I've gotten some criticism from people that I talk to personally about this subject, so I decided to see what you guys all thought. Personally, I see nothing wrong with this. Here goes:

I am a rookie DJ that is just getting started, and recently what I've been doing is listening to other people's sets, and how they mix their songs...then go onto my own equipment, and see if I can match it. Personally, I think its a great way to practice. Because you've already heard that it can be done (usually flawlessly), and if you strive to be able to do exactly the same, it should help you learn, right? The only downside that I can see, and fully understand is that it may limit your own creativity. But, being the rookie that I am, I need to get the basics down before I worry about being creative, right?

Thoughts, comments, etc? What do you think? Good or bad way to practice?

How you practice is up to you. If it helps you to get the basics of beatmatching down, that's fine. What you don't want to do is copy a person's set when playing out. That's just poor form.

When practicing, I always try new things with different records. Grab a pair that might go together and see what you can pull out. Eventually, begin linking them together into your own sets. For me, that is the only way to practice. But as I said, whatever helps you become a better DJ technically will help. It is the creative side that will need to be improved as you move on, and ideally you will be adding to your style for the rest of your (DJ) life. Hope this helps a bit.

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I actually do the same thing, less the duplicating the exact same thing. I usally record sets from the Global DJ Broadcast on my soundforge and later on listen to the sets again and kind of study how they mix. Its helped me very very very much as far as where in different tracks to start my transitions and where to look for good transition points in different tracks. Its a very good tool to study, but then its up to you to really try out different schemes and find whats best for you!

Laterz,

Shook

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Originally posted by DJ_NRG I've gotten some criticism from people that I talk to personally about this subject, so I decided to see what you guys all thought. Personally, I see nothing wrong with this. Here goes: I am a rookie DJ that is just getting started, and recently what I've been doing is listening to other people's sets, and how they mix their songs...then go onto my own equipment, and see if I can match it. Personally, I think its a great way to practice. Because you've already heard that it can be done (usually flawlessly), and if you strive to be able to do exactly the same, it should help you learn, right? The only downside that I can see, and fully understand is that it may limit your own creativity. But, being the rookie that I am, I need to get the basics down before I worry about being creative, right? Thoughts, comments, etc? What do you think? Good or bad way to practice?

I think it's a good way to learn, and you've perfectly laid out the reasons why. I remember wanting to duplicate the entire Magick 6 set, but then i found out that a bunch of those records are rare as hens teeth.

whatever helps you learn is good.

what i'd really like to get a hold of is some video recordings of mixing, and JUST mixing, just the decks and mixer one long take, that would help you learn.

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Originally posted by JohnSmith what i'd really like to get a hold of is some video recordings of mixing, and JUST mixing, just the decks and mixer one long take, that would help you learn.

They have videos of this but I think only for scratching techniques (or tech-nicks ). I've read about one that is a DVD where you have the option to turn on and off listening to the headphone cue while you watch them scratching. That's a nice idea imo.

dude, that sounds wicked. too bad i don't have a DVD player.

but what i DO have is a video camera i borrowed from my friend. I have hung it behind my decks, and i am going to record a set of mine tommorow in video(it records pretty good sound too).

I'm also going to record what's coming out of the headphone output on my MD player. I'm also streaming the set live, relayed by www.mpfreescene.com

i can only stream the audio unfortunately though.

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Originally posted by JohnSmith dude, that sounds wicked. too bad i don't have a DVD player. but what i DO have is a video camera i borrowed from my friend. I have hung it behind my decks, and i am going to record a set of mine tommorow in video(it records pretty good sound too). I'm also going to record what's coming out of the headphone output on my MD player. I'm also streaming the set live, relayed by www.mpfreescene.com i can only stream the audio unfortunately though.

That sounds like a keen idea. What would be really different is if on the video you made the left channel be the headphone que and the right channel the main mix.. and as you watch the video you can switch between que and main mix by adjusting the balance. You would have to do some editing after doing the set for this though, assuming that the video camera is recording the main mix and the minidisc records the que. It might be a little tricky but would be great to watch. (you would need audio editing software and also video editing software to rip out and replace the audio stream).

hey, that's a good idea. I was planning on just making the video available for download, and the audio too.

BUT, unfortunately, i'm not recording the set, only broadcasting it.

well, i am recording it, but only through the mic of the video camera. which is mono anyway i suppose.

hmm.. i wonder if i could bounce that mono down to only one side, and take the recording from the MD player and transfer that over to the other.

anyone know what kinda program i would need to do that?

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Yes that's very possible, in fact it's what I had in mind. I know you can do it in Cool Edit Pro and can probably do it in SoundForge and GoldWave. If you do that, you could then reinsert it into the video and it would be the idea I had.

to JOhnSmith: word to that...Magick 6..I also had thoughts about that.. .. ..it´s just so

I've got an hour of footage of PvD mixing It's bootleged and the guy nearly got kicked out, but I got it(I'm editing it)

I'm still in the process of cutting it down and stuff, but expect to see a release soon

--djway

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awesome, i would love to see that.

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