Thursday, May 30, 2013
Digital mix setups Vs Analog Turntables.
Tonight I want to talk to y'all about the big to do over analog vs Digital setups and hopefully I can help shine some light on the subject and I want to start by making it clear: There is always going to be respect due on both sides of the fence on this issue. An analog setup has its feel by its nature and so does a digital one. But i feel like the blend of the two is where its at.
Just so y'all know I only mix on digital mixing units and I would strongly encourage you to do the same, even if your setup with a couple sweet Technic tables, I would look into getting a digital interface, some midi records and hooking your tables up to the laptop through Serato or Virtal DJ (my fav). If you're experienced behind tables already I feel ya on that and just want you to know you can transfer that vynl library over, search thru it faster and manipulate it more than before you ever went digital. Try it you'll like it and you're turntablisim skills will shine through backed by your new found digital bossness (bpms comparisons, quick locks, cue points jump to's lighting controls video out options just amazing control over elements you couldn't hold onto in the same way as before.)
Old school Vynl DJ's have earned their bragging rights by consistently being able to pull of pre-meditated mixes/Sets without ANY digital help what so ever. I'm talking about no BPM info front of you unless you wrote it down. No length of track, No waveforms that show where the build and breaks are. All of which are bonus' of course to mixing digitally. That's not to say that because you are behind a laptop that your job has been so incredibly simplified that you shouldn't be proud of your hard work. The way I like to see it is if your not able to take those mix sessions to the next level having all of that informan in front of you then maybe you need to really practice using waht you have. I feel like a lot of the arguing back and forth may stem from the idea that the hard part has been done for the digial mixer. Not so. To earn your respects as a digital DJ you better be able to pull off some crazy mixes using every tool at your disposal (bpm, track length, genres, file organization, samples and cuts labeling, effect modulation etc.)
I don't ever like to think of the digital era as simplifying the old, if it doesn in fact do so it only provides an opportunity to accomplish the previously unthinkable. So take your digi gift and fly.
Turntables AND a Laptop wtf is that?!
Haha yea, I had that same reaction when I first saW someone spinning with 2 turntable a laptop. Jaw dropped I did a little research and found out you can actually sync your turntables to your laptop by getting special "midi" records, and the right audio interface (external sound card needed to make it all work). You can then manipulate your mixes on screen using the same turntables you've always had or maybe just decided to add to your setup. That being said it's possible to connect all kinds of things to you setup from Kaoss pads (effects modualtor by KORG) to Drum Machines of all kinds to Guitar Bass and Distortion Pedels. Don't ever get stuck in that mode where your creativity suffers from cultural norms, push those limits till they bend break and shatter. And let the bass kick.
Let. The. Bass. Kick.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Sampling
Found an interesting article on sampling by National Public Radio:
Check this out http://www.npr.org/2011/01/28/133306353/Digital-Music-Sampling-Creativity-Or-Criminality
Check this out http://www.npr.org/2011/01/28/133306353/Digital-Music-Sampling-Creativity-Or-Criminality
Saturday, May 25, 2013
DJ Basics
Follow Me on Twitter @DJBasics #DJB
Hey there!
Welcome to DJ Basics, I'm DJ-Jay and I've decided its time someone with a little know how put a blog together containing more than just tips and tricks to get you motivated. I want to develop this site into a full fledged how to DJ for beginners (not dummies). There is a lot of work that goes into a mix session but hopefully we can dispel some of the magical mystery of mixing without blowing your mind over technical jargon. So welcome, to DJ Basics!
Feel free to email me with some of your own questions or ideas about mixing. I'd not only like to help get those questions answered but with your permission id like to share some Q&A from our followers. For now I can be reached in the meantime over at Osborne_Jonathan@ymail.com : )
Thanks so much for coming by, Add DJ Basics to your RSS feed, bookmark us and if you see a topic you like lets not horde the info, please tweet about it! #DJBasics
BPM (Beats Per Minuet)
Tonight I want to talk to y'all about keeping your mixes smooth when it comes time to bring in a new track, scratch over a break, or basically sync almost any track to whats currently playing. In order to do that you'll need to know a few things about the tracks your working with.
One of the most important pieces of information you can get from each track is it's default BPM. If two tracks have the same BPM they can be easily mixed together as long as the genre's are compatible. Frank Sinatra and led zepplin do not go well together for example (save for some very outlandish and professional mash-ups that might be out there). A tracks BPM rating is displayed as a solid natural number and while some genres have specific ranges of speed they are developed at others vary widely in their commonality. Below is a quick cheat sheet for common genre BPM's :
Trance: 120-132
House: 128-132
Dubstep: - 140-150
Drum and Bass- 160-165
Hard House: 160-165
Ok, so knowing what the speed of the tracks are is great because at a glance you can see that a drum and bass style track will be a total train-wreck if you just play it over a house or a trance track because the speeds of those tracks are no where near each other! Even Songs that are off by just a single beat per minuet can be noticeably off balance if they are let run too long, so a distance of 10 or more BPM is
probably not a wise mix move.
