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Beatmixing 101
This article will be split into two parts, in this installment
we’ll be covering cueing and basic techniques. Next
time we will talk about tempo matching, fading in and
out, and basic eq methods. Beatmixing, also known as
beatmatching, is one of the essential tools in a DJ’s
arsenal. It is what allows a DJ to create remixes on
the fly, as
well as just keeping the dance floor moving. When the
music doesn’t stop, neither will the dance floor.
Learning to Beatmix is often the first step to becoming
a DJ. Beatmixing is defined as taking two or more similar
tempo pieces of audio and matching up the tempo of each
and blending the two together. Often times this is two
full songs, but it could also be a looped beat and a
full song, or taking a song and matching it up to a drum
machine.
There are many ways to remix music, using the techniques
of Beatmixing. In this article we will focus on beatmixing
techniques, cueing, as well as tips and tricks for flawless
mixing.
Most DJ Setups will consist of 4 basic items. Two music
sources, which we will refer to as Deck A and Deck B, and
a mixer. The mixer takes the two sources and blends them
together to create one output signal. That output signal
is what goes to the main sound system or whatever your medium
is; radio, internet, a recorder, etc. The fourth item in
your arsenal is a pair of headphones. This is what allows
you to beatmix before the crowd hears what you are doing
(well hopefully you have a crowd!) You may also have some
accessory items in your setup, such as booth monitors, fx
units, drum machines, a laptop, etc. For the purpose of
this article we will focus on the basic items and in the
next article we will talk more about advanced accessories
and setups.
Cueing Up
The first step to mixing is cueing, this is the process
by which you choose the next song as well as choosing the
proper point to mix from. More often than not a good mix
is determined from this point, not from how well you blend
or match tempo. The most important thing to remember here
is that choosing the right song means more to the dancefloor
than how well you mix it in. I will probably be shot for
saying this one, but it is true, even though many people
do actually understand what a DJ does nowadays, most people
still don’t. They think we’re up there just
choosing songs and it doesn’t take any skill to do
what we do. They just wanna hear some good music! Well
amen to that, that’s all I wanna play too :-) The
only way to know what song to choose is to really know
your music, and the crowd you are playing too, if your
playing a wedding,
you probably don’t wanna play NIN – Closer.
Although if your playing at a dark industrial club, this
may very well be a perfect song. Choose wisely young Jedi!
Enough ranting, on to the technical part of cueing.
Step 1:
Put two records on (or cds) and set the crossfader to one
side so only one track is playing through the speakers.
Step 2:
Put your headphones on and set the cue controls on your
mixer to listen in your headphones to the track that isn’t
playing through the main speakers. Now switch between the
two, you should be able to quickly switch sources. Some
mixers have a knob that allows you to control the amount
of cue signal and main mix you hear in the headphones. Using
this knob, you can fade between the two sources, mess around
with the controls and become very comfortable with them,
all in your headphones.
Step 3:
Take one ear of the headphones off, so that you can hear
the main speakers (in a club you’ll have a monitor
that will be playing the house sound, never try and mix
to the house sound if you don’t have a monitor, the
delay will always mess you up) and whats in the headphones.
Set your cue so that you are listening to the track you
will be mixing in, on your headphones. This way you are
hearing both tracks, one in each ear. If your mixer has
the cue knob, set it so you can hear just the cue track
(the track you will be mixing in) in the headphones. It
is a good idea to learn to mix both ways, as sometimes you
will get stuck playing without monitors and you will not
be able to use them to mix. Personally I find that mixing
in the headphones works better and I mix this way 90% of
the time.
Step 4:
Adjust the gain knobs on each channel of the mixer so that
each song sounds equally loud. You want to blend the songs
together, so having them at equal volume will help them
blend properly. Remember not to turn up the gain past the
point of distortion. RED is not your friend!
Step 5:
Change ears, and try it the opposite way. See if it feels
more natural. Often times you will only get one monitor
instead of two, and you will want to put your headphones
on the opposite ear so you can hear the monitor properly.
Step 6:
Listen to the song and find the beginning of the song,
then find the first beat. This is also very important as
you will do it everytime you play a track. Some songs will
have a long intro, some will start off with the beat. The
trick here is practice, and to try different spots and see
what works best for the song, sometimes moving to a different
part of the song will mix better with the song that is playing
than others. There are no rules, just do what sounds good!
This is the last step of cueing. Next we will move to the
actual process of dropping the beat or slip cueing.
Slip Cueing
Slip cueing is the most important part of mixing, if you
do this part right, the rest is much, much easier. If you
do it wrong, not only do you have to try and correct it,
but you also have to find the correct tempo. So you make
your job twice as hard. It takes a lot of practice, and
even after my ten years of DJing, I still miss it slightly
sometimes. It is a bit easier these days with CD players
as all you need to do is hit the start button at the right
moment, but even then, your timing still has to be perfect.
In the DJ world, timing is everything, you don’t play
that crazy hypnotic track at 9pm, when people are just getting
into the club, you gotta wait till people are ready for
that!
Step 1:
Set your crossfader so that you can hear the track you
want to practice with, then hit play or start. It is helpful
to start with a track that has a good solid beat.
Step 2:
Find the first beat and practice hold the record (or platter
of your CD player) and move it back and fourth gently so
that you hear the first beat playing in forward and reverse
direction. Practice this for a while, try moving it fast,
slow, try doing it in constant rhythm. Do this until it
feels naturual, then practice letting it go so that the
song plays at full speed right when you let it go. You don’t
want to speed it up or slow it down when you let it go.
This will only make the beatmixing process harder as you
will need to correct for the difference.
Step 3:
Turn the other deck on and play a song with constant rhythm.
Set your headphone up as discussed earlier so that you can
hear both songs. I find it easier to teach and learn by
starting with two copies of the same song, this way you
can set the pitch control to the same value and practice
only slip cueing. However you can do it with two similar
tempo songs as well. Practice moving the beat back and fourth
so it plays right on top of the second song’s beat.
Try doing it in half time and full time.
Step 4:
Let go of the record right on top of the beat that is playing
from the other deck. You will need to give the record a
slight push, depending on the quality of your decks. The
trick here is to let go of the song at the same speed as
the other is playing. If you are using two copies of the
same song, and your pitch control is set to the same speed
then you will know right away if you did it right. Practice
this until it is easy. This may take some time. Just be
patient and it will come.
Thanks for tuning in this week, I hope this was helpful,
remember to practice practice practice, and soon you will
be telling me how it is done. There are no rules, just guidelines
and ways to make it easy. Most of us old school DJ’s
learned by watching and practicing. Good luck and feel
free to drop me a line if you have questions.
If you have DJ-related questions for Dave
he can be reached by his private hotline at david@audiomidi.com.
Or call him at (818) 993-0772, or toll-free at (866) 283-4601.
As always, stay tuned to the audioMIDI.com eNews for the latest reviews and new product info.
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