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Loads of tutorials online
Do you already have a record collection?
If not I’d go for a digital setup. But for me I am not a fan of modern totally slick computer controlled mixing. I still prefer the hands on style of people like Derrick May who ride the pitch control and inject some human funk into the blending of two records.
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I do have a record collection, mainly LPs not too many 12inches yet...
I have a Numark Controller like this which I’ve managed to do some simple looping and mixing on using Djay Pro software. The controller is cheaper and useable, but I imagine doesn’t have the feel of more expensive equipment.
@dancing james do you mix / play anywhere?
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@dancing james do you mix / play anywhere?
Nowadays most likely on the coach horn for the local fox hunt.
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As DJ said I keep on the digital route, up grade the controller build up from there, look at serato for softwear.
if your wanting to get in to records and decks keep a look out for 2nd hand sl1200's or look at the very good Audio-Technica turntables with direct drive,
maybe get one and mixer to integrate with the controller.
and build up a record collection. -
last night a dj .wav shits trife. no 320 kbps in my life.
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It's been a few years, but teaching yourself to beatmatch the old fashioned way just means locking yourself away for maybe a day and practicing until you can basically do it. It also means listening to every one of your records, counting the BPM and then writing that on the sleeves. Unless you're one of those who reckon they just know how fast any track is.
But even then, there's a bigger art to it. DJing has two main skills: knowing your records back to front and knowing how to read a crowd. By knowing your records, I mean knowing where each track comes in, how long the intros are, where to drop the next track etc.
Advice: if you want to play out in clubs and bars, make a 30 minute mix that best showcases what you'd play to get people dancing and specifically buying drinks. Then put that on a CD or mixcloud and take yourself round some local bars at a quiet time in person and ask to speak to whoever books DJs. That's what I did.
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@jazzythumper whats the numark like to use ?
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Those things are no longer made, but they are excellent.
If you don't really need to be a great DJ, no complex mixing, just playing a good selection of music... then these things are the size of a phone and fit a thousand FLAC files and will do auto-beat matching, fade ins, beat calculation, etc. But mostly they're just easy to cue up the next and cross fade.
Primitive skills you need to be a DJ:
- Reading a room and pick the right record for them (how to get people dancing, keep them dancing, give them a break by getting others to dance at times, etc)
- Which songs go together from your selection as you can't always go into Blue Monday
- Cross fading
- Monitoring and cueing up
Intermediate skills:
- Not just reading a room but knowing the crowd in advance and predicting a lot of the evening (this is intermediate because until you've mastered reading a room you'll screw up predicting it)
- Beat matching
- Mixing seamlessly for close matching tracks
- Complex fading (holding both tracks, moving between them)
Advanced:
- Totally seamless mixing over long periods of time (loops, effects, fades, holding a moment far long than the track would normally allow)
- Creating new tracks and moments from the records you have, splicing together, etc
For the kind of music the clubs I ran played... the indie rock and alternative... I never had to progress beyond the basic and still some of those clubs were very successful (not RPM, which we got bored with). One of my friends took the same music and was intermediate, mixed in House music ad took himself to advanced, he played the BBC 6 Music NYE party and is pretty well established now and living comfortably from DJing with the travel and lifestyle that comes from that.
But just learn to read a room at first, focusing on tech is the wrong answer for a good while. A laptop and a collection big enough to go in multiple directions is better than a pair of expensive decks that you're going to struggle to use.
So long as you can monitor a track whilst playing another... you're good.
- Reading a room and pick the right record for them (how to get people dancing, keep them dancing, give them a break by getting others to dance at times, etc)
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Its a little clunky, its costs about £60 so its not amazing, it's lightweght, it's a little indelicate shall we say, but fine for my purposes and learning the basics etc.
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I’ve literally just started learning to mix. Bought myself the Pioneer DDJ SR2 decks and decided to use Djay Pro 2 software rather than the Serato licence that comes with them. Reason? Integration to Spotify means an almost endless music collection already organised into my own playlists. Of course, this does have the disadvantage of needing a good internet connection in order to play music...
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Without sounding like an idiot, are there any groups, places, course to learn how to dj?
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There's definitely courses and in this day and age probably a million youtube videos...
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http://www.djzone.net/pg/resources/faq/index.shtml
The info is old as fuck now but I'm sure it's still somewhat useful, if nothing else for schooling all the auto-beatmatch digital peeps.
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About
Last night a DJ...
Posted by
@jazzythumper
I’m trying to teach myself to mix and dj, I have put together mixes using mixmeister software. Prepared music for a friends wedding which went well, now I’d like to learn to mix/dj properly and perhaps even ply live. This is my New Years resolution!
I probably should have started doing this 20 years ago in my teens, hopefully you’re never too old to learn.
Does anyone have any advice as to how and where I can start?