Mixing advice for Beginner DJ's

Zascar · 08-04-2009 11:37pm #1

Quite a few newbie DJ's around so I thought it might be a good idea to have a thread where the more experienced members can share their expertise with beginner DJ's

Here is some of the advice I would like to offer - please guys share yours too. Even if you are only recently mixing let us know what you have learnt or good advice that you have been given.

--

Beatmatching: Some may argue but I think its is critically important. It's such a shame for a DJ to be playing great tunes only to have it sound like a heard of stampeding elephants every 5 minutes. Practice! Practice! Practice! Seriously practise beatmatching for no other reason that beatmatching. Be fanatical. Start with some basic tunes - tech house, minimal etc - you do not want too much melody to confuse you at the start.

DO NOT bring a new track into the mix until you are sure they are correctly beatmatched - you need to concentrate on the mix itself and not have to worry about keeping the beats aligned. Be Patient. The two tracks should be able to play for at least 20 seconds without going out of sync - that way you know it will only need a little nudge at the most during the mix.

If it is going out and you are not sure which one, hit cue, bring it back to the beginning and start again. Only change the pitch of the new song, not the one already playing (unless a big change of pitch is needed - but try to avoid this generally). After practice you'll know how much of a nudge to give it depending on how long it takes for the beats to go out. If using CDJ's do not 'spin' the platter. Very gently and slowly slide it around.

Mixing: Start off by trying to do really slow blend mixes. Picking tunes that will mix well is half of it. The best DJ in the world cannot mix two totally different tracks. Look into "Harmonic Mixing" - just to get an idea of why some mixes sound great and natural, and others sound horrible. Don't rush it. You can have two tracks overlapping for 2-3 minutes sometimes. Try to be smooth and start by just getting the tracks to fade together nicely. Ideally it should not be obvious to the listener when one track ends and the other begins etc. When you get better you can work towards 'layering' your tracks. When you get more experienced you can then 'bang them in' - however don't fcuk about too much until you know what you are doing - crap dj's always seem to play with effects, chopping, looping etc and it just sounds sh!t unless you are competent. Stick to mastering the basics until you go any further.

Music: Obviously track selection is the most important thing overall for DJ's. You really need to know your music well. Know when the breakdowns are coming and how long into a track the beat kicks in. Ideally you want the beat kicking in when the current track starts to fade down. But do not leave it too late otherwise you kind of loose the energy. Spend as much time as possible listening to other DJ's - real live sets not CD's which are studio made. Study their mixing and even try to replicate it as practice.

Spend time categorising your music. When mixing or practising, don't just play any track - a DJ set is like a musical journey - so think about where the next track you want to play is going to take that listener on that journey. Plan ahead. You might want to start off relaxed and funky, get get a bit deeper and darker, slowly getting more chunky and thumping. But don't jump around too much. Think about what type of tracks suit the start, middle and end of the mix. Try not to vary your music style too much tune to tune.

Watch video's on youtube and watch people's different styles. There is no one right way, everyone is different and every mix is different. Pay attention to how much treble the two tracks have. If the one playing has loads of 'high hats' going on, but the new track has none, you'll need to bring them down so it sounds natural, and not hanging around when it's down to 20% volume. Try 'swaping basslines' - cut one out and bring the new one in at the same time.

Don't be afraid to stand by the DJ booth for half the night and just watch - you can learn a lot. If you know anyone who's been mixing a while ask them to watch you mix and give you tips. Don't be afraid to ask for help.

I'm nackered so I'll stop there but I'll try to write some more later. IN the meantime please post yours too and make this a good thread we can refer newbies to form now on.

jonny68 · 08-04-2009 11:44pm

Good call mate...

One thing i will say is..and not nearly enough people do this but i always have and always will, mix and blend,sticking to the one style of music all the time is repititive and boring,mix up different genres, doesn't have to be loads but instead of just playing the one style drop 1 or 2 tunes every now and them that are different from what you are playing,if you want to be more adventerous drop the occasional breakbeat tune in a Techno set to break it up and then build it up to a crescendo again, i remmeber doing that at a party in 1997 in Wicklow and it went down a storm.;)

VinylJunkie · 08-04-2009 11:46pm

Zascar wrote: »

DO NOT bring a new track into the mix until you are sure they are correctly beatmatched - you need to concentrate on the mix itself and not have to worry about keeping the beats aligned. Be Patient. The two tracks should be able to play for at least 20 seconds without going out of sync - that way you know it will only need a little nudge at the most during the mix.

