Learning to DJ
Discussion
On the off chance does anyone have any experience of a course like the one below - or ideally the exact one?
Either 8 weeks of weekends/evening sessions, or a 3 day course to cover the basics.
https://www.djacademy.org.uk/edinburgh.html
Or indeed any better/other ways of learning.
Either 8 weeks of weekends/evening sessions, or a 3 day course to cover the basics.
https://www.djacademy.org.uk/edinburgh.html
Or indeed any better/other ways of learning.
first I wouldn't bother with some expensive course..
like others have said theres loads of free learning material out there
I used to watch this guy https://www.youtube.com/user/ellaskins/videos one of the first to do tutorials I think?
Have you bought equipment yet? before you do i'd go as cheaply as possible with a midi controller/mixer and use your laptop/pc with some powered speakers
Its ok going out buying the fanciest pioneer cdjs but you're talking nearly a grand and this stuff depreciates fast as the tech moves on so quickly.
just a tip in case you find it isn't for you
like others have said theres loads of free learning material out there
I used to watch this guy https://www.youtube.com/user/ellaskins/videos one of the first to do tutorials I think?
Have you bought equipment yet? before you do i'd go as cheaply as possible with a midi controller/mixer and use your laptop/pc with some powered speakers
Its ok going out buying the fanciest pioneer cdjs but you're talking nearly a grand and this stuff depreciates fast as the tech moves on so quickly.
just a tip in case you find it isn't for you
Just a tip:
- Beatmatching by ear can take quite a while to learn.
- Scratching and turntablism can take a hell of a long time to learn.
If you are going to just play one record after teh other OR use DJ software that will manage the transitions for you, you dont need to learn much.
When you say 'learning to DJ', what are you planning to do exactly?
- Beatmatching by ear can take quite a while to learn.
- Scratching and turntablism can take a hell of a long time to learn.
If you are going to just play one record after teh other OR use DJ software that will manage the transitions for you, you dont need to learn much.
When you say 'learning to DJ', what are you planning to do exactly?
The Dangerous Elk said:
A spelling course may be a better start
No idea how I missed that!
As for other replies, I havent bought anything, but was given a Numark 'all in one' thing with Virtual DJ as a present. If Im going to learn it would be good to learn using vinyl, even if it was time coded. Sounds like youtube and time is the best idea.
Condi said:
No idea how I missed that!
As for other replies, I havent bought anything, but was given a Numark 'all in one' thing with Virtual DJ as a present. If Im going to learn it would be good to learn using vinyl, even if it was time coded. Sounds like youtube and time is the best idea.
The Numark will do it all for you at a press of a button and will be very easy to pick up once you get to know your tunes, break points, beats and bars and cue points. Don't get me wrong modern technology is great, I've got a Vestax VCI Serato controller and went with time coded vinyls and Serato not long after it came out but it's quite clinical and not as involved. I think that is in part why a lot of DJ's now use midi's etc to overlay, loop etc on tracks as some of the involvement has gone from spending half a record trying to cue the next one up.
Learning to beat match is one of the most frustrating things to begin with but persevere with it and it's very rewarding.
Whilst the basics are the same for mixing most genres, it's worth trying to tailor it a bit to whatever you intend to play too.
I'm a veteran DJ of over 20 years. Beatmatching in 2018 there's no need. If you are using digital controllers and decent software just use sync.
It's a bit of an oddity to me djs hanging onto beatmatching is like some sort of badge of honour. The modern kit makes manual beatmatching a lot easier than it used to be on old 1210s so for me it's pointless. Your mix will sound much cleaner using sync and you can use the time wasted beatmatching to use the loop and fx to good use.
The actual process of mixing together 2 tracks is simple there is no need at all to pay someone to learn. Just learn the software using YouTube guides and practice.
The art of DJing is pretty much dead there are very very few actual DJs you get to see these days mostly producers doing gigs which is another discipline really. Nobody really seems to construct a set any more it's just a succession of well known tracks in a row.
I just do it for fun these days but have Traktor with a control s4 and 2 Vestax PDX200 decks for the vinyl (I can beatmatch when needed!) Coupled to a couple of focal 80s it makes for a good rig.
It's a bit of an oddity to me djs hanging onto beatmatching is like some sort of badge of honour. The modern kit makes manual beatmatching a lot easier than it used to be on old 1210s so for me it's pointless. Your mix will sound much cleaner using sync and you can use the time wasted beatmatching to use the loop and fx to good use.
The actual process of mixing together 2 tracks is simple there is no need at all to pay someone to learn. Just learn the software using YouTube guides and practice.
The art of DJing is pretty much dead there are very very few actual DJs you get to see these days mostly producers doing gigs which is another discipline really. Nobody really seems to construct a set any more it's just a succession of well known tracks in a row.
