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Hardware Configuration:
There are 2 different configurations possible for the equipment: the home system and the party system. The first for use in your own living room, the latter being more professional, to "cater" a crowd on a dance floor. The difference between the 2 is the way they are set up. A home system will have one set of speakers and a modest amplifier, say up to 2 x 100 watts. The mixer connects to the aux in or the tuner in. In most cases the input range of the tuner in is better than aux in so it would be better to use this input of your amplifier. One set of speakers, directly in your own vicinity, and that is all.
A party system has 2 sets of speakers and 2 or more (end) amplifiers. The first speaker set, called the monitor is for the DJ him/herself around the turntables, the other set of speakers, fed by the master out and amplifier(s) is for the listeners on the dance floor. This will allow the DJ to adjust the volume of headphone and speakers to his/her needs without influencing the music volume the crowd hears.
NOTE: There are more names for these 2 outputs. The monitor out or just monitor is the same as zone or booth (monitor). This depends on the specific mixer you use.
The master (out) is sometimes called main (out). It is the output that will feed the power amplifier(s) for the dance floor speakers .
Powering Up/Down
Turning on and turning off the equipment requires more attention once there are more watts involved. Being uncarefull with the order in which you turn on/off the equipment can send a spike through your system: a power surge which in turn could do damage to the rest of the equipment.
RULE #1 and #2 for mixer and amplifiers:
#1 Before you turn ON the power, make sure the output is minimal.
#2 Before you turn OFF the power, make sure the output is minimal.
In other words: turn the Output Volume fully down.
Turning the equipment on.
The first opportunity for a spike to appear is when you turn on your mixer. Make sure everything else is OFF. Once your mixer is ON, you can turn on the amplifier(s). The turntables do not have capacity to store enough charge, so they can not cause any spikes at all.
And while we are at it, make sure your turntables are electrically grounded so the static electricity can not make a terrible mess of the music you play. (if you fail to do so the music will hiss and crackle from static charge that builds up.)
Check the Output Volume, make sure it is minimal and turn on the amplifier(s). Set the output volume of the amplifier(s) and you are ready to go.
Shutting down the equipment.
Same thing in reverse. Start with turning Output Volume of your amplifier(s) fully down. Give the amplifier(s) a good 10 seconds to decharge (to defeat as it is called.) Some professional amplifiers have knobs you can pull in order to defeat. Once this is done you can shut down the mixer. Turntables can be shut down at any given moment.
If you are using a normal household amplifier, chances of sending a spike through your system are minimal. These are relatively low power amplifiers which do not need to loose charge before they are shut down. Shutting down the amplifier can, in this case, be done the normal way. The high power end amplifiers which are used in clubs and at parties, professional use, require special attention.
Sound Checking.
When you start with all the equipment for the first time, it is wise to set a limit for music volume. Start with playing the body of a track. Open the channel and set the gain of the channel in such a way that the VU meter peaks between 0 dB and +3 dB. This value is somewhat arbitrary, it should be somewhere in this range. If the maximum peaks are below the 0 dB mark, you will send a relatively weak audio signal to the amplifier(s). If you set your maximum peak value above the +3 dB you risk a distorted audio signal. The average maximum peak value is also important as a reference for matching the volume of 2 records. Make sure that the mixer output you use, monitor or master out, is on 0 dB. A 0 dB signal can still clip and/or cause distortion in the amplifier if the output signal is amplified by the mixer before it is send to the amplifier itself.
If you are using the home system configuration, hook up the monitor out to the amplifier. This will leave the master out to connect the mixer to recording equipment (up to the reader to implement). In case of the party configuration, a system with 2 separate sets of speakers, you have to connect the master out to the amplifier(s) for the dancefloor, and the monitor out to the amplifier for the speakers in front of the turntables. Now you can turn up the volume of the amplifier(s) to what you prefer as reasonable loudest volume, or possibly up to the point where your amplifier(s) clip or start to distort. By doing so you will have control the actual music volume with a convenient knob (or 2: master and monitor) on the mixer.
The Basics
Know what you are dealing with, and know how to deal with it before you start. This chapter will explain something about the general track structure and how one can manipulate vinyl. This is where you can start to leave fingerprints on the records.