Cant stress that enough when im teaching people! It takes serious practice before you become comfortable with beatmatching.

For the extreme beginners id advise them to get two identical tracks and repeatly beatmatch them. The two tracks will be the same BPM so it will be very easy after a few goes then pick a different track and try that. Learn what BPM means and learn how to count bars and phrases,
1234 2234 3234 4234

Keep off effects and eq's untill you can beatmatch properly.

Sean

Scubadevils · 08-04-2009 11:55pm

I'm too tired now to throw much into this but I remember back when I was first learning in I think 1993 or so given a good tip - you know the beats are matched when they become 'central' in your head... so you can hear the beat of the track you are cueing in the the headset and the track playing from the speaker or monitor, if you train your ears over a short period you should be able to separate both tracks beats and when they hit together in time it will become central - when they are out of time you will hear that the kick drum is not hitting at the same time, i.e. one kick drum is off in one ear versus the other. A basic rule but served me well when learning! Start out by monitoring kick drums as they are easiest and once that's mastered you can move on to timing etc which will allow for much more creative beat matching when there are no beats!

Just to add to this also, it is key to train your ears to hear sounds separately - our ears our not conditioned to do this so it takes a bit of work to concentrate and separate tunes to each ear but becomes natural after a while.

Daroxtar · 09-04-2009 12:22am

Its all about the number 4. Dance music is pretty predictable in that it nearly always has 4/4 beats and every track is made up of multiples of 4 bars. Just keep counting to 4 in your head and tweek your eqs in time with the 4th beat or 4th bar or the 8th or 16th or 32nd whatever.

Cue your track up on the first beat and wait till a break before releasing the new track in time with the old one. You'd be surprised how many beginners just try dropping the needle on the record and try to line up the beats. Obviously this doesn't really apply to digital djs and once you get better you'll start bringin in tunes from different points to get different structure to your mixes.

Get to know your tracks and know when they're about to break or peak. Listen to them a good few times without mixing them. When you know what a tracks structure is like then you can start bringing it in to the mix so that it kicks off at just the right time.

Try to keep your levels out of the red too. You don't want to blow your amp or speakers or end up with too much distortion on the track.

Record yourself mixing. When you hear it back you can hear all the mixy bits better and figure out what you've done right or wrong. And its great craic listening to old recordings and seeing how bad you were:D

Above all else, just enjoy it and dont stress out if you're not mixing like carl cox straight away. Its the same as playing any instrument. You wouldn't expect to be able to play the guitar as soon as you pick it up. The more you just go with it and get into the zone the better you get.

P.s , i hate telling people how to mix. I'm prone to makin howlers when i'm at it , gettin excited and whackin up the bass or overusing fx or mixing tunes that dont go well together so I feel a bit patronising here. Everyone does things differently so if you're doing something and it sounds right to you then thats the most important thing. And as i said, Enjoy it.

Zascar · 09-04-2009 8:34pm

Yes definitely recording yourself is great. I used to hate doing it in the beginning but try to force yourself to record at all times.

For some reason I can be mixing away at home all day and night not a bother with barely any mistakes, throwing inall sorts of weird stuff and pullit it off no problem, but then once I hit record the pressure is on and I fcuk up - and once I **** up I often just quit cause I hate recording anything with a mistake in it... But you need to press on, everyone makes mistakes now and then.

Try to play live every chance you get - volunteer to play any party for free. However, the trap I used to fall into was playing what I thought people wanted to hear. Fcuk that - pla what you love cause you will put your heart and soul into it. If you are being asked to play cheesey sh!te you hate, its just wrong imo.

jimi_t · 10-04-2009 2:36am

Felixdhc wrote: »

Just to add to this also, it is key to train your ears to hear sounds separately - our ears our not conditioned to do this so it takes a bit of work to concentrate and separate tunes to each ear but becomes natural after a while.

