Mixing advice for Beginner DJ's

barry burke · 17-07-2013 12:22pm

Keep your lights to a minimum apparently...

http://www.wunderground.ie/controversial-study-shows-link-between-the-size-of-a-djs-lighting-rig-and-penis-length/

SamAK · 21-12-2013 7:41pm

Really good thread here!

My two cent as a noobie - if you start out with a controller, laptop and Traktor/Virtual dj or whatever, you're gonna end up doing a lot of mixing with your EYES rather than your EARS. I know this because i've been doing it for the last two years. All that visual information is hindering my progress, i'm not learning the tunes by ear because I can just look at the waveform and see where the builds/breaks and all that are......i'm not counting bars properly because I can just set cue points and one click of the mouse means i'm exactly where I want to be!

I'm not dissing laptop dj'ing -far from it. It's amazingly accessible, convenient, can be relatively cheap to start out with and when you have a four deck controller and the creative juices start flowing it can be ****ing great fun!

But, I just wasn't satisfied and I don't think i'm learning the craft properly. Personally, I felt that i'd be better off starting with tradition (vinyl) and working my way forward. That way, I can master the absolute essentials(ie. mixing completely by ear) and i'll be more flexible and competent as a club DJ, and will have no problems using pretty much all industry standard gear.

With all this in mind, i've been buying loads of vinyl over the last few months, and got turntables yesterday.

Time to get stuck in and learn this stuff for real!

deink · 20-05-2014 12:10am

Great advice, maybe stick in a few names in the paragraph about Youtube? I found ellaskins to be really helpful myself when I was starting off, still is!

fiachr_a · 30-08-2014 2:58pm

Can't hear anything from the headphones while mixing in a club? Wear an earplug and this will filter out sounds from the dance floor. The cheap ones in the chemists don't work well but other more expensive plastic ones are available.

SaintlyWinner · 03-05-2016 9:56pm

How is it going lads? Just my two cents. I can definitely relate to SamAK up above there. I'm young but I started out about 2 years ago. I really wanted to start on vinyl or cds but at the time I couldn't justify the money when I didn't know if it would ever go beyond the bedroom. Two years on with my trusty usb decks and laptop and I can safely say that beatmatching isn't something I can do or worry myself about. I know about getting the right bpm for tracks and mixing them into eachother but for most of my gigs it's pub work playing chart music or Nathan Carter. I would love to move onto bigger and better things but I don't see how that's possible at the minute (I hated country music to begin with but now it's a backbone to my typical set). I have played a number of various different events, parties and weddings etc, without ever getting caught up with my lack of beatmatching. Am I still considered a DJ?
I have taught myself how to DJ and my only experience of other DJs would have been in youth discos or the odd nightclub so it wasn't like I had a great idea of how to follow all your tips and tricks. I've never actually had a sit down conversation with another DJ about techniques so everything I have learned is by trial and error.
From my own experience, I personally find music choice to be far more important (by a county mile) than all the mixing and beatmatching in the world. Nothing beats jumping between a good dance number to an old classic sing along, something that has worked well for me on a number of occasions without needing the complicate matters.

Look I'll admit I'm just a grasshopper in this field and I lack the experience seen by most of the people on this thread, but just something I had to get off my chest considering there's a number of people here mentioning they're starting out.

mordeith · 04-05-2016 9:37am

SaintlyWinner wrote: »

I have played a number of various different events, parties and weddings etc, without ever getting caught up with my lack of beatmatching. Am I still considered a DJ?

First off let me state that my opinions are not a personal attack on you, it's just my opinion on DJing.
You can of course be considered a DJ in the general scheme of things. After all, radio Djs on mainstream stations don't beatmatch, they just talk and play songs. However in the club sense no, I don't think you can be considered a Dj without having the basic skill.

SaintlyWinner wrote: »

I have taught myself how to DJ

Again, I have to question this if you can't beatmatch.

SaintlyWinner wrote: »

From my own experience, I personally find music choice to be far more important (by a county mile) than all the mixing and beatmatching in the world.
Nothing beats jumping between a good dance number to an old classic sing along,

For me this is a total no. While of course I agree that music choice is fundamental to a good Dj set, just jumping from a 'good dance number to an old classic sing along' is not the way to keep a crowd going. All that happens there is the people enjoying the dance number look up and go 'what the fu*k!' and walk off the floor. When I'm out dancing I want to be there enjoying the music for a good 10-15 minutes, not being switched back and forth between stuff I like and the next instant hate. For me nothing beats listening to a great tune and then hearing another great tune being built into it for a minute or so. The skill of the beatmatcher is to have those two tracks playing together and letting the floor enjoy the current track while heightening the pleasure with the anticipation of the next track, all the while creating a mix of the two for a period that you won't hear outside of that Djs choice at that time and place.

noby · 04-05-2016 10:23am

mordeith wrote: »

First off let me state that my opinions are not a personal attack on you, it's just my opinion on DJing.
You can of course be considered a DJ in the general scheme of things. After all, radio Djs on mainstream stations don't beatmatch, they just talk and play songs. However in the club sense no, I don't think you can be considered a Dj without having the basic skill.

As someone who was "a DJ in the general scheme of things" for years, but certainly not a "club Dj" I would have to agree with this.
The only cross-over would be a good ability to judge a crowd and keep a good vibe going.