So, this chapter will tell you how a track is build up, all the way from beats to stages, how to manipulate the rotationspeed of the vinyl and how to align a record with another one. The basics you need for DJ-ing
Track Structure
In order to "chain" tracks together, you have to know something about the general way they are build up. On the lowest level, club/techno/trance (from now on I will refer to this as "house") consists of 4/4 beats. In other words: the smallest "part" is a bar with 4 beats.
(Compare this to a Waltz which has 3 beats in a bar, "one-two-three, one-two-three". Good ol' Rock & Roll is, like house, 4/4 beats. Remember the cliche "a one, a two, a one-two-three-four").
If you look at a track one step less detailed, there are different stages which make up a track. This is usually something like:
| Intro | Body | Break : Build up : Climax | Exit |
This is a general description of track structure. You will notice that most tracks will follow these general rules but exceptions are very common. When you mix tracks you have to be able to recognise the different parts and more important: you have to recognise the transitions between the different stages.
The intro is usually a lean version of the main theme. A lot of sounds which are part of the main body can not be heard. Sometimes the intro starts with just the bass drum. In other cases the bass is left out of it untill the 2nd stage: the body.
The body represents the full all-sounds-included main theme of the track. In some cases there is a break WITHIN the body without actually leading up to the big climax. Those are not of great importance to the actual DJ-ing. This is not to say you can ignore them easily. You still have to be aware of them, but you do not have to avoid mixing this kind of break with the other record.
This is in contrast to the breaks which build up to the climax.
In general terms: a break is that part of the track where MOST of the music stops, as the proverbial "silence before the storm", in order to build up the tension. The climax, of course, is the moment where this build up tension is released by bringing back the bass and main theme of the track. (This is also the moment where -in case of a very good build up and climax- the crowd starts to yell... Chills down your spine and/or goose bumps are also indications that it is a brilliantly composed climax.)
In the rest of the text: when I refer to a break, I mean the type that builds up to the climax.
Some DJs state that the build up is holy. Never Ever Ever "touch" a build up by mixing another record through it. In most cases I agree, but there are always exceptions to that rule. The fact is one can ruin a beautiful build up by putting in a beat from another track.
4 Beats make up a bar, several bars make a loop, repeat the loop a few times and you have the theme (the characteristic melody of the track) and repeat the theme a few times and you have a stage. Loops are 4 or 8 bars, most of the time, themes are 16 to 32 bars (2 to 8 loops) and 2 to 8 times the theme makes the intro, body, break/build up/climax or exit.
If you are new to DJ-ing, this is all there is to know for now. Once you are familiar with your records and you can rely more on your skills you will learn to line up the stage of the incoming record with the stage of the current one, so the exit of outgoing record will co-incide with the body of the incoming record. See the ADVANCED section further down.
Manipulating Vinyl
Getting the incoming record at exactly the same speed (or pitch if you will) as the current record is not enough. You also need to to line up the incoming record so that they are in phase: Synchronised. In other words: The beats of both records need to be heard as one. Even if you have the pitch of the records exactly right, if one record is lagging behind, you still hear a dreadful double bass.
This can best be described with this figure:
| <--- Direction of the records
__|____|____|____|____|____|___ record 1 (six beats)
___|____|____|____|____|____|__ record 2 (shifted)
|
Needle
In order to get the incoming record in phase with the current one, you have to be able to temporarily slow down or speed up the record: Giving it an extra push to catch up, or brake to slow it down.
In the figure you can see record 2 lagging behind record 1. Assuming that channel 1 is open (that is: record 1 is played over the speakers) you have to manipulate record 2. In this case it has to be sped up temporarily. There are various ways to do this, each with their own benefits and drawbacks:
1 - Push the rim of the turntable to speed up, or press it to let the friction slow the record down.
2 - Put a finger on the label of the record and push clockwise to speed up, push counter clockwise to slow down.
3 - Grab the hub/axle and squeeze. Like #2, twist it in the right direction. (This is of no use if you have sweatty fingers.)
4 - (Rare one, can not always be used) Switch from 33 rpm briefly to 45 rpm and back to speed up, 45 -> 33 -> 45 to slow down.
