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[help]: to crossfade or not
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| aurora2 |
Hi all,
Well I have been learning to do the DJ'ing thing for just about a year now. I can beatmatch fairly consistently (helped when I upgraded to SL1200's last month from my STR8-60's which I was practicing on), I have got the whole idea of putting together a good set and when to mix in the new track etc.
However, my problem is with my EQ control. I've been playing around and have formed some habits which seem to work fairly well, but I think it's still not the best way.
I'm trying to smoothen up my mix.
I have a Numark DM3002x mixer (3 channels, with kill switches etc). Up until a few days ago I would normally leave the fader for the tracks set to about 80% up (there is a different coloured dot at the 80% mark) and use the cross-fader to move between the two different tracks.
However, the thing I would find is that as I moved the crossfader towards the middle, I would get too much treble (2 treble's from tracks combined) and too much bass (same thing).
So I have sort of formed the habit of as I move the crossfader to the centre position, I set the outgoing track's treble and bass to about 10 or 11'o'clock positions.
One of the problems with this is that if the crossfader is in the middle, and I bring in the incoming track, I will quite often have both track's bass set at about 9'o'clock. This is fine until I want to bring more bass in for the incoming track, then it overdrives and I have to drop the outgoing track's bass down to 7'o'clock or so, which in turn loses most of the tune... i can counteract this by lowering the volume instead, but ... is there an easier way?!?
The other habit I have is bringing in the incoming track with the bass-kill switch on, and then chopping out the outgoing track with the bass kill (at the same time as un-killing the incoming). This is great for hardhouse but I'm trying to smoothen things up.
I have been watching some videos of DJ's like AVBuuren spin, and he has a mixer which doesn't even have a crossfader! Using the track sliders, he has also got the currently playing track at 100%. So I gave this a try, was a bit weird not using the crossfader, but I managed it. The problem I have now is that I have waaaay too much volume kicking out of my mixer when both tracks are live (and it's too unpredictable to set the gains as when the sliders are down I cannot guage how loud the track is in my headphones).
If you got this far and you're still reading: thankyou!
Whew. So I guess my questions are this:
1. What do most people use when mixing trance? The crossfader or the channel sliders?
2. When using the crossfader, is it normal practice to have to pre-set all the EQ's on the incoming track to low (9'o'clock) and then when the crossfader is in the middle, gradually bring these to 12'o'clock)?
3. What EQ tricks can I use to smoothe my mix? :conf:
All help hugely appreciated... I am so close to having this thing sussed but the whole EQ thing and "channel slider vs crossfader" thing is driving me nuts :crazy:
Thanks in advance!
Aurora2 |
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| basd |
| quote: | Originally posted by aurora2
1. What do most people use when mixing trance? The crossfader or the channel sliders? |
The channel sliders. I myself have never used my crossfader yet.
| quote: | | 2. When using the crossfader, is it normal practice to have to pre-set all the EQ's on the incoming track to low (9'o'clock) and then when the crossfader is in the middle, gradually bring these to 12'o'clock)? |
Sorry don't know (because of 1.) |
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| xXxAzNrAvErxXx |
| I have also been using the sliders because on my mixer (djm300), when I use the crossfader, as I bring it to the middle to have both tracks play, I notice a significant drop in volume. As for the EQ's, I am still trying to figure that out myself. Just started DJing about a month ago. |
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| JohnSmith |
| quote: | Originally posted by aurora2
1. What do most people use when mixing trance? The crossfader or the channel sliders?
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I use the crossfader almost exclusively.
| quote: | Originally posted by aurora2
2. When using the crossfader, is it normal practice to have to pre-set all the EQ's on the incoming track to low (9'o'clock) and then when the crossfader is in the middle, gradually bring these to 12'o'clock)?