Single best thing to do to improve this would be to download some DAW (I.e. ableton/cubase/fruityloops etc...) - a trial will do fine. Load up one of the demo songs - you'll see different rows of coloured bars representing different parts of the track - a marker moves from left to right along the track as its playing and once you're able to visually identify how certain bits come in when the marker hits them you can start muting certain tracks to help you learn to break down tracks in the future when you can't see the component parts laid out on a timeline in front of you.

It may sound trivial, but even an hour or two once-off at this well help you to develop a mental framework by which to break stuff down by ear in the future. I've been fiddling around for about 2-3 years doing production and I've about 14 years classical training behind me; I can usually do a track count from ear at this stage, sometimes even down to what parts of the percussion are on different tracks with reverb strapped to them or whatever. If you get into digital DJ'ing, this sort of stuff is your bread and butter.

Also, if you're a working off mp3s, get yourself a program that will analyse your mp3s and give you their dominant key. If you have two tracks with similar BPMS that are in the same key, even if they're completely different genres, they'll tend to mesh together quite easily. This is the cornerstone of the 'Harmonic' mixing which Zascar was alluding to earlier.

Zascar · 10-04-2009 11:35am

www.mixedinkey.com is software that will help you with the harmonics. I tested it when it first came out but have never bothered with it since really. Not sure if this is appropriate for beginners though - possibly as an example to show them exactly how and why keys mix or clash - but I know some people who purely choose their next track by key - not sure I agree with that.

franklyshocked · 11-04-2009 8:26pm

VinylJunkie wrote: »

Cant stress that enough when im teaching people! It takes serious practice before you become comfortable with beatmatching.

For the extreme beginners id advise them to get two identical tracks and repeatly beatmatch them. The two tracks will be the same BPM so it will be very easy after a few goes then pick a different track and try that. Learn what BPM means and learn how to count bars and phrases,
1234 2234 3234 4234

Keep off effects and eq's untill you can beatmatch properly.

Sean

I second that - COUNT YOUR BARS!!!!
If you still don't know what a bar in a song is then don't agree to DJ at your mates party.
Learn about how tracks are put together. Upbeats and downbeats and simple things like couting your beats and bars from the end of the break / breakdown.
Don't rely on the BPM counter. Use your ears.
Everything stated before is correct as far as I know it and everyone else agree's so in the words of Zascar,
Practice!!!

RaverRo808 · 14-04-2009 11:23am

Zascar wrote: »

Quite a few newbie DJ's around so I thought it might be a good idea to have a thread where the more experienced members can share their expertise with beginner DJ's

Here is some of the advice I would like to offer - please guys share yours too. Even if you are only recently mixing let us know what you have learnt or good advice that you have been given.

--

Beatmatching: Some may argue but I think its is critically important. It's such a shame for a DJ to be playing great tunes only to have it sound like a heard of stampeding elephants every 5 minutes. Practice! Practice! Practice! Seriously practise beatmatching for no other reason that beatmatching. Be fanatical. Start with some basic tunes - tech house, minimal etc - you do not want too much melody to confuse you at the start.

DO NOT bring a new track into the mix until you are sure they are correctly beatmatched - you need to concentrate on the mix itself and not have to worry about keeping the beats aligned. Be Patient. The two tracks should be able to play for at least 20 seconds without going out of sync - that way you know it will only need a little nudge at the most during the mix.

If it is going out and you are not sure which one, hit cue, bring it back to the beginning and start again. Only change the pitch of the new song, not the one already playing (unless a big change of pitch is needed - but try to avoid this generally). After practice you'll know how much of a nudge to give it depending on how long it takes for the beats to go out. If using CDJ's do not 'spin' the platter. Very gently and slowly slide it around.

Mixing: Start off by trying to do really slow blend mixes. Picking tunes that will mix well is half of it. The best DJ in the world cannot mix two totally different tracks. Look into "Harmonic Mixing" - just to get an idea of why some mixes sound great and natural, and others sound horrible. Don't rush it. You can have two tracks overlapping for 2-3 minutes sometimes. Try to be smooth and start by just getting the tracks to fade together nicely. Ideally it should not be obvious to the listener when one track ends and the other begins etc. When you get better you can work towards 'layering' your tracks. When you get more experienced you can then 'bang them in' - however don't fcuk about too much until you know what you are doing - crap dj's always seem to play with effects, chopping, looping etc and it just sounds sh!t unless you are competent. Stick to mastering the basics until you go any further.

