Learning 2 mix, is dubstep going 2 be tricky place to start?

docdoom · Post by **docdoom** » Mon May 01, 2006 4:37 pm

Right im with you, thanks. I guess it echoes the naturally occuring variation of a live drummer, makes it have more groove and seem less mechanic.

purecain · Post by **purecain** » Mon May 01, 2006 5:03 pm

first of all you need to learn how to speed the record up and slow it down every way possible. then if you cant feel the beats your gonna have to count them, this is important when your mixin so you get the first part of each record mixin at the same piont. if you dont know what i mean then you will with a little practice. buy a turntable-ist dvd of the world scratching championships wich will hopefully have a few tutorials included. you need this because there are so many things you can do to a deck to manipulate the sound it would take you years to figure out em all. most of the things you do in the beginning will feel awkward and unnatural but after a couple of weeks you should be able to see your own style coming out. havin the right decks is important aswell cos some of em are impossible to use. vestax and tecknics make the easiest and most reliable decks to use. most importantly keep byin new vinyl cos records you love to mix will keep you inspired so build up your record collection. if you have any problems or dont know any good dj's then go to a record shop and see if they know of anyone who could give you an hour of their time to show you the ropes. hope this helps ya m8.

docdoom · Post by **docdoom** » Tue May 02, 2006 3:35 pm

^Cheers for the advice. Im just finding it pretty difficut distinguishing which of two records of similar tempo is the fastest. You know they arent quite the same, but you dont know which is the quicker!

Say the record im mixing in is slower, i pitch it up. Should i pitch down the live record too?

I enjoy buying the vinyl and supporting the scene anyway, so thats good. It really makes you listen fully to the music doesnt it!

gravious · Post by **gravious** » Tue May 02, 2006 7:04 pm

One of the hardest things is learning to listen to and compare two records in different ears: the one playing through your speakers, and the one you're cueing up in your headphones.

Being able to listen to them both, and tell whether the record you are cueing up is speeding up or slowing down compared to the one playing is key. I found the only real way to learn this was practice.

Practicing beat matching like this would probably be easier with straight 4x4 beats without any fooked up quantising or swing etc. However, I found it easier to stick at practicing by playing music that I really liked rather than whatever was easiest to mix!

Also, some tunes just won't mix with each other (or at all - e.g Burial - Broken home: beatmatching hell...)

Soon you will be the bo-est of selectas!

docdoom · Post by **docdoom** » Wed May 03, 2006 6:12 pm

^ Nice one!

How do you make the over the top 'rewind' noise on turntables? You know where the MC goes 'pull dat back' and the record does a huge rewind noise?

Probs not a very important part but it would be cool to know how to do!

dopedragon · Post by **dopedragon** » Wed May 03, 2006 6:27 pm

docdoom wrote:Probs not a very important part but it would be cool to know how to do!

lol. just make sure you got some decent needles that aren't gonna kill your plates (or just get some trash record) and

WHEEEEELLLLL!!!

do it all night over and over again...an effects processor will add to the hours of enjoyment.

docdoom · Post by **docdoom** » Wed May 03, 2006 6:43 pm

Haha. Ive got some Ortofon needles i think are pretty decent.

Not sure exacly what i should be doing then? You saying that noise isnt actually from the vinyl but an fx box or summin?

dopedragon · Post by **dopedragon** » Wed May 03, 2006 7:18 pm

the noise itself, if im reading you right, is made from spinning the record back. hence the name, rewind or backspin.

an FX box with some delay, echo, etc. can give it some more presence and make you smile if you're high...ie. extremely fun/useful for spinning dub.

as for the needles, ortofons are good, but kinda heavy, so you should be aware of cue burn (wearing down the grooves on your records from repeated needle traffic)...just make sure you got them setup right with just enough weight on em to keep the styli in the groove.

enjoi

docdoom · Post by **docdoom** » Wed May 03, 2006 8:15 pm

thanks! well have a mess about tonight!

selector.dub.u · Post by **selector.dub.u** » Thu May 04, 2006 1:50 am

what brand and model of turntables do you have?

djshiva · Post by **djshiva** » Thu May 04, 2006 2:10 am

docdoom wrote:^Cheers for the advice. Im just finding it pretty difficut distinguishing which of two records of similar tempo is the fastest. You know they arent quite the same, but you dont know which is the quicker!

Say the record im mixing in is slower, i pitch it up. Should i pitch down the live record too?

I enjoy buying the vinyl and supporting the scene anyway, so thats good. It really makes you listen fully to the music doesnt it!

you don't need to slow down the other record if you are speeding up. just make sure that any adjustments you do manually (i.e. dragging your finger on the platter to slow down or nudging the platter to speed up) are helped by adjusting the pitch slider, or whatever you did will be negated. many people just use the pitch control so as not to make obvious pitch changes in the record.

it takes a bit to get the beatmatching down, but one day you will have the "OH!" moment and realize what you need to do. just keep practicing.

docdoom · Post by **docdoom** » Thu May 04, 2006 8:41 am

^Thanks! Guess i'll keep hammering it!

