alright. so i've had my decks for about 4 months now, and quite honestly, i still really really really really suck.

but then again, i think it has something to do with the fact that i'm trying to LEARN beatmatching and all this good stuff with breakbeat. not exactly the best idea (i know), but its my fav genre, so whatever.

anyway, i can SORT of beatmatch. i can beatmatch trance a hell of a lot better than breaks, but i really want to get breaks down cuz i have so many crazy ideas in my head that would freakin own if only i knew how to mix properly.

la la la, that was all a huge tangent. anyway, i was talking to a friend about my frustration and he informed me that watching other people mix is actually quite helpful when trying to learn. now, i have no friends near me that spin even the slightest, so i can't exactly watch anyone, BUT, do any of you by ANY chance know of some videos where it shows the djs mixing? like just mixing.

i dunno what else to do really. i have so many great ideas while i'm mixing, but none of these ideas in my head can actually be put together because my skills suck ass.

thanks in advance, although i know these videos might not actually exist, still worth a try though right?

what kind of decks do you have? how many hours a day do you put in?

mixing breaks and 4/4 is a littel confusing at first i agree! the easiest way to do it, is to cue both in headphones and try and work out if the breaks tune needs to be faster or slower (you have to be quick on the pitch). once you have trial and errored a few times you will lock down the beat match and it will sound good. the better but harder way is to cue the breaks tune in your ear only and use the pitch to slow/speed it up (for some reason breaks tunes normally need to be slowed down to mix into trance, as a general rule, dont ask me why this is just my experience).

another tip is to beat match using the hihats. just slow down the record until there is no clashing...then make adjustments.

takes practice but you will get there if you put the time in, simple as that.

unfortunantly i have two stanton str8-50s. whatever, i really just wanted to get started and i wasn't gonna wait around another year to save up for techs, being a poor college student and all. although i will get those techs eventually.

i spend on average an hour a day on my decks. some days its more and other days its less because i'm not home or whatever.

i'm not really trying to mix breaks into trance or trance into breaks. if i start with breaks, i'll usually stick with it, and if i start with trance, i'll usually stick with that. so my problem isn't in mixing the two, its just mixing different breaks tracks, because breaks is what i want to primarily spin.

i think i'm not too bad with figuring out which record is slower and which is faster, and i can usually adjust the speed and get it pretty close to matched, but i still can't get it on like its supposed to be. and it also takes me a good 2-3 minutes to get it close to matched.

i know lots of pratice and time are the keys, and while i'm not usually a patient person, with mixing i really am. i know i'll get there eventually, and i know the day i do, everybody better watch out, cuz i will make your ass dance.

i just wish i could have someone who actually knows what they're doing to give me some advice while i'm actually mixing. i really think thats whats lacking and it sucks. cuz everytime i think i did a good transition, i'll check what i recorded, and guess what, CRAP CRAP CRAP!



god, i know i could have so much freakin fun behind the decks if ONLY i knew waht i was doing. cuz seriously, when i'm trying to mix, i really do have some crazy ass ideas on how to mix tracks, i just can't do it.

You've already said this yourself, to me it sounds like you need to practice, practice and practice some more. 2 to 3 minutes for beatmatching will come rapidly down the longer you spend trying to beatmatch. Don't worry about doing transitions, just bounce beats together, then put another tune on and match up again, rinse and repeat.

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well i dont know what the technical words are for each break beat but to me its called break becuase theres a breat and another beat with slight break or pause right?

so essentially dont pay too much attention to the lowest lows...just the higher bass/snare or whatever comes at that break. its like every other beat. if you listen to that and also listn to the highs you can make better mixes. thats the only thing that really helped me when i was learning how to mix breaks in.

just put on a record and tap your foot to the beat...dont beat match antyhing yet but figure out what sound is the most constant wiht your tapping... it should be like every other tab you will hear that kick and then a pause. after that just go with it. highs are probably the most important to listen to when you beatmatch antyhing.

most of the breaks that i have have more steady highs than lows.

One thing that can help (you kind of mentioned it earlier) is to watch other people spin. If you don't know another dj (better then you) then I guess you are kind of stuck.

My friends mixer has 2 headphone outputs so if somebody comes over and wants to know what we're doing, we give'em an extra pair of headphones and let them watch...so far they have said that is has been very helpful...

just a suggestion

Caleb

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