Music: Obviously track selection is the most important thing overall for DJ's. You really need to know your music well. Know when the breakdowns are coming and how long into a track the beat kicks in. Ideally you want the beat kicking in when the current track starts to fade down. But do not leave it too late otherwise you kind of loose the energy. Spend as much time as possible listening to other DJ's - real live sets not CD's which are studio made. Study their mixing and even try to replicate it as practice.

Spend time categorising your music. When mixing or practising, don't just play any track - a DJ set is like a musical journey - so think about where the next track you want to play is going to take that listener on that journey. Plan ahead. You might want to start off relaxed and funky, get get a bit deeper and darker, slowly getting more chunky and thumping. But don't jump around too much. Think about what type of tracks suit the start, middle and end of the mix. Try not to vary your music style too much tune to tune.

Watch video's on youtube and watch people's different styles. There is no one right way, everyone is different and every mix is different. Pay attention to how much treble the two tracks have. If the one playing has loads of 'high hats' going on, but the new track has none, you'll need to bring them down so it sounds natural, and not hanging around when it's down to 20% volume. Try 'swaping basslines' - cut one out and bring the new one in at the same time.

Don't be afraid to stand by the DJ booth for half the night and just watch - you can learn a lot. If you know anyone who's been mixing a while ask them to watch you mix and give you tips. Don't be afraid to ask for help.

I'm nackered so I'll stop there but I'll try to write some more later. IN the meantime please post yours too and make this a good thread we can refer newbies to form now on.

Much appreciated for that man,some crucial advise there,Im getting back into mixing after a long time of trying and giving up due to personel sh*t,money and work and all that crap,any other advised would be very welcome

Zascar · 14-04-2009 11:47am

My pleasure, glad its useful.

Can't think of much more - hope others can add their 2 cents.

Focus on your music and the quality - plan your sets. Try as often as possible to plan a set that you are going to record - or as if you are playing a live set in a club etc. Select only a small amount of your music and out of that make your set - don't confuse yourself with too much - that can be disastrous.

Try designing smooth, one-genre sets, and then after than try totally mixing it up and do more that span many genre's - without sounding like its all over the place. Drop in a club classic and see if you can make a 20 year old tune sound right at home with your newest releases.

Surround yourself with other DJ's - practice together, exchange ideas, music tastes, techniques - coach eachother - and just keep learning.

Executive Steve · 14-04-2009 12:30pm

never buy a record because you reckon it will be "easy to mix"

play the right records in the right order

watch your levels

if you're playing in front of people - watch the people; are they dancing? if no, why not?

RaverRo808 · 14-04-2009 12:59pm

Zascar wrote: »

My pleasure, glad its useful.

Can't think of much more - hope others can add their 2 cents.

Focus on your music and the quality - plan your sets. Try as often as possible to plan a set that you are going to record - or as if you are playing a live set in a club etc. Select only a small amount of your music and out of that make your set - don't confuse yourself with too much - that can be disastrous.

Try designing smooth, one-genre sets, and then after than try totally mixing it up and do more that span many genre's - without sounding like its all over the place. Drop in a club classic and see if you can make a 20 year old tune sound right at home with your newest releases.

Surround yourself with other DJ's - practice together, exchange ideas, music tastes, techniques - coach eachother - and just keep learning.

