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How do you keep track of time?
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| DJ_Laszlo |
Hey guys
I recently bought a pair of decks (I've been playing CD's for the last couple of years) and now that I spin vinyl I have to encounter the biggest fear I had of getting into playing these black lovely shiny plastic things.
I'll start from scratch - when playing CD's you always have the display that shows you how much of the track has processed or how much of it is remaining, and I've always used this when mixing.
For example, if I bring in a track which I want to slam in at, say, 55 seconds in (128 beats), then I should also bring this track in 55 seconds (or 128 beats) before the track that I want to mix out is coming to end.
I'm having a bit difficulty explaining this but I hope you follow.
Now with vinyl, I don't know of when and where these 55 seconds have pocessed, nor when it's 55 seconds left or the track.
I guess this has a lot to do with knowing your tracks, but it get's a bit hard to memorize all the tracks and knowing exactly how they are build when you've collected a bunch of records, or haven't played a track for a long time.
Do anybody of you guys have any good advice on how I should deal with this?
thx |
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| AndskiSpeed |
| Strangely I can remember all my tracks :conf: maybe its cos I don't have many :p |
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| borron |
I understand your pain :)
The same happened to me when i switched to vinyl in December, after 9 months playing with cd's.
The thing is, like with everything in djing equipment, you'll get used to it. In fact, you'll realize how stupid it was to do that, slam a track at a certain time (i used to do that at 1.30 min left). You will know your tracks better and understand better where is that point were the track SHOULD be slammed, and not doing it by maths or timeleft.
At least this is what happened with me.
Also with time, you'll be able to roughly calculate how much time is left if you really need that. And about knowing your tracks, vinyl has something i didn't realize until i started spinning it: the breakdowns are marked in most vinyls! This is great, as you can spin many tracks without knowing about them. |
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| SlickT |
| i simply memorize the tracks,i know whats gonna happen. look at the vinyl itself,the dark spots,etc. it will just take time. |
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| Nemesis44 |
Yup,
Learn to read the record.
You can actually see the different types of parts in the track by how the grooves on the record actually look.
For example, in the case of a break down you will usually see a darker strip to the middle of the record where as the bits before and after are shinier and give a different look.
You can also see that there are different looks within these too. I use this a lot when I can (i.e. when the deck light isn't broken).
I also strongly recomend getting to know your music as you correctly stated.
This is one of the problems that a CDJ often discovers if he/she has never spun vinyl. I see quite a lot of CDJs making notes of the exact time to mix from one track to another, whilst this is logical and does work one could sometimes question if you actually ever really get to know the track properly if you do this.
I think you will find a whole new world opening up to you as a result of your new TTs. :) Enjoy it.
Cheers
Nem |
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| Floorfiller |
| djing isn't about mechanical transitions...its the art of timing...when you listen to your tracks you will know when to mix them... |
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| super-styleR |
| Listen listen listen and eventually you will get to the points where you know your tracks :D |
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| Vero |
| yes, i agree with everyone here, you can look at your record and get a basic idea of how much track you have left. but as far as when to bring in a track. you have to just know your records. its takes a while, but it is definitly necessary. |
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| Tranc3 |
Part of it is knowning your records and part of it is looking at the grooves on the vinyl, as Nem said during breakdowns the grooves will reflect light at a different angle than when there's a decent amount of percussion going on. Plus you can tell how long you have left on a record just by seeing the position of the needle on the plastic.
Of course, I've never really had this problem, so I'm just guessing as to what you should do. One listen to a composition and I have it memorized. |
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| Dj Dezmond |
i find that you can always tell when a tune is about to mix out... its always roughly about a cm or 2 from the smoother bit of the vinyl to give u a clue of where you need to be getting ready... but u can always feel when the tune has built up for the last time. Maybe this is a 6th sense only i have developed? i would of thought it was pretty easy to be able to do this without memorising every record u own. it all depends on how much trance u listen to i suppose.
Cheers |
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| razzi |
| quote: | Originally posted by Dj Dezmond
but u can always feel when the tune has built up for the last time. Maybe this is a 6th sense only i have developed? i would of thought it was pretty easy to be able to do this without memorising every record u own. it all depends on how much trance u listen to i suppose.
Cheers |
what a coincidence, i have that exact same 6th sense.. and i would imagine that 1000s of other djs out there have the same hehe :P
but yeah, looking at the grooves really helps, shows you where and when to mix, and as time passes you will eventually be able to mix any vinyl (same genre) without hearing it beforehand..
for my last comment, i dont mean to be starting any cd vs vinyl war.. but DJ_Laszlo's original post is one of the reasons why i fight for vinyl over cds. you dont manipulate numbers, dials, graphs.. you are one with the record |
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