Counting your bars

Hope you've been practising well and been able to beat mix?! If you have and you are able to beat mix, then lets move on the the most important part. Learning to create a smooth and seamless mix. 

In order to achieve this, you need to learn to be able to count your bars. Have a look at the video below. After viewing it, come back and I'll explain it with more details.

Now that you know how to count your BPM, I'm going to tell how I count mine. Now when you do a 4 beat count, that will most definitely benefit you when your mixing r'n'b, hip hop or anything that is short. For house or Dance music, it's longer, so if you count 4 beats to a bar, as stated above, it will give you 8 bars.

The way I do this is that, I double the beats. So instead of counting 4 beats to a bar I count 8 beats to a bar. In that way, you get less bars to deal with. So, in a normal situation you will get 8 bars but when you count 8 beats you get half of that, which is 4 bars. Again, this is very useful when your a house DJ. Many DJs I know use that way.

Hope this was helpful to all of you. Again, please comment if you have any questions. 

How to DJ with Mixing techniques

Mixing is a pretty straight forward thing. The main objective is to get both the beats to sync and sound like one. In order to achieve this, you need to first set or get your bpms right. I talked about bpms in the previous post. Unlike bpms, where you can start counting the beats at any part of the song, mixing requires you to catch the first beat of the song. It is important to understand that you will need lots and lots of patience. This can be a very slow and frustrating time but once you've mastered this skill and continuously have the passion for music, dj'ing can be very rewarding. Also, before you carry on reading, ready yourself with your headphones. Always remember, one side is to listen to the current song playing on air and the other is for listening to your headphone. So, don't use both cups, just have one on. Learn to differentiate both songs. You need to be able to separate both songs. Its is kinda like tapping with one hand and sliding with the other at the same time. 

Cueing and mixing

• The first thing you do is get two songs from the same genre. Try to get two songs that are instrumental. This will be a lot more easier for you to learn to mix as there will not be any vocals to confuse you.
• Let the first song play and prepare to cue the second song. Now, you need to find the first beat of the song. This is very important. Catching the first beat is very simple. Play the second track and when you hear the first beat 'doop' (beat sound), pause the track. Now slowly turn the platter back until you hear the beat sounding 'doop doop doop doop' really fast. This is the sound of the beginning of the beat, the edge. Once you've got that, hit the cue button. Congratulations, you've just got you'r first cue!
• With the advantage of having a bpm counter on either your cdj (most do), you can already pre-drag your pitch control to the desired bpm. It's a matter of getting the perfect pitch. Since we are only gonna learn to beat mix now, don't concern yourself with bar mixing for now. 
• Ok, once you've got your first beat ready, which should be on standby or cue'd and you've pre-adjusted your bpm, lets mix. Listen to the first song playing, time yourself to the beat. I recommend you tapping your hand or feet to the beat. When your ready, on the next beat, hit play. Now because you've already pre-adjusted your bpm, it should sync with the first song or it may just be a little bit off. Ok, so you got the two songs playing,  

For a more detailed explanation, I will post a video soon (cam is broke) on how to cue and mix. 

Counting your BPM - Essential

Entering the world of DJ'ing is no easy job.There are many aspects of DJ'ing that you need to master. Not forgetting the investment in getting your own decks to practice on. Your dj equipments are not just any instrument, they are instruments made for precision and fun.

There are two important things too learn and master, beat mixing and bar mixing, but most importantly, you need to understand BPMs (beats per minute).

BPMs - Q: What does a bpm do for you? A: It tells you the speed of a song. Now before you start to push the fader, you need to be able to differentiate the genre of songs and their bpms. This will help you find a track that is appropriate for a mix your intending. For example, if the track that is playing on air is 128 bpm, it is not a good idea to try and mix a track that has 95 bpm. In general, you should find something that has the same or close to that 128 range. Even if it is 120bpm, you can still mix with the pitch control. Now, almost all mixers and cdjs have a bpm counter. The moment you play your track, it will show you the current bpm of that particular track your playing. Just for fun and in-case your bpm counter isn't working for some unknown reason, here's how you count it manually. There are different ways to count them but here's how I do it and thanks to DJ Love for this.

1. Prepare your watch or stop watch for a period of 10 seconds.
2. At any-time of  the track, count every beat or kick drum in that 10 second period. If your not sure what I mean. You know how you shake or move your head every-time you listen to a track you like? Your shaking your head to the beat. That's how you count.
3. Once you get the amount of beats in that 10 sec period, just multiply that amount with 6. Example: 20 beats x 6 = 120. The answer (120), is the bpm of that particular track. This will not be an accurate result, but close to the actual bpm.
4. Do remember this, always keep your pitch control on neutral. Anything below or above will not give a good result.

