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Help With Djing techniques!!!

Hello Fellow DJs / Trance lovers...

I have been djing for 7 months now, i am hooked and loving it. I have been making steady progress and feel i am doing ok.

There are quite a few things i am not sure of technically however;

Firstly, when beatmatching, i normally mange to get the beats to similar speeds pretty fast, within about 10 - 20 secs. It is fine tuning the beats to get them at the EXACT same speeds which i have trouble with. What i have been doing is simply flicking the jog wheel on my cdj's slightly either forwards or backwards to keep the beats aligned, but occasionally this can sound a bit messy, particularly with tracks which have a strong bass beat. Is this a good enough technique to use or should i spend more time adjusting the pitch settings so that when i am mixing and i have the beats matched i only have to worry about blending the two tracks, killing the bass etc?

Secondly, i find it really hard to match tunes with a quiet intro, and by the time the tune gets louder and it is coming in the beats seem to be all over the place. Should i just try to avoid tracks like this?

Any help would be much appreciated!!

Re: Help With Djing techniques!!!

quote:

Originally posted by Roscoj87 Is this a good enough technique to use or should i spend more time adjusting the pitch settings so that when i am mixing and i have the beats matched i only have to worry about blending the two tracks, killing the bass etc?

Yes - you should use more time to make a perfect beatmatching event. The pitch adjustment button is just a fine tune button to adjust the speed if the beat goes off sync. Just find the beatmatch with the slider first (trying to achieve perfect beatmatch) and after that fine tune with the button.

quote:

Originally posted by Roscoj87 Secondly, i find it really hard to match tunes with a quiet intro, and by the time the tune gets louder and it is coming in the beats seem to be all over the place. Should i just try to avoid tracks like this?

Yes try to avoid tracks which doesn't fit into your mixtape. The sound levels can be fine tuned with gain knobs, but this thing needs plenty of training to get good sound. Just practise and you should find your own way to operate with the equipment. Good luck!

Re: Help With Djing techniques!!!

quote:

Originally posted by Roscoj87 Secondly, i find it really hard to match tunes with a quiet intro, and by the time the tune gets louder and it is coming in the beats seem to be all over the place. Should i just try to avoid tracks like this?

Well, you could always jump ahead to the point where the beat begins.

Re: Help With Djing techniques!!!

quote:

Originally posted by Roscoj87 Firstly, when beatmatching, i normally mange to get the beats to similar speeds pretty fast, within about 10 - 20 secs. It is fine tuning the beats to get them at the EXACT same speeds which i have trouble with. What i have been doing is simply flicking the jog wheel on my cdj's slightly either forwards or backwards to keep the beats aligned, but occasionally this can sound a bit messy, particularly with tracks which have a strong bass beat. Is this a good enough technique to use or should i spend more time adjusting the pitch settings so that when i am mixing and i have the beats matched i only have to worry about blending the two tracks, killing the bass etc?

1.) If you're beatmatching on a cdj with the pitch % interval set at 0.05 instead of 0.01 then this could make a difference. The smaller the interval, the more precise your adjustments will be.
2) after you get them say 90% matched - don't touch anything for 20 seconds or so. This will let the beats slip apart such that it will be more pronounced and you will more clearly hear wheather you need to speed up or slow down and by how much. In other words, stop constandly touching and making adjustments
3) as far as mixing tracks with different kinds of basslines and drums - this is a matter of practice and set programming and mixing style that comes with practice. Play around with tweeking the EQ (high mid and low) and bringing the faders in differently. Some tracks just don't work together and you will eventually learn this through experience. Thsi will take longer to learn

quote:

Originally posted by Roscoj87 Secondly, i find it really hard to match tunes with a quiet intro, and by the time the tune gets louder and it is coming in the beats seem to be all over the place. Should i just try to avoid tracks like this? Any help would be much appreciated!!

When you say quiet do you mean 1) the volume is lower 2) there is some melody/atmospheric intro with no drums or bassline or 3) there drums/highhats only and it slowly adds elements as it progresses?
if 1) then wait till the track is at full volume to cue it in
if 2) then fast forward till the drums kick in and cue from there
if 3) this is normal and you need to work on finding the right cue points where you drop the tune in.
This goes back to knowing your records, etc. which takes longer to learn.

I hope this helps....anyone else feel free to correct me.

Re: Re: Help With Djing techniques!!!

quote:

Originally posted by s.vp49 2) there is some melody/atmospheric intro with no drums or bassline

with this you could cue on the first bit of sound, then start it on the first beat of a break (which may be a kick or not), then fade in the new track and lower the one that was playing significantly when the new tracks first kick comes in.

two breaks playing at the same time probably won�t sound good so experiment with EQing. Also if both tracks kicks start at the same time after the break they will most likely be a bit off so keep that in mind when selecting tracks to do this with.
This will not work on every track.

Understanding the basic structure of a house or trance song definitely helps too.

I havent dabbled into too much trance, but Ive found that most songs will start with a minute of steady beat with which you can use to beat match, followed by a minute or so of buildup/verse with which you use to introduce the cue track. After that, tehre are 2 or 3 'choruses' and a couple epic breakdowns. Virtually every song you buy will have this structure. There are exceptions.

Knowing where you are in the song is vital to keeping the energy level/volume constant. My most recent breakthrough in improving my mix technique was learning this.

Disclaimer: Im relatively new to this as well, and im sure there are some more seasoned veterans that will point out some corrections.

cheers

Thanks a lot guys, appreciate it!

I find spending more time listening instead of touching is making a big difference, just nee to keep practising!! Fire it up!!!

not sure how good you are, but for beatmatching practice, you could always try pitch riding. fine tune's your ears lol

Excuse my ignorance, but i am fairly new to djing, can u explain what exactly pitch riding is?!! Cheers!!

Excuse my ignorance, but i am fairly new to djing, can u explain what exactly pitch riding is?!! Cheers!!

quote:

Originally posted by Roscoj87 Excuse my ignorance, but i am fairly new to djing, can u explain what exactly pitch riding is?!! Cheers!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zC5...feature=channel

quote:

Originally posted by david.michael http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zC5...feature=channel

Nice post

Re: Re: Help With Djing techniques!!!

quote:

Originally posted by s.vp49 2) after you get them say 90% matched - don't touch anything for 20 seconds or so. This will let the beats slip apart such that it will be more pronounced and you will more clearly hear wheather you need to speed up or slow down and by how much. In other words, stop constandly touching and making adjustments

that is really good advice

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