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Spinning BOTH records and cds

I am pretty new to djing and like many of you I am in love with it. I own both records and cds but I currently mix with two cdj 100's, and a djm 500 mixer. I am thinking of adding a turntable to my set up (I have a crappy turntable and want to upgrade to a technics 1200 mk2) but I am wondering how hard it is to mix both records and cds simultaneously?

This is not to incite a records vs. cds war. I love music on all formats. I just want to know what the practical realities of trying to spin both at the same time are.

its not hard at all. obviously, its gonna take a bit of time to learn how to mix with the turntable, but once you figure that out its not hard to go back and forth between records and cds.

Thanks Dartman. Someone suggested downloading my vinyl using spindoctor or some other program than burning it onto cds but I would rather just add the table to my set up. In other posts I have read that if you start djing with cds it is much harder to make the transition to wax. Since I haven't spun records I don't know if this is true. When you cue a cd, you are lisening (and looking) for a specific frame. But when you are spinning a record what do you do when you find your cue point? I mean, it isn't like you can just press the pause/cue button?

i do it every night.

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Originally posted by thicket But when you are spinning a record what do you do when you find your cue point? I mean, it isn't like you can just press the pause/cue button?

thats wat i wanted to know, im also thinking of buying decks soon. currently spin on cd's only. on cd's its hard to beatmatch 100%perfect bcuz i find that u always have to make adjustments, they never get settled. and if there isnt any pitch bend buttons (+/-), then its even harder to make adjustments with the jog wheel.

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But when you are spinning a record what do you do when you find your cue point? I mean, it isn't like you can just press the pause/cue button?

well basically for records... you cue it with your hand and u listen and find the exact spot. then u can either hold it there with your hand or u can just stop the platter at that point. then when u feel like u want to mix in the next track.. you start the platter (if u stopped it in the first option) and then push off at the certain beat u want to start matching at and then use the pitch control to match the beats. other people also push the record slightly to speed it up or touch it slightly to slow it down in order to match beats. whichever method u like better u can use. its probably pretty similar to cds... i dunno why it would be much different. i lookin to buy 1 cd deck pretty soon..... hope its a smooth transition that way..

I've been using CDJ 100s for a year and a half or so and I'm used to it. I recently got my first MK5 and the first day was really tough and weird but I started to figure out how to work what I've learned using CDJs and applied it to vinyl and it gets better each day. Except the fact im 500 or so in debt to the parents.

i started out with cd players and used only cds for about two years before i got my MK2s. i got my turntables one at a time because i'm not made of money and it took me alittle while to get used to playing records but i've watched sooooo many djs spin vinyl that i had a really good idea of what was going on. if you already know how to beatmatch/ mix with cds then learning to play with vinyl is not really all that hard. i absolutely love having both cd players and turntables. i would totally recommend getting turntables if you're thinking about it.

I don't really see many other djs spinning cds and records (except for Lorin Bassnectar who is an absolute master!) but I really like the idea. Plus, I am finding that there are quite a few 12" singles that will simply never come out on cd. But again, I love the cdj's and don't want to give them up, just want to add to them.

So another tech question: when you stop the record, if you don't want to hold it in place what do you do turn the table off? I know, this might be a totally stupid question but have mercy on my noobie soul!

you can just hit the start/ stop button and stop it. if you turn off the turntable and its a 45rpm record then you have to make sure you hit the 45rpm button but if you just hit stop its good to go. usually if i am gonna have to wait abit before i bring in the new record i will just take the needle off the record and re cue it when i am ready to mix it in. this is of course after i have listened to it and set the pitch adjustment where it needs to be.

i read somewhere that when your playing a record the needle gets hot and if you stop it and let it sit in one place it can melt a tiny bit of the record. i dont really know for sure if this is true but it sounds possible and i'm like "why take the chance?"

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Originally posted by dj_moonshine ..... on cd's its hard to beatmatch 100%perfect bcuz i find that u always have to make adjustments, they never get settled. and if there isnt any pitch bend buttons (+/-), then its even harder to make adjustments with the jog wheel.

Well actually its the same on decks u cant quite beatmatch 100%. It requires constant adjustments, however minor they may be. Regarding the pitch bend buttons, I've only seen them on software like Traktor. On actual decks u actually move the slider to 'bend' the pitch.

And thicket, do go out n get yourself a set of decks. It adds versatility to the media u spin.

Thanks everyone. It seems like I just need to get the turntable and start playing with it. I do have a pretty good feel for beatmatching with cds so from what it sounds the transition wont be too painful.

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know why so many more singles are released on vinyl rather than cd?