For the question before: Numark Pro TT2s.

docdoom · Post by **docdoom** » Thu May 04, 2006 2:32 pm

Oh yeah, for dusty records what should i use, is an old sock or whatever cool?

juliun_c90 · Post by **juliun_c90** » Thu May 04, 2006 3:20 pm

Im just finding it pretty difficut distinguishing which of two records of similar tempo is the fastest.

i used to teach djing a bit and i'd always get the kids to listen to a couple of minimal techno records at first and explain the 4/4 rhythm and bar structure to them. you know- get them counting.

next step is knowing how to cue up and get the feel of the turntable's action: get the tune your mixing to the first beat in the bar and be happy you can push it/drop in time to coincide with the first beat of the bar of the record you want to mix into. just practice this at first- getting that one beat to coincide with that one beat from the record playing out loud. forget everything else for now. many people find it helpful to choose a marker on the turntable and align their fingers on the first beat with this marker- that way you know when the record your mixing hits that point, the first beat will sound.

when you're happy that you can drop that beat with a reasonable degree of accuracy, let the record your mixing just play. don't try to make any corrections at first- LET IT go out of time and concentrate on discerning whether in terms of tempo it raced ahead of the record you want to mix into or whether it fell behind. you'll probably only need to let it play for a few bars before you get trainwreck beats, but the main thing is discerning whether it was faster or slower.

based on what you have decided (eg ''it went out of time really fucking quickly and seemed much faster'') you can alter the pitch control to reflect and start the process of cuing up again. its this repetition of

1)cueing up
2)dropping
3)listening
4)making necessary adjustments based on what you just heard

that will make the difference in the tempo of the two records creep ever more closer together until after enough experience/repetitions they'll be the same.

this process will get quicker over time as your ear learns and you become more acquainted with the feel of the turntables. later on you'll also come to find that little tricks like dragging your hand lightly across the record to slow it or turning the spindle clockwise with your thumb and forefinger will further help you get the beats more accurate.

phew- i'm off for a lie down.

docdoom · Post by **docdoom** » Thu May 04, 2006 4:27 pm

^Thanks for the great response. Will digest.

auralassassin · Post by **auralassassin** » Thu May 04, 2006 4:57 pm

Don't touch the platter to slow the record down, unless it's seriously off... the pitch controller can do that all for you.

Technics 1200's or vestax tables only. Accept no substitute. You will be sorry

juliun_c90 · Post by **juliun_c90** » Thu May 04, 2006 5:29 pm

Don't touch the platter to slow the record down, unless it's seriously off... the pitch controller can do that all for you.

yeah- use the record itself in conjunction with the pitch control. if you slow it down using the platter it'll only eventually get back up to its original speed.

hdfh · Post by **hdfh** » Thu Jul 30, 2009 6:39 pm

Here's my first post and tip of the day

If you are having troubles with figuring out which track is faster just put the one you are going to mix in to -5% pitch and basically speed it up until they are going in time.

Another thing i found useful when i was learning to mix is to start mixing as soon as possible when you are playing live (i ended up rewinding and dropping the next tune, coz i was jumping and shaking handz with people for like 5 minutes while I should have been mixing).

Also dont forget to EQ the tracks.

Dont overuse effects

Also in my opinion, start playing live when you learn the basics, you wont be doing any big gigs at the beginning. 1 hour of mixing live = 24 of mixing in your bedroom.

Hope that helped.

ben freeman · Post by **ben freeman** » Thu Jul 30, 2009 7:48 pm

Even from day one I don't ever remember doing the "counting" thing. Who has time for that? Intuition is key like someone else in this thread said. I always look for the beginning of a beat measure. And right when I know I will hear it come through, I drop in the next record, but that record is also coming in on the beginning of the first measure too. You can do this almost immediately, you just have to be able to identify where a measure starts.

From there, I use my hands to hold the record to the beat of the other. If I can hear the incoming record slowing down, I turn the pitch up, and vice versa. Pulling up the pitch control while manually speeding up the record, or dragging your finger on the record while pitching it down is the easiest way (for me) to keep in time, and I find I can match a beat almost perfectly every time within at least 20 to 30 seconds, except for the occasional really tough record. (which for some reason, there always seems to be records that are hard to match...maybe warping, bad pressing, who knows?)

But yeah....practice your ass off. I can remember when I first started, practicing for 6 hours every day before I went to work. I remember being alright, but then I would fuck up....Don't give up!!! after ten years, I figured out a lot of things just through the sheer volume of practice... There are definite AHHA!!! moments for sure. And know your tunes, figure out what goes with what, you will be surprised when you find out what can go together in a mix.

kwun-tings · Post by **kwun-tings** » Tue Aug 11, 2009 4:27 pm

hey guys, its a bit of an old post, but ive been reading the comments and stuff. i jus wanna say cheers, they are really helpful.

i've just started out myself... went and spent more of my overdraft on vinyls to practise on.

i got a question, when beatcounting or what ever, do you count beats so that the snare/handclap is on the 3rd beat in a bar? or 2 handclaps on 2nd n 4th beat in a bar?
bit of an arse to explain, but i hope that explains it clearly.

i got beatmatching pretty good most of the time, but its the odd records that throw me off... hopefully ill get it locked soon!

Learning 2 mix, is dubstep going 2 be tricky place to start?

Who is online