Myself, and djhipnotikk are having a party this saturday, I was wondering, how do those of you who dj with a partner do it. What are the dynamics that you have that make this work.
More specifically,
-Single Comp/Dual Comps (if so midi sync, or just alternating turns?)
-How does this enhance the mix (is it just more time to think of a good song/ more creativity)
-Downsides?
So yea (Midian, Kaon, JesterNZDJ) what are your details (if you don’t mind sharing em)
Also are there any techniques that having 2 people opens up that you can’t do with one?
I’ve done this with my friend Cliff (you met him at the party).
We’ve done it with me on the comp and him on CDs (which isn’t very different from two comps, in the end).
We do all of our beatmatching and all by ear. What we’ve done is run my rig into a four channel mixer that his decks are in so he has some control over my EQ. We do everything on the fly and just try to make the songs and transitions as interesting and exciting as possible.
It enhances the mix for us because we both come from very different backgrounds as DJs (he’s House and pop, I’m industrial and trance) and it allows us to overlap songs that we would have never thought of doing before.
The main downside is that the mix can go terribly wrong if someone stops paying attention. If the beat falls off, or communication stops occuring things can just end poorly.
The thing is I’m talking about layering mixes together. If we’re talking about just going back to back then I’ve done that so many times with other DJs, and it’s just fun to do.
I haven’t done the collaborative thing too many times, but every time I have it’s been a blast.
i also play out with a friend of mine every once in a while. we both run traktor on separate systems and do all the syncing by ear. you can peek at the other persons laptop and have a look at their bpm, adjust your tempo to that bpm, and then match it by ear. that way, once its matched, the 2 songs will stay in sync perfectly as long as you dont mess with the pitch. i run an all midi setup, while he mixes externally on a djm800. i usually mix 4 decks while he mixes 2 or 3, which frees up a channel on his mixer. it works quite well actually, i run the outs of my soundcard to the free channel of his mixer, that way he can adjust the master volume of my setup and do some additional external effects all through his mixer. Another plus to this setup is that i can play solo, he can play solo, or we can both play together, all without switching anything in the setup, which makes switching djs a breeze.
i am quite keen on djing as a duo actually. you have to be on your toes, because you dont always know which track or sample or loop is going to come on next, and yet you still have to find something nice to mesh with that. but i guess thats why i like it. it keeps things fresh.
I remember when the 2x4 had DJs facing eachother battle style. Hands flew everywhere and it was always a crazy experience. (2 DJs, 4 Turntables. 2x4. muahahaha)
Unrehearsed collaboration, usually comes down to knowing music well enough that you can “jam” and understanding the non-verbal cues to “jamming” You both not only need to be paying attention to the crowd but paying attention to each other and be able to pick up on their cues and give the other one cues.
i defintely like tag teaming as it gives you more time think of a track, and keeps you on your toes because the other DJ’s library is different than yours.
Damn we are definitely going to try this out, does anyone have any info on syncing two laptops ala hawtin style, as this will allow me to play with loops all crazy like and still be able to come back in time. Can we send midi over an ethernet cable. There are actually going to be 3 djs there, however one guy has a 300 and is using itch, can itch be synced also? if we could all sync our laptops that would be pretty crazy, might be kinda hard not to step on toes, but we’ll see. I am also seeing about getting some freestyle rappers to come expand our retinue and possibly some BBoys so this party should be pretty fun. Will have pics up for you guys in a few days.
Thanks for all the input.
I’d say just do it all by ear. Or, if you want to get really simple, just give a standard tempo and everything will be sync’d by ear. Shouldn’t be that hard.
sweet pix tekki. ill take some on sunday, Im running a 2 vci’s & 2 macbooks into a 2 ch Numark mixer. Plus we sync by ear and keep the bpm’s around 130.
good on yas to be honest its pretty limiting only using the one vci due to size/space factors so we’ve just been playin back to back while we wait for the firmware upgrade to come out.
More specifically,
one comp + one vci back to back
at this point it just makes it more fun, but when we get 4 deck control things will change. (firmware cough)
prolly beggining to sound like a broken jog-wheel now (i made a funny ), but the FIRMWARE UPGRADE will bring the potential to be playing 4 tracks at once, 4 effects banks etc. also open doorways to layering/looping too.
and prolly a whole lot of other stuff that im no good at remembering when im hung over
Ru-bix vs Jester was just me and my brother originally, we have tried a few methods for the changeover but now that i’m doing mainly house, the tempo difference between me and my brothers psy sets is too great so we usually just come up with something on the night, Even just a slow down then spin off. I have made a few short instrumental intro’s also, always good to overlay on your last track. e.g boom boom boom // ladies and gentlemen…// that sort of thing.
Now we have a Dubstep/Breaks guy on the crew and i’m training up another mate on traktor also.
Sometimes once i’m done i like to lap up the praise b4 letting anyone else plays haha.
Hands flew everywhere and it was always a crazy experience. (2 DJs, 4 Turntables. 2x4. muahahaha)
),
to be honest its pretty limiting only using the one vci due to size/space factors so we’ve just been playin back to back while we wait for the firmware upgrade to come out.
), but the FIRMWARE UPGRADE will bring the potential to be playing 4 tracks at once, 4 effects banks etc. also open doorways to layering/looping too.