Personally I find mixing in my headphones without (cue-split) much easier. why is it that people say that its not the correct way to mix?
I usually beatmatch in my headphones and depending on the type of mix I'm doing.. ie if im fading in and out, I take one ear off to listen to the speakers, but if I'm EQ mixing then I keep them on.
Am I missing a valualbe point in doing this?

There really isn't anything wrong with it until you get a gig playing at a venue that doesn't have a mixer with split cue. Thats why I practice both. After I started to practice using the monitor and the headphones together instead of just the headphones I liked that way better. Its rare now that I will put both ears in the headphones now.

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The main problem with true split cue is that very few mixers actually have it. Thats why if you have split cue you should just practice with one ear in the headphone and one ear listening to the monitor, you have the option to mix like that on every mixer. You should also be familiar with the other methods because you could have a gig at a venue that doesn't have a monitor or the monitor could blow or be shit and you can't hear it properly. Its best to be comfortable with a variety of methods to cue your tracks. That doesn't mean there is anything wrong with any of the different methods they all work fine if you practice using them.

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Kill the women. Eat the children.
It's just one of those days where you want to bend over everyone you know and kiss their ass goodbye with a big sideways boot.

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im going to be mixing on a dmj-600 at my next gig. I don't need split-cue (as Nou said, one channel in each cup) . I mix by hearing both the tracks in my headphones but without split cue. Does the DMJ have this ?

The DJM does. The most common mixers that don't are the rane rotaries which are installed in alot of big clubs.

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Kill the women. Eat the children.
It's just one of those days where you want to bend over everyone you know and kiss their ass goodbye with a big sideways boot.

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Personally I always go for mixing entirely in the headphones, but with split-cue OFF. I find it easy for me to match beats as close as possible when they are overlapping each other right into my head, and I can do this without having to turn the volume up to 99% as is usual with headphone/monitor mixing. I don't know if this is true, but I heard once that DJs tend to go deaf in one ear when they use the monitor to cue because it's so loud and they have to turn the headphones up all the way to balance it.

As for split-cueing, I've only enabled it a *few* times when I'm having a lot of trouble finding the beat, like perhaps when I'm mixing in a track that's on a really overplayed vinyl and the kick has been softened to more of a thud than anything else.

Mixing entirely in the headphones is also great for reducing phasing problems in the kicks. I know this is going probably going overboard, but I've noticed that everytime I try mixing using headphones/monitor, one of them will be off sync by about 5-10ms, althought the pitches are set just right. I've gotten used to correcting this by making sure that the track playing on the headphones is nudged ahead by that amount to counter the slight delay before fading it into the mix. Just a small tiny technicality but there's nothing more annoying to me than a mix that sounds like the kick has a cold. =)

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know all ways to mix!

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i use one ear to the monitor 90% of the time.. the other 10% is sometimes for fine tuning .. if I am not %100 sure it is dead on with the one ear, i will throw both channels into the phones to doublecheck sometimes... *shrug*

Jay

i generally mix using two channels in both ears(it works better)...until i played at a house party using a different mixer than i am used to, and the problem is that the "split cue" will sound different in some mixers, or may not have it at all..mixing with only one ear is the "standard" thus if u prerfect this u will be good anywhere on any mixer

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Originally posted by MR STROKE i generally mix using two channels in both ears(it works better)...until i played at a house party using a different mixer than i am used to, and the problem is that the "split cue" will sound different in some mixers, or may not have it at all..mixing with only one ear is the "standard" thus if u prerfect this u will be good anywhere on any mixer

Is there really a "standard"? I've mixed sets with all types of DJs from local bedroom DJs to major touring DJs, and they all have their own unique style of monitoring. Most keep both ears in the cups but I'm not sure if they had split-cue enabled or not. However, the most common one that you see on TV is the one-ear method only because it looks cool =)

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It's always good to have an idea what you mix sounds like outside of the phones but the reality of the situation is that it's not wrong to mix in the phones.

You will find that a lot of the older DJs will do it plain and simply because a lot of the older mixers didn't have the option to do anything else. We had to get used to using a monitor with one ear off.

I still prefer mixing in the phones but will always take them off to hear the output too.

The DJM will enable you to mix as you need to.

Cheers
Nem

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if u were to switch to one ear headphone monitoring right now, ud be fine as long as the monitors around u are loud enough