Question regarding music
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  1. #1

    Default Question regarding music

    Hey guys, i need some more help with the whole djing thing. Im trying to learn and im finding it hard due to the fact, im wathcing youtube videos and i bought a few books but still trying to learn.

    My question regards the music though. I dont need help wth websites or anything as i have plenty of places to get the music, but should i be buying instrumentals and acapellas too? I know in dubstep and electronic and all that its mainly just music but i've been trying with hip-hop/rap and top 40 type stuff.

    When i use those ive just been using the music i bought off of i-tunes which is just the regular song, and i cant really mix them cause have 2 beats plus 2 didfferent lyrics going. I know this is probably a stupid question but im just kind of confused on what i need to do and this website is my only way of getting good learning information. So sorry for asking a dumb question but i have been trying to figure out on my own and not really sure what to do.

  2. #2
    Tech Guru mostapha's Avatar
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    No, you've got the right idea. DJs do something different from what everyone thinks DJs do…even beginner DJs for a time.

    Quote Originally Posted by graydodge14 View Post
    ive just been using the music i bought off of i-tunes which is just the regular song, and i cant really mix them cause have 2 beats plus 2 didfferent lyrics going.
    Yeah. That's, fine. Well, it's a mistake. But it's not as big as you think.

    Start paying attention to song structure: verses, choruses, bridges…all that stuff. You have to pay attention to that more so with top40 and hip hop than with any other genre because the intros and outros are shorter in those genres than, say, house or techno.

    Also, you're probably trying to play the tracks together for too long. Hip Hop DJs are very different from house DJs. It's not uncommon for a house DJ to play 2 songs together so that the last third or so of one track is playing along with the first third of another track. That fits with the structures. With hip hop…the vocals are so intense and upfront and the intros and outros are so short that you can't do that. Hip Hop "transitions" tend to amount to just slapping the crossfader over at the right time…maybe playing the songs together for a measure or two.

    The biggest thing to remember when cutting like that is the simple rule "respect the chorus", which really means "respect structure." Whether they know it or not, people have been taught for decades to hear verses lead into choruses and vice versa…probably with a bridge thrown in b/t a chorus and either another chorus or a verse to break up the monotony. They're aware of it even if they can't describe it.

    So, don't mix from the chorus of one song to the chorus of another…mix from the chorus of one song to the verse of another. Or vice versa. Bridges can be really useful for that, but you have to be careful about energy level.

    The best advice I can give you for hip hop mixing, considering that I suck at it myself, is to go see some hip hop DJs. Mobile DJs don't count…they do something completely different. Pay attention to what they're doing and most importantly when they're changing songs (it helps if you're familiar with the music they're spinning).

    If it comes up, the best I've hard live are Jazzy Jeff and Young Guru. They're really impressive and basically do everything right with the exception that JJ tends to overdrive his mixer.

    It's really just a completely different skillset than spinning–for example–house, where you often have 32 or 64 measures of intro before the primary lead sound really takes precedence. Hip hop…you might get 4 bars…though it'll probably have people talking about headphone volumes, the producer, or audibly lighting a joint or something that's also hard to mix over. So, you just skip that part and scratch in the first real downbeat of whatever verse you want to play at the right time, and slap the crossfader over in time with the previous track.

    It's a lot easier to hear than to describe, but I don't have a good example handy because I don't really spin hip hop. I want to…I just don't own the equipment to do it justice…nor the music collection.

    Also, spinning hip hop takes a huge music collection. Spinning house, I always plan on 10-12 tracks/hour. Some of the hip hop sets I've heard went through that in 10 minutes if they're only pulling one verse/chorus out of each song.

    In hip hop, beat matching is less precise; you can get away with flaws in mixing technique and effects usage or any of the other stuff EDM DJs go on about…but spinning hip hop well will stress your ability to program a set, pick tracks, and understand song structure more than any other genre unless you're really fucking good at the other genre.

