DJ Battling, Scratching, Beat Juggling, Trick Mixing - Ask me anything

[funke]

I've seen a few of your videos and you are a beast!

I got myself a proper scratch mixer about eight months ago and have since then mastered much of the basics, but the hardest scratch to get my head around is the boomerang. Can you do a video on it?

[Vekked]

Couple of questons
Hows DJ Shiftee like? You ever consider going Traktor?

How's DJ Shiftee on or off the decks? Off the decks he's a nice guy, gave me a little Traktor demo and explained some of his Z2 routine. On the decks he's a beast. His showcase now is really cool, tons of futuristic DVS/turntablist/controllerist stuff. Really inspiring and the crowd can appreciate it as well. He's becoming one of the best there is for sure.

I really wanna try Traktor now that the Z2 is out. I wasn't too keen before because since have the 57 and now the 62 I really don't wanna go back to a mixer without DVS in it. I don't feel particularly limited by Serato or anything but Traktor has some cool features like the macro fx and multiple loop points that I think would be handy. Having the best of both worlds would be sweet. If only they made a Rane mixer that could use both Traktor and Serato... lol.

[Vekked]

I've seen a few of your videos and you are a beast!

I got myself a proper scratch mixer about eight months ago and have since then mastered much of the basics, but the hardest scratch to get my head around is the boomerang. Can you do a video on it?

Thanks homie! The boomerang is probably the toughest scratch to learn initially just because the coordination is so different from basically every other scratches. The clicks are only on changes in direction so it's kind of a weird coordination. There are some decent tutorials out there already, here's one off the top of my head:



Note that he's calling it the delayed two click flare, but it's the same scratch. Basically up until Q-bert released his Skratchlopedia DVD everyone called that scratch delayed 2 click flares, then Q-bert called it boomerangs and had another scratch named the delayed 2 click flare on his DVD. So confusing, 2 scratches with the same name, and 1 scratch with 2 different names :S.

[Karen655]

What's Canada like?

[DarioJ]

Vekked, so as someone who is a master of the craft, where do you see technology fitting into turntablism or other routine based DJ'ing? What about DJ'ing as a whole?

I am not trying to make this into a sync vs. beatmatching debate, but its very seldom that we get a person who is clearly knowledgeable, articulate and willing to answer questions in length. IMO, as a digital DJ, I feel like there isn't much that has been proven by the digital DJ world to advance DJ'ing (YET). Any additional thoughts?

[P4ULSON]

If only they made a Rane mixer that could use both Traktor and Serato... lol.

ok well good news my ninja!!!! i just bought a 62 yesterday and unleashed the "BEAST" naw mean here's a link to get the 62 or any sound card to work with traktor time code

http://forum.djtechtools.com/showthread.php?t=4544



i've heard that if you own traktor and decide to use a modified copy any sound card will work as well as you can aggregate cause the 62 has "core audio drivers"

pm me if you need some help with it.

[Vekked]

Vekked, so as someone who is a master of the craft, where do you see technology fitting into turntablism or other routine based DJ'ing? What about DJ'ing as a whole?

I am not trying to make this into a sync vs. beatmatching debate, but its very seldom that we get a person who is clearly knowledgeable, articulate and willing to answer questions in length. IMO, as a digital DJ, I feel like there isn't much that has been proven by the digital DJ world to advance DJ'ing (YET). Any additional thoughts?

Haha ionno if I'm a master yet but thanks . I think new technology is going to lead to some really sick ideas and routines once people catch up. It's still so new that a lot of people still seem hesitant to embrace it. DJ battles have only allowed it for 2 years, and the first year almost nobody took advantage of it. It's hard to say when DJs as a whole will break out of their shell and start taking full advantage of it... it could happen this year, it could take 4-5 years.

The good and bad thing about all this technology is that it gives you soooo many new possibilities, but because there are so many very few people are pushing features beyond their basic/intended use. I think the real coolness starts when people start using stuff in ways that they weren't meant to be used or start developing techniques beyond just turning a feature on/off. Right now in the DJ world there are only a few guys pushing boundaries with it... most of them are the actual DJs hired to show off the features like Craze, Shiftee and Unkut, but I think/hope before long that kind of stuff will become kind of standard.

IMO the reason why there hasn't been a ton proven by digital DJing yet (as you say) is just that a lot of the new digital features barely enter people's creative processes yet. It's just becoming standard to use cue points/loops/sample banks and those are like the most basic of DVS features. Even for myself, I still have to push myself into a "experimental" mindset in order to try to incorporate new DVS stuff, it's not something I just think of naturally, yet.

So yea, I think we're in a really exciting time of DJing and as long as there are DJs to take on the task, there are going to be some really cool innovations and trends come up. Hopefully this made sense, kinda went on a tangent, lol.

[Vekked]

ok well good news my ninja!!!! i just bought a 62 yesterday and unleashed the "BEAST" naw mean here's a link to get the 62 or any sound card to work with traktor time code

i've heard that if you own traktor and decide to use a modified copy any sound card will work as well as you can aggregate cause the 62 has "core audio drivers"

pm me if you need some help with it.

Oh wow wtf that's sick, I wonder if I can map the 62 buttons to it as well? Have you tried it? That would be wiiild. I actually have traktor vinyl as well so gonna give this a shot, thanks a bunch for the heads up... could lead to something crazy

[goner5]

Can't wait to see what you come up with, Vekked!

[djproben]

I don't have the 62 but have read that it sends regular MIDI, not the weird proprietary shit that the 57 sends (which is why the 57 buttons are useless outside of Serato). If the 62 sends straight up midi, those buttons will map fine in Traktor!