How do you use cue points? do you use cue points?

DJ Life & Community General Discussion
1

How do you use cue points? do you use cue points?

I personally use all 8 cue points, the first one as a grid marker, the second at the end of the intro, the third at the first breakdown and the forth at the start of the outro 5-7 are through the song at different points that arn’t as relavent but maybe ill want to look out for them and the 8th is a load marker at the start of the song,

So do you use cue points? if so how do you use them?

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i use them for juggling beats really. I am making an intro track using audio from the movie The Rocketeer, and juggling is fun.

3

I set the first one at the intro, one at the breakdown, then I use the rest for key lyrics. When I transition I like to drop out the beat, bring in a new one, and then let the chorus come in over the next song. Then if theres a one liner and the next track builds up I glitch it in the build and then the other track has the one liner and then I bring it back over and the bass hits. I hope that makes sense.

Also having one used as an marker for the last 16 of a song is kind of helpful.

4

grid on the first beat (i use the beat counter)

then i fill up all the other 7 slots in one spot

fade in on the drop, and then i skip back 16 beats and put a cuepoint, then another 16 with a cuepoint and so on till im at the first beat

then i put a fade in at the start of the break down

skip forward 16 and set a cue and i keep doing that till i reach the end of the breakdown, then i set another fade in

then i do the same for the second breakdown (if there is one) and for the outtro (if its a decent one)

then i delete all 7 cue points (grid is the 8th) and now i have unmarked cue points and fade in markers and i still have 7 slots to use for whatever

5

With Map option (if talking about Traktor) you can have all 8 slots, don’t waste one slot for grid marker.

6

map option?

it isnt a problem for me because i never use more than 5 cues

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Set grid (CUE1), set another cue (e.g. Load Marker - CUE2), press Map, then CUE1.

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  1. Grid
    2-7. Various points throughout the track. I use those a lot to jump forward/backward in a song.
  2. Load (same position as 1 usually)
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I ALWAYS have a load marker, and it is ALWAYS cue point number 1 no matter where it is on the track (9 times out of 10 it’s either an 8 or 16 bar run up to the drop for quick mixing). If the load marker is always number 1 you know you dont have to look at the screen to go back to where you would normally cue a track from if you need to go back to it, just hit 1 and you are at the perfect point to cue from. If the load marker is not at the very beginning of the track (which normally it isn’t) cue point 2 will always take me back to the beginning… perfect for rewinds or tracks you’ve loaded into the deck for the first time and the grid marker comes after where the wave form begins meaning it will sound shit if you start it from the grid marker… just hit cue point 2 and BANG, you know where you stand… always at the beginning of the track. Cue’s 3 onwards will be vital parts of the track; drops, break downs, build ups etc. I use a couple for beat juggling, like maybe 2-4 cue points will be snares, kicks, vocal stabs etc. I try to keep these at cue points 4 onwards as I have 8 hot cue buttons on my launchpad, 1-4 on top of 5-8 so it makes sense to have the bottom 4 as juggle cues and the top for a vital track point cues.
Thats how I operate

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not to be an ass, but some paragraph breaks would make ^^that^^ a lot easier to read :wink:

I personally like Ean’s method of putting the grid marker at the point of where you should be done mixing into (ie where the lyrics or actual song content start)

I use the rest of the cues for key lyrics and major changes in the song structure for mixing options.

11

I do much of what I’ve read already, usually a load marker at the tracks beginning and what ever I feel like cueing per track. Sometimes breaks some times vocal spots, sometimes snares, kicks, hits or sounds.

HOWEVER, I am wondering about loop points. Sometimes I see vid’s where it seems like they are using loop points as opposed to cues.

I would like to know when, why and where people are using loop points as opposed to cues? But maybe loop points as cues?

12

I am new and very green in the DJing world but I have for a few songs that have a pronounced beat make a 4-8beat loop (saved) so that it’s easy to pick back up the perfect part I want say 16 counts before I need to transition. This has been working for me quite well in this regard. I then have mapped a decrease loop button so it goes from a 4 count to 2, then 1, then 1/2 and so on and causes a cool effect then release the loop.

I find that technique works well on something like Deadmau5’ Ghosts n’ Stuff where I have it looped when the beat hits, shorten the loop down to like 1/16th then start the whole song for the intro. I’ve never done a gig but when I tried it on my friends they gave great feedback. Keep em’ coming guys! I’m loving the help here!

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Maybe two or 3 (including the grid) at the most, however when i’m programming a recording i’ll probably use most of them.