Here are a couple of videos. The first one simply shows how I mix and the second shows how I get the right tempo for mixing. Please note this was done very quickly with one hand as I was recording it myself :). Hope you guys find this helpful. I will post a more detailed video soon.

Difference between Pitch and Tempo

On a side note, here's something just for your info. Many DJs have been asking, what is difference between tempo and pitch? Way back since I've started DJing where honestly I can say, a lot of experienced DJs still have a lot of misunderstanding about the above topic.

But I can't blame it on them as I've been in their shoes before!!! Firstly, in order to understand the difference between the two, you need to know the basics of music.

1. In music, pitch is the harmonics of a piece of music. In simple terms, it's the 'do, re, mi' in music. Each piece of music has its specific harmonics. It's a rather complex topic where I will discuss on my next future post.
2. Tempo, in the other hand, dictates the speed or pace of a piece of music. That is what BPM is in musical terms where the basics of beat mixing is.

The confussion between the two terms actually came from the equipments that we DJs used. In the early days of DJing, where turntables were the only main equipment we had, the tempo slider was and is still labeled as pitch adjust. Can't really blame the manufacturers because that's what it does, change the pitch of the song. 

When CDJs came into scene, the slider was labeled as tempo, as most players has a function called the 'master tempo' where it locks the pitch of the song to its original pitch no matter how much the tempo changes.

Hope this helps you understand a little bit about the differences. Don't bother too much about it as it really doesn't effect your performance.

Contributed by: DJ Will aka William

Winter Music Conference

Just a quick mention. To those who are able to attend, I envy you! Do enjoy and have fun. To those who are thinking if they should go or not, don't think, just GO!!!

Established in 1985, WMC is the largest music industry gathering of its kind in the world. 

Winter Music Conference, in its 25th consecutive year, is one of the most publicized annual music gatherings in the world. A pivotal platform for advancement of the industry, WMC 2009 attracted 1,910 artists and DJs, 3,228 industry delegates from 62 countries and over 70,000 event attendees for a concentrated schedule of more than 500 events presented across 5 days. Music, as one of the world’s most accessible cultural art forms, gives WMC the unique ability to cross economic, geographic and social boundaries. Over 1.3 million visitors from 183 countries log on to the WMC website each year.

For more info, do check out their website WMC

Some cool Pioneer equipments

MP3 and recommended download sites

Lets talk a little bit about DJing with mp3s and using dj software to mix. As you know, mp3 is a very common standard format, though there are many more formats to choose from. There’s really nothing wrong with DJing with mp3. Many will tell you that it’s not cool to DJ with mp3. I will tell you now, It’s way cool. Not only is it cool but it’s also and easy option if your the type who travels constantly. The days of carrying around heavy record bags and even CD bags are slowly fading away. All you need these days are basically a simple back pack to carry your laptop and probably your portable hard drive.

Firstly, mp3 formats are available for download on hundreds of sites. Some free and some paid. I will not get into those free sites for reasons you already know of. Here are a couple of sites that I personally use to get many of my songs.

• Beatport -

Beatport is the recognized leader in electronic dance music downloads for DJs and club music enthusiasts. Download high quality MP3s and WAV file formats. Weekly top ten DJ Charts. Buy from 600k+ tracks of House, Techno, Electro, Trance, Drum & Bass, Minimal, Dubstep and ten other dance music genres. Ten free digital downloads to get you started.

• Traxsource -

Traxsource, the hottest source of house music wav and mp3 downloads on the net! Download The future of House

Ok, so those a just a couple of sites I use to buy my stuff. There are many more sites out there. A simple google search will do. When you get into those sites, they offer a few options on download formats. As I stated above, most common will be the mp3 format. Here’s a screen shot of my crate. Have a look on the right side where it shows the format options for downloading.

Now, why I chose mp3 is because they are cheaper and easier to carry around. Unlike vinyls and don’t get me wrong, I love vinyls (I have loads of them at home, where I still listen to them), they offer easier portability whether you burn them onto cds or use a software. I remember, I used to order vinyls online and had to wait for weeks for them to arrive. I just couldn’t wait for them. Now, a few clicks and it’s on my desktop, ready to be played. The other benefit is that you can burn your mp3 files directly onto a cd and directly play them on almost all CDJs out there. The newer models now allow you to play mp3 formatted cds. Isn’t that awesome?!

I’ll be talking about dj software on my future  post. Till then, see you soon and take care!