5 - Pitch bending. Tricky technique, but very effective once you've mastered it. Not recommended for beginners. [See the ADVANCED Section]
And to get right to the point of explaining:
- Method #1 is the most powerful one. It is effective for the whole range, from very small differences in phase to whole beats. BUT... Since it is so powerful, the impact on sound is also dramatic. If you need to correct a record on an open channel (playing over the speakers) it is best to use another method. The audience is likely to hear method #1, which is of course something you wish to avoid. Sometimes one can not avoid it though... especially when you are still inexperienced.
As alternative to slow down you can firmly tap the rim. Less audible, but also less controlable. Flicking a finger forward along the rim can push the record forward. Same applies here too: less accurate and less audible.
- Methods #2 and #3 are for minor corrections. The change in pitch is less audible, but the difference you can make up is also smaller.
- Method #4 is an exotic one. Personally I do not use it. I will not go into details about this one.
If you master method #5, you can make the perfect transitions. The combination of #1 and #5 is used by a lot of top-class DJs. Method #1 to get it approximately right, and #5 to annihilate any difference left. If this is executed correctly, the audience can hear NO glitches and/or changes in pitch whatsoever. In other words: perfect mixing. Then again, if you use method #1 to perfection before you start to make the transition, the crowd will hear no glitches or changes in pitch either. This would be more perfect mixing (!).
Beat Matching
Time to add Track Structure to Manipulating Vinyl and try to synchronise 2 records... Start with 2 records which have, judging by listening to them, about the same BMP (Beats Per Minute). Start the first record. (Check the RPM.) Set the gain for the record in such a way that the VU meter will peak between 0 dB and +3 dB. Get the 2nd record and perform the same operation. The first matching has been done: the volume of both records are the same. Make sure that you set the gain when the record is playing the body or at least an equally loud part. If you would perform this while the intro is playing you could end up with a record peaking between +3 dB and +6 dB when it is playing the normally louder body.
Convention:
"Record 1" is the record that is being put over the speakers and is being heard by the imaginary or real crowd. Likewise, "Channel 1" is the slider on the mixer that belongs to Record 1.
"Record 2" is the record that needs to be "brought into phase" with Record 1. Same story for "Channel 2".
The first thing you need to practice is Jump starting
BEWARE: Message for the REALLY inexperienced beginners: YOU HAVE TO USE SLIPMATS!, otherwise you will ruin your records when you manipulate the vinyl.
Jump Starting means you start a record exactly at a beat, exactly WHEN you want to. (Also referred to as cue starting.)When you master this trick you can -at least for a moment- have 2 records run in phase. First you need to find the first beat of the record. You can do this by simply waiting to hear it, but of course there is a better way... And before you continue: there are more ways to start a record at exactly the right time. If you know or discover a different way to jump start a record, feel free to use it. As long as the result is the same.
DO NOT be afraid to harm your record, turntable or stylus. Just about everyone who starts with DJ-ing for the first time will be TOO careful. Just build up confidence. As long as you follow the proper procedures you will not damage anything. It is just a matter of getting used to the feel and handling of vinyl.
Normally you will find the first beat of the record in the first centimetre or 1/2 inch of the track. Just pick up the arm and place it a little bit further ahead on the record. Once you hear a beat you have to spin back the record. Just leave it on the turntable, the slipmat will allow you to backspin the record without the need to stop the turntable. Think of this as the search option on a CD-player. Place a finger on the edge of the record label and rotate the record in the desired direction. Once you have found the part of the groove where this first beat starts, place your left index finger on the edge of the record or the edge of the label. By pulling back and forth the vinyl you can precisely locate that area on the record where the first beat is.
As long as you are practising you can open both channels, so you can hear what you do over the speakers. However, it is more realistic to use your headphone to listen to record 2, while channel 1 is open to play record 1 over the speakers.
OK, so you have that first beat right under the needle. The trick is to release the vinyl from under your fingertip... Just swing your left hand back and forth a couple of times to get the feeling of where that beat is.
It can happen during backspinning that the needle jumps out of the groove into one next to it. Then you will have to repeat the fast search procedure again with a finger on the edge of the label before you can locate the first beat again. If this happens often: Check the balance weight on the arm. You should have the full 5 grams of weight on the needle in order to reduce this jumping over. Sometimes a record is too warped to handle properly, in that case you have to do the fast searching less fast. In this case you have to jumpstart a record by holding it at the label instead of the rim of the vinyl. This is tricky, so it will require more effort. Braking and speeding up can still be done the normal way, because you touch the rim of the turntable, not the vinyl itself.
