Hip-Hop without Scratching?
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  1. #1
    Tech Wizard
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    Default Hip-Hop without Scratching?

    Hip-hop is easily one of my favorite genres, with artists like Flying Lotus, Tokimonsta, Nujabes, how can it not be?The thing is I want to mix these genres without any scratching, however, I can't even conceive as to how I would do that with CDJ's and a DJM.

    Any tutorials out there that could shed some light on my situation? I want to make the most quality and beautiful mixes with this type of music, and scratching to me would just kill the flow.

  2. #2
    Tech Guru Patch's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Chrxstxxn
    ...how can it not be?
    Church.

    Plenty of Hip-Hop DJ's DON'T scratch. Scratching is not something that everyone wants to do. I don't understand why - because everyone knows that DJ's that scratch are GODS!

    The mixing technique is exactly the same as other genres, but when mxing Hip-Hop your blends/transitions will usually only be 4 bars (possibly 8, sometimes).

    People will tell you that you can also do quick transitions (cuts) between tracks, but this is very abrupt way of mixing, and I usually only do it if I WANT to be abrupt. (Stepping up the energy, or dropping a heavy track, etc...)

    As long you don't have any clashing vocals, you can make a smooth-as-hell Hip-Hop mix that flows beautifully.

    You can also get clever with your phrasing - having a verse of track B starting immediately after the chorus of track A...
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  3. #3
    Tech Guru synthet1c's Avatar
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    You don't have to scratch if you don't want to.. you can always blend songs together, but hip hop is probably the hardest to mix as there are a lot of different styles and tempo's, there is always vocals and usually short intro's that you can mix in with. So there is a lot to think about when mixing.

    If your changing bpm's between two songs the best way to do it is to drop it straight and swap the tracks, that's kind of why some hip hop dj's do a baby to drop the next track if they are in that situation but that is really for a more old school music technique. Todays hip hop is produced much more mix friendly.

    Another great thing to do is get acapellas and put them over different instrumentals and the good thing about hip hop is you can pretty much find any songs acapella and instrumental so you have a wide choice that you can exploit.

    The only thing you should really never do when mixing any vocal music is have two vocals over each other, apart from that there are no rules and you should play around with all different styles of mixing to see what suits your style of music.

    Not sure of any tutorials, the best thing to do is find other like minded people and have a play with them and learn from each other.
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  4. #4
    Tech Mentor Frank112916's Avatar
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    just get yourself into a DJ pool that has intro/outros edited tracks. Learn to baby scratch and drop on the one and you should be just fine. I used to mix a lot of top 40/hip-hop and was never/am still not very good at scratching, but I'd just have to put a lot of work into finding songs that blended well and who's beat patterns, kick sound, and rhythms were complimentary to each other. For example, Tyga's Rack City and Drake - The Motto blended really well, and I had an intro-to-hook version of the Motto which I would blend into the second chorus of rack city which went over really well.

  5. #5
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    This is something has always been tough for me, since I like to play all types of music but hip hop has always been the one that gives me problems. I recently got some turntables in order to start to practice scratching, and I'll be trying some of the things you guys have mentioned in this thread! Thanks.

    I mean if I can mix cumbia, and other latin music, this shouldn't be too tough right?

  6. #6
    Tech Guru 031999's Avatar
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    you definitely need to learn to baby scratch, just to drop the tracks in.

    you need to listen to this my friend. it is regarded at one of the finest dj mixes in history.

    http://www.mixriot.com/content/1979-...-48-minute-mix

  7. #7
    Tech Guru Patch's Avatar
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    +1 on the Jag Skills mix! Awesome piece of work...

    ..but probably not the best example of mixing w/o scratching!
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  8. #8
    Tech Guru 031999's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Patch View Post
    +1 on the Jag Skills mix! Awesome piece of work...

    ..but probably not the best example of mixing w/o scratching!
    yeah but it also illustrates how you can just scratch in a track, which is pretty easy.

  9. #9
    Tech Guru johney's Avatar
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    quick blends


  10. #10
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    These are awesome examples, I'm going to put in some serious work to learn these basic techniques. Thanks!

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