Beatmixing with belt-driven turntables?
brops
182 Posts
This is what I got:
That's all I could afford when I bought them a few months ago. Right now I really regret I didn't wait half a year, maybe I could afford something a little better... but that's how it is, not much to do with that now.Anyway, I mostly just play my records anyway. I've been doing some DJing, but that's mostly i-am-a-drunk-student parties, and the music I play got to be in that category (mostly indie stuff (yes, dance-disco-post-funk-punk).. and rock, metall and if I'm lucky some hip hop). I haven't been too serious about being a good DJ technically, but have concentrated more on just playing good music as get people up on their feets. Recently I've feeled that people get more eclectic (you know, this is Norway... most people are kind of slow here), and hip hop and different more beat-centered music is more appreciated.So I thought why not get a little bit more serious about this. I've been trying to beatmix for ages now, but I just can't figure it out. Does anyone have any good advices for a total newbie? When I'm DJing at clubs I have better decks, so therefore I also feel I have more control. Maybe I don't, but home on my shitty Numarks I feel helpless.
That's all I could afford when I bought them a few months ago. Right now I really regret I didn't wait half a year, maybe I could afford something a little better... but that's how it is, not much to do with that now.Anyway, I mostly just play my records anyway. I've been doing some DJing, but that's mostly i-am-a-drunk-student parties, and the music I play got to be in that category (mostly indie stuff (yes, dance-disco-post-funk-punk).. and rock, metall and if I'm lucky some hip hop). I haven't been too serious about being a good DJ technically, but have concentrated more on just playing good music as get people up on their feets. Recently I've feeled that people get more eclectic (you know, this is Norway... most people are kind of slow here), and hip hop and different more beat-centered music is more appreciated.So I thought why not get a little bit more serious about this. I've been trying to beatmix for ages now, but I just can't figure it out. Does anyone have any good advices for a total newbie? When I'm DJing at clubs I have better decks, so therefore I also feel I have more control. Maybe I don't, but home on my shitty Numarks I feel helpless.
Comments
besides, if you learn on belt drives then everything else will be easy as hell.
For a while I was rockin a belt drive with no pitch control and one of these.
Technics SL 1100. It had pitch ontroll but the torque was all jacked up. At least it wasn't belt drive.
Yea, and if you can get them various beat battle records. Starting with the same record is a good place to start, but useing the beat battle type records with endless beats is a good way to get the hang of matching pitches with bifferent beats. Treat it like any kind of music practice.....don't worry about anything that would sound good for a show or club, just practice. I used to just go back and forth for an hour with 2 Mark the 45 King break records and it ws a lot of help. Good luck!
you need to learn to count music, and as long as you can find the "one" count, you will be in the right direction
Heres the method (you might already know, but just in case...)
1. Find the first beat of the record in the headphones. (Obviously while the record you want to mix it with is playing).
2. Rub the record back and forth on the first beat in-time with the beat on the record thats playing.
When it gets to the start of a bar on the record that is playing (ie. 1[/b] - 2 - 3 - 4 - 1[/b] - 2 - 3 - 4......) let your record go on the 1 (still only in your headphones) - immediately get on the pitch and adjust the speed until the beats are perfectly synchopated.
3. When you think you've got it right, pick the needle up and go back to the first beat at the start of the record again. Let it go at the start of a bar again (still only in the headphones)[/b], but this time leave the pitch alone and let it play for a good 20 seconds to see if it stays in time.
4. Make minor adjustments to the pitch to fine tune it if it is slightly losing or gaining pace on the record thats already playing.
The records should be like this.
(playing record) 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 | 1 - 2 - 3 - 4
(cueing record) 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 | 1 - 2 - 3 - 4
If they aren't quite in sync, it would look more like this:
(playing record) 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 | 1 - 2 - 3 - 4
(cueing record) 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 | 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 < this one needs speeding up.
5. Finally, get it so that you can hear both records in your headphones and adjust the volume of the record you want to mix in so that it sounds about the same level as the one thats playing - check what you are hearing against the level-meter on your mixer. A lot of djs forget how important this bit is.
6. Now drop that first beat on the start of a bar on the record thats playing and mix it in.
You should be listening to the monitor or sound system now instead of your headphones.
If you have dropped the beat in a little bit late or early and its not quite in time, pince the turntable spindle with your fingers to slow the record down or lightly tap the label area to speed it up. Dont touch the pitch cause you should have got that bit okay.
After a while of getting used to doing this, you can pretty much have one little listen in the headphones and, get the tempo right pretty much instantly and adjust it as you are mixing it in.
Thats how I'd do it anyway.
PAECE!
I don't have a level-meter on my mixer. A new mixer is probably the first thing I'm gonna upgrade. The one I have now is not much.. what mixer would you guys recommend if you don't have to much money and don't gonna scratch?
Belt drive decks make you have a lighter and more subtle touch which can be useful, i learnt on some real shitty decks that didn't stay in time for very long because the belt can stretch and mess up the timings... learn to quick mix to get over that... or do what loads of soul and funk guys do... just fade out one record and fade the next one in after it or just cut off the track that's playing (DJ Oneman stand up, haha
2nd Hand Technics are a good way to go... they hold their value well and they are reliable, if necessary just buy one, and then get a second one when you can afford it later down the line...
Done that. I bought DJ Q-Berts DIY DVD, so I learned this trick
Also just bought some new slipmats, so I should be good to go...
I probably should've, but don't know who you're talking about now. The only thing that comes to my mind is Tangoterje. He's allright I guess. Besides that we of course have the Bergen bands like R??yksopp, Datarock (friends of mine), Annie and Erlend ??ye, but those are not "underground", are they?
I though Norway was more "famous" because of their jazz acts like Supersilent, Bugge Wesseltoft, Rune Grammofon and Jazzland in general, and screwed electronica artists like Kim Hiorth??y. Which genre are you really talking about now?
I've been trying a little with two of the same songs. I don't have two of the same records, so I played the one song from my computer and the other one on the turntable. Got it right after a while, but seems like my turntable actually is going faster than the song playing from cd, because after just a few seconds or so the turntable is ahead... been trying to fix it with the pitch, but with just small adjustments it's starting to go slower than the cd. Really frustrating...
back to norway yeah you named alot of the biggies... but your missign the big guns... lindstrom and prins thomas.
Never heard of them actually... I'll definitely look into it. I'm the editor of a Norwegian site called Hissig (http://hissig.no/), so this might be something I should take a closer look at considering they're not well known in Norway.
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Anyway, one of these days I'm getting my tattoo: