Hey all, hoping there are a lot of amateur (or pro) DJs lurking at TL :D
I recently (finally) splurged and got a controller deck (Numark Mixtrack, noob, I know ><) and I'm looking for any tips and advice you guys might have for making mixes and digital DJ-ing in general. Unfortunately vinyl decks are WAY over my budget, so I'm sticking with digital in the foreseeable future :p
Not looking to go pro and make a career out of this, but I am passionate about a lot of types of music and it feels great to mix music for people to listen to (the 'old' days of VirtualDJ + mouse&keyboard) ^^ As for the type of music, I'd like to do anything from Top40 and club anthems to house and hiphop.
Anyway, this is what my setup looks right now (I know its cheap but I wanna get good before I really spend any big money):
Numark Mixtrack Native Instruments Audio 2 DJ Eagle Arion ET-AR506-BK 2.1 //Software: Traktor LE or VirtualDJ 6 Pro (currently using this one) or Ableton Live
nice setup! i'm still at the virtualdj+keyboard and mouse phase because i'm too broke to buy any gear. i do produce a little using a midi keyboard and fl studio or ableton.
go to a lot of raves or clubs, and see how the pros do it. learning about key signatures couldnt hurt, but i think alot of the time, thats a waste (i.e. drunk people cant tell the difference).
i would suggest not mixing for events until you know why mixing with the crossfader is wrong. it takes alot more to mix very well than an ametuer dj thinks there is. (i only know this because i've been there, lol)
people are going to give you shit for not beatmatching with vinyl, but they're just oldschool. theres no reason to beatmatch by ear, unless your grid is wrong.
On August 19 2010 17:41 gods_basement wrote: go to a lot of raves or clubs, and see how the pros do it. learning about key signatures couldnt hurt, but i think alot of the time, thats a waste (i.e. drunk people cant tell the difference).
i would suggest not mixing for events until you know why mixing with the crossfader is wrong. it takes alot more to mix very well than an ametuer dj thinks there is. (i only know this because i've been there, lol)
people are going to give you shit for not beatmatching with vinyl, but they're just oldschool. theres no reason to beatmatch by ear, unless your grid is wrong.
awesome video :D thanks for tips! the good thing is I've taken years of music theory (weekly classes for 10 years finally came in handy LOL) and I tend to have a good sense of rhythm ^^ I do all my beatmatching by ear for any mixes that I make (via virtualdj). ableton just seems too complicated for me haha.. ><
hey whast up forQQ i started djing a couple years ago and learned almost everything i know by just looking through youtube videos on dj concepts. In my search i came across a dj that goes by the name of dj tutor. I HIGHLY recommend that you check out his website. There is seriously tons and tons of techniques from everything from your set to booking parties as well. anyway his website is djtutor.com you should take a look. by the time your done watching his videos you will have the phrase practice and enjoy in your head. haha youll understand what i mean when you watch the videos.... so practice and enjoy :D
well i went to DJ school in hong kong and learned how to beatmatch and play with the mixer a bit but didn't really do much, no one in my life really likes trance/house so yea whatever lol
i played a bit with ableton live and mixed some tracks pretty easily but haven't made a mix or anything.
I'd say that the move to digital from vinyl is sad but definite. just keep doing it and messing with stuff and also listen to a lot of different stuff, and find your own sound.
DJing can be as simple or as complex as you would like it to be, really.
You can focus on mixing harmonically, hitting the perfect drop/transition, EQ'ing the exact amount of the relevant frequencies, throwing down that perfect filter to add some movement, jumping to a hotpoint/hotcue or setting up a loop to change the flow of the tune, mixing in a half/double tempo track, taking the listener on the perfect journey through a carefully balanced set list, or any of the infinite amount of other aspects involved in DJing. All, or even just one, of those things can make a mix 'perfect' and really capture your audience (whether that's just you, a friend, or a club full of dancing people), but that all comes with practice, experience and simply just loving music.
I would definitely recommend trying to be as prolific as possible with your mixes. Try to set a target of recording a 'solid' mix (as opposed to, say, just a practice, or fun mix, which are also important to do often btw), regularly. Perhaps once every week, or month, or whatever suits you. By doing that you will always be making sure that not only are you getting regular material to analyze and see which areas (inevitably) you can improve on, but you'll also be making sure that you'll wont be dwelling on those mistakes, or weaker mixes for too long; always having a new one to look forward to.
It's a similar thing with getting good at SC/SC2. Just play loads of games. Analyze your replays, learn from your mistakes, but just don't dwell on them too much. Always be looking forward to improving in your next game.
The best music to start mixing with would probably something with a very obvious beat and overall fairly simple so you can begin to train your ears to listen to two channels at once without having overly complicated songs.
Also djforums.com has a good section on it for beginners, if you haven't found that website already.
Nice setup so far, I personally started mixing breaks/breakbeat (just beatmatch the snare) in 2001 and have since branched out into many other genre's. The fundamentals have been broken down and explained on the older-than-time hyperreal forums much better than I could even begin to explain them.
The best advice I can offer is to -above all else- mix the music that you love, do NOT try to make "the perfect set" for someone else, and don't let a trainwreck or slopped transition ruin your session, keep going, do it for the fun, the release and for the love of the music. DJing can be very therapeutic
my current setup: technics 1200mk2 turntables (started with vinyl but am now using m-audio TORQ which is the same idea as serato scratch live or finalscratch for digital/vinyl control)
Vestax PMC-05ProIII VCA mixer
m-audio bx5a monitors
apple macbook pro 17" unibody laptop dell xps m1730 laptop
here's a few links to some good reading (oldschool guides, music history, genre breakdowns etc):
I'd love to hear your sets and give my feedback, checkout soundcloud.com or mixcloud.com for sites where you can create an account and upload/share your music for free.
if you like, you can check out/stream/download some of my original tracks and live sessions from my site: www.thetip.cc
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