PREFACE
This is a document about skills. This document will not cover the equipment
you need to purchase to become a DJ, modifications to your turntables, popular
records, or music styles. This focus of this document is strictly limited
to the skills required to be a beat-matching DJ and hopefully can help to
turn a "beginner" DJ into an "amateur" DJ who has the
enough confidence to evolve into a possible future professional. The techniques
displayed in this document are in no way complete in nature. There are no
boundaries in mixing, no set way to do things, no rules to follow. This helps
to explain why this is an art, and not a career, and should never be taken
as such.
CUEING
Cueing is an integral part of mixing. While cueing a record, you are attempting
to gather much information about the record to aid in your handling of the
eventual mix. You familiarize yourself with the beat style, rhythm patterns,
approximate speed, vocals, and, for the more advanced mixer, advanced cueing
to learn the records breaks, where they occur, and where the beat drops off.
All of this information is vital to achieving a seamless mix between two individual
sound sources.
BEAT STYLE
You should learn the record's beat style and how it will compare with the
record that is already playing. If a beat is simple (like most techno music)
then attempting a mix will be much easier than if a beat pattern is complex
and hard to follow. In these cases, you may need to back off and attempt a
mix other than a beat matched mix (i.e. mixing through the down time of the
record that is currently playing).
RHYTHM PATTERNS
Some types of music, like Detroit Acid and Goa Trance, have an abundance of
complex sounds that can be confusing, to say the least. When introducing a
record like this to another like itself, the potential exists to create havoc.
When mixing a record that has a lot of activity, it is not a very good idea
to mix it with similar excess of activity. You might be inviting a "train-wreck".
APPROXIMATE SPEEDS
I've described one approach here. Sometimes just listening to them isn't quite
enough. How do I know which record is faster? Here is what I do, and I think
it works great, and results in me waiting for the records rather than trying
to keep up with the records. When cueing the record that you wish to mix,
scratch the record back and forth to the beat of the music that is currently
playing. When you arrive at a beat on an even count of 4, 8, 16, etc., release
the record you are trying to mix in on the beat of the other record that is
playing. Unless your record is completely different in speed (i.e. playing
at 45 when it should be on 33) then you should have a couple beat hits before
the beats become misaligned. At the very instant that you start to hear the
beats are not hitting at the same time (falling away from one another), give
the surface of the record that you are cueing a delicate brake or push. If
the beat sounds more fouled up than it did before, then you know that you
either braked/pushed to hard, or in the wrong direction. In which case you
should decrease/increase your pitch fader accordingly. Simply repeat this
process until you can successfully keep the beats of the two (2) records aligned
for about four (4) measures. As you get better at this, you should experiment
with several different versions of this approach, such as braking the record
(if you've been pushing) or pushing the record (if you've been braking). Also,
as you improve, you'll notice that you need to repeat this process less. Once
you can do this whole process just a few times to arrive at a proper beat
match, you should start to feel like you are progressing.
ADVANCED CUEING
Basically, when you say advanced cueing, it doesn't mean for advanced DJ's.
It just means to simply know your music better before playing it. When I cue
a record, the first thing that I try to do (unless time just doesn't permit)
is know where the breaks are, the finishing style of the track and of course
how the intro starts.
THE BREAKS
When locating the breaks of a song, you are trying to find where the song
drops the beat. The main drum used to create your rhythm. You'll notice that
in most cases, your tracking light will aid you in actually finding the breaks.
A beat carries a much deeper groove in the record than the other instruments.
So, when the beat stops, the physical grooves on the record look different.
Study the record and you'll see what I am talking about. Knowing what the
different grooves of are can benefit you tremendously. If you know approximately
how fast your record is spinning (revolutions) then you can look at the needles
current position, and the position where the songs break comes in and you
can estimate the amount of time you have left before the songs break comes
in. This will aid you in situations where you want the down time of the song
to go into a rhythm the instant the other songs goes from rhythm to the down
time (picking up where the other record had left off). The breaks are REALLY
handy to use. When doing a standard beat matched mix, in which you slide the
fader from one record to another, it really doesn't matter how long you draw
it out... about 50% of the time, it just sounds like you faded it out... revealing
your new song. Using breaks aids you, it gives the illusion as though the
song is continuing a new pattern dropping certain instruments and using new
ones. Why not take advantage of this?