As a former "pub DJ" I know my beat-matching skills are basic, and with the stuff I played there wasn't usually much opportunity to use them, but I always got a kick out of doing it (usually going from some sort of alternative guitar band into a 12" disco track, or something) so I always had a lot of admiration for people who do a whole set of it.

leakyboots · 10-05-2016 1:46pm

mordeith wrote: »

First off let me state that my opinions are not a personal attack on you, it's just my opinion on DJing.
You can of course be considered a DJ in the general scheme of things. After all, radio Djs on mainstream stations don't beatmatch, they just talk and play songs. However in the club sense no, I don't think you can be considered a Dj without having the basic skill.

Again, I have to question this if you can't beatmatch.

For me this is a total no. While of course I agree that music choice is fundamental to a good Dj set, just jumping from a 'good dance number to an old classic sing along' is not the way to keep a crowd going. All that happens there is the people enjoying the dance number look up and go 'what the fu*k!' and walk off the floor. When I'm out dancing I want to be there enjoying the music for a good 10-15 minutes, not being switched back and forth between stuff I like and the next instant hate. For me nothing beats listening to a great tune and then hearing another great tune being built into it for a minute or so. The skill of the beatmatcher is to have those two tracks playing together and letting the floor enjoy the current track while heightening the pleasure with the anticipation of the next track, all the while creating a mix of the two for a period that you won't hear outside of that Djs choice at that time and place.

I disagree a bit here with you - selection trumps beatmatching every time for me.

I've seen guys like Alle Farben, who's set sounded like one long song so smooth was the mixing, the perfect peaks every few minutes... and it bored the arse off me... it just sounded too perfect, too robotic.

Give me someone like Mr Scruff who is not afraid to completely change up the styles

Beatmatching is important but if you're too focused on making sure the blend is right over the selection I think that's where it falls down

mordeith · 10-05-2016 2:31pm

leakyboots wrote: »

I disagree a bit here with you - selection trumps beatmatching every time for me.

I've seen guys like Alle Farben, who's set sounded like one long song so smooth was the mixing, the perfect peaks every few minutes... and it bored the arse off me... it just sounded too perfect, too robotic.

Give me someone like Mr Scruff who is not afraid to completely change up the styles

Beatmatching is important but if you're too focused on making sure the blend is right over the selection I think that's where it falls down

I know track selection is vital, but without some sort of segue into the next track it can sound like a car crash. Not many have the skills of Scruff, 2ManyDjs etc.

TheAsYLuMkeY · 11-10-2018 4:15pm

SamAK wrote: »

Really good thread here!

My two cent as a noobie - if you start out with a controller, laptop and Traktor/Virtual dj or whatever, you're gonna end up doing a lot of mixing with your EYES rather than your EARS. I know this because i've been doing it for the last two years. All that visual information is hindering my progress, i'm not learning the tunes by ear because I can just look at the waveform and see where the builds/breaks and all that are......i'm not counting bars properly because I can just set cue points and one click of the mouse means i'm exactly where I want to be!

I'm not dissing laptop dj'ing -far from it. It's amazingly accessible, convenient, can be relatively cheap to start out with and when you have a four deck controller and the creative juices start flowing it can be ****ing great fun!

But, I just wasn't satisfied and I don't think i'm learning the craft properly. Personally, I felt that i'd be better off starting with tradition (vinyl) and working my way forward. That way, I can master the absolute essentials(ie. mixing completely by ear) and i'll be more flexible and competent as a club DJ, and will have no problems using pretty much all industry standard gear.

With all this in mind, i've been buying loads of vinyl over the last few months, and got turntables yesterday.

Time to get stuck in and learn this stuff for real!

I read over this post and it is very true.

The visuals on a screen that show you the construct of a track, are forcing a different way of working out what goes where and when.

Trying not to sound clichéd, but you have to feel whats right audio wise.

If you love your tunes, you should try and feel what goes where.

I have my turntables years, and have my 300 or so Rave vinyl also, when i was mixing them years ago with nothing more than a two channel mixer with only Bass, Treble and Gain on it, you were using the knowledge of how you knew the sound flowed within a tune, and the next, to blend Audio together.

I tried using mixing software on a laptop and it felt very distracting and detaching from the actual audio.

Not saying DJ's cannot be as good that only use PC's etc, just that it could help new people starting off mixing if they were able to focus on the audio without the visual.

vriesmays · 14-03-2021 2:12pm

A pub dj in Tipperary playing showband cds is more original than most techno club djs.

iamstop · 17-08-2023 7:38pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/108324696#Comment_108324696

I find a lot of laptop/digital DJing is much more 'drop' based. Very seldom do you hear actual blending of two tracks together. You might hear the odd 8 bar intro overtop of an 8 bar breakdown but very seldom will you hear any kind of extended mix over.

I don't think you can fully fault the newer DJs either. Most new tracks are written with this form of mixing in mind. It's the equivalent of 12"s from the 90s having extended intros of mostly just drums for 16 or 32 bars at the start to make it easier to slow fade a mix in.

I on DJ vinyl out but I go over to a buddies place now and then and we bang about on his controller. The whole feel doesn't really lend itself to long mixes as much as quick drops.

Mixing advice for Beginner DJ's

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