing happens ONLY with long periods of mixing.
You can go on for years with short 1/2 hour sets here and there and never get it.

So what are you doing wrong right now?

Well..generally beginners tend to do these errors:
Error no.1
-Paying attention to the track they have on cue and Not the program material like they should.

The live track is driving the mix.
This means everything else (2nd ,3rd turntable will be synched up to this.
Not the other way around.
You are always counting,tapping your foot to the LIVE track.
If you loose the live track you will fuck up the mix & clear the floor
& everybody is gonna be like ''what the fuck?!''.
Let me give you an example:

Music is going and @ the end of these 2 bars I will bring the the next track (yellow )in which will be a bit faster. (Of course I don't know this yet )
I used double numbers to indicate streching.

...1---2---3---4---5---6---7---8---1---2---3---4---5---6---7---8
...1---2---3---4---5---6---7---8---1- 22---33--44-55--6---7---8

This could happen several times during the mix.
If I loose track of where the live track is I will not be able to do this properly.
If that happens hit cue or lift up the needle and start over.

error no.2
Headphones are blastingly loud.

Wrong! look for some balance beetween the headphones and the speakers,
keep your headphones LOW so they dont overbear the mix.

error no.3
Pitch bending but not adjusting like they should.

Hey...it's not going to synch up on it's own.
YOU have to do it.
So pItchbend and adjust. And ADJUST. And ADJUST...

error no.4
Asuming that the tracks will stay synched up and loosing track of where the LIVE tune is in the mix.
Even if its aproximatelly right ,aproximatelly is not good enough.
You are always pitch bending looking for the perfect beat.
Divide the 1/4 note (beat) into millions of little time frames in your head and pitch bend.
Some times the difference is so small you cant hear it but you can feel it.
feel the beat and move the jog up or down : inches... centimetre's.. millimetre's...

Simply put if you listen back to your mix and you can tell where the transition is taking place
the mix is not good enough.

with these 4 pitfalls well stuck in your head find a spare day and do you 8 hour marathon.


So here is harriz's crash course in beat mixing.

-----
The first 2 hours are preplaned. This is the part where you wont be able to mix.
So you will try and get it approximatelly there as much as you can
and then fade over the breakdown so you dont get discouraged by the double kicks everywhere and quit.
-----
next two hours
you are hearing things a bit clearer and attemt your first ropey mixes.
While most of you mixes are you know... err... I don't want to say ''off'' but..''so and so''.
There is the ocassional one that is spot on.
-----
Hour 4 to 6
your mixes will be getting better and better with the good ones outweighting the bad ones.
-----
Hour 6 to 8
Mash up time!
Now you can mix anything into anything for as long as you like.
Congratulations you can now mix.

In order for this to work breaks are not allowed.
Meaning this has to happen all in one shot!
Also beatcounters are to be covered up with paper.
You may use them when planning the marathon set but not while doing it.

After you have mastered this you may worry about creative eqing, effects, 3 deck & harmonic mixing.
Coz if you are mixing harmonically but your mixing is off you are Nick Warren and people make fun off you in the global underground forum
Hope this helps.
Sorry for spelling errors.

i guess i would be more inspired to mix daily if i didn't have to keep resetting up my gear everytime i want to mix.
i have only one table which isnt big enough for both my gear and my pc.
and setting it up on the floor isnt an option.
i need to get a new table

Re: finding the inspiration...

one thing that comes on my mind is, that you could ask Rob to take you on a gig and give you microphone to speak to the crowd and kind of "moderate" his show-off...that way you'll taste the feeling of standing in front of the crowd and how great is it to interact and maybe then you'll get enough passion to practice everytime you have a few moments of free time.

how it happend to me was that I was asked to DJ on a party for people from our local chat here...it was quite exciting though I didn't want to say yes...they made me agree at the end though...and I went there totally unprepared (never DJ'd before) and I can tell you, the party was a blast, though I used ableton to mix (is it considered cheating? hope not), and not real decks, I loved how I could make the crowd do everything I like and when I was at the end people shouted my name asking me to play more and so on...that was damn great, since that time I bought a laptop, midi controller, some FXs etc...

and now I play regularly here as a resident DJ (though I don't think I'm good enough to TA standards, they like me here) so that's about everything...maybe it could help you

actually tasting the feeling of the DJ on a party...is a great motivation...

quote:

Originally posted by Inertia one of my friends DJing got killed cuz of his damn time consuming GF (which i have vowed to destroy for robbing me of a spin partner).

That's the one thing about Myra, she supports me/listens to me play whether it's out at a club gig, house party, or just chillin' at home trying out some new stuff... She definitely does NOT fit the category of the needy/time consuming GF that sucks the life out of her partner, much to the opposite actually, as when I'm setting up she's my partner in crime. Knows just how everything goes, definitely a HUGE help... I am a lucky kid...

quote:

Originally posted by Inertia then, i read your BF is RJT, ie. another DJ. im 100000% sure nothing sounds more romantic to him than spinning a vs. set with his girl. youll be a gazillion times sexier to him too, once you drop those seemless mixes

Fo real.