What I do is,I get different genres,and I only mix tunes associated with that genre,like I love mixing hard-trance its so easy because all the tunes have a similar bassline,especially the older ones,so I find it decent for getting the beatmatching to a tee,Im pretty adpat to that now,Im starting on getting use to the faders now,which is a new challenge lol

zainabc · 20-06-2009 11:05am

thanks 4 such usefula dvice especially bout counting iv been tryin to get in 4 ages countin iv been told few times

hard trance might defo look into it
was gonna start wit house

Zascar · 20-06-2009 11:10am

zainabc wrote: »

was gonna start wit house

Start with house... definitely

zainabc · 20-06-2009 11:13am

em wat kind of house there is difrent types i like classics and hard house bit funky and trancy house

DarkJager · 20-06-2009 11:14am

zainabc wrote: »

thanks 4 such usefula dvice especially bout counting iv been tryin to get in 4 ages countin iv been told few times
hard trance might defo look into it
was gonna start wit house

I think Hard House is quite easy to mix, not a huge fan of trying to mix House though. Most HH tracks follow the same kind of driving beat and contain parts where there is a vocal sample of some sort, which is often an easy point to get the next track ready to come in.

Zascar · 20-06-2009 11:15am

Best thing to do is go to wwww.beatport.com, www.juno.co.uk etc - listen to charts etc...

Some of the vocal melodic house can be hard to mix. Take a look at tech house, minimal and techno they are great fun to mix and generally not that difficult.

zainabc · 20-06-2009 11:18am

wel im able to count the beats so maybe il just start wit tech house and see how i get on if nt il go into hard house

im only startin out i want to buy a cd deck ixer wat wud u recomend that is good and cheap x

Zascar · 20-06-2009 11:22am

zainabc wrote: »

im only startin out i want to buy a cd deck ixer wat wud u recomend that is good and cheap x

Start a new thread for that mate, lets keep this about learning to mix

zainabc · 20-06-2009 11:23am

wel il be postin and lettin u no how i get on mixin

thanks 4 ur help

nonsense42 · 21-06-2009 5:07pm

I never really got the whole "learning to dj" thing.It literally took me about 2 hours of putting records on to get them to match and I never looked back.

Listen for one bass drum and speed it up or slow it down to match the speed of the other basss drum and hey presto you're a dj!!!

What tracks you play and when are more important than beatmatching in the long run.
Look at Tiesto or someone,yeah the beats match but they play complete crap so it serves no purpose mixing properly you get me?

Zascar · 21-06-2009 5:13pm

Djing is not just the ability to beatmatch. It's about 1% of it overall.

DarkJager · 22-06-2009 2:41pm

nonsense42 wrote: »

I never really got the whole "learning to dj" thing.It literally took me about 2 hours of putting records on to get them to match and I never looked back.

Listen for one bass drum and speed it up or slow it down to match the speed of the other basss drum and hey presto you're a dj!!!

If it were that easy everybody and their dog would be a world class DJ. I don't buy either that it just takes 2 hours to learn to beatmatch - might take you that long to start understanding what you're trying to do, but real beatmatching takes loads of practice to get spot on. Do you think you'd be able to drop the beat of a new tune straight into the playing track without any errors?

What tracks you play and when are more important than beatmatching in the long run.
Look at Tiesto or someone,yeah the beats match but they play complete crap so it serves no purpose mixing properly you get me?

In my opinion Richie Hawtin drops some awfully pretentious **** tunes in his sets, but I only say that because I don't have any love for that genre, while somebody else may think they are the greatest tunes ever. Do you see what I'm getting at? Unless you appereciate the genre the DJ is playing, you can't really call anything they spin crap bar it being personal opinion (unless its some cult cheesy tune

)

As for track selection, I'd agree with you on that point. There's no use in some uber-technical DJ flanging and reverbing the **** out of tunes if they are **** to begin with. The crowd are always going to be paying more attention to the tunes you are playing than how you are fiddling with the bass, mid, treble etc

Starfox · 25-06-2009 11:33am

Dont be afraid to beat clash and cause a train wreck over and over again, i was when i first started mixing, it holds you back from getting really good! You really do learn from your mistakes

ED E · 25-06-2009 1:16pm

I love this forum, and boards in general, there are so many gems on here:D

I'm going to be playing gaffs and parties for late teens, so the crowd will be very forgiving:D Most wont even be able to walk an hour in, nevermind judge my proficiency....

I dunno what systems you all use, but I'm a virtual lad myself. I can usually get very close just by aligning bpms + peaks. I'm just wondering is this a really bad thing to train myself into? Should I do it all by ear? I'm mainly doing it as a hobby, much more fun than learning guitar or piano etc

Might record a few clips later and post em in the opinions thread.

