So now more than with 12" I think it is easier to “learn” your tracks with easily created and labeled cue points but nothing is the same as jut KNOWING your tracks.
That being said I’ve always wondered how big name traveling DJs to bedroom DJs learned their tracks. If you’re buying 10+ tracks a week and you are a bedroom DJ with a day job and at least a 30min commute like me, then it’s easy to burn them and listen to them in the car. I also listen to them while in the gym 3+ days a week for at least an hour.
However…there are only so many hours in a day and DJs are constantly buying new material to stay fresh so after like one week its time for the next batch of new tracks to try to learn. I luckily have a mp3 car stereo that displays the track metadata so I can see the name and artist but listening in the gym Im not so lucky. If I wrote code I’d make an app. that used text to speech technology to read the name and artist before each track to help me learn.
Its funny how the digital realm changes the subtle things too. Flipping through crates and associating tracks with images (covers) isn’t the same anymore (if at all). I know you’ve got the tiny little cover-art icons you can “flip” though in Traktor but its like, only 30% of the tracks consistently come with cover art (at beatport anyway). I know you can go and track them down and apply art to your files but hell…what a waste of time.
Im sure there are MANY DJs out there (big name ones too) that dont really bother learning their tracks these days since it is SO easy to sync, mix, move on. Any interesting techniques you all use for learning your tracks?
I listen, I practice mixing at home, and honestly, gridding and cue-ing help me learn the tracks as I need to find the right points to put those cue points.
But I buy music so quickly that I cycle through new music very swiftly unless it really grabs me, which these days seems to be rarer and rarer.
I have my iPod sync with my playlist that I use to dj. what I do is dump all my new tracks in a new playlist and listen to them while working or driving. I think Chilly mentioned it in the past that he would listen to music while driving and he would want to mix out during the break of the song, I do the same thing.
Mr 909 I do agree that alot of dj’s esp. digital one dont scrub thru there music to setup up cue points and so on. I seen alot of traktor djs that dont even analyze there songs.
one more thing that makes me learn tracks less is: mixed in key.
It assigns keys to tracks and put its info in the track comment tag. Then selecting the right tracks becomes easier than before, chance that they will clash big time is greaaatly reduced.
That said, my greatest shortcoming as a dj is that i don’t know my tracks well enough, and im also puzzled how to tackle the problem efficiently.
The only way for me to do a good set is to prepare a playlist and practice on that. Improvising and being sure it will go well is only possible if ive been mixing a selection of tracks for the whole week.
I think tagging the hell out of your songs actually helps reinforce learning them - ie naming all your cue points, with how many beats there are in the intro, how long the drop is, how long the breakdown is, how long the second drop it, how long the outro is.
Also dropping looping points helps give you a good idea of how how many beats are in each section of your track because you can visually see it which serves as a nice reminder when your mixing. Also the fact that you actually write all this information down reinforces the this into your mind - think of it like studying a book for a test, if your writing notes this helps you learn ALOT faster and ALOT more accuratly as opposed to just reading the book a couple times over.
I agree with everything said here, making yourself sit down and properly prepare your tracks is the best method for a digital DJ to know their track collection.
I think it’s better to consciously avoid the proliferation of music availble on the internet and limit yourself to keeping in your collection tracks which, as Dvls said, GRAB you.
Vinyl Djs couldn’t and generally still can’t afford to go out and but 30 vinyls worth of new music a week. I think Digital DJs, especially amateurs like myself, need to keep some of that mentality of building a collection bit by bit so that one can be familiar with it as much as possible.
yea I have noticed that when I get a lot of a songs at once I end up only using a few of them which is a bad thing, it is much better to get songs individually.
See, when I get a bunch of songs together I find myself using a few of them, but I can be very discerning in what I use. If I buy individual tracks I might miss out on something else that after a few listens might grab me more than the first pass through.
personanlly i get my music in large budles and listen to it for 8 hours a day (this is at work for me) over and over again until i get more. generally i am able to choose the ‘best’ ones from that list and get rid of the ones i dont likie
I love magical mixes where the music takes you on a journey larger than the sum of it’s parts. Problem is, the experience of creating a magical mix is very dull - Reach into your subconsious, choose a couple of bunches of related tracks (these three go together, these two layer nicely), slap tracks together make the transitions between the groups not suck. Most of the mixes are simple crossfades or mix-over-loop-until-the-drop-comes, once in a while there’s a technical transition that requires careful rehearsal.
