I ust wanted to thank you guys for convincing me to buy my S4 a couple weeks ago. As a beginner it was the perfect choice for me (price, usability, software, etc).
Every day I learn something new about it, though I still feel like I’m not using it to its full potential. How should I learn to use more than 2 decks at a time or make use of the sample decks? I want to create more elaborate mixes that sound both unique and full though don’t really know where to start.
Practice, practice, practice. Start by using one sample slot, then build on that. I usually will find a generic percussion bit from a song or one of the free samples out there and use it throughout the mix.
This. As far as I’m concerned there’s no shortcut, you need to just play around with different techniques, make mistakes and learn from them. I’m sure that if I’d recorded myself back when I started I would listen to it now in horror and disbelief, but that’s totally normal!
And as a side note, 4 deck mixing and sample use isn’t the be-all and end-all of mixing music. There’s a lot of hype about it recently, but for a beginner I’d recommend you just concentrate on mixing 2 tracks together smoothly. Work out how to use the EQs and filters effectively. Learn track phrasing. Don’t be afraid to turn off sync every now and then to see what happens.
I’ve been buying interning this summer 40 hrs/week but once I head back to my university I’ll have a lot more time to practice. Especially after a couple fraternity parties I’m sure I’ll volunteer to DJ for
Thanks for the advice!
Question: What are your opinions on using a laptop stand (crane) and what is the correct way to cue up a song in one’s headphones?
When I’m in my room with my speakers facing me I can go 1 ear with my hd-25s and listen to the track playing and listen to the cue’d up track by itself on the headphone (cue mix knob all the way to the left.) BUT when I’m elsewhere and the speakers are facing away from me (towards audience), it’s hard to hear the track playing so I turn that cue mix knob to the middle. Is this correct?
Lastly, my favorite effects are beatmasher and gater. Do these really sound as cool as I think (vid related) in certain points of songs or are they just annoying. In general how often do you use effects and what are your favorite?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrzWo4w3HYo&feature=relmfu
[quote]When I’m in my room with my speakers facing me I can go 1 ear with my hd-25s and listen to the track playing and listen to the cue’d up track by itself on the headphone (cue mix knob all the way to the left.) BUT when I’m elsewhere and the speakers are facing away from me (towards audience), it’s hard to hear the track playing so I turn that cue mix knob to the middle. Is this correct?
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Get a monitor speaker to sit beside you (ask nicely) - even a cheap powered one is better than nothing, but pretty essential if you’re a one-ear-on one-ear-off mixer.
When i started djing, a friend who also is a dj for many years, made me find the bpm without the bpm counter. And also made sure i could beatmix 4/4 beats to start with. Why do this? you get the feeling of songs better (my opinion) and better at beatgridding. And ofcourse some songs do not have the beatgrid correct thru the whole song (billie jean anyone) so you will be able to sync manually=)
If you can get good enough to use the effects like DJPromote does in that video, then they will sound good. He has a command of the music he is playing and of the S4 and I think that is what makes it all work/ sound right.
- even a cheap powered one is better than nothing, but pretty essential if you’re a one-ear-on one-ear-off mixer.