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| quote: | Originally posted by aurora2
3. What EQ tricks can I use to smoothe my mix? :conf:
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What i do is get it beatmatched, with the gain and bass turned up as i high as i need it up in the headphones to get it beatmatched. then once it's matched, i set the volume back down properly, so it's peaking at the same place for both tracks. i drop the song again at the "right" place, you know what i mean. I let the go together still in my headphones a bit, making sure it sounds good.
then, when i am ready to mix in, i drop the bass on the incoming track a bit, so it isn't overpowering. it depends how much you have to drop it, somewhere between 7 and 12 o clock, it depends on your mixer, the track, the overall volume, the other track etc. what i usually do is drop the bass all the way down, then listen, and slowly bring it up to the level where it's audible over the other track but just barely.
then, i start sliding the crossfader over, on the beat of course. I leave the channel faders right up at 100% almost all the time, i hardly ever move them.
once the crossfader is dead center, i LISTEN to hear what to do next, if it's too loud or is phasing, i turn down the bass more. if it's two quiet, i turn up the incoming bass more.
then at the critical point (i hope you know what i mean) in both tracks, where the bass starts pounding on the incoming, and gets a little tamer on the outgoing(hopefully you have it phrase matched so these two things happen at once in both tracks), i swap the basses, moving the outgoing to 11 or 12, and the incoming to 2 or 3.
then i slowly fade out the other track, either using the crossfader, or turning down the other EQs.
hope that helps! |
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| dEEkAy |
heh yeah. I do it almost the same way as JohnSmith.
Listen to the track loudly on the headphones and turn up either bass or treble. Treble is actually very usefull with tracks which dont have a hard/strong bassline but more likely a soft kick.
The transistions are various though, it depends on that track. Either you cut them immediately (if the new track has a cool buildup) or you let them melt into each other slowly (just make sure you put the mid-range a little lower on the old track as the melody of the new track starts -> to avoid harmony interferences).
I personally have a Behringer DX1000 as a Mixer/Desk at home. The long faders are pretty cool :)
dEEkAy |
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| Scottaculous |
Volume fading allows for more than 2 inputs simultaneously. I.E. 3 decks or 2 decks and cdjs in my case.
It offers more control over the overall sound but there is also more buttons/knobs/slides to keep track of. |
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| b i n k u n |
channel sliders exclusively, 1) because my xfader bleeds haha 2) i realized it gives you more control of the volume to have my hands on the faders of both channels instead of just one on the xfader.
as for eq'ing, i almost always have the highs on the track B all the way down, and the bass at about 8-9 'o clock. to bring in track B, i set the channel slider to just about a segment under the zero level (or wherever on your slider that you can just begin to hear track B) then depending on how i want to mix it, either more smoothly, or banging it and swapping basses and cutting beats, i'll either slam it at the right moment, or slowly raise it.
i assume you'd rather have smooth mixes so i'll explain that. i raise the fader on track B slowly, but never enough to overcome track A (i usually mix in B before the outro of A begins) until the melodies/progressions of track A is finished. This is when phrasing and knowing your tracks is necessary. If you get it right, you can have track B at full volume (but notice, the eqs are still not at full) right when it starts having noticeable melodies and when track A is in its outro. then, i bring in the highs, swap basses, usually slowly at each phrase to give a sense of just more progressions in the song, instead of obvious switches which gives away the sense of a seamless mix. then usually right before the main melody of track B hits, (i'll usually have track Bs highs @ 9 o clock and the bass at 12, while track As highs are @ 12 and the bass either killed or at 9) i'll finally throw in the highs of track B while fading out track A simultaneously.
ok, i have no idea if that helped or not. if it didn't, feel free to disregard what i said. at the end of the day, experimenting and practicing is the best bet. ;) |
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| Project T |
| 1 word: experiment ;) |
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| HyPeRSoNiC |
I myself never use the crossfader...... I just leave it in the middle......
I like to have individual control on each channel so I use the channel faders......
try using the crossfader. if you fancy it more than the channels, use it... if you don't - don't use it! :D |
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| jdat |
| quote: | Originally posted by Project T
1 word: experiment ;) |
couldn't have put it better :p
I like having control over the faders
and my fingers all over :toocool: |
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| DJ Arsalan |
| quote: | Originally posted by JohnSmith
then, i start sliding the crossfader over, on the beat of course. I leave the channel faders right up at 100% almost all the time, i hardly ever move them.
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When you say on the beat you mean on the 4th beat or 8th beat and etc. right ??
because everytime i try a mix it kinda sounds cheesy when i bring it up ( everything is matched) and i know practice is the only thing :D
need a pointer ;D |
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| DJ Arsalan |
Ohh and i also tried the channel faders those are amazing ;D
it helped me alot because my crossfader is ed. |
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