Scared about learning to DJ.

xhayatox · Post by **xhayatox** » Sun Dec 30, 2012 11:41 pm

I've been a music producer for about 3 years now, but recently I've developed an interest in wanting to learn how to DJ. So, I'd really like to learn how to DJ, but here is the problem. Learning how to use the equipment is the biggest challenge for me. What is the best way to learn how to use a Mixer? There are so many knobs and sliders on it, and it seems impossible to learn how to use them all and know what they each individually do. Can someone please provide some advice for me? I just don't want to go out and spend $1000 on equipment, bring it home, and not understand how to use it. I've never been really good at understanding manuals either, because they are written in a very technical format, and often confuse me. The mixer that I want to get is called the DJM 700 and it's within my budget and everything, but I can't find any tutorials for this mixer online, and I can't find any books that explain how to use it either. What can I do?

atlascesar · Post by **atlascesar** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 12:12 am

there is a curiosity here. when doing the music 3 years producer now is there no mixer there too?

http://www.numark.com/product/m2 has no difficulty and good luck my friend!

xhayatox · Post by **xhayatox** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 12:13 am

atlascesar wrote:there is a curiosity here. when doing the music 3 years producer now is there no mixer there too?

http://www.numark.com/product/m2 has no difficulty and good luck my friend!

Thanks for the suggestion, but I'm not really interested in numark products.

I really like the Pioneer DJM products and that's what I really want to get. Thanks though!

fragments · Post by **fragments** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 12:29 am

Read the manual. It will tell what all the knobs do. If you don't know a word look it up. A basic mixer will only have a channel fader, gain for two channels and EQ knobs. If you've produced for three years the concept of what these things do shouldn't be foreign to you.

xhayatox · Post by **xhayatox** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 12:40 am

fragments wrote:Read the manual. It will tell what all the knobs do. If you don't know a word look it up. A basic mixer will only have a channel fader, gain for two channels and EQ knobs. If you've produced for three years the concept of what these things do shouldn't be foreign to you.

Yeah I'm familiar with stuff like "EQ" and what not, but I don't know how to explain what they do.. I know what they sound like by ear, but I can't explain how they work. Like if somebody asked me, what "EQ" does, I would say it means "Equalizer", but I wouldn't be able to explain how it actually works. Any idea how I can fix this problem and get a better understanding for this type of technical stuff?

fragments · Post by **fragments** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 12:59 am

Read the stickies at the top of the forum. Look shit up on wikipedia. Buy a book about mixing and recording/sound engineering. Take a class. People write on music forums all the time that they know how to use an EQ (just an example), but they don't know what it does. How can you not know what it does if you know how to use it "by ear"?

Genevieve · Post by **Genevieve** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 1:11 am

Take it one step at the time. Get acquinted with beatmatching first (though kill the bass of one of the songs), which is just using the turntable's pitch and the volume slider.

If you've got that, you'll learn the rest pretty quickly

xhayatox · Post by **xhayatox** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 1:21 am

fragments wrote:Read the stickies at the top of the forum. Look shit up on wikipedia. Buy a book about mixing and recording/sound engineering. Take a class. People write on music forums all the time that they know how to use an EQ (just an example), but they don't know what it does. How can you not know what it does if you know how to use it "by ear"?

I don't know what an EQ does meaning, I can't explain it into words. I can't explain the definition of it. I want to be able too. But I don't have that knowledge. I don't know where to get that knowledge from. Most guys I talk too, if I asked them what an EQ does, they would be able to explain it effortlessly. But me? I can't explain how it works at all. I feel like a total idiot. Maybe I just don't read enough. Maybe that's my problem.

bkwsk · Post by **bkwsk** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 1:23 am

xhayatox wrote:I've been a music producer for about 3 years now

xhayatox wrote:if somebody asked me, what "EQ" does, I would say it means "Equalizer", but I wouldn't be able to explain how it actually works.

Wow. Pretty surprising (for me at least).

