I get a lot of mail from people every week asking different questions about digital djing. Even though its impossible to answer each and every question fully, dont stop sending them in. The kind letters you send are what keeps me going and helps put a personal feel on this sometimes distant internet thing.
When we recieve an email with a complicated question, I usually respond that its best to post those types of questions in the forum where everyone can benefit from the answer and a discussion will get started. Most of the questions are great but sometimes they take a little bit longer than an email to properly answer. So to answer some of teh common questions in a public forum, we want to try a something new. Every Friday, until you get sick of it, I will answer one letter in detail. So without further ado here is the letter of the week!
Continue reading ‘What Sound Card do we Reccomend?’
About a year ago, I suggested a feature to the Traktor team which they quickly implemented much to my joy. It was instant deck duplication to and from any deck. Even though this is great for the obvious application of freeing up a deck its also turned out to be good for many other creative uses. Lately I have been getting into juggling opposing copies of the same track with different treatments and cue points tricks. Lets walk through 5 fundamental techniques and then roll them into one routine:
Continue reading ‘Rockin Digital Doubles’
When djing, your essentially a pilot manning the helm of a plane. While there are many obvious things your in charge of during the flight, there is one that you may not think of. Its your job to make sure the sound coming out of the speakers is the best quality it can be. Lets look at a few basic rules you should follow to keep yourself out of the red.
Continue reading ‘Dont Crash the Plane- Follow these rules.’
There is currently a heated debate about the use of the Sync button. Some say it’s cheating, some say: as long as it sounds good for the audience, it’s ok… I think that everyone is missing the point. Learning to beatmatch by hand is a skill that any DJ should learn. The only reason he should learn it is to have at his disposal a broader way to express himself artistically.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with using the sync button. It saves time and allows you to do something else, it can also be a lifesaver when you have lost it while in a mix. I’m really glad to have that function at hand, and I use it often, even if I’m able to beatmatch two records by ear in a short amount of time. So, what’s the big deal with learning to do it by hand? Well, I think that the perfect mix in term of phase and speed doesn’t really exist. It is all a matter of what you want to express artistically. Hand beatmatching techniques can be used to breath life and spontaneity into your mixes, and have been used this way by all the best DJs since the beginning. And it sounds really different from automated matching. No judgment of value, there, both can be useful.
I now need to show you a trick to prove my point. It’s a very old and cool trick, which has a lot of practical applications, among them being able to teach you how to beatmatch by hand, or get better if you already know how.
Continue reading ‘Phasing - Old school beatmatching for all’
The moment frequently pops up when you must come up with the next song in a hurry. The clock is ticking backwards and you find your self with only 1 minute left in a track and then you think of the perfect song, but wait- what was it called again? This is one area where 12″ records offered a serious advantage, instead of requiring the memorization of 4000 song names- you became emotionally attached the the visual image of the cover.
Many djs could NEVER remember the name of their go-to record but instantly pull up the most minuscule details about a cover. “Yeah- its the purple one with the little orange dot on the corner and Erika’s phone number scrawled on the back”. Hey we are artists people, and artists are a visual group of folks.
So, how to work this problem out in the digital age? Well, there are a few tricks up my sleeve that I can share with you. Next week we will expand this concept into a full blown I tunes management class but first I want to share one simple little trick that will go a long way.
Continue reading ‘Find the next Tune’
Many of you out there are new to the game and starting to get gigs with your digital dj equipment. As a few readers have pointed out, frequently that gear does not really mesh well with the bread and butter setups clubs have installed. Showing up and plugging in equipment can be a nerve racking affair to begin with but if there is one thing MORE scary- its your first 30 dj gigs. So, if you want calm nerves and smooth sets with digital dj gear your going to need a game plan.
For the past 5 years I have setup my laptop, sound card and midi gear in hundreds upon hundreds of clubs around the world. From a traditional Tico dance hall in Costa Rica to techno clubs in Berlin, there was always a way to make it work. Here are a few helpful things I have learned upon the way.
Continue reading ‘How to Set Up in a Club’
Many, many times I have heard people say: “gosh how did you become a professional dj? That must be so hard!” Or other djs complaining that they could never go full time because the competition is too tight. Well, I can tell you first hand that its not hard to make money, get gigs and even go pro. Naysayers might point out: “Your just lucky or you have special talent- not everyone can get the gigs you have gotten”. Nope, wrong on both accounts. I am not lucky and not even that “talented”, just terribly persistent and painfully stubborn. You see by putting yourself in the frame of mind where you can accept the possibility of easily making good money by doing something you love (sharing music with others). You have taken the first and most important step to making it happen.
Continue reading ‘You Can Be a Pro DJ’
At this price point there should not be much of a difference right? Well, one thing we do not like around here is assumptions without any real evidence or experience to support that assumption. So, while writing a new column for Remix magazine about sound cards I took it upon my self to try and find out what separates a $100 sound card from a $800 one. After talking to all kinds of “experts” and engineers and after sifting through mountains of marketing propaganda I had a really hard time really finding any quantifiable differences. This reality is hard for us to accept in a society that places a high value on the price tag of a product. “Its $1000, so its got to be the best right?!”
Continue reading ‘4 Dj Sound Cards under $200 (updated)’
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