Tips for Djing....... Learn Basic Skills Mixing, EQing, phrasing, beatmatching, and prep. There are a number of things you will need to learn in order to be a competent DJ. We’re only going to cover them briefly here… remember, you will probably need to research some of this stuff on your own… and practice, practice, practice! Beatmatching You’ll quickly learn that this is a major point of contention in the DJ community. The reason is that technology has arguably made this skill somewhat obsolete. All the major DJ software packages, and even the latest CDJ from Pioneer has built-in “sync” functionality. The purpose of beatmatching is to get the two tracks you’re mixing to play at the same tempo (the speed at which the song is playing) and phase (the beats from both tracks playing in-time with each other). Think about it like two cars driving next to each other on the highway, as explained in this video by ellaskins. Tempo is the same as the speed, such as 60 MPH. Phase is having the two cars directly next to each other. Here’s a basic tutorial which gives you the idea. He’s using CDJs, but the principles apply across the board. So, why learn beatmatching when there is such a thing as a sync button? Well, firstly it gives you the ability to beat-mix on pretty much anything out there. Turntables and most CDJs require you to do this manually. It also helps develop and tune your ears so that you know what to listen for (when tracks drift out of time, phase, etc.) Even when I’m using DJ software and allowing it to sync my tracks, I use my ears to adjust the phase appropriately… since I know how it sounds from beatmatching. I’m the kind of DJ who doesn’t like spending hours prepping and beat-gridding his tracks, but I’ve never felt the need to because I can do all of these things manually. The overall point is that learning to beatmatch will make you a better mix DJ, whether you’re digital or not. That being said, many mobile and radio DJs don’t feel the need to beatmatch at all. You can always come back to this later, but I think learning to beatmatch early is a great idea. Beatmatching is accomplished using a pitch fader (to adjust tempo). You use a jog wheel, pitch-bend button, or the physical manipulation of a record to adjust your phase. Phrasing That’s phrasing, with an “r”… not phasing. This one will make sense to anyone who has ever played a musical instrument. A song is structured based on beats and bars (measures), which make up the song’s phrases. Phrasing simply means to mix your tracks together at points in the songs which make sense. Almost all music that you will be DJing is in 4/4 time, whether you play electronic dance music, hip-hop, funk, or top 40. What this technically means is that there are four beats in a measure (bar), and that the quarter note gets one beat. In contrast, 6/8 time means that there are 6 beats in a measure, and the eighth note gets one beat. For all intents and purposes, all you have to think about is you will be counting to four a lot, because most “DJ-able” music (and most music made these days) is 4/4. Have a look at this video which gives a pretty good explanation of how phrases work. Volume/Gain Control A typical DJ mixer (as well as mixing software) contains a few types of volume control. Firstly, each channel should have a gain or trim knob, which allows you to adjust the level of the signal (by watching your meters). Then, each channel has a line fader (unless it’s a rotary mixer, in which case you will have a knob). The line fader adjusts how much signal you’re sending to your main output, which also has its own overall volume control. Then, of course, there’s the crossfader which allows you to fade between one channel and another. If you’re just learning how to mix and you don’t have any hardware yet, you can still control these things in software. Some programs, such as Traktor Pro, have an “auto-gain” feature. It gets you in the ballpark of where you want to be so that your levels match up when mixing one song into another. Volume control is often a subject of debate. Traditionally, while watching meters… green is good, red is bad, yellow is pushing it. Unfortunately, due to DJs having a habit of slamming everything into the red all of the time, many manufacturers have adjusted the way their mixers work so that people can mix “in the red” and not hurt anything. Software also works a bit differently and has its own gain structure. This can make things quite confusing. The best thing you can do is read your manual to find out where you should be maxing out your signal. When in doubt, staying in the green is just fine. If it needs to be louder, boost it on the amp/PA/house end… don’t distort your signal before it even gets there. EQing EQing (or equalizing) is the act of boosting or dropping certain frequencies so that two tracks can blend together well. EQing is an art in itself. But to get started, just realize that the majority of your “space” is taken up by lower frequencies, especially in dance music. So, typically you will not be mixing two loud kick drums over one another, since they are simply too loud to combine.
Posted on: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 05:00:42 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015