YourDad · Post by **YourDad** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 1:30 am

^ Me too. This seems like a joke.

fragments · Post by **fragments** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 1:46 am

xhayatox wrote:
fragments wrote:Read the stickies at the top of the forum. Look shit up on wikipedia. Buy a book about mixing and recording/sound engineering. Take a class. People write on music forums all the time that they know how to use an EQ (just an example), but they don't know what it d How can you not know what it does if you know how to use it "by ear"?
I don't know what an EQ does meaning, I can't explain it into words. I can't explain the definition of it. I want to be able too. But I don't have that knowledge. I don't know where to get that knowledge from. Most guys I talk too, if I asked them what an EQ does, they would be able to explain it effortlessly. But me? I can't explain how it works at all. I feel like a total idiot. Maybe I just don't read enough. Maybe that's my problem.

So...you can't say that an EQ reduces or boosts frequencies? You don't have enough knowledge to say that? I honestly can't fathom how you claim you know how to use an EQ, but you can't muster the linguistic fortitude to say "an EQ boosts or reduces frequencies".

deadly_habit · Post by **deadly_habit** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 1:47 am

Why is that so shocking? Loads of people learn by doing and experimentation rather than getting bogged down in technical jargon and geekery.
You know those people who spend their time making music rather than arguing if Skrillex's drums are peaking at 200hz or 250hz or what shampoo he isn't washing his hair with

Hell there's loads of people on here who know technical terms and definitions, but obviously have zero clue how to actually use said processes or techniques (but at least they sound knowledgeable as they give people bad advice).

xhayatox · Post by **xhayatox** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 2:04 am

bkwsk wrote:
xhayatox wrote:I've been a music producer for about 3 years now

xhayatox wrote:if somebody asked me, what "EQ" does, I would say it means "Equalizer", but I wouldn't be able to explain how it actually works.
Wow. Pretty surprising (for me at least).

Not really. It seems like you didn't read my other thread when I explained it. I spent basically the first 2 years producing just for fun. I never took it seriously enough to want to learn the technical aspects of it. Now that I'm taking music more seriously, I'm trying to jump into the technical stuff and that's why I'm trying to learn this stuff now.

xhayatox · Post by **xhayatox** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 2:10 am

fragments wrote:
xhayatox wrote:
fragments wrote:Read the stickies at the top of the forum. Look shit up on wikipedia. Buy a book about mixing and recording/sound engineering. Take a class. People write on music forums all the time that they know how to use an EQ (just an example), but they don't know what it d How can you not know what it does if you know how to use it "by ear"?
I don't know what an EQ does meaning, I can't explain it into words. I can't explain the definition of it. I want to be able too. But I don't have that knowledge. I don't know where to get that knowledge from. Most guys I talk too, if I asked them what an EQ does, they would be able to explain it effortlessly. But me? I can't explain how it works at all. I feel like a total idiot. Maybe I just don't read enough. Maybe that's my problem.
So...you can't say that an EQ reduces or boosts frequencies? You don't have enough knowledge to say that? I honestly can't fathom how you claim you know how to use an EQ, but you can't muster the linguistic fortitude to say "an EQ boosts or reduces frequencies".

Nope. Haha. I know. I'm a fool. I never cared for the technical stuff about music but now my desire to learn is pretty high, so I'm really willing to learn. Got any places that I can start that teach about this type of stuff? Any books you can recommend?

fragments · Post by **fragments** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 2:37 am

xhayatox wrote:
fragments wrote:
xhayatox wrote:
fragments wrote:Read the stickies at the top of the forum. Look shit up on wikipedia. Buy a book about mixing and recording/sound engineering. Take a class. People write on music forums all the time that they know how to use an EQ (just an example), but they don't know what it d How can you not know what it does if you know how to use it "by ear"?
I don't know what an EQ does meaning, I can't explain it into words. I can't explain the definition of it. I want to be able too. But I don't have that knowledge. I don't know where to get that knowledge from. Most guys I talk too, if I asked them what an EQ does, they would be able to explain it effortlessly. But me? I can't explain how it works at all. I feel like a total idiot. Maybe I just don't read enough. Maybe that's my problem.
So...you can't say that an EQ reduces or boosts frequencies? You don't have enough knowledge to say that? I honestly can't fathom how you claim you know how to use an EQ, but you can't muster the linguistic fortitude to say "an EQ boosts or reduces frequencies".
Nope. Haha. I know. I'm a fool. I never cared for the technical stuff about music but now my desire to learn is pretty high, so I'm really willing to learn. Got any places that I can start that teach about this type of stuff? Any books you can recommend?