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Originally posted by thicket Just out of curiosity, does anyone know why so many more singles are released on vinyl rather than cd?

because vinyl rules


heheh i think that they release on vinyl because generally, more djs use vinyl. also, it could be done out of tradition for 'cutting' a new track. but generally, djs use vinyl more than other formats, and until the cd becomes just as prominent as vinyl (which i think will be a long time because vinyl has this mysterious 1337ness to it that cd lacks), new promos will be on vinyl first

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Originally posted by rafale Well actually its the same on decks u cant quite beatmatch 100%. It requires constant adjustments, however minor they may be. Regarding the pitch bend buttons, I've only seen them on software like Traktor. On actual decks u actually move the slider to 'bend' the pitch.

yes you can if you fiddle for long enough you can get a track 100% beatmatched (or at least for the length of the track), so long as its a very good and expensive deck that you are using..

some decks have the pitch bend buttons, most gemini's, and i think the new vestax pdx2300 has them too. pointless waste of time in my opinion as i can get it a lot more precise using my hands to lightly slow down the platter or a little stroke forwards to jump it forward a bit. although this does require a lot of practise at first to get it so that you dont get those horrible sounding slippy noises when you nudge the record. its all about being gentle with your babies

another thing that is wierd when first using turntables is cueing. just pretend you are scratching with the cue beat and away you go you may find that until you get used to it, you will either use too much force/weight or too little, and the result is skippage.. it will come with time though hehe

its always confusing using a different medium. ive used cdj's twice in my entire life and i still find using them very strange

i mix with both cd's and vinyl all the time (i alternate between the two for each track coz my left deck is shit) and once i got used to it it makes mixing that little bit easier.

you cant get the pitche exact on cd's (they only go up in 0.1%) put you can match it as close as you can quicker than vinyl coz the jog wheel makes nudgeing fwd and back easy. however on decks you can get the pitch pretty much bang on. but on cd's you can keep correcting the tune in the mix with the jogwheel without it being noticable, which means you have to have a little more concentration but it is easily do-able.

you will find its harder to correct mid mix using turntables if they are shit like mine, so CD decks are a godsend.


ps. my decks have pitch bend button but because they are low end decks they only change the pitch to +10% or -10% temporarily which means they are shit if you mixing anywhere near the top middle or botton. (ie. theres no way you can use bend+ below 3% or above 9%)

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Originally posted by tu_face yes you can if you fiddle for long enough you can get a track 100% beatmatched (or at least for the length of the track), so long as its a very good and expensive deck that you are using..

not really some tracks you can but most of the time you cant get them perfectly in time so that you can just leave the decks make yourself a drink and come back in 5mins and they will still be beat matching perfectly. Most of the time you will have to fiddle with the records a little bit to get them in time. ive been told this is because when they time stretch the tracks to be printed onto records very rarely will they time stretch perfectly. Ive got double copies of a couple of records and the only one that i can walk off on is kai tracid - too many times, the others ill have to nudge abit after about a minute.

Nothing beats spinning records. CDs are only good to save money I think just because as most of u said, matching exact beats on them is harder.

well i actually started out on cd decks about 5 years ago, and only got a couple of turntables 2 years ago or so. I didnt really find any problem in making a transition from cd to vinyl, maybe its easier that way rather than vice versa.

I still find mixing on vinyl though that much more satisfying when i pull of a great mix ... dont ask me why just a feeling

There are always more singles released on vinyl because it is the original dance medium, call it tradition or whatever, simply what most dj's still use today. I do notice thought that sometimes there are mixes these days which will come on the cd release only, so another pro for the cd argument :P

First of all, I very rarely am able to beatmatch 100% to the point where I don't need to make any pitch adjustments. Second of all, I hardly ever push the record off so that the playing track is matched with the incoming one, I always have to fiddle with it. I've had techs for about 3 months now, maybe I just need some more practice...

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Originally posted by conk First of all, I very rarely am able to beatmatch 100% to the point where I don't need to make any pitch adjustments. Second of all, I hardly ever push the record off so that the playing track is matched with the incoming one, I always have to fiddle with it. I've had techs for about 3 months now, maybe I just need some more practice...

As you say, it's all about practice.
I been doing it for donkeys years but I still have to make small adjustments from time to time.
I use pretty much the same method for both Decks and CDJs... just wiggle the pitch slider a little if it's going out of time. Never really touch jog wheels or platters. I find that CD players require a slightly more gentle approach but that's about it.

I use both but will favour vinyl and really only use a CD player if it's one of my own tracks or something that another producer has sent me.

Cheers
Nem

quote:

Originally posted by Nemesis44 As you say, it's all about practice. I been doing it for donkeys years but I still have to make small adjustments from time to time. I use pretty much the same method for both Decks and CDJs... just wiggle the pitch slider a little if it's going out of time. Never really touch jog wheels or platters. I find that CD players require a slightly more gentle approach but that's about it. I use both but will favour vinyl and really only use a CD player if it's one of my own tracks or something that another producer has sent me. Cheers Nem

My only "problem" with vinyl is the lack of the visual display of the pitch % by the turntables. Mixing with Cds is a piece of cake obviously 'cos you have that "spot" where they are as tight as possible(thinking of a 0.1% accuracy) while on turntables once you move the pitch slider, it's "here we go time" and you have to pitch-ride the rest of the mix. I'm not complaining, it makes mixing much more challenging, but it's still a pain sometimes! lol
still prefer vinyl over CD though, no doubt

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