Professional and Bedroom DJ

15 years ago, I decided that I wanted to be a professional DJ. Not a day goes by that I regret that decision. Its been a tremendous ride. More fun and excitement than downs. So its your turn to decide if you wanna be a professional DJ or just a bedroom DJ. Now they both have their perks. Lets break it down and try to understand more.

• Bedroom DJ – What is a bedroom DJ? Well quite literally, your a DJ that plays mostly in his bedroom or studio and only does it as a hobby. On the other hand you can be a bedroom DJ and do gigs once in a while.

• Professional DJ – Now there are a couple of ways to look at this. One is where your the resident DJ and work at a particular club on a full time basis. Meaning, just like any other job, you’re required to be at the club almost every night and rock the club when there are no guest DJs. Now this can be boring as you are spinning almost every night and also playing the same tunes every night. So you need to find a way to keep it fresh. Now, a lot of the successful DJs are more towards being guest DJs. Meaning they play at many different clubs all over the world. I’m sure that’s what you aspire to do.

So whichever way you choose, give it your all and aim for the skies. Remember, it’s your passion and always keep your music fresh and updated.

Personal dj equipments

Before I get to the dj equipments in the console, I would like to talk about some essential items. These are items that are a must have for all DJs. Besides your tracks or tunes, a good pair of headphones are very important. In my career as a DJ, I’ve had to deal with many DJs who just aren’t professional enough. You are one of the guest DJs to play and you come there with your bags and stuff bu t you don’t have a pair of headphones? Lame! A DJs headphone is like a tooth brush. You just hate sharing it with anyone. Its a very personal thing. So make sure you invest in a pair.

Headphones come in many designs and sizes and sound quality too. Each DJ has his/her own preference. For me, I’ve always been a big fan of Technics. Currently I’m using the RP-DH1200. The sound is crisp and not too much bass. The cup size is perfect for me too. So, go out and try a few headphones and if you can, try out the sound quality. Make sure your comfortable with it. Remember, you will be spinning in a loud and noisy environment, so get the right one for you.

Next, depending on your which way you go, a good bag is essential. If your a vinyl user, go out and get a good padded bag. UDG has some great options for vinyls. And if your into cds, they also have a wide range of bags to store your cds.

Remember, vinyls are very delicate, heat can warp them. When that happens, you’ll notice that the vinyls will not be as flat as they once were. It’ll have waves and make you vinyl unusable. So take good care of them. Also, get a vinyl duster and some liquid to clean your vinyls. It will help you in times when your vinyls get dirty and they need to be cleaned immediately.

If your going for cds, then its pretty straight forward. Not much to say except catalog your cds properly but lets assume your not using cds and going for mp3s, now that’s gonna be a different way. There are many ways to approach being an mp3 DJ and to all those who tell you that mp3s are for losers, just smile at them and keep the crowd rocking!

I will talk more about mps3 software’s in my future post. Till then, leave a comment if you have any questions. Take care!

A small introduction to DJ attitude and DJ mixing

Being a DJ and mixing is a fun and exciting thing to do. You must enjoy and love what you’re doing or else it will just be another job.You also have to find out which style of music you want to play. That is very important. For example, if you love and enjoy deep house but your playing techno, you will find it not enjoyable after awhile. Just because “DJ A” is playing Techno, Trance, Dirty House or anything doesn’t mean you have too! Sure he is playing to a huge crowd but other genre of House has their fans too. Trust me, I’ve played to a large crowd and a small room and in my opinion, playing to smaller crowd is more fun. The crowd interaction is more fun and you can feel them. What I'm trying to tell you is, find what is style. Don't copy!

Now, if you’re one of those who play different types of genres, always remember to catalog your tracks properly. A well cataloged record bag or folder will help you prepare yourself for a good set. It is also very important to get to know your songs. My advice is to never mix something you don’t know. You need to know the song as this will help you mix better. You don’t want to have a mix that has two vocals up together. right? So always listen to the tracks first.

Also, NEVER be late for your gigs! Always remember that there people waiting for you! They are there to party with you. The DJ that is warming up will also have to extend his set, so be punctual and try to be as humble as possible. NO ONE likes an ‘egoistic’ DJ. Keep your attitude away and most importantly, STAY AWAY FROM DRUGS!! In my 14 years as a DJ, I have NEVER once used or taken drugs! You don’t need drugs to enjoy the music. Make the music you drug! Oh! and don’t be a drunk too. No one likes a slurring DJ and mixing goes nuts. Now that you’ve found your style, lets look at what type of DJ’s are out there.

Till the next post. Take care and see you soon!.