FINALE'/ENDINGS
Here is another important thing you must know when your music drops off, and
how it does it. Gradually? Instantaneous? How? To know this is important to
the song you are mixing. If the song you are trying to mix is slow getting
started (i.e. lots of chorus, vocals, hats etc. before the actual beat comes
in) and the record that is playing has a rather fast ending, you will definitely
want to start your mix way ahead of the ending, as to sort of let your new
record "catch up" with the records beat that is already playing.
That way, when the other record dies out, then your record is already there,
to pick up the beat that just left.
BEGINNINGS
Beginnings are important because this is the foundation of the song you are
about to play. If you sample portions of the beginning into the song that
you are already playing, then the foundation is set for your mix to come in.
Some things you may wish to consider trying when cueing your record (and after
you have a perfect beat alignment) is to try releasing your record from the
very first sound it makes in conjunction with the first records already pounding
rhythm. You'll be surprised, that a lot of these beginnings are actually in
time, and when the beat of the songs finally comes it, it will match with
the song that is already playing. But I HIGHLY encourage you to test it in
the headphones before going live with that technique. One of my favorite mixes
I did like that was the Underground Sounds of Lisbon's song "So Get up"
(Junior Vasquez's Factory Dub Mix), in which I let the intro to "Wizard's
World" play, and when the beat dropped off of "So Get Up",
we were left with two down time records in which after 4 measures, the beat
for wizards world came to pick up where the other song left off.
THE ART OF THE SUBLIME (SAMPLING)
The job of a DJ is similar to that of a hypnotist. His job is to work on the
subconscious. Every aspect of blending one song into another is a subliminal
message to his/her audience. When using samples, you are foreshadowing on
the record that is to come, and you give the illusion that the two records
that you are playing are one song. Sampling is a very effective way to fill
the cracks in a seamless mix. It can best be described as trickery. One of
the most effective bits of sampling that I saw was when I was dancing at a
Toon Town in San Francisco in 1991. A locally based DJ named Thomas had just
finished a mix, and slapped a new record on the platter to replace the old
one that was playing. As soon as he got the record on the table, he set his
needle on the beginning voice sample and at the opportune moment, he let it
rip. Then backed it up and did it a second time. Then allowed the record to
play, and then started his beat matching, when he got a match, and started
the mix, that sample was long gone (he was way past the start of the album).
He finished the mix, and the mix was right-on. The audience, though still
not sure, had a pretty good idea that the song had changed, but when the voice
sample came back, they thought differently. It sounded as though the song
went into a sort of remission, and came back.
SCRATCHING
I can tell you that even some of the worlds most famous DJ's are more concerned
with achieving a clean mix rather than a mix in which the seams are covered
by a fog of scratching. DJ's like Josh Wink and Frankie Knuckles are such
mixers. They take pride in the art of mixing. Making one song blend into another
without the listener noticing. Yet, there are some very appealing mixes that
can only be properly achieved by scratching. If you have ever listened to
Coldcut, these two DJ's are phenomenal in their style. They spend more time
cutting between records than mixing. Scratching a record requires extremely
quick and delicate handling of the record, and a turntable that can withstand
constant vibrations as you whip the record back and forth. Most importantly,
your should experiment with the weight of your tone arm and find the best
setting in which it can stand the constant back and forth sliding of the record.
STUTTERING
This is an example of a technique that adds flavor! If you ever encounter
a song that has a good vocal breakdown, where maybe some woman is singing/screaming
her brains out, or someone is just rappin' on about something, and the beat
is absent, it provides a great opportunity to try something fun. The best
time to try this is in the middle of a long vocal in which the singer has
brought a word into a chorus... example: In a Trip-Hop album I have, a woman
keeps singing "Give me the feeling..." and keeps repeating it until
the beat drops of and she sings.... "Give me feliiiiiiiiahahahahahahahah",
which kind of blends the word feeling into a chorus of "aahhhhhhhhhh...".
During such a part, wet your finger and tap the label of the record in rhythmic
repetition, keeping the beat that just dropped off in your head, and tapping
with that imagined beat. Stuttering can have many other uses. You can stutter
an a cappella so that a regular sentence in which every word comes online
with the beat, instead comes online with every other beat, etc.
FINALLY, EXPERIMENT
No DJ ever gets anywhere unless he has a style that is fresh and his/her own
(i.e. something new to offer the crowd). The choice of music plays a huge
part in this. Quality new music that people are unfamiliar with is always
a good turn-on, but nothing beats a good DJ who can perform revive an old
worn out record; bringing it to life from a new perspective. Always experiment
with new sounds and samples. Keep your mixing progressively experimental.
This is the best way to learn and people will appreciate it much more.