I just do it for fun these days but have Traktor with a control s4 and 2 Vestax PDX200 decks for the vinyl (I can beatmatch when needed!) Coupled to a couple of focal 80s it makes for a good rig.
fridaypassion said:
I'm a veteran DJ of over 20 years. Beatmatching in 2018 there's no need. If you are using digital controllers and decent software just use sync.
It's a bit of an oddity to me djs hanging onto beatmatching is like some sort of badge of honour. The modern kit makes manual beatmatching a lot easier than it used to be on old 1210s so for me it's pointless. Your mix will sound much cleaner using sync and you can use the time wasted beatmatching to use the loop and fx to good use.
The actual process of mixing together 2 tracks is simple there is no need at all to pay someone to learn. Just learn the software using YouTube guides and practice.
The art of DJing is pretty much dead there are very very few actual DJs you get to see these days mostly producers doing gigs which is another discipline really. Nobody really seems to construct a set any more it's just a succession of well known tracks in a row.
I just do it for fun these days but have Traktor with a control s4 and 2 Vestax PDX200 decks for the vinyl (I can beatmatch when needed!) Coupled to a couple of focal 80s it makes for a good rig.
I couldn't disagree with this more, beat matching isn't a badge of honour, it's an enormous percentage of what makes mixing fun (for me anyway!) I can't see how you could enjoy something like having a mix when all you are doing is pressing a button and having it do it for you, to me it's the difference between actually having sex and having a wIt's a bit of an oddity to me djs hanging onto beatmatching is like some sort of badge of honour. The modern kit makes manual beatmatching a lot easier than it used to be on old 1210s so for me it's pointless. Your mix will sound much cleaner using sync and you can use the time wasted beatmatching to use the loop and fx to good use.
The actual process of mixing together 2 tracks is simple there is no need at all to pay someone to learn. Just learn the software using YouTube guides and practice.
The art of DJing is pretty much dead there are very very few actual DJs you get to see these days mostly producers doing gigs which is another discipline really. Nobody really seems to construct a set any more it's just a succession of well known tracks in a row.
I just do it for fun these days but have Traktor with a control s4 and 2 Vestax PDX200 decks for the vinyl (I can beatmatch when needed!) Coupled to a couple of focal 80s it makes for a good rig.
k! I agree with the poster above, the best thing you can do if you actually want to learn something and enjoy doing it is to buy a pair of decks and a mixer and a few records, learn to mix them (it'll take time and patience, potentially lots of each!) But the satisfaction you will get from it will be a thousand times that of pressing a synch button. I rarely mix vinyl now as my 1200's are at my mates studio as I don't have the space for them, I use digital but cover up the BPM but of the display so I can still have a proper mix. So long story short, buy decks, leave wife/girlfriend (optional but will speed up the learning process) and get stuck in. Once you can mix on a pair of technics you can mix on anything, the same can't be said for any other formatI can do it it's pretty simple with enough practice but unless you are really good at it the mix can sound crap and as I mentioned in my post it's so easy with modern kit that it's just not hard to do at all hence no kudos from me. Nudging a jog wheel while the software hides the distortion of the playback speed is not really impressive. I can still get a good performance from my pdx2000s which is admittedly good fun but for newcomers who don't have vinyl collections it's just outdated.
I learned in the 2000s, started getting into house having been a grunger for most of the 90s... Thought, what the hell, bought a pair of belt drive turntables and bog standard mixer and started buying 12" singles. Beat matching comes pretty easily, choosing the transition and making it work is the real skill. I never really got that perfect. I'd go to clubs, my mates would be on the floor while I spent half the night on the balcony watching the djs. Watching X-press2 running 4 turntables was a high point. Yeah now its a piece of cake with the tech, I guess you can draw a comparison between hustling a 90s manual f1 car and the overly assisted hybrid auto nonsense we see now.
The very first 'decks' I started on was the old Denon DN2000's ducal CD at a friends house. They got some SL1200's after a couple of months and I started on those. Although there wasn't the physical manipulation of the disc with the CD's you still had to get the tracks on time ASAP and dead-on so you wouldn't have to nudge or drag while managing the fade across to the other track. Nailing that, nailing the phrasing so the energy level of the overall mix stayed the same, getting a nice change in pitch on the odd track change, getting just a touch of flange on the kick on the odd mix. The old Global Underground Oakenfold New York had some quirky and great mixes.
hucumber said:
I couldn't disagree with this more, beat matching isn't a badge of honour, it's an enormous percentage of what makes mixing fun (for me anyway!) I can't see how you could enjoy something like having a mix when all you are doing is pressing a button and having it do it for you,
It's pish. My first decks were Soundlab belt drives, anyone that says beat matching is easy never tried touching the platter on one of them. Between them stopping dead or the needle jumping it was virtually impossible.I've had (at least) three sets of 1200/1210s and have tried all the digital options but will never change.
Far too many I see on Youtube now it's all about the hand waving, fake knob tweaking, having the correct the logo font etc etc. It's a short jump from CDJ button presser to this trumpet. https://youtu.be/lLdwLJ0mGrQ?t=3m40s
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