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how do you develop a style?
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| djshan |
this is the most difficult thing for me. everytime i play at home, i always try to mix tracks that mix well together, but it never seems to work. im gettign frustrated and i dont feel like spinning anymore. also another problem is i live in a condo, and u cant blast tunes from the main speakers, so i always have to mix in my headphones, nd im getting tired. yes im moving out in 2 weeks, into a home.. but for the 2 weeks i cant live without spining, even tho im frustrated and dont feel like spinning. anyone else here ever been in a similair situation like this one?
:whip: :whip: |
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| tranceDJ |
Is it that you can't match the beats of the tracks or you can but it just doesn't sound good? I guess every DJ develops a style through trial and error...mixing different records together until you realize which ones sound good together. You could look at tracklists of livesets too just to get a feel of what tracks sound good together.
I can see the prob with not being able to blast the music...it does help w/ beatmatching when the music is so loud you can "feel" the music. |
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| djshan |
| quote: | Originally posted by tranceDJ
Is it that you can't match the beats of the tracks or you can but it just doesn't sound good?
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i can match beats, but they dont sound good. i think its bcuz i cant decide when its the appropriate times to play a track. that means i sometimes play a track too early, or too late. also the eq's on my vmx300 dont seem to satisfy me. :conf: |
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| Ygrene |
| quote: | Originally posted by djshan
i can match beats, but they dont sound good. i think its bcuz i cant decide when its the appropriate times to play a track. that means i sometimes play a track too early, or too late. also the eq's on my vmx300 dont seem to satisfy me. :conf: |
Do you mean you are playing a certain style of track too late or early in a set or are you talking about fading your cue track too late or too early into your program? |
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| Vero |
| quote: | Originally posted by djshan
i can match beats, but they dont sound good. i think its bcuz i cant decide when its the appropriate times to play a track. that means i sometimes play a track too early, or too late. also the eq's on my vmx300 dont seem to satisfy me. :conf: |
i feel your pain with the EQs. The EQs on my stanton are really bad too. One tip that i have gotten from allmost every DJ ive ever asked for advice is "know your records". which i know is hard when you have a big collection. i usually rotate through about 30-40 records taht i pull from my total collection and those will be my tracks for right now. it makes it alot easier to remember how they sound when there arent so many. it also gives you more time to beatmatch because you arent taking all that time to go though 100 records looking for that one track.
its also good to try to remember the "energy" of a song. by that i mean if its a really hard beat or a more mellow prog sound. its also good to find transitional tracks. tracks that start really hard and then lighten up and vice versa. these are good to keep handy if you want to pick up or chill out your set.
as for your style. i think everyone's style comes from the music that they personally like to play. and your style can change, sometimes i feel like playing really proggy stuff and a month later im tryin to bang out the hardest beats i can find.
as for getting frustrated with spinning. i totally understand that one. i was in the same boat a few weeks ago. i'd come home, throw down 2 or 3 mixes that wouldnt sound that great, get pissed and go watch TV. I started doing live webcasts from my computer, and this has helped alot. when I have an audience i am more motivated to play good tracks and do good mixes. and you cant just stop after 3 tracks when people are listenin, cuz they want at least an hour set. and most of the time no one listens to me. but i just put up an away message with a link and post a link in my sig and then turn off my computer monitor. so i allways think that i DO have people listening, and its not untill im done that i find out i was all by myself, and im still happy cuz i played some good . Shoutcast is the name of the plug-in i use. its for winamp but you can get it for allmost any media player.
wow, that was a really long reply. sorry for writing so much, but i hope one of my sugestions will help. Just stick with it and remember that is all in good fun.
Cheers,
Phil |
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| djshan |
| quote: | Originally posted by Ygrene
Do you mean you are playing a certain style of track too late or early in a set or are you talking about fading your cue track too late or too early into your program? |
by playing a certain style |
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| Ygrene |
If Im mixing and I have a crappy transition or if Im mixing into a different style of track and it sounds crappy, I'll go back and mix it 10 (or more) times before I give up on it. Bring cue track in later, earlier, eq it, quick mix, long mix, whatever until I get it to mix well. If I simply can't do it, then I have a special hammer that I use to smash those vinyls. :D No, then I just take note that those tracks dont go and I move on.
The importance of this, in my opinion, is that it gives you the flexibility to be able smoothly change styles in your mix. Remember that you are the DJ and you are in control of what's being played. It's completely up to you to determine when a track is appropriate or not appropriate. As long as you can mix it in well, I would say dont second guess yourself. If your gut feeling is telling you that a track is appropriate it probably is. ;) |
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| paranoik0 |
you develop a style by refusing to play tracks that you really like but won't fit with the majority your selection. it's hard.
of course, you can alternate between different genres and stuff, in that case, the way you blend them together will define your style - but this is harder, if you're having trouble you'd better practice sticking to one genre then eventually take the step.
also, maybe you're not sufficiently aware of the 'mood' of the tracks, they might be of the same style and you'd think they'd fit together, but end up with a key clash. try researching some harmonic mixing (there was a great great topic a while ago about this).
(note: advice coming from someone who isn't a dj and only plays around once in a while with mp3s) |
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| Shudder |
| i would say leave the style to the very last part. make sure you got the whole beatmatching thing 99% accurate. personlaly i find it better to focuse on practicing doing one thing better than doing everything at once. i'm in the process of exchanging numarks for technics and i've actually gone back to square 1 in terms of beat matching just cause the pitch fader is so much more accurate on the technics tahn on numarks. for me i have an idea of what i want to play but the style hasnt developed yet.. it will come over time so im not too worried. |
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| ASOT100 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Shudder
i would say leave the style to the very last part. make sure you got the whole beatmatching thing 99% accurate. personlaly i find it better to focuse on practicing doing one thing better than doing everything at once. i'm in the process of exchanging numarks for technics and i've actually gone back to square 1 in terms of beat matching just cause the pitch fader is so much more accurate on the technics tahn on numarks. for me i have an idea of what i want to play but the style hasnt developed yet.. it will come over time so im not too worried. |
yea right now i just concentrate on matching mostly, and i play tunes that i enjoy listening to myself so it's enjoyable either way :tongue2 |
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| DJAntSmith |
Ditto.
Your style will develop the more you play. You may start out playing all the classic tracks because you know you really like them, and then decide you want something a bit different and you'll then get a sound in your head that you need to hear. And when you find it you'll know because you'll get that tingly feeling that'll make you smile and think "this is the one". Then you'll buy more of the same. And then you may want to vary it up again. I started out with classic trance, to prog to mellow style and now all i feel i wanna play is tribal and tech.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that your style will develop all the time and don't be afraid to try out new styles and definately don't just dismiss a whole genre because you don't think it's you. Give it a shot first. |
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| subtledreamer |
some really nice replies here... although i dont have much to say since i've just got my decks and began to learn beatmatching/mixing songs... i do want to add that you'll definately need to "know the track" when mixing (as Vero said):
| quote: | | One tip that i have gotten from allmost every DJ ive ever asked for advice is "know your records". which i know is hard when you have a big collection. i usually rotate through about 30-40 records taht i pull from my total collection and those will be my tracks for right now. it makes it alot easier to remember how they sound when there arent so many. it also gives you more time to beatmatch because you arent taking all that time to go though 100 records looking for that one track. |
which is why on almost every DJ book/guide/tutorial or simply from an DJ with experience that PRACTICE is the key.
style should come later, naturally, as you progressively get better at mixing! :)
hope this helps a tad bit~ cheers. |
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