#DJ controller learning session

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

stray vale
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Ok I figured I'd try to avoid interrupting other conversations, so I ended up here, @stray pond and @dire pawn for some planning purposes

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I am really liking this video and decided to slowly work through it entirely

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I did a basic little session last night and managed to do some effects and scratching over a buddy's WIP. I'd share it, but I realized I don't think he'd be comfortable

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I realized I have no idea what Fede's knowledge level is, currently, so I thought I'd share that video and hopefully do some kind of demo recording today with some other music

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I still don't really have a clear idea of how to get myself on camera with all this

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But besides that, I think I'll be in decent shape after today 🙂

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So, maybe we can work out some basic plans and a date/time that works for folks

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I am likely the most flexible

nimble urchin
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i'm not looking to learn this necessarily so don't schedule around me but i'd love to tune in and listen whenever you guys go for it

stray vale
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So much about this part made me laugh

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I'm glad I watched this lol

stray vale
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lol it's bad

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but there's my rough learning example from today

dire pawn
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I'm free most afternoons in CST/CDT, so just give me about 24h of heads-up and we can go from there.

stray pond
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My level is: I downloaded the software (rekordbox 6), plugged in the controller and just did a couple of tests to understand the controls and the software itself. Meanwhile I think Rekordbox 7 came out but never actually use it.

Will check all the videos and resources you already shared

stray vale
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Maybe S3 can give a specific hour that sounds good on their end and we can see where that lines up for FedeTime

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I'm in Chicago which is CST

dire pawn
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Imo the most important thing is to have a library of songs you like, and to know those songs well. No point in any of the technical stuff if the music sucks lol. Focus on what you like, and don't give any consideration to what you think other people might want or expect.

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If you don't know the songs well, then you're going to have to guess about when they start and stop, whether or not the vocals in the outro of one song will clash with the vocals in the intro of the next song, whether one song has a long outro while the next song pretty much just slams in without an intro, etc.

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It's better to have 30 killer songs prepped for a DJ set than to have a massive library of songs that you don't know and don't even like, or that you haven't even listened to before.

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The easiest songs for starting out and practicing the essential skills are 4/4 "four on the floor" songs with long intros and outros, ideally with stripped down intros and outros that are mostly just drums. This makes it easy to focus on matching up the beats without having to consider melodic and harmonic elements. This also makes it easy to just loop the intros and/or outros of a couple of songs and repeatedly try to match them up and mix them together in different ways, versus waiting for the whole songs to play.

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This doesn't mean that you can't use other songs, just that it's typically a bit easier if you use something like extended techno or trance songs when you're learning the basics and doing the equivalent of practicing your scales or drilling drum patterns.

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Even though it makes sense to use auto-sync to align the beats for you, it's good to have the skills for manual beatmatching, because you can handle scenarios where the automatic beatmatching doesn't get it right, or when you haven't had a chance to set up proper beat grids on new songs you've recently added to your library, etc.

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Beat gridding for auto-sync is the same as warping audio clips in Live. RB and SDJ both have two types of warping / beat gridding, which are basically the equivalents of "warp from here (straight)" (usually called "simple" or something similar) and "warp marker per beat or bar" (usually called "advanced" or something similar). The first option means "assume a static tempo starting from the first downbeat", while the second option means that there could be a different amount of time (different tempo) between each pair of warp markers (aka "beat markers").

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Automatic beat detection in RB and SDJ is about the same as it is in Live, which is to say that it's usually perfect or close enough to perfect when there's a constant tempo and a clear drum beat, but that you're better off ignoring the automatic beat detection and warping (beat gridding) manually if the song has an inconsistent tempo.

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Preparation is everything.

Here's my system for labeling tracks in SDJ.

This way I know if a track has a beat grid I can rely on being correct, because I have "locked" those tracks.

If a track is green, I know it has at least 32 bars of intro. If a track is red, I know it has 8 bars or less of intro. If a track is pink, then I know that regardless of how long the intro might be, there are vocals from the very beginning.

CZ-84_mspaint_pro_DJ_system.png
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I color-code the cue points and label them, so I know that a green cue point labeled "48 IN" means that it's 48 bars into the track, and that I need to mix in at or before this point in the track.

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An orange "24 OUT" means "you could mix out early here, and you have 24 bars until the track ends, but there is at least one more mix-out point, so no pressure". A red "12 OUT" means "you have 12 bars until the track ends, and this is the last mix-out point!"

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Blue is always the start of the track.

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It's like traffic lights:
Yellow = you could go
Green = you must go now
Orange = stop sign coming up
Red = stop now

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Pink = vocals

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Blue tracks mean "there is no mixable intro, but you could use this as the opener for your set"