ok so all gayness aside, I was checking out youtube for some controllerism videos for ideas, inspiration and even a tutorial or too. Then I see a name Im familiar with DJ B33son. Said you won a contest. I check out the video and “I jizzed in my pants”. It was beautiful. Im always trying to practice 4 deck mixing and it ends up going no where fast.
I would love a walkthrough on whats going on. Im getting bored of 2 decks (still messing around with effects and whatnot, but still its time to step it up!
So please a walkthrough of sorts, to understand workflow and the dynamic of properly spinning on 4decks. I only have TPro and a RMX controller, surely thats enough to get me going?
I have recently found myself pushing 3 decks (I’m definitely not B33son let me state that straightaway) because I was able to mix and had time on my hands and didn’t want to play with effects too much (too much=shit sound). Alot of times another track will pop into my head and I’ll say (to myself) this would sound good here too. If you look back about a few months I asked this very question myself in an identical thread. You get to a point where you can do 2 deck mixing very easily and still making your phrasing sit well whilst not just mixing intro->outro (for example I do this while cleaning my room). So when I am actually in the booth (so to speak) I want to get more creative and use the third deck for samples/loops. Another cool thing is to inject a loop from the third deck that has been heavily effected ahead of time (one that it would be obvious what it is if it were not affected by fx) tease with that (almost subliminally) then drop it into the mix as the main track (w/ no fx) at a later point, and watch the aha look. Using all 4 decks right now is too much for the tsi I am working on. With only a vci and a nanopad (which needs mapping) 4 decks is too difficult to manage, especially when sharing line faders between 4 decks. Most likely I will reassign my tempo faders to be line faders for decks 3+4.
Anyone can mix on 3-4 decks (hell I do), but mixing on 4 decks and sounding great (knowing that the last 2d are really adding something constructive) is a difficult thing and I can’t do it all the time. B33son does it although I believe he has recently stated that he is using decks 3&4 to replay bits of tracks he just played. I know that something that majorly helps is adding stored loop points (tho I haven’t done this but will be doing it soon now that I find myself using 3d), this lets you browse the loopable portions of your tracks quickly.
Anyhow I hope this helps because I remember asking the same question a few months ago.
The whole silly DJ loops are for kids is actually a joke. Theres a DJ who c’ant but tries and one day he told me “Why would anyone ever need to loop?” Since then Ive decided to make fun of that to remind myself that loops are awesome. That and the phrase reminds me of the rabbit from those trix commercials. So 4 deck mixing, whats the theory? 2 decks you go from song to song. I tried watching B33son’s video but you cant see anything really, just a DJ having a good time.
I think that B33son is the most adequate one to do the walthrough about his mix.
What I can add here are my thoughts about how to get going with multiple decks, which may be useful for you. This is just an example to open your mind
First of all in order to get going you need to be familiar with the concept of layering, which in simple words is getting 2 or more tracks going together in order to make a diferent or new track. The easiest way to layer songs is to find a song that has something that will complement the other one. For instance a song wich is very percussive and melodic may complement with another one with a nice vocal line going. Then in order to succesfully layer them you need to use the eqs correctly in order to cancel the clashing frequencies, lets say both songs had to much highs and when combined sounds bad. Once you find that 2 songs layer nicely you can already stop considering them 2 tracks, now is one track for you, the diference is that you need 2 decks to play this new track. Now you can proceed to treat this track as one so then you can use deck c in order to mix out this track or to add something else. Now you are already mixing with 3 decks… using the layering concept… So if you have 2 tracks layared and they turn to one track… you might as well have another 2 tracks layared so you can mix them with the previous layared ones… Now you are using 4 decks .
The explanation might sound simple, but you need to explore and practice this concept in order to find the tricks and catches. For instance a nice layering is not always 2 tracks running together completly sometimes its only on track running and another one looped. So looping is a great tool for this.
So I don´t consider that all loops are silly, it really depends on what do you want to achieve. Another thing is the multitasking involve with this, and this is the workflow you need to develop by trying this and having a mapping that you now with your eyes closed. You may notice that Bomes is really helpful to hanlde multitasking as well as griding and cueing the tracks you need.
mix in deck b (either as a loop) or just line the two songs up, do my eqing right (which means usually just leaving mids or highs on b
-use deck c as a cue point for only certain special portions of the song and quickly change the track in deck c. ie. maybe cue (a favorite is the discotech remix of “ROXANNE”) then after a break goes out rinse and repeat if necessary or use the 3rd deck to complement the other 2 in specific sections, breakdowns, builds right before a drop, etc. This is really fun because it is the closest to live remixing that I have come, and it must be a lower level of what others (Tom Cosm, Moldover, etc.) are doing.
Another interesting thing to note is that when you have 3-4 tracks you are using during a single song, that you can use fx more often, that is because if you are only using fx on one track that constitutes a small portion of the “overall song”, especially when it is the 2nd or 3rd deck. This also sounds more like a studio remix also because only a part of your mix is changing which is much more true to most any track made in non real time. Also just make sure to use the effects lightly still, too much effects are like too much seasoning, the steak had a good flavor already, so why dumb it down.
