Noob DJ questions here

[RevTech]

My questions are the following:

When you mix two tunes together and beatmatch them by ear, how long does it take until the songs start to get messed up in time, (I will have this problem for a while) and how do I fix it?

Also, should I start out mixing house music (with 4 to the flour beats) first? Or should I go straight into DnB? (I may get used to the techno too much, and I don't really like techno)

Lastly, is can Serato read my decks if I only have a midi connection? Will it be able to still recognize the track I'm playing?

This could either have a fairly good amount of replies or barely any haha

 

[wordnz]

Read this http://dnbforum.com/showthread.php?t=50642

scroll down to the second post and watch the "pitch riding" videos

 

[SLow]

Buy this book: http://www.amazon.com/How-DJ-Right-...d_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1230713821&sr=8-1

 

[CH3SH]

Also, should I start out mixing house music (with 4 to the flour beats) first? Or should I go straight into DnB? (I may get used to the techno too much, and I don't really like techno)

Nope DnB all the way =]
House is too flowery and youll get more kick from DnB

 

[Kibon]

When you mix two tunes together and beatmatch them by ear, how long does it take until the songs start to get messed up in time, (I will have this problem for a while) and how do I fix it?

mostly after 2 or 3 bars I hear that the beats are getting "messed up" , mostly I just the touch the platter a little bit to slow it down (or spin the little pin in the middle to speed it up) and then I use the pitch to make the bpm match. The most important thing is that you listen if the track that you are bringing in is going to slow or to fast because if it's already going to fast and you spin the pin to make it go faster it all gets more and more messed up
that's my personal way of doing it, hope it helps(and I hope I explained it well, it's hard for me to explain this in english)

 

[Kibon]

Nope DnB all the way =]
House is too flowery and youll get more kick from DnB

true ! I've never felt the same rush while mixing house/minimal music.. beatmatching in both music styles is based on the same principe but only in dnb there's a lot of high hats and the bpm is a lot higher.. but just turn down the treble a little bit when you're practicing ,then they won't confuse you.. (or try practicing in 33 instead of 45, works for some people but I've never praticed this way..)

 

[MARKLAR]

it wont go out of time for ages if uve matched it correctly

 

[Rubs90]

Here's one thing I learned about DJ'ing by myself

Practice makes it sooooo much better, it's not that technical really, just takes time

 

[Saint]

Here's one thing I learned about DJ'ing by myself

Practice makes it sooooo much better, it's not that technical really, just takes time

Yeah, its how i learnt. Just keep mixing untill it starts to sound good.

 

[muzzadj]

Nope DnB all the way =]
House is too flowery and youll get more kick from DnB

I spoke to mate at college who has started out by mixing his dnb on 33rpm.. Sounded stupid to me cos then u cant appreciate the tune lol..

But logically, it does make a bit of sense lol

 

[sam the dnb man]

how many bpm is drum and bass step?

 

[MARKLAR]

how many bpm is drum and bass step?

its 5012 bpm thats bees per mouse

 

[aflex]

keep yah finger on the pitch

 

[Rubs90]

keep yah finger on the pitch

I dont really mess with the pitch that much anymore

Sometimes change it a very small bit, but yeah it's always nice to keep a finger on it (sounds sexual lol)

 

[Hightech]

the way i do it is have the two tracks at the same on the pitch maby have the song ur mixng in up 1 for half
and i get it in time using the deck then once iv figurd it out move the pitch to the right place

and practice is what makes haste

 

[DJHaze]

i started nby just haveing both tunes at 45 and your usually sorted, think the tunes i was using when i first started was killers dont die, robocop taxman remix, jaydan pullup, finding the three, should help.

 

[Rock*]

Touch the platter as little as you can, its a very bad habit because when both tunes are playing out loud and you need to alter pitch but can only confidently do it by touching the platter you're gonna have to make one track skip, and it sounds pretty poor.

Use the pitch-adjuster always. Its all about feeling, when a tunes too slow you speed up the pitch fader to a speed above what you know the locked speed would be, then when it catches up with the other tune, drop the pitch-adjuster back down to the level you think it needs to be. It will be somewhere in between its position when the track was too slow, and the position when you sped it up. Chances are this new position will be much closer to the right speed but still not quite right. So when you feel it start to move out of time you repeat the process, but this time your movement of the pitch adjuster will be much smaller. At this stage you're just tweaking.

When you get the feel for this its like second nature and you hardly have to think about how much to drag the adjuster. The beats lock smoothly and you'll DJ like Andy C and Friction!

 

[justin_credible]

Touch the platter as little as you can, its a very bad habit because when both tunes are playing out loud and you need to alter pitch but can only confidently do it by touching the platter you're gonna have to make one track skip, and it sounds pretty poor.

Use the pitch-adjuster always. Its all about feeling, when a tunes too slow you speed up the pitch fader to a speed above what you know the locked speed would be, then when it catches up with the other tune, drop the pitch-adjuster back down to the level you think it needs to be. It will be somewhere in between its position when the track was too slow, and the position when you sped it up. Chances are this new position will be much closer to the right speed but still not quite right. So when you feel it start to move out of time you repeat the process, but this time your movement of the pitch adjuster will be much smaller. At this stage you're just tweaking.

When you get the feel for this its like second nature and you hardly have to think about how much to drag the adjuster. The beats lock smoothly and you'll DJ like Andy C and Friction!

Good advice. I learnt by touching the platter/vinyl. It is a bad habit to get into, keep having to make a conscious effort not to now, as ive been doing that for years now.

 

[muzzadj]

Touch the platter as little as you can, its a very bad habit because when both tunes are playing out loud and you need to alter pitch but can only confidently do it by touching the platter you're gonna have to make one track skip, and it sounds pretty poor.

Use the pitch-adjuster always. Its all about feeling, when a tunes too slow you speed up the pitch fader to a speed above what you know the locked speed would be, then when it catches up with the other tune, drop the pitch-adjuster back down to the level you think it needs to be. It will be somewhere in between its position when the track was too slow, and the position when you sped it up. Chances are this new position will be much closer to the right speed but still not quite right. So when you feel it start to move out of time you repeat the process, but this time your movement of the pitch adjuster will be much smaller. At this stage you're just tweaking.

When you get the feel for this its like second nature and you hardly have to think about how much to drag the adjuster. The beats lock smoothly and you'll DJ like Andy C and Friction!

Great advice man, just what i wanted to here

 

[Indefatigable]

I just used to listen to two records at the same time to begin with and focus my mind on listening to just elements of each tune.

I started mixing breaks first and comparing that to dnb, even though breaks were slower, I wouldn't say it was easier. The advantage you have with faster tracks is that they go noticeable out of time faster and I always found it easier to tell if the incoming track was faster or slow, the faster the bpm of the two tracks were.