hey all, im a newbie dj and was wondering if any of you could answer some of these questions.

1. in the 'cueing' thread someone mentioned antiskating and stylus pressure, could someone explain these terms?

2. i find when im trying to mix in a vinyl, the beats on the vinyl im mixing in will be at a different pace to the current and i have to use pitch adj. to speed it up/down to link up the beats, is this wrong?

and lastly is it uncommon for dj's to mix different styles of music? eg. spinning both hard house and trance.

I have never mixed with vinyl but i'll try and help you anyway.

1. I'm not too sure what antiskating is, but stylus pressure is the pressure that your needle puts on the record. If there is not much pressure then the record skips more easily, but if there is too much pressure then the record wears out quicker. You need to find a balance between the two that suits you.

2. Definitely, you will need to adjust the pitch on the incoming record to match it up with the outgoing one. However, you ought to try and get both records as close to their original pitch as possible, this may involve _slowly_ changing the pitch of the record playing through the speakers. Another way of doing it is to leave the records totally at their original pitch, and manually spin the next record with your hand while you mix, and let go of it after the old record has finished to let it go to its natural speed. I have only seen this method used once, though!

3. No, DJ's spin whatever music they like. Some gradually change styles, others spin whatever goes down well in the particular club they are playing in. Some ignore this, for example Armand Van Helden infamously got booed off at Space in Ibiza for playing a hip-hop set!

Hope that helps.

I'll address the issue of anti-skate:

Anitscating is usually controllable with a little dial just to the right of the counterweight on your table. As you turn it up, it puts more outwards torque onto your tone arm.

With most turntables there is an inwards force exerted on the needle while it is playing and the record is spinning. Similarly, when you spin the records backwards with your hand, it exerts an outwards force on the needle. (this force also increases with the stylus pressure)

Let's say you bump your table while it is playing.. Because there is an inwards force on the needle it is likely to jump forwards a groove or two. If you're in the middle of a mix this is definately not a cool thing to have happen. By turning the anti-skate up it applies a coutnering force. In other words, you can keep your records from skipping if the table is bumped by turning up your anti-skate. If the needle skips forwards you can turn it up a bit.. If the needle skips backwards than your anti-skip is too high, and you can turn it down. If things go just right when you bump the table it could land back in the same groove.

There is a disadvantage to having the anti-skate above zero however. The higher you set it the more likely it is going to skip while you back cue. Since you not only have the force of the record pushing the needle outwards, but the anti-skate is now adding to it rather than countering it.
If you have a lot of problems while spinning the record backwards you may have to turn the anti-skate down a bit. Fortunately though your hand is on the record while you are back cuing. Fortunately if you have a really steady hand you can usually keep it from jumping. Though if your vinyl is fubared some times this is unescapable.

In conclusion, unless you are a scratch DJ, there is really no right or wrong way to set your anti-skate. For mixing I perfer to have it to the point where it is balanaced. There is nothing worse than a record skipping on you while you are in the mix.


If when you say link the beats making sure they go off at the same time then not quite..

You push/slow the non-playing record a bit to keep the beats in sync with the record that is playing.(phase)

At the same time you are adjusting the pitch slider so the speed of that record approaches that of the playing record.

So if you need to slow the record down by hand to keep the beats lined up with the playing one, take the pitch a bit down with it.

Some people can do this without even touching the records, and manage to both keep them in phase and match the pitch using only the pitch adjustment. It is not something you should do if you are just starting, as you need to first develop an ear for hearing one song creeping beyond/behind another.

Another thing about the anti-skate is the setting for it is usually determined by the stylus pressure. In other words, if you have the weight (the counterbalance on your tonearm) set at 2 grams, then you would normally set your anti-skate on "2". For just listening to records, depending on what kind of cartrige you have, a good weight is about 1/4 to 3/4 of a gram. For DJing, this is much too light and you'll have your needle bouncing all over the place so you want to use a cartrige and needle that will track at around 2 grams. Another important thing to remember is NOT ALL CARTRIDGES & NEEDLES ARE MADE SUITABLE FOR DJing!! The cartridges & needles that DJs use are designed just for that purpose. They are made to withstand back cueing where as your average stereo needle isn't. Also, the angle of the needle to the record is very important. That's one of the reasons why Technics 1200s are far superior to any other turntables. You can adjust the height of the tonearm. The needle should be at a 90 degree angle to the record. I hope this is making sense.
As far as you asking if it's ok to change the pitch in order to match the beats....hell yes!
And as for mixing different styles of music, as for myself, I prefer to. I think that if you can make two songs work together, then it doesn't matter how they are classified but then again, I was never one to really be concerned with what "genre" a song is. I say, if it's a good song that kicks butt and it get you movin', then who gives a rats ass what it's classified as.

thanks a lot for the help guys

thanks guys, i didnt know that stuff about the matching antiskate and tonearm weight pressure... but whats fubared

anyways, even w/ light touch, a couple of my records will still skip backwards when back-cueing.

everything else i got though

___________________
what trainspotters are.

It's actually an acronym but I used it like a verb.
FUBAR - Fucked up beyond all recognition