Only days after making the mix can you see whether it was a good one. At the time, while I’m doing it I have no idea.
Learning your tracks? Listening.
A lot. In the car, at home, at my work desk. I try to buy only a few tracks at a time and spend weeks working with just them, trying them with choice bits of my back catalog. I hate DJ mixes where it just this weeks tracks in some random order. Putting new tracks up against last years missed gems and unforgettable classics is where I am at right now.
As I use public transportation, I find plenty of time on my hour ride to work n from work, or the random bus/train trips I take to go meet with friends or run errands. I usually copy new stuff over immediately over on to my PSP (it’s bulky, but it gives me the option for games and movies too!), and listen to it several times to get a good feel. Then from there certain tracks will make it in to a regular rotation of either interesting things or stuff I am really digging on. This goes for both tracks I plan on using when spinning and any music in general. Hell I use this method for some of my school stuff as well… ha!!
i’ll usually download a good amount of singles, albums, etc. and then go through and give each song a quick listen and generally filter out the ones that i don’t like much. i’ll usually rate 1-5 stars in itunes on how much i initially like a song and then throughout the week i’ll give most of the 2 (or 3) - 5 stars a “real” listening
Album covers work wonders whether you can’t remember the name, or the titles just seem like a blur when you need a specific song under a limited time.
Something that helped me learn songs when I was younger was dancing to it. Associating certain parts of the songs with different movements. I helped open my ears to different parts of the song.
I thought that I was pretty much the only one that thought that. (hea that sounded wierd)
Anyway it’s true I seem to be going through tracks so quickly. Now with the creation of mp3 it seems that my choice of tracks has turned into a thought process of what I’m feeling at that point an time.
To really hang on to a track, to have it grab me and pull me in, is very very rare. I’m not sure if its the music being produced or the fact I’m to complacent with spending a buck 99 per track and just going threw web sites top 100. I remember when I would drop the cash for 7 vinyl. I would spend hours finding that one track, cuz I’ll be damned if im spending 15 bucks on a track i’m not sure of. Then It would be months before I could affored 7 more. So I would go through those tracks over and over. They would become apart of me.
Ya know, I pretty much just stuck my foot in my mouth here. I need to stop focusing on “wooo hooo a buck 99” and just sit back and dig. Look for those tracks and learn it live it love it, again.
Now dont get me wrong I’m all about leraning the track…lets face it people, what the point of placing that person on the dance floor in your head for an hour, if you dont even know what “your” trip is goin to be.
Sometimes the task of selecting which tracks to use can be overwhelming, I usually get 30 to 40 tracks a month, some of them I will delete because, even if they are good, the don’t fit my style. Too agressive, too slow… whatever… Having you own personal style of music helps a lot in the whole process, you know what kind of mood, what kind of beat progression you like so you choose those tracks that go along (if you are listening to that one track and at the same time you can imagine how “great” it would sound while you are in your pefect party then it might work).
After choosing I do everything I can do with a track, first they will go thru Rapid Evolution to correct Tags, genre and everything, this way I start learning the track, after RE tracks go to Mix in Key to be able to have the keys written in the tags. Then it’s all in Traktor, I make a monthly playlist with all the tracks I’m gonna work with that month, I will make the grids, make hot cues, specially loops, I will write down comments of how I feel the track (I don’t use the genre option as a guide, think it feels better if i write something like dub techno, vocal deep house, fast, slow, anything that gives me a hint of the track, genres aren’t a good guide right know).
For the purpose of learning my tracks, I will take the monthly playlist as the one I will work with that month, repeat them once and again, mix between them and other favorite tracks I have… basically I’ll only play with those tracks for 4 weeks. By the end of the month I usually have a somewhat clear idea of what’s in that list so I can move on.
I think, as many people said before, mp3’s give a lot of options to choose, but it can be stressing, having many good tracks doesn’t mean they will sound good in your overall way of mixing. The more options you have the more “picky” you have to be.