If you are comfortable behind your mixing station, and we'll discuss options for mixing stations soon, you can try to do some mental math and really get creative during your mix. Try overlaying a dubstep track of 70bpm over a dubstep track of 140bpm. Adjust the eq accordingly and there you have some interesting combos. The same track can be overlay-ed upon itself at half or double speed to create some interesting effects.
As a DJ you can cut, cut back, back, and forth, forth between two tracks of the same speed.
This is called FLIPPING DOUBLE.
Just set a copy of the first track about a bar behind the second one and cut the crossfader from one to the other when you feel like flipping double. In the old days before laptop setups and digital mixing programs (Which I Highly recommend using) the only way to flip double would be to purchase two copies of the same album and set them up by ear.
What a pain, so that being said lets take a minuet and talk about a neat and all too looked down upon feature of most Digital Mix units and CD mixers:
The SYNC feature!
Sync is an awesome feature that with 1 push will match the BPM of the track your "syncing" to the other, eliminating the need for the pitch control arm to be used to adjust the tracks to the same speeds. Using the Sync option can also help with some advanced speed up and slow down techniques but I'll save that for another time. Even I have used this tool to pull off some amazing mixes live and on stage. As a new DJ I quickly realized the emphasis of those around me, often times not even a DJ themselves, blaming a lack of skill and over simplicity that SYNC offers at the push of a button. Look Y'all, all I can say is there should be no shame in using technology to its fullest when performing for others, and if you want to waste your time dialing in a speed pitch control arm, be my guest! The animosity may stem from some of the late great record scratching full analog straight up disc jockeys from back in the day that didn't have such luxuries. However, Our music has come a long way since then.
BPM (Beats Per Minuet)
Tonight I want to talk to y'all about keeping your mixes smooth when it comes time to bring in a new track, scratch over a break, or basically sync almost any track to whats currently playing. In order to do that you'll need to know a few things about the tracks your working with.
One of the most important pieces of information you can get from each track is it's default BPM. If two tracks have the same BPM they can be easily mixed together as long as the genre's are compatible. Frank Sinatra and led zepplin do not go well together for example (save for some very outlandish and professional mash-ups that might be out there). A tracks BPM rating is displayed as a solid natural number and while some genres have specific ranges of speed they are developed at others vary widely in their commonality. Below is a quick cheat sheet for common genre BPM's :
Trance: 120-132
House: 128-132
Dubstep: - 140-150
Drum and Bass- 160-165
Hard House: 160-165
Ok, so knowing what the speed of the tracks are is great because at a glance you can see that a drum and bass style track will be a total train-wreck if you just play it over a house or a trance track because the speeds of those tracks are no where near each other! Even Songs that are off by just a single beat per minuet can be noticeably off balance if they are let run too long, so a distance of 10 or more BPM is
probably not a wise mix move.
If you are comfortable behind your mixing station, and we'll discuss options for mixing stations soon, you can try to do some mental math and really get creative during your mix. Try overlaying a dubstep track of 70bpm over a dubstep track of 140bpm. Adjust the eq accordingly and there you have some interesting combos. The same track can be overlay-ed upon itself at half or double speed to create some interesting effects.
As a DJ you can cut, cut back, back, and forth, forth between two tracks of the same speed.
This is called FLIPPING DOUBLE.
Just set a copy of the first track about a bar behind the second one and cut the crossfader from one to the other when you feel like flipping double. In the old days before laptop setups and digital mixing programs (Which I Highly recommend using) the only way to flip double would be to purchase two copies of the same album and set them up by ear.
What a pain, so that being said lets take a minuet and talk about a neat and all too looked down upon feature of most Digital Mix units and CD mixers:
The SYNC feature!
Sync is an awesome feature that with 1 push will match the BPM of the track your "syncing" to the other, eliminating the need for the pitch control arm to be used to adjust the tracks to the same speeds. Using the Sync option can also help with some advanced speed up and slow down techniques but I'll save that for another time. Even I have used this tool to pull off some amazing mixes live and on stage. As a new DJ I quickly realized the emphasis of those around me, often times not even a DJ themselves, blaming a lack of skill and over simplicity that SYNC offers at the push of a button. Look Y'all, all I can say is there should be no shame in using technology to its fullest when performing for others, and if you want to waste your time dialing in a speed pitch control arm, be my guest! The animosity may stem from some of the late great record scratching full analog straight up disc jockeys from back in the day that didn't have such luxuries. However, Our music has come a long way since then.
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