Edit:
Just like to add an opinion, from my novice point of view.

In most cases I think the majority of the crowd will be out for a good time. They arent examining you. People with an interest will be judging how well you do, but they are a minority imo. I think the real thing to pay attention to is the crowd and match your set to them. I'd prefer to be half a bar out and play a track that gets everyone on their feet than perfectly match the track but have everyone like the terrocotta army.

Mau5 · 27-06-2009 2:01pm

great info there lads cheers
ive a problem though the beat keeps going off when i think i have it matched.. it only stays matched for a few seconds and then goes off. quite confusing! any advice?

franklyshocked · 27-06-2009 2:12pm

Mau5 wrote: »

great info there lads cheers
ive a problem though the beat keeps going off when i think i have it matched.. it only stays matched for a few seconds and then goes off. quite confusing! any advice?

Have you ever heard the quote, even a stopped clock tells the right time twice a day?
Basically, your tracks are not beat matched close enough. listen to whether the cue track is faster or slower than the main track and adjust it again.
If your mixer has eq's on each channel, drop the bass on the cue and push up the high end a little, this will help you use the bass of the main track as your guide for the high end of the cue'd track.
Its something that will come with time and practice.
I've been Djing so long I can only cue with my left ear anymore, I have to listen to the main track with my right ear.
I suppose its something that non DJ's don't get. The reason a DJ has only one headphone on isn't to look cool, its to Cue the track. I haven't seen this mentioned much so I'd hate to think younger DJ's think its just a fashion statement.
I see so many young DJ's dropping the headphones once they start to mix.
If your tracks are even slightly out you'll have a train wreck in no time.
Mixing doesn't end till one track is silent.
Some Vinyl has a slight wobble so you might have to keep making minute adjustments until the track you're mixing out of ends.

Hope this helps.
Practice, practice, practice and then practice some more.

seannash · 27-06-2009 2:40pm

franklyshocked wrote: »

Have you ever heard the quote, even a stopped clock tells the right time twice a day?
Basically, your tracks are not beat matched close enough. listen to whether the cue track is faster or slower than the main track and adjust it again.
If your mixer has eq's on each channel, drop the bass on the cue and push up the high end a little, this will help you use the bass of the main track as your guide for the high end of the cue'd track.
Its something that will come with time and practice.
I've been Djing so long I can only cue with my left ear anymore, I have to listen to the main track with my right ear.
I suppose its something that non DJ's don't get. The reason a DJ has only one headphone on isn't to look cool, its to Cue the track. I haven't seen this mentioned much so I'd hate to think younger DJ's think its just a fashion statement.
I see so many young DJ's dropping the headphones once they start to mix.
If your tracks are even slightly out you'll have a train wreck in no time.
Mixing doesn't end till one track is silent.
Some Vinyl has a slight wobble so you might have to keep making minute adjustments until the track you're mixing out of ends.

Hope this helps.
Practice, practice, practice and then practice some more.

yep agree also once youve brought in the other track and its the dominent track in the mix,flick the cue to the outgoing track and make adjustments to it if its drifting.dont still push along the new track because peoples attention is on it and any slowing down r speeding up of a track might be noticeable but not as noticeable on the outgoing track

Zascar · 27-06-2009 2:43pm

Good advice FS. One thing I remember someone telling me year ago which helped, was start the queued track faster than the one playing and slow it down until it is more or less beatmatched. Instead of getting it exactly on, keep it a minute amount faster, but be ready to make tiny adjustments to slow it down in time with the main track.

When mixing on vinyl I do this, I hover om finger over the bit with the dots and gently drag it if I hear it coming out at all. Works well.

I also mix with one earphone, but its cause I like to hear both what is in my headphones, and what is coming out of the speakers too. Depending on the setup there can be varied results - mixing on a big system can be different to mixing at home.

Mau5 · 27-06-2009 7:33pm

thanks for the advice think im starting to get my head around it somewhat!
although one more quite stupid question...
do i leave the pitch control where it is when speeding up/slowing down the songs to match them or do i speed up/slow down and then bring it back to the centre or the 0?
sorry for the probably very obvious questions im completely new!

Mixing advice for Beginner DJ's

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