And now, with the beat as it were right under the stylus/needle, you are ready to jump start. Start the other record, if you did not do so already, and open both channels on your mixer. You can also choose to open only channel 1 and cue the incoming Record 2 to your headphone. Move your left hand back and forth a couple of centimetres (two inch or so) so you can repeat the beat at command. Try to repeat the beat in such a way that you match the beat of record 1.
Once you are able to repeat the first beat of record 2, nicely timed with the beat of record 1, try letting it go... And open channel 2, if you did not do so already... At least for a short time (a few seconds) you should be able to hear them synchronised. Now it's time for adjusting the speed...
Exercise:
Jump through a track by moving the needle a few mm at a time (a quarter inch or so) and try to find the point where the break changes into the climax. Once you find it, locate the exact beat which marks the start of the climax. Do not limit this to one record, try it with several records. And while you are at it: Notice the difference in structure *ON* the vinyl. A break reflects the light differently compared to a body. This will help you later on to locate and recognise the different stages of the track faster. (And it will tell you how much of the track there is left to be played.)
Beat Matching, Continued
After jump starting a record you need to listen carefully and find out if the incoming record (record 2) is ahead or lagging behind the current record (record 1). This is not as easy as it may seem. The difference you hear can be A) only out of phase or B) out of phase AND a difference in speed.
Question: Ok, I get the idea, but how do I detect any difference in speed or phase?
Answer: Use only one of the 2 speakers of your headphone to listen to the incoming record, record 2. Leave the other ear open to hear the currently playing record, record 1. Decide for yourself which side and put one of the pads of the headphone behind the ear or in your neck. It is also possible to hang the headphone around your neck and put one of the pads on your shoulder. With a tilted head and a pushed up shoulder you can listen to the pad. This results in a very typical DJ stance and, possibly, some aching neck and shoulder muscles.
It is not very wise to use fragile headphones! Especially when you put one of the pads on your shoulder they twist, something fragile headphones can not endure repeatedly.
Another important technical thing to know concerns the mixer. Every channel has a switch which lets you cue the channel. It does not matter if that channel is open or not, the mixer will send the music to the headphones. This allows you to listen to record 2, while record 1 is playing. Cueing both channels (or more, if you have a multi channel mixer) will send the signal of both records to the headphone.
(Personally I prefer to put one of the pads behind the ear, without any preference for left or right.)
First step: if there is a difference after jump starting try to determine what it is: Lag or Ahead, and correct it.
Step Two: *IF* -by chance- you got the speed exactly right, proceed to step Three. Otherwise you need to combine 2 actions.
Incoming record lags behind: push it and increase pitch.
Incoming record is ahead: slow it down and decrease pitch.
How much you need to change pitch and brake/speed up a record depends on the initial difference in speed between the 2 records. It simply takes a lot of practice. Once you have some experience you will be able to determine if braking or speeding up is required. Later on, with more experience, you will also be able to determine how much to brake or speed up and how much to change pitch given a certain difference.
This is a repeating process where you constantly diminish the difference and get the records in phase again. The remaining difference in speed will slowly make those records go out of phase again. Determine the nature of the difference again (Lag or ahead) and repeat the process. This way you will zero in on the right speed. Once the difference is small enough (and it will take about half a minute before you start to hear a double beat) it is time to move to step three.
Try to avoid mixing records close to the 0% pitch. In practice most turntables show some decrease in pitch accuracy around the point where you feel the slider click. If you are within 2 mm (1/10th inch) of the 0% point, and you suspect you might end up at 0%, change the pitch of record 1 so you stay outside the -0.5% +0.5 % pitch region.
Step Three: At this point we have record 2 at the same Speed/BPM as record 1. Now you have to, as it were, insert record 2 at the right moment. Remember what was mentioned about structure ? First off: you need to make sure the beats match, so you don't hear a double beat. Next to that, the bars have to be synchronous. Every first beat in a bar of the incoming record should match with every first beat of the current record. See the figure below. Record 2 is lagging one beat behind. On a rare occasion this may not be much of a problem, but im most cases it sounds terrible.
|1234|1234|1234|1234| record 1 (4 bars)
4|1234|1234|1234|1234 record 2 (shifted)
For now this is all you have to be aware of. Later on you can try not only to match bars of both records and -even better- loops and themes. (Leave matching themes and stages for now. Try that when you are more experienced.)