I'm really not trying to be an ass, but this just blows my mind...it makes me curious to know what the language you used in your head was/is while you use an EQ.

dickman69 · Post by **dickman69** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 2:38 am

holy shit

what is "producing for fun"

did u just like hit keys?

surely you mustve learned something

xhayatox · Post by **xhayatox** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 2:54 am

fragments wrote:
xhayatox wrote:
fragments wrote:
xhayatox wrote:
fragments wrote:Read the stickies at the top of the forum. Look shit up on wikipedia. Buy a book about mixing and recording/sound engineering. Take a class. People write on music forums all the time that they know how to use an EQ (just an example), but they don't know what it d How can you not know what it does if you know how to use it "by ear"?
I don't know what an EQ does meaning, I can't explain it into words. I can't explain the definition of it. I want to be able too. But I don't have that knowledge. I don't know where to get that knowledge from. Most guys I talk too, if I asked them what an EQ does, they would be able to explain it effortlessly. But me? I can't explain how it works at all. I feel like a total idiot. Maybe I just don't read enough. Maybe that's my problem.
So...you can't say that an EQ reduces or boosts frequencies? You don't have enough knowledge to say that? I honestly can't fathom how you claim you know how to use an EQ, but you can't muster the linguistic fortitude to say "an EQ boosts or reduces frequencies".
Nope. Haha. I know. I'm a fool. I never cared for the technical stuff about music but now my desire to learn is pretty high, so I'm really willing to learn. Got any places that I can start that teach about this type of stuff? Any books you can recommend?

I'm really not trying to be an ass, but this just blows my mind...it makes me curious to know what the language you used in your head was/is while you use an EQ.

So guessing you don't have any suggestions for books then. Ok.

xhayatox · Post by **xhayatox** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 2:54 am

fragments wrote:
xhayatox wrote:
fragments wrote:
xhayatox wrote:
fragments wrote:Read the stickies at the top of the forum. Look shit up on wikipedia. Buy a book about mixing and recording/sound engineering. Take a class. People write on music forums all the time that they know how to use an EQ (just an example), but they don't know what it d How can you not know what it does if you know how to use it "by ear"?
I don't know what an EQ does meaning, I can't explain it into words. I can't explain the definition of it. I want to be able too. But I don't have that knowledge. I don't know where to get that knowledge from. Most guys I talk too, if I asked them what an EQ does, they would be able to explain it effortlessly. But me? I can't explain how it works at all. I feel like a total idiot. Maybe I just don't read enough. Maybe that's my problem.
So...you can't say that an EQ reduces or boosts frequencies? You don't have enough knowledge to say that? I honestly can't fathom how you claim you know how to use an EQ, but you can't muster the linguistic fortitude to say "an EQ boosts or reduces frequencies".
Nope. Haha. I know. I'm a fool. I never cared for the technical stuff about music but now my desire to learn is pretty high, so I'm really willing to learn. Got any places that I can start that teach about this type of stuff? Any books you can recommend?

I'm really not trying to be an ass, but this just blows my mind...it makes me curious to know what the language you used in your head was/is while you use an EQ.

So guessing you don't have any suggestions for books then. Ok.

NinjaEdit · Post by **NinjaEdit** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 2:59 am

What do you do if you need to know anything else, like the population of Spain?

Go on Wikipedia and look up EQ. If that isn't enough, use a search engine. For more advanced material, research Fourier analysis.

Anyway DJing is about a tenth the difficulty of producing music. Maybe try some software like Virtual DJ?

xhayatox · Post by **xhayatox** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 3:04 am

jonahmann wrote:What do you do if you need to know anything else, like the population of Spain?

Go on Wikipedia and look up EQ. If that isn't enough, use a search engine. For more advanced material, research Fourier analysis.

Anyway DJing is about a tenth the difficulty of producing music. Maybe try some software like Virtual DJ?

I need books my man. I've looked up stuff online but I'd like to learn more. I just really want to buy some books that cover stuff like EQ,Compression,etc. Stuff you'd usually find in electronic music.

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