DJing with sync, mixing in/handover

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Originally Posted by FilthyDave

DJ'ing is 90% tune selection, 10% skills. If they are rocking the floor it doesn't matter how they are doing it

Do I use sync? Yes I f**king do! It's easier and I'm a lazy sod. Why would I waste time and make things harder for myself?

That said I do think you should learn how to beatmatch as Traktor never gets the beatgrids 100% and sometimes it's wildly out but to learn just so you can garner the respect of other DJ's is just an ego trip.

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Don't disagree, 90% of DJing is tune selection, they could have flawless mixing skills, wouldnt give a toss though if their tune selections shit.

I'm not disagreing with the use of SYNC at all, what I've been saying is, a DJ should be flexible, and be able to mix on CD etc if the comp crashes. If you can't manually beat match then the crowds in for a train ride.

Don't learn to beatmatch to gain respect, but have some respect for the craft of DJing and learn the fundamentals, it will only benefit you in the long run.

Completely agree about letting the last DJ's tune run out. And yeah can work in a dj's favour, start afresh and take them in a new direction.

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Originally Posted by amadeus

Haha, exactly my point.

If you want to be taken as a serious DJ, then learn the craft, this involves manualy beat matching. This kid obviously dint want to be taken seriously, good job you were there to save him.

Computers do crash, at least take a back up CD, oh wait if you cant beatmatch, then what you gonna do.

The amazing thing about Traktor is that you can hide the BPM, hide the phase meter and learn to beatmatch. It's lazy not too.

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I've tried to get my friends to challenge themselves a bit but they are too used to the computer doing the job for them. After like one failed transition they're screaming for me to put the phase meter back.

I keep a thumb drive with a few hundred tunes on as a backup as well these days. Traktor is becoming so ubiquitous it's often just as easy to borrow someone else's laptop and plug that in if your laptop goes belly up
If my controller (S4) went down I've also got an Audio 8 in my bag and I can use my laptops keyboard and run through a mixer
I carry a few CD's as well just in case everything dies!

I think it's wise to have some redundancy and to know how to beatmatch I just don't like the whole luddite mentallity of 'you're not a proper DJ unless you can' or 'Real DJ's use vinyl' It's a load of rubbish!

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Originally Posted by FilthyDave

I keep a thumb drive with a few hundred tunes on as a backup as well these days. Traktor is becoming so ubiquitous it's often just as easy to borrow someone else's laptop and plug that in if your laptop goes belly up
If my controller (S4) went down I've also got an Audio 8 in my bag and I can use my laptops keyboard and run through a mixer
I carry a few CD's as well just in case everything dies!

I think it's wise to have some redundancy and to know how to beatmatch I just don't like the whole luddite mentallity of 'you're not a proper DJ unless you can' or 'Real DJ's use vinyl' It's a load of rubbish!

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I think everyone should carry CDs... If you can't mix with them, stay home.

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Originally Posted by FilthyDave

I just don't like the whole luddite mentallity of 'you're not a proper DJ unless you can' or 'Real DJ's use vinyl' It's a load of rubbish!

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I don't really care what people use to play music, nor do I agree that if you don't play vinyl your not a real DJ.

But I have to say if you can't beatmatch then it's a bit of a grey area, I think you should know how to, If you can only DJ with the aid of software, if that software does crash, and you can't use anything else, then...well your screwed, can't DJ then.

You are limiting yourself to using only one medium if you can't beatmatch manually, I'm not saying you should go out and buy CDJ's or turntables, but to know the equipment and have the knowledge to use them is beneficial.

If you have a room full of people, and halfway through your set the computer crashes, your gonna look a bit of a dick just standing there while it reboots. Be prepared, CD's, thumb drives are your friend.

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Originally Posted by Kwal

I think everyone should carry CDs... If you can't mix with them, stay home.

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Agreed.

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Originally Posted by amadeus

I don't really care what people use to play music, nor do I agree that if you don't play vinyl your not a real DJ.

But I have to say if you can't beatmatch then it's a bit of a grey area, I think you should know how to, If you can only DJ with the aid of software, if that software does crash, and you can't use anything else, then...well your screwed, can't DJ then.

You are limiting yourself to using only one medium if you can't beatmatch manually, I'm not saying you should go out and buy CDJ's or turntables, but to know the equipment and have the knowledge to use them is beneficial.

If you have a room full of people, and halfway through your set the computer crashes, your gonna look a bit of a dick just standing there while it reboots. Be prepared, CD's, thumb drives are your friend.

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Nah just plug in your iPhone and you can dj with your phone for 4 hours. Everyone will be impressed.

I suppose my non-important opinion is this: there are two ways to look at it. If the dude is playing his first gig and isn't being paid, he/she may not know any better and it probably isn't that important - even though I personally would know exactly what I was getting into and be prepared for anything. But...that's just me. If the dude's getting paid, then he/she SHOULD know what is in store, including potentially having to mix into the prior DJ's song. And...as a professional, the incoming DJ should be prepared for anything...having backups knowing how to transition into other DJs sets, or even being able to play off a completely different system should his/hers have issues.

Basically, if you're going to be a pro and get paid for gigs...know your damn music without the help of sync/BPM readouts/phase meters/electronic waveforms, know how to use any damn system you may encounter, and know how to mix on any of those systems.

I'm not a pro, so screw it, I'll use sync. ;) Unless I'm mixing my vinyl.

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Originally Posted by ImNotDedYet

I suppose my non-important opinion is this: there are two ways to look at it. If the dude is playing his first gig and isn't being paid, he/she may not know any better and it probably isn't that important - even though I personally would know exactly what I was getting into and be prepared for anything. But...that's just me. If the dude's getting paid, then he/she SHOULD know what is in store, including potentially having to mix into the prior DJ's song. And...as a professional, the incoming DJ should be prepared for anything...having backups knowing how to transition into other DJs sets, or even being able to play off a completely different system should his/hers have issues.

Basically, if you're going to be a pro and get paid for gigs...know your damn music without the help of sync/BPM readouts/phase meters/electronic waveforms, know how to use any damn system you may encounter, and know how to mix on any of those systems.

I'm not a pro, so screw it, I'll use sync. ;) Unless I'm mixing my vinyl.

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As of late, I've noticed a lot of kids getting ahead of themselves when it comes to spinning out... At least in my area...

Sure, you know the promoter, you are boys and he can book you... But why in God's name would you accept a club gig at a very well known venue if you can't DJ? Sure it's exciting, but I always say it's better to be unknown versus being known to fail.

Ironically, my last two club visits have had trainwreck transitions. One being when Oakenfold took over and the BPM dropped considerably and not nicely on the ears. Everyone kind of stopped, looked at each other and went, WTF?

The last time was this past weekend with a local DJ and it was a BIG trainwreck with again everyone looking around going WTF?

Oakenfold obviously was forgiven by the crowd, we didn't stick around long enough for the local DJ. (they were spinning older, classic house upstairs which is my wheel house)