So, got the beats and bars synchronised (in phase and at the same speed)? Time to start working with the mixer...
... time to Start Mixing!
A word of advise here:
Unfortunately it is not uncommon for professional and semi professional DJs to have ear damage. And that is not a big surprise if you realise that at some clubs/venues the sound system can pump out 120 dB of soundpressure or more.
When you are mixing, either at home or at a club/venue you should make sure that the The volume of the monitor is JUST high enough to overshout the delayed sound and echos from the dancefloor or livingroom.
If you feel the urge to really blast then turn up the master volume. Try to avoid turning up the monitor and headphone volume any more than you require to mix properly. Wearing ear protection is not a valid option.
Impaired hearing, if you are not careful enough (Read: if you are stupid enough) and actually get it, is something you will have to live with for the rest of your life!
Keep this in mind, it'd be a waste to ruin your ears. Now it's time to start mixing...
Mixing
With the master out you have control over the music volume for the crowd, monitor out controls what you hear directly yourself. And next to that there is the headphone out to control the music volume of your headphone. The first one of these 3 should be controlled with care: Big changes in music volume for the crowd should only be a result of the records themselves! During a performance you can slowly build up the volume towards a climax at the end or you can use the master out to boost a particular record a little more. The other outputs can be set according to your own needs.
Like balance between the volume of the monitor speakers and the dancefloor speakers, there is a balance between the volume of your headphone and that of the monitor speakers. Set the volume of the headphone in relation to the volume of the monitors in such a way you can hear both records equally loud. This will give you the best chance to hear any possible difference in phase or speed.
In order to explain the use of the mixer to make a proper transition I'll use what is called reverse engineering: I start with the desired end-result and reason backwards how you can possibly use the equipment to achieve this result.
There is beat-matching, bar-matching, loop-matching and stage-matching. However, there is something else that is important: matching of music volume. The procedure was also described in the beginning, Sound checking.
End result: provide the crowd with music. Use the master out to set the music volume for the dance floor. As it was already mentioned: try to avoid any abrupt changes in music volume, unless they are part of the track that is playing. If you are using a home system you only have to set the monitor out to your own liking.
Incoming records should have the same music volume as the currently playing record. There are more ways to achieve this, but the easiest one is setting the gain for each record before you start mixing it. Play part of the body and use the gain to adjust the maximum peak height. The value you use is somewhat arbitrary but whatever you choose, it is wise to set the limit somewhere between 0 dB and +3 dB on the VU meter. The mixer I use myself needs special attention. If one channel (or more) is cued the value of the VU meter is about 3 db lower than normal. So: make sure to test your own mixer.
At any rate, if you have a record playing on a fully opened channel, no channels cued, then you should have set the gain in such a way it will peak values between 0 dB and +3 dB because this signal will be send to your amplifier(S). An occasional peak to +4 dB is no problem, but if the output of your mixer continuously peaks to +4 dB or more you can get a distortion of sound and/or clipping. Gently reduce the gain of the record or, if this happens during a transition, pull one or both sliders a little bit back to solve the problem.
Keep the maximum peak value in mind. It is not so much this value that is important, but you need to match the music volumes. The easiest way to set it is before you start getting record 2 up to speed and in phase. Put the needle somewhere in the body of the track (or at least at some point in the track where music volume is at it's normal level) and adjust the gain in such a way that you get your desired peak height.
.
The Transition
Get your equipment set up, master- and/or monitor out set right, headphone on, all channels closed and channel 1 cued.
Start a record, set the gain right and restart it. (Now you have Record 1 going.)
Open channel 1 and throw it onto the speakers and (imaginable) dance floor.
Pick another record with about the same speed and music style as record 1.
Uncue channel one and cue channel 2 to set the gain for record 2.
Locate the first beat of record 2.
If you did not start this way: put your headphone on one ear only.
Jumpstart record 2 in phase with the beats and the bars.
