Taught or Self-Taught?

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MC DONKEY DICK

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Anybody on here done a DJ course or anything? I've been mixing about year now and dont seem to be progressing much anymore. Was wondering if anyones ever been on a course, and if so how benificial it was? I dont really wanna waste money getting taught what i already know
 
I'd personally save your money and just get to as many shows as possible and watch the DJs on the mixer. Also try and mix with a lot different people and watch what they do and try and pick up pointers. This is what I did and its helped me no end!! I've now got to point where it kinda feels like I can't learn anymore so I'm almost there :)

Also i say this all the time but record you mixes and listen back over and over, this will help you pick out the bits that suck and the you can correct them :)
 
Don't bother man. It will be a waste of your cash imo. I never had anyone to teach me about mixing. I taught myself. Its all about practise and recording your mixes as Russ said. Need any pointers or have any questions, then PM me. I'd be happy to try and help :)
 
Cheers guys. I've been pretty happy with how far i've come just from messin about an that, but it seems latley i've just hit a brick wall. The one thing i'm finding real hard at the moment is keeping the mix in sync, I can never tell which tune i need to adjust when it starts to clash a bit.
 
self taught all the way, practise your beat matching till you get it down to a T before going on to other stuff.
when i was 13 and started it took me months to even know that you could beatmatch and this it what dj's were doing. hey i was only young!

there are some usefull vids on you tube these days. my best advise is to use the pitch control and not touch the platter to much. its tricky to master at first but u will get there and will be a better beatmatcher than those who man handle the platter pushing it in and out of sync every few seconds!
 
Was taught the very basics of beatmatching.

Learnt to use the pitch myself, which I think is the hardest part.

It depends on what type of a learner you are. Personally I have to be shown things and troubleshoot them in real time to get the hang of them. A kinaesthetic learning style I think.

I you can learn by reading I would recommend 'how to dj properly' it will teach yo uthe basis and it's always nice to have to hand whilst you're not mixing. It's about £10 from HMV.
 
Fortune^ said:
It depends on what type of a learner you are. Personally I have to be shown things and troubleshoot them in real time to get the hang of them. A kinaesthetic learning style I think.
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Yeah man, i'm pretty much the same where i have to be shown things, also seems to take me ages to learn anything no matter how easy or hard it seems.
Been looking into the pitch riding business recently and find it confusing as fuck, but if it's gonna improve my mixing then i'm all for it.
 
That Riding the pitch tchnique is awesome especially when learning, it also looks more pro. Just remember if you've had to speed the track up a littleto get it back into sync then you have to reduce the speed a little once it is in..

Oh and make sure you don't touch the tune that is going through the speakers. I hate hearing Dj's adjusting the current track coz you get pitch bends and they sound shit.

If you are getting confused if the track you are mixing in is too fast or too slow, then experiment and just listen to the snares on both tracks, you'll here them either getting closer together or further apart, don't be scared to fuck up completely, we learn from our mistakes. keep practicing on the same tunes togther coz you'll learn the different drumsounds
 
Ellrot said:
That Riding the pitch tchnique is awesome especially when learning, it also looks more pro. Just remember if you've had to speed the track up a littleto get it back into sync then you have to reduce the speed a little once it is in..

Oh and make sure you don't touch the tune that is going through the speakers. I hate hearing Dj's adjusting the current track coz you get pitch bends and they sound shit.

If you are getting confused if the track you are mixing in is too fast or too slow, then experiment and just listen to the snares on both tracks, you'll here them either getting closer together or further apart, don't be scared to fuck up completely, we learn from our mistakes. keep practicing on the same tunes togther coz you'll learn the different drumsounds
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Yeah with regards to having trouble know what is going out, just make a drastic change in speed with the tune in your headphones and it'll soon become apparent what is what. Also another good tip is to quickly chuck both phones on and listen to both tracks at the same time, can help to make sure its fully locked (y)
 
Russla-DJ said:
Yeah with regards to having trouble know what is going out, just make a drastic change in speed with the tune in your headphones and it'll soon become apparent what is what. Also another good tip is to quickly chuck both phones on and listen to both tracks at the same time, can help to make sure its fully locked (y)
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True That. I don't really take my headphones off untill I'm moving the cross fader, but that is only so I can hear what the audience is hearing, and make sure the levels are right!
 
Self taught...


My taught himself as well but after a few years of djing he did a Technics DJ Course in London and said it really helped him out, he said he was working with big djs, he could go into the studio any time he wanted and use their equipment, it wasnt really a bigginers course tho he was being taught tripple dropping, scratching techniques, etc etc...

I went to a taster day for a DJ course in manchester a few years ago, this was aimed a bit more at begginers tho so I didnt really find any of the information usefull, as they were just telling us about the decks, how to beat match and went a little bit into scratching.
 
Self-Taught. Except for any little nuggets of info I can find online or on here. Thanks to anyone whos ever responded to any of my posts in this section.
 
If your not sure if a track is quicker or slower , cut the mid and bass and boost the high to the maximum. You'll instantly be able to differentiate the drums.




Also, i find it useful right before i start fading in a track, to split the cue in the headphones, that way i can make sure the beats are perfectly aligned with eachother, before any of the mix is heard by anyone




also one last tip, drink lots of coffee, smoke spliffs, buy new tunes and experiment with scratching /other genres, this way your sure to keep it fresh !
 
Ellrot said:
True That. I don't really take my headphones off untill I'm moving the cross fader, but that is only so I can hear what the audience is hearing, and make sure the levels are right!
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I rarely take them off at all, If I want to hear the full mix I listen to it in my headphones still, find it much easier, plus theres never a problem then if theres a small delay on bigger rigs.
 
motion audio said:
I rarely take them off at all, If I want to hear the full mix I listen to it in my headphones still, find it much easier, plus theres never a problem then if theres a small delay on bigger rigs.
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Omg I experienced this for the first time last week, the monitor must have been run through miles of cables and junctions cos it was 2 feet away but seriously out of time with the mixer! Had to do the whole hour in my headphones with no Cue blend, just on or off, FUCKIN mish! LOL

Moral of the story, when you start playing out, learn to mix solely in your phones (y) It'll make life a lot easier!
 
dizzzeejungle said:
If your not sure if a track is quicker or slower , cut the mid and bass and boost the high to the maximum. You'll instantly be able to differentiate the drums.
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Also, if both tracks are already playing and you're lost about if the last track you brought in is slower or faster, what I do is just adjust the pitch a bit in one direction, and if it gets worse then quickly fix it. You can tell pretty early before it gets too messy.

Otherwise, just try to prevent that from ever happening lol. I only get that issue when playing out, because of nerves or whatever.
 
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