DJ Help desperately needed pleeeeezzzzzzz

[da phish]

Well, yes. You can buy all the shiny new gear in the world and stock up on every book ever written, but it's really all about getting out there and doing it as much as possible.

I remember my first ever DJ gig out of my own night. I learnt more that night than all my own gigs put together! Oh, and the other thing that I think is really important is to have fun! It all depends on the style of music of course, but generally you're there to make the night go with a swing, so a sullen faced grouch behind the decks isn't going to help much. If the DJ is smiling, dancing and having a good time, the crowd often follows.

Aw, I can guarantee the biggest grin known... I'd be in such a good place .... only thing is that I'm a blithering fool at the moment do need to get plenty of that practice in + then some!!

It's been my ambition/dream for so many years now & bring able to finally get the money together is great.... am pretty sure the taxman won't want all his money at the end of July as currently arranged with HMRC

 

[free spirit]

learn to beat match

learn to recognise the beggining of an 8 bar cycle

learn to count
12342234323442345234623472348234

learn to drop the next tune in on the next '1'

et voila you can mix

then learn how to programme a set, how to read the crowd, how and when to tweak the eq's for maximum effect, and when not to etc etc

 

[editor]

learn to beat match

learn to recognise the beggining of an 8 bar cycle

learn to count
12342234323442345234623472348234

Fuck me - I've drummed at a fairly high level and all that would confuse the fuck out of me!

 

[da phish]

learn to beat match

learn to recognise the beggining of an 8 bar cycle

learn to count
12342234323442345234623472348234

learn to drop the next tune in on the next '1'

et voila you can mix

then learn how to programme a set, how to read the crowd, how and when to tweak the eq's for maximum effect, and when not to etc etc

Thanks free-spirit, much appreciated

 

[da phish]

Fuck me - I've drummed at a fairly high level and all that would confuse the fuck out of me!

Ha ha..... you think you're confused???!!

 

[Kanda]

Fuck me - I've drummed at a fairly high level and all that would confuse the fuck out of me!

It's just counting 8 bars. Once you know where the bar starts you can time when to bring the next tune in correctly.

If you don't do it, things tend to go a bit wobbly as you bring the next tune in at the wrong point and the two tunes go in different directions.

 

[da phish]

It's just counting 8 bars. Once you know where the bar starts you can time when to bring the next tune in correctly.

If you don't do it, things tend to go a bit wobbly as you bring the next tune in at the wrong point and the two tunes go in different directions.

Thanks Kanda - two tunes going in different directions is a concept I am far too familiar with!! Practice WILL make me perfect... or closer anyway

Cheers buddy.

 

[electroplated]

Fuck me - I've drummed at a fairly high level and all that would confuse the fuck out of me!

I really don't think it would - with most dance music it's pretty obvious when an 8 bar section starts, and counting the beats isn't exactly a chore...?

It's simply an important thing to know that you need to do when mixing tunes together.

Getting your ears accustomed to listening to 2 different tunes at once and being able to work out which one needs nudging forwards/backwards or being pitched up or down is the thing that takes practice... but still simple compared to say... playing the drums!

 

[editor]

I really don't think it would - with most dance music it's pretty obvious when an 8 bar section starts, and counting the beats isn't exactly a chore...?

Each to their own of course, but I preferred to 'feel' the bars rather than sit there trying to keep track with all that counting - and if you're drumming in a band you *really* have to come in at the right time otherwise it'll be hideously obvious that you've fucked up!

 

[electroplated]

You can do exactly the same when mixing though - I don't count any more, that's just how I learnt... now I do just 'feel' when the time is right to start/stop a track, on some level my brain must be counting but it's not something I do consciously.... which is exactly why I reckon you would find that aspect of mixing records a doddle

 

[Kanda]

It becomes second nature in the end. You only count when you're learning or drunk as fuck

You probably counted when learning to drum no?

 

[Dan U]

if you sort all your music in to 'key' and use the sync button, even your Nan could pull off a half decent mix on traktor with a few hours practice.

 

[badco]

... or alternatively I'll do an hour or two each night.

...or 8

 

[badco]

It becomes second nature in the end. You only count when you're learning or drunk as fuck

You probably counted when learning to drum no?

One of the ''big'' dj's in Leeds still counts...taps his foot and nods his head

 

[da phish]

if you sort all your music in to 'key' and use the sync button, even your Nan could pull off a half decent mix on traktor with a few hours practice.

I think someone's nan could do better than me at the mo

 

[da phish]

...or 8

... oh yeah - ended up doing 10 hours on Sunday.. time certainly flies as does beer consumption and smokes!!

... didn't get me anywhere, was just even more confused!!!

Had a bloody great day though!!

 

[Cloud]

if you sort all your music in to 'key' and use the sync button, even your Nan could pull off a half decent mix on traktor with a few hours practice.

I agree to some extent but what you gain in the form of easy beatmatching and viewable waveforms, key shift and effects should be used to make more complicated mixes. I think the real idea is to use the technology to make increasingly complex transitions. You can virtually remix or create a whole track just using the xponent.

My mate came round and just said "oh right this thing just does it all for you" but he was so wrong.

I used to think Dj'ing was JUST about beatmatching, people think a sync button makes an instant mix.

Cause this is all in theory for me as I don't really try hard enough or even listen to some tunes before mixing. It's nothing to do with entertaining other people for me, I just like music and it's fun. Loads of people play guitar but most of them have never stepped one foot onto a stage.

 

[da phish]

I totally agree about with yr "like music" and fun comment but I wanna entertain my friends too - don't just wanna beatmatch (although that would be a good start) but I also wanna mix in random samples and a mate wants me to mix trance with some heavy rock of is..... maybe in a few years!! .... can't wait.

 

[free spirit]

Each to their own of course, but I preferred to 'feel' the bars rather than sit there trying to keep track with all that counting - and if you're drumming in a band you *really* have to come in at the right time otherwise it'll be hideously obvious that you've fucked up!

hmm

thing is, when you're drumming in a band I'm guessing that you've usually rehearsed each song a fair few times, and you come in at the same point in each song every time you play it, so I can see why you'd not feel the need to be counting.

If you're a beat matching dj who plays your sets freeform (as in not in the same order you've spent all week practicing the set in), or are playing back to back with other djs so don't know the tunes you're mising into at all, or have tracks that have 8 bar loops where it's difficult to tell the start of the loop etc then you really do just want to get into the habit of counting in 8's so that it becomes second nature. That way you minimise the potential for getting caught out having accidentally mixed in on the 4th bar (easily done in some tracks), or any other bar, which would mean that the breakdown / build up points of the 2 tracks wouldn't mesh and it'd potentially throw people off their stride on the dancefloor, or worse, you'd end up with 2 different vocals playing at the same time or something.

same thing if using the eq's in a breakdown or something, when there are no beats playing it can be quite easy to miss the drums kicking back in if you've not been counting

I know it sounds petty, but this is one of the basic things that makes the difference between a pro and ameteur sounding dj - dj of the beat mixing variety, not the reggae style selector variety.

 

[free spirit]

It becomes second nature in the end. You only count when you're learning or drunk as fuck

You probably counted when learning to drum no?

thing is though, if you're not in the habit of counting, then you're not really going to remember to do it when you are drunk, whereas if you get into the habit of always doing it then it means you really can still dj when absolutely twatted and rarely fuck up... which is a useful skill to have when someone gives you a line of k that you thought was coke just before you step onto the decks in front of several hundred people

my whole djing thing is / was based around absolutely minimising the chances of doing anything silly to fuck up, which at the same time gave me the confidence to do more with the eq's / spend that extra ten seconds searchign for the perfect tune / dance like a loon and interact with the crowd, safe in the knowledge that I didn't need to worry about being ready to drop the next tune in until I got to the 6th / 7th bar.

another tip being to defluf your needle everytime you change records, as it may only happen occasionally, but having the needle get fluffed up and skip off the record mid tune in front of several hundred clubbers really isn't worth risking IME.

 

[editor]

You probably counted when learning to drum no?

Not like that, no. I'd have probably fallen apart trying to keep that count going during a complex piece of syncopated drumming!

Even when jamming with a new band, I'd get a feel for the chord sequences and instinctively know where the four and eight bars were. But then I was a drummer playing live with musicians which is a whole load different to playing someone else's records - and you certainly won't get a 'nod' from a record deck if you weren't sure when a change was coming up

 

[sam/phallocrat]

Do most drummers actually have the ability to count?

 

[ouchmonkey]

Not like that, no. I'd have probably fallen apart trying to keep that count going during a complex piece of syncopated drumming!

It's different though innit? playing with a band everyone is working together (in theory) to make the whole and the drummer's ability to speed up or slow down is organic. it's near impossible to properly beatmatch tracks with live drummers 'cos they're humans not machines and erratic. dance music uses programme beats so they are all regular, and you have to hit 'em spot on or they clash. it is virtually all in 8 bar chunks so as a few people have mentioned learn to read them and that'll help you loads - I'd try starting with droppping your first beat of the incoming tune on the beat of the one you're coming out of and cutting straight over, once you've got that try getting the buggers in sync so you can have two going at once.............

 

[Mr_Nice]

Dude I feel for ya as I am in the same boat ....

I brought one of these http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hercules-Portable-DJ-Console-MK2/dp/B000BQTL2Q

and use Virtual DJ Pro .......

To be honest I have only just got into Beat Matching when I was learning I used to read and look at you tube take a look bro there is a DJ

Elleskin ??



I learnt quite a bit,

 

[superdodgy]

Sorry for hijacking this thread...

I finally got some spare money to buy a DJ kit. I'm only a beginner. I would love to find out what other people think would be a nice starter DJ-kit?
I want to use it with MP3's or CD's. I've seen the Behringer BCD 3000, which looks nice, but doesn't seem to work with Vista. Apart from that, I've experimented with the Virtual DJ (trial version), is it worth getting the pro version?

I also don't really know what a set should include (big problem!). Will one computer program or one controller be enough? Or do you need to use them both?

Please help this newbie!