... and now the REAL fun starts! It is time to adjust the speed for record 2. Re-read Beat Matching, Continued for details. Getting record 2 up to speed will probably involve some restarting as well, For now I assume you have, after an unknown number of re-setting, record 2 at the right speed.
Pay attention to the phase of record 1. Wait untill after the break.
Jumpstart record 2 right at the return of the beat, at the climax.
Make sure record 2 is not only at the right speed, but also in phase.
Now it is time to make the actual transition between the 2 records. There are numerous ways to make this transition. I will only describe one of them as example.
Close the low range for record 2.
Open channel 2 to about 75% and reduce channel 1 to 90%.
Keep a constant eye on the VU meter, do not let it peak to high!
If you still have not reached the maximum peak limit, open channel 2 more.
Slowly open the low range of channel 2 while you partially close the low range of channel 1.
Re-check the VU meter and make sure the records are still in phase.
If they are out of phase: correct the record with the lowest music volume.
Equalise both channels without exceeding the maximum peak limit too much or too often.
A few occasional peaks above, to +4 or +5 dB, is no problem. At +6 dB you have to worry about mixers compressing the audio signal and amplifiers clipping. It is possible at this point to compensate by adjusting the gain of record 2. A dance crowd might not really notice a little distortion but they might not appreciate the too loud music volume.
Now, depending on how accurate you got record 2 at the same speed, you can pick your point where you want to finish the transition... or wait for the records to slightly go out of phase. As a beginner this will happen very quickly. The second part of the transition is a partial reverse of the process.
Close channel 1 a bit more, while further opening channel 2.
Finish the transition by fully fading out channel 1.
Now channel 2 and record 2 become channel 1 and record 1.
Incoming record has become current record.
Time to repeat the process.
If closing channel 1 will drop the peak level more than 2 or 3 dB below your desired maximum, while channel 2 is already fully open, you can adjust the gain of channel 2 to compensate.
Just one of many possible ways to make a transition between 2 records.
Another possible transition for instance is to close low, mid (if your mixer has a midrange control) and high range of record 2 and, when ready, fully open channel 2. You make the transition by simultaneously closing the ranges of channel 1 and opening the one of channel 2. It is up to you to pick the order: high, mid or low first, whatever will sound best.
There are 2 things important here:
Check the VU meter, stay within your set maximum peak value.
Constantly check if the records are still in phase.
If your mixer does not have a VU meter, then you have to listen carefully to any distortion of sound. Any sign of distortion whatsoever indicates that your amplifier or speakers are having a hard time. And if that is not the gain of amplifier itself, then it must be the outgoing signal of the mixer. Reduce the gain of the proper channel.
Practice, practice, practice and experiment: try different things
Simple Tricks
This set of tricks is just the tip of the iceberg. Little things you can do with your records and equipment to, as it were, customise your mixing by adding your own effects to the records. The best way to find out more tricks is to watch other DJs (also called "trainspotting") and listen to mixed CDs. The same thing that has been said a few lines above applies here too: Practice and Experiment!
During a break and/or build up: Play with the balance, mid range and/or high range. If this will create a nice effect or not will highly depend on the specific record you play. Increasing the mid range is the most commonly used effect.
In the build up: If you turn off the power of a turntable, it will slowly rotate to a halt. 1 Bar before the climax you switch off the turntable and almost immediately switch it on again. The speed will drop down and when you have counted 4 beats, hit the Start/Stop button to let it catch speed again right at the climax. NOTE: Most turntables will power up in 33 RPM mode, so you will have to switch back to 45 RPM before you hit the Start/Stop button if a 45 RPM record is playing. (This one is quite tricky, use it with records you know very well.)
At the start of a transition: Instead of slowly and gradually opening channel 2, you can also briefly swap channels by throwing in 2 beats (3r and 4th beat of a bar). Fully slide open channel 2 and simultaneously reduce channel 1 to about 80 or 90%. Flick them back after 2 beats. Repeat a few times if you feel like, before starting the normal transition. As an alternative you can skip the gradual transition and, after swapping a couple of times, leave channel 2 and open close channel 1.
Between 2 transitions: cut out the bass of the 4th, the 3rd and 4th or all 4 beats of one bar. Either use the kill switches (if your mixer has those) to surpress the low range or use the regular knob to surpress the bassline. You can also slowly fade out the bassline over 1 or 2 whole bars and snap the bass back.