  3. #3

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    Thanks for the reply. It seems after reading your post, that im just trying to mix in the wrong part of the songs and probably letting them play together to long. If i understand right when im mixing hip/hop or rap, its mainly gonna be a quick overlap and then more of a transition with the cross-fader.

    Compared to house or dubstep or something where i could let them over-lap (beat-match) longer due to having more bars or longer chorus' or whatever the case may be.

    So to start off, do i just need to take my music I have been trying to mix and just work on clean transitions and with time i will be able to better match them without them sounding like complete crap?

  4. #4
    Tech Wizard
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    Mostafa...I would quote your whole post but it's massive.

    A really informative post and a pleasure to read!!

    I never use the cross fader but now I'll use it so much more!!

    Thankyou
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  5. #5
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    yeah usually I just slap the crossfader over. right when the first song is supposed to go into a chorus ill slap it to the second songs chorus/break. or ill start mixing the next song about 16 beats before the end of the chorus one the first song. I will slowly taking the bass out of the first song and when the chorus comes in on the second song the chorus/break is just ending. On downbeat ill switch it ALL the way over. over to the next song. (or you can do it with the volume faders)
    prolly kind of confusing. Im also not the best hip hop dj

  6. #6
    Tech Guru mostapha's Avatar
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    @OP, I don't know what your music library is like, so I can't say. Just listen. It'll make sense eventually. And do look up Jazzy Jeff or Young Guru or some other good hip hop DJ…they'll teach you loads.

    @martinlird, yeah…the CF on my xone is disabled with tape. It'd just be off if it weren't for the filter assignment following the CF assignment. On my last mixer, the CF lived on a shelf…it wasn't even in the mixer anymore. IMHO, the crossfader is a great tool at what it's good for…hip hop and turntablism. Unless you're doing on of those two things, I think they shouldn't exist. But, that's me. And I tend to have extreme opinions.

  7. #7
    Tech Mentor hamza21's Avatar
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    Some one wants to know about Hip Hop mixing? Maybe I should spruce up this forum and and post my Hip Hop mixing Tutorial since it doesn't look like djforums is coming back.

  8. #8
    Tech Guru funke's Avatar
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    To help learn song structure, I would start by mixing only house. If you are using a program that can save cue points, mark where the verses and choruses start. These will be your mixing in/out points. If you do this with all of your tracks, you will notice that you will always have 32 or 64 beats to work with. After a while, you will be able to drop in tracks you never heard before, and see where to mix into based on whether there are 32 or 64 beat breaks. For hip hop, it's hard to find a clean four beat section that doesn't have someone talking over it, so when I do, I like to loop that section, then hop to another cue when I'm ready for the verse to start.
    Toshiba Satellite Windows 8.1, TSP2, Audio 10, Audio 2, 2x Technics 1200 MKII, Pioneer DJM-707, Midi Fighter Spectra, Kontrol X1, Behringer CMD PL-1

  9. #9
    Tech Guru funke's Avatar
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    I just got my first set of turntables a few weeks ago and got a few oldschool hip hop records to practice with. Your not going to be doing so much mixing as you are cueing up your spot and throwing in a "wickie wickie" on the last two beats before slamming the fader over. Theres just no way to really mix hop unless both songs have a good 16 beat break to work with. I was like you trying to mash up everything only to find that you really just want to mix smoothly from one track to another. Hope this helps.
    Toshiba Satellite Windows 8.1, TSP2, Audio 10, Audio 2, 2x Technics 1200 MKII, Pioneer DJM-707, Midi Fighter Spectra, Kontrol X1, Behringer CMD PL-1

  10. #10
    Tech Guru funke's Avatar
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    Get some Deadmau5 tracks to practice with. Most of his stuff is very minimal and predictable.
    Toshiba Satellite Windows 8.1, TSP2, Audio 10, Audio 2, 2x Technics 1200 MKII, Pioneer DJM-707, Midi Fighter Spectra, Kontrol X1, Behringer CMD PL-1

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