Help, complete newbie here, CDJ help needed!

duffman90210

I got two of these today:



and one of these:



I have good headphones, good speakers and a good musical ability (degree in music, high standard on a few different instruments) but no idea at all how to DJ!

The type of music I like, or the type of DJ I'd aspire to be like is like the ones in say Sin É on Ormand Key, who play a good mix of soul, funk, rock, jazz, aswell as electro/indie kind of things like in Doyles/Antics. I can "mix" semi-successfully, but really it seems I'm just fading in between songs. As far as beat matching e.t.c. goes I find it all very confusing. If anybody has any tips or could somehow instruct me how to use them, that'd be great. Here are some songs I thought would be good to try and mix together first as they all have strong beats. Not sure at all if this will help, but at least it'll give an idea to my broad musical tastes.

Kraftwerk - Autobahn
Justice - D.A.N.C.E.
M.I.A. - Boyz


Another mix??!

Belle and Sebestian - Step into my Office
Toots and the Maytals - Funky Kingston
Ray Charles - Mess around

That sort of thing. Basically hoping to be able to DJ all the kinds of music I like. Which I guess could be summed up by the pigeon holes of:

Afrobeat (Antibalas, Fela Kuti)
Jazz (Stan Getz)
Funk (Toots and the Maytals)
Acid-Jazz (Herbie Hancock)
Electro (Kraftwerk/Digitalism/Crystal Castles/The knife)
Other Stuff (Beirut, Holy ****)
Rap (Jay-Z, Dr. Dre)

I may be rambling now!!

So yeah, if anybody out there can give me basic things to learn, that'd be great. I need to know where to start, rather than just "learning to beatmatch" e.t.c. Teach me how to use this Cue thing and what all thats about e.t.c.

P.S. Total hours spent attempting to DJ until now: 1! Oh and I'm aware that the equipment I have is nothing short of crap, but I'll use what I can. I got them for free.
Cheers

duffman90210

Nobody?!

John_Mc

The trick to beatmixing is to start the song your mixing in at the correct time.

I.e On the correct beat of the song playing over the master speakers.

This is a lot easier with CDJ's as all you need to do is press a button (as opposed to releasing a record on a turntable).

The first thing you need to do is set the cue point on the song. To do this, move track forward/back until you hear the very first sound of the first beat (it usually moves in frames so you'll hear a jerky clippy sound). Set your cue point to this point. How you do this varies with the type of CDJ you have so google it.

Then all you need to do is listen closely for it "slipping" away from the tune playing over the master speakers. It could be too slow, in which case you would temporarily increase the speed of the track to get it back inline with the master. If it's too fast, you do the opposite.

On your CDJ, you use the pitch bend buttons to temporarily adjust the speed of the track. On other CDJs, there's a jog wheel and of course on turntables, you'd physically touch the record spinning on the platter.

Once the track is back inline with the master, you need to adjust the pitch of the tune you're mixing in. If you don't do this, the track will obviously begin to slip away again. So if you had to temporaily slow the track down - reduce the pitch slightly, and vice versa.

The sooner the tracks slip away from each other - the bigger to difference in their speed.

Keep doing this and you'll have the tracks beatmatched. Now you just need to start the track you're mixing in as the track you're mixing out changes phases. In typical 4/4 dance music, it's easy to identify when a track is doing this. But with the musical styles you mentioned it could be harder, as will beatmatching them. So I'd suggest downloading some tunes with simple beats and practicing on that.

If you stick with it, you'll eventually have a moment of clarity where you'll understand exactly what you need to do to beatmatch & mix. Over time, your ears will begin to identify when a track is slipping a lot earlier and the result will be tighter mixes.

It's a continuous process of learning, and once you overcome beatmatching, you'll need to learn about EQing, set programming etc etc.

It's great fun though, just stick with it and you'll improve quickly. Enjoy!

duffman90210

That helps alot! Cheers

I think I have a kind of goal of beatmatching now! Didn't have a clue what the purpose of the pitch bend was until now! Cheers

*goes to attempt o mix Hey ya with Pass this on*

John_Mc

duffman90210 wrote: »

That helps alot! Cheers

I think I have a kind of goal of beatmatching now! Didn't have a clue what the purpose of the pitch bend was until now! Cheers

*goes to attempt o mix Hey ya with Pass this on*

Yep, I kinda stumbled across it myself when first starting out!

Enjoy

franklyshocked

Have you any mates that DJ at all?
What ever about the CDJ's, get to know your mixer. Thats where the magic happens.
Watch your gains on each channel. If the red ligst are on constantly you're getting distorted sound. bring your gain's down until the lights bounce up and down with the beat of the track.
I Can't tell you how many DJ's haven't a fooking clue about watching their levels. And i'm not just talking about young lads.

If thats the sort of music you're going to mix ten get to know your tunes. Very important to know the structure of your tracks and where and when you can mix in or out. If those are the clubs/venues you want to emulate, get to know the DJ's and see if the dude will give you a lesson. Any decent DJ will love to show a fan the ropes, its called stroking their ego. Youtube is full of tutorial vids from half decent DJ's if all else fails.
The technique for beat matching is pretty much the same regardless of the music style.
Once you get half way decent you should have no problem mixing different styles and different beats into a more eclectic set.
Walk before you can run though