Between 2 transitions: "Preview" a sample of another record. This can be from the incoming record, but this can also be from a record you do not intend to play (yet). Select a characteristic sample or melody and roughly adjust speed. (You do not need to do this very accurate, the records only need to run synchronous for a one or two bars.) Get the start of the sample under the stylus and wait for the first beat of a bar. Then jump start the sample and open channel 2. Close channel 2 and spin back the record if you want to repeat it. This trick can be used for crowd teasing: take a sample or melody of a popular track, give them the impression that that is going to be the next record, and mix in a different record instead.
Finishing a transition: Sometimes the most simple solutions are best. Kill record 1 by hitthing the Start/Stop button. This results in a very characteristic sound which can, if you time it correctly with a starting break on record 2, create a very nice effect. Of course you still have to close channel 1. NOTE: this works fine on high quality turntables, cheaper turntables might have difficulty stopping the record fast enough.
Finishing a transition: Backspinning. Similar to the previous trick, it is important to time this right. Like the name says, you spin back record 1. Put a finger on record 1 and pull back hard enough to make the record spin back for a second or so. Make sure you close channel 1 right after that because, unlike the previous trick, the record will continue to play. NOTE: you can not use this with a record that is not entirely flat. The needle might jump.
If you have separate balance control for all channels: Try gradually panning record 1 to one side while you open channel 2 panned to the other side. This can create a bizarre split stereo effect. Make sure you use records that sound exceptionally good together, otherwise this might sound awful. During this trick you have to pay extra attention to the VU meter! Once you start closing channel 1 you have to pan channel 2 back to the middle.
Anything you come up with yourself...
Mixing with CDs
The principle behind mixing with CDs does not differ much from mixing vinyl. First, you need a starting point (cue point) and then it is a matter of starting, adjusting pitch, restarting and re-adjusting pitch until you have the speed right. When you reach the point where you need to jump start record 2 (CD 2 in this case) you start it, make sure it runs in phase and start making the transition.
Some years ago the music industry predicted that CDs would completely dominate the house scene and make turntables obsolete... That was one wrong prediction. Comparing vinyl records with CDs will be a battle without end because both systems have something in advance over the other. CDs are lighter to carry around and are less vulnerable to scratching. Vinyl on the other hand is much better and more accurate to manipulate in a mix and you have a better idea of track structure because you can see the groove... But this discussion is outside the scope of this web-page. Decide for yourself.
CD mixers come in 2 different "tastes". Double front-loading CD players come with a separate front panel which holds the displays and controls for both the drives. Single top-loading single CD players are more like the turntables, drive and controls are incorporated into a single unit. The latter type has a big flywheel which allows for much better control over (Ok, Ok, there are other combinations too, but not a lot.)
Mixing with CDs works as follows:
Insert a CD, select the right track and hit play/pause.
When you hear your desired starting point (the first beat for instance) hit play/pause again.
Hit Cue.
With the jog-dial, track-search buttons or the flywheel (depending on the type of CD player you have) you can search the exact start of the beat. The CD player will repeat a very small timeframe which allows you to recognise the specific sounds. This is your cue point
Make sure you have activated the pitch control!
Hitting play/pause starts the music exactly from the cue point . Make sure you time this with the beats and bars of CD 1 or record 1.
This is where you have to get CD 2 at the right speed. If there is a big difference in pitch, roughly adjust the pitch control and hit Cue. This will make the CD player jump back to the cue point.
Hit play/pause again, timed with CD 1, and repeat the process.
Once you have small difference in pitch you can use the pitch bend buttons or the flywheel to alter the speed of the CD. Pitch bending is simply temporarily changing pitch, so differences between CD 2 and CD 1 or record 1 will disappear without messing with the correct speed you just have set.
DO NOT hit Cue when the CD is paused, it will set the cue point to the current timeframe. You will have to search and cue your starting point again.
Once you have pitch sufficiently accurate, hit Cue to make the CD jump back to the starting point you have selected and hit play/pause at the point where you would otherwise jumpstart a vinyl record.
If CD 2 is slightly out of phase after jumpstarting, use the flywheel or the pitch bend to correct the problem.
Start making the transition.
Depending on the quality of your CD player, you can also have sample memory and loop-facilities.
