Noobie question - When to start playing second song

[Tortango]

All of this is good advice, although if you want a little bit of a shortcut here is a "cheating" technique I've used...

So you know when you want the drop of the second song to come in, right? Listen to the second song and count the number of beats from the beginning of the song until the drop. It'll probably be a multiple of 32. Then, once you have that number, pull up the waveform for the first song and count that many beats BACK from the point where you want the drop of the second song to hit and drop a cue point there.

This way, when you play the first song, you'll know to press play on the second song as soon as you see that cue point.

[Ham]

i feel like this advice is actually flawed. you shouldn't be reading wave forms. you should be learning song structure. its not hard. american and most eastern european song structures fall in 4ths 8ths 16ths and 32nd bars. learn your songs and its not a problem. you should be able to drop a song without looking at wave forms. Of course its great to learn with them, but dont rely on them forever.

I feel this is also flawed in a sense, whilst it's definitely fundamental to understand 'standard' bar structures, more and more now people are starting to play around with time signatures in electronic music, I've seen people use 5/4 and 7/4 and so on, so don't just keyhole yourself to learning that a 'general' electronic song MAY have 32 bars in the intro, that's silly. Teach yourself a real lesson and learn how count properly and read/ perform all different types of time signatures.

Easiest one is don't count 1,2,3,4....1,2,3,4....1,2,3,4... because then you dont know what bar your on.........lol

It's 1,2,3,4....2,2,3,4......3,2,3,4.....

[keithace]

the wav forms are a good tool to use as a beginner so you can physically see what you have to work with. NOTHING replaces knowing your tunes. This person is a beginner and asking a very basic question. Why not let him use the the technology to help get him/her started?

[darkdrifter04]

thank you for everyone's advice! I guess I will just have to learn my songs better...I am not using headphones right now so it's a little more difficult for me to hear when the song is actually coming in. I've been doing what Tortanga posted about (counting back from the drop and starting the first song at that point) but I guess with headphones it is a lot easier to hear where you are in the loaded song so you know where to start it, right? I need to get my headphone adapter already lol

[P4ULSON]

the wav forms are a good tool to use as a beginner so you can physically see what you have to work with. NOTHING replaces knowing your tunes. This person is a beginner and asking a very basic question. Why not let him use the the technology to help get him/her started?

because bad habits are hard to break.... learn it once learn it right don't waste your time you'll thank us later

[johney]

the wav forms are a good tool to use as a beginner so you can physically see what you have to work with. NOTHING replaces knowing your tunes. This person is a beginner and asking a very basic question. Why not let him use the the technology to help get him/her started?

because that's how you never stop being a beginner

[b1sh0p]

Like others have said, learn song structure. Also, listen to your favorite dj mixes. Really listen to their blends. Song structure will become second nature. Sure, some songs are wonky. They'll have an extra bar before the drop or really long breakdown. Make a mental note of these tunes. The advice abou only playing 15 or so songs is money. You'll start to hate them, but you'll learn. Don't overwhelm yourself with too much music.

[keithace]

because that's how you never stop being a beginner

so it makes me a beginner to check out the wav forms on a new track?

[djmetalgear]

so it makes me a beginner to check out the wav forms on a new track?

yes and no.

I learned this way too. I would use the wave forms in traktor, and try and figure out if a section is 32 beats, and then when i would wanna drop a song, i would go back 32 beats and put a hot cue there so i knew the part was coming. I learned that way... and it was terribly hard and inconvenient... it wasnt until i picked up song structure that i didnt even rely on wave forms.

now my wave forms in traktor are set to the smallest setting cause its a waste of screen space. i barely even look at my screen except to pick a song maybe.

[keithace]

I didn't learn that way. I use the wav forms as I would any other tool.

I have 20 years experience on 1200s and CDJs...far from a beginner...