I talk to her literally EVERY day about how much I want to play sets with her, and in fact, before we ever even started dating we talked about how much fun it would be to play together. Now I think what it comes down to is taking that half hour to an hour a night when she gets home from work to really just get some solid practice in. I know for a fact that she has got the programming aspect of sets down COLD, as is evident by this (right click here and "save as") house mix she put together in MixMeister. At this point, what it's coming down to is getting the practice in actually manipulating decks and mixer which I guess I feel Myra will be able to pick up easily.

@ Myra: Kiddo, you know how I feel about you getting to work on this, and I know sometimes I push a bit too hard on you to actually do some work, but you definitely have an unlimited potential that far exceeds my own when it comes to this music. I know it's frustrating being able to put flawless and seemless mixes together on the PC and then not be able to instantly do the same on your decks, but as was stated earlier, a half hour a day worth of practice is far more valuable than getting 5 hours in once a week or every other week.

You'll get it sorted soon enough... I've got faith...

quote:

Originally posted by DJ RJT @ Myra: Kiddo, you know how I feel about you getting to work on this, and I know sometimes I push a bit too hard on you to actually do some work, but you definitely have an unlimited potential that far exceeds my own when it comes to this music. I know it's frustrating being able to put flawless and seemless mixes together on the PC and then not be able to instantly do the same on your decks, but as was stated earlier, a half hour a day worth of practice is far more valuable than getting 5 hours in once a week or every other week. You'll get it sorted soon enough... I've got faith...

and a huge thanks to everyone else for the nice and thoughtful replies!

Re: Re: finding the inspiration...

quote:

Originally posted by BOOsTER one thing that comes on my mind is, that you could ask Rob to take you on a gig and give you microphone to speak to the crowd and kind of "moderate" his show-off...that way you'll taste the feeling of standing in front of the crowd and how great is it to interact and maybe then you'll get enough passion to practice everytime you have a few moments of free time. how it happend to me was that I was asked to DJ on a party for people from our local chat here...it was quite exciting though I didn't want to say yes...they made me agree at the end though...and I went there totally unprepared (never DJ'd before) and I can tell you, the party was a blast, though I used ableton to mix (is it considered cheating? hope not), and not real decks, I loved how I could make the crowd do everything I like and when I was at the end people shouted my name asking me to play more and so on...that was damn great, since that time I bought a laptop, midi controller, some FXs etc... and now I play regularly here as a resident DJ (though I don't think I'm good enough to TA standards, they like me here) so that's about everything...maybe it could help you actually tasting the feeling of the DJ on a party...is a great motivation...

You know what? This guy is actually right!!
No it's not cheating. Its like next level djing.
It's where it is going & foward thinking people like Chris liebing (the best dj in the world/catch him live)
& Speedy j (the best producer in the world/go out & buy all his albums)
have already gone there.

Turntables & cd turntables do have limitations.
So why worry about phase cancelations, frequencies clashing with each other
and creative energy being wasted for the sakes of mixing when you can jump to the good stuff right away.
Boot up live and a proper midi controller and blow up a party!
Be carefull though while a good party will give you inspiration a horrible one will fucking' do the opposite and it don't feel good eighter

Now if you are djing traditionaly as far as I am conserned until you get to the point where
you are happy with your mixing you need to put in the REAL hours.
And once you get there you can do half hour sessions to further develop it.
A good drummer spends countless of hours locked in his basement banging away trying to seperate his foot from his hands.
Spliting your hand and your kick is a skill that doesn't happen within half an hour sessions unless you are a drum machine.
Same with djing.
The human brain tends to want to do only one thing @ a time.

Re: Re: finding the inspiration...

quote:

Originally posted by harriz Find a day you dont have to do anything and do a continious 8 hour marathon. Plan the first 2 1/2 hours and then inprovise. Split cuing happens ONLY with long periods of mixing. You can go on for years with short 1/2 hour sets here and there and never get it. In order for this to work breaks are not allowed. Meaning this has to happen all in one shot!

8 hours in one go!? i think most ears will tire out within 2 hours if they aren't used to it...not to mention concentrating at the end of an 8 hour set is near impossible...veteran dj or not.

but still, lotsa good pointers in that post.

If someone is struggling to learn I don't think an 8 hour marathon will magically transform them into a mixing machine.

quote:

Originally posted by Zild If someone is struggling to learn I don't think an 8 hour marathon will magically transform them into a mixing machine.

Bump.../

If only it were that EASY

my thoughts on this. If you really want to do it, then you will do it. My average weekday consists of 12.5 hours away from home (work). Of the remaining 11.5 hours i need to sleep, so thats at least 7.5 hours. Gives me 4 hours of free time each evening, out of that i have to eat and shower (1 hour). So I get 3 hours to do what i want each evening, most of the time I'm just too tired to mix (you have to be awake and alert otherwise you will be shit IMO), but last night i managed 2.5 hours. I try to get in at least 30 mins each night.

And lets stop calling it practice, makes it sound like a chore, and no one likes chores

Enjoy what you're doing, and if you're having an off night, just put the tools down and leave it for another time, dont force yourself to mix, it wont make you any better

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