Advanced DJ-ing
The following 3 items take you from practice into the serious business. Although in this document it is strictly separated, in practice you will slowly incorporate these things into your mixing.
Pitch-Only correcting
If you have mixed with CDs, you might have asked yourself why turntables are not equipped with a pitch bend facility. Good question... But if you are experienced enough as a DJ, you can do it yourself with just the pitch control on your turntables. It will enable you to mix very fast because you can do the last bit of error correction during the transition without anyone noticing. ONLY try this if you have trained yourself through practice to pick up very small differences in pitch, otherwise you will not be able to do this.
(Interestingly enough, there is a turntable on the market with digital control, a BPM counter and a pitch bend facility!)
How does it work? Unlike the pitch bending on a CD player you have to change the pitch back to the original setting yourself, which makes this very tricky. Once you hear the slightest out of phase of one of the records, determine if record 2 is ahead or lagging behind and adjust the pitch accordingly. Change pitch in the order of about 0,5 % or less. The difference will gradually diminish and after a few beats the difference will be gone. Then you slide the pitch control back to its original position.
It would be really nice if you are able to get the pitch control back to exactly the original position. If you manage to do that, you are either:
Very Very Very Good, or
Extremely Lucky.
Only a few people belong to the first category, everyone else may occasionally end up in the second category. If you do not belong in either category, you have to continue to pay attention. As soon as you hear a difference develop again, repeat the process to correct it. Even if you have to continuously correct the pitch of one of the records, it is, if well executed, still not audible for the audience. Perfect mixing.
Stage matching
Another thing you do not have to worry about when you begin mixing is the overall track structure. Once you get to a stage where you can make transitions of more than a minute or so, you can get yourself into trouble. This trouble rises when you let 2 stages "collide". As was already mentioned in the part on Track Structure, one should not mix through a build up and climax.
In order to prevent this from happening, you have to start paying attention to the stages of both records. Similar to beat matching, bar matching and loop matching there is also stage matching . As long as you make sure you have record 2 with the first beat of a stage under the stylus and you jumpstart it at the start of a stage of record 1 you are safe. Of course you still have stages that do not necescarily consist of the same number of bars, but the chance of "collision" is minimised. This is the situation you can get in a mix (not taking into account that there usually is an additional break in a track:
track 1 transition track 2 transition track 3
| | | |
...Break & Climax | Exit | | Body | Break & Climax ...
| Body | Break & Climax | Exit |
"Doing a set"
This is your goal. In some way or another, for a crowd or for yourself, recording the mix or just for direct listening pleasure only, you are mixing: "You do a set". A set can be anything from, say, 5 records to several hours worth of records. There are no real rules for a set/mix, just guidelines. The best way to understand how it works is to listen to other DJs, either live or recorded. You can think of doing a set as telling a story, build up from little stories (that is: tracks). This analogy can be streched quite far.
There are 3 things that give a DJ his/her own style. The way they are making the transitions, what kind of records they select and how they build up a set. So, in order to stick to the analogy, I will tell you a possible way to tell the story, but it is entirely up to you to decide what "story elements" you want to bring in, and in which order you "tell" them.
When you tell a story, you don't start with the climax. So do not hit it off with the biggest floorfiller unless you have other records to top that throughout your set. Of course, when someone has been DJ-ing right before you and you take over, you can pick up the story where the other DJ left, and give it your own twist. After a gentle start you can tell more dramatic pieces of the story, play more energetic music. Keep in mind that you have to give the crowd a break once in a while, do not go full throttle all the time. So you can play some slower more melodious tracks to let the crowd cool down. You can adjust the master volume to follow the "suspense of the storyline". As you near the end of your story, you make the plotline more and more intense: building up the suspense and music volume. More energetic tracks and gradually louder music untill you blow the top off. (See the similarities between this and track structure ?)
The only way you can practice doing a set is to forget practicing on separate skills and just start mixing. Recording your efforts can really help because it enables you to listen to your own mixing without having to concentrate on getting 2 records in phase Recording your own mixing is also important because it can also give you some feeling for choice of records within a mix and you get to know your own records better. Once you are confident enough you can try to prepare a mix which is no longer for "internal use only". Get everyone to listen to your tape and get feedback.
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