Now I know to DJ, you must beatmatch 2 songs, make sure they go along together and are in cue and all that, but my question is, is it possible to cue one song after another when their bpm’s are completely separate like lets say the song thats on is 130 bpm while the cued song is lets say 90?
The reason I ask this is because, Ive heard plenty of DJ’s (spinning hip hop in this situation) and they go from a song from a really high bpm to a much lower bpm. Also, Some of these DJ’s play just 10 or 20 seconds of a song maybe the chorus or a certain part of a verse, is this some kind of technique? How do you beatmatch so quick?? lol sorry if these are dumb questions just really curious and yes also pretty new at this.
Most of those hip hop Djs are not even beat matching the track, they do a quick cut over w a cross fader. they may beat match like 1 or 2 beat before they cut but bascilly they are just cutting over using the crossfader. They also do whats called beat juggling which is sort of like beatmatching except they are taking two of the same records and making a new beat out of the same track. You tube DJ craze for an idea of how this is done. infact just you tube any of the DMC world championship videos pretty insane sick stuff. also check out DJ qbert & mix mastermike for more.
beat matching it typically used in EDM, house trance, jungle, hardcore, etc. etc.
Oooohh that makes a lot more sense. Now my next question or thought is, is hip hop much easier to DJ then EDM? Or maybe easy isn’t the best word but less technical? Besides scratching what other techniques is there to really learn for hip hop? (of course besides cutting over to the next song as you mentioned)
And am I right to think the rules of BPM is sort of non existent for hip hop DJing?
Im not trying to say DJing hip hop is easy or easier, kinda just playing devils advocate to get the full idea.
I have always heard this called the “slam” transition. I will most often use this when moving from “fast” to “slow.” Basically, cue up the next song on the “1”, and when the current song reaches an “8” or “16” or “32”, slam to the next song so that the “1” lines up. You have the whole beat between the “8” and “1” in the current song to make the transition…don’t rush it!
Ean Golden covered this in a video with 5 different transitions. This is first mix “Hip-hop slam”, and that is the easiest way to blend between two songs that are very different in tempo. I think the songs in the video are available for download, with all the cue points labeled. Very handy for practicing.
+1 Beatmixing is (relatively) straightforward when the two songs are close in bpm to begin with AND when the beats are electronically generated and precise. EDM sub genres can be constrained into relatively tight tempo groups, and the beats are machine generated…so it lends itself to beatmixing and beat juggling.
Live drummers can drift a little…but it’s normally possible to find 8, 16, or 32 beats that are stable enough to mix in/out of a song with a live drummer. Prep is the key to success.
A lot of current hip-hop, urban, and even Top 40 music is mastered with a very tight tempo control. Mixing these genres is hard(er), because you will often only get 8 beats of an outro, and 8 beats of an intro to make the mix. These tails can be looped to allow more time. But, in a live set, “slams” are the perfect get out of hell free card.
as far as being easier or harder. I mean IDK it depends really.
Do want to just play top 40 crap rap at some high school dance or some weding or some lame top 40 type club, then sure sounds easy. U can slam tracks on the cross fader all night long and no one will care or notice. Ur basicly a human jukebox. I would get a dollar feeder installed ASAP.
If u really wanna play hip hop then i would say NO its not the “eaistest” at all. In fact I consider (im gonna get hell for this i just know it) guys like grand master flash, dj craze, Qbert & mix master mike tobe the REAL DJs. Scratching is one of the most insanely diffult things to do. its practially on par with drumming. you have to be very coordinated. Plus beat juggling and crab scratching and all that stuff is just crazy crazy sht. these guys are really really talented and bascily turn the turntable into a musical insturment. YOu tube, q-bert or even the Executionars awsome awsome sht. also you tube DMC world championships some good stuff there.
As for beatmatching i mean that probably one of the easiest parts of djing. if u want easy, i would go for like electro of even funky house type stuff. NU NRG or UK hard house if thats still around is retardly easy to mixing.
Cool Ill definitely check all those guys out later on and as for easy, nope that’s not at all what I’m looking for.
What I want to spin and be the best at is House and its sub-genres, but I’d like to and will practice hip hop for parties or friends or anything and just to know it as well since I do enjoy that genre as well.
And Djtom420 since you said beatmatching is one of the easiest parts of djing, what would you consider the more difficult parts? Again im still fairly new to this so im trying to get the general idea and this thread has been pretty helpful so far.
I wouldn’t necessarily say beat matching is easy, if you include proper phrasing, track selection, etc. Actually matching beats and staying matched for long mixes will take a bit of practice, but DJing is more intricate than that. I have to say that not only does traktor make beat matching a cinch, but it makes phrasing pretty easy too. It is a touch more complicated when you mix vinyl. Knowing your records backwards and forwards is extremely important. Not all tracks follow the 4-8-16-32-64 beat pattern.
I would say what digweed and sasha do is probably the hardest thing. they make it sound like they never change records, espically sasha, im going through some sets of his right now from the last quater of last year and its like somtimes i cant even tell he mixed in or out of another track its just so flawless. and i have a pretty good ear, i can usally tell when a djs mixing in or out of a track.
If u really wanna spin house I recommend the DJ of djs. Danny Teneglia. The man is a house GOD!!! Also Sasha and digweed are just great.
But this is just my opion man, i mean other guys on here may see things differently. I just happen to be one of those DJs that prefers to mix sets in a way that u cant tell tracks are coming or going, i think they call it LONG MIXING. its just my preference and the guys above are I guess my idols or whatever u wanna call it.
Probably the hardest is what qbert, Dj Craze, mixmaster mike and all those cats are doing. the DMC championship stuff will shatter ur world its just amaszing what these guys do.
Your’re not comparing apples to apples. I came onto this site as a biased, narrow-minded prog/house/electro ‘long-mix’ noob. What I have seen the likes of Ean and all the other DJ’s featured on this site doing has been an eye-opener. The music might not be my scene, but the ‘controllerism’ is amazing. I still dig Sasha, Digweed et al, but given half a chance I would love to see the likes of Hawtin in action.
Im a fan of these dj’s especially danny t since I am in nyc and hes djing here like every other week. But yea I get the general idea now, this thread has helped a lot thanks to everyone who contributed. I think that flowing from one song to the next seamlessly would be the ultimate goal for a house dj but of course its whatever works for the crowd.
Ok I gotta ask then. What is Hawtin doing>? whats his setup like? is he using laptops or TT and CDJs? Ill DL a mix from him and check it out. Iv heard his name a 1000 times over for the last decade, but have never heard him play b4 LOL…
LOL i even have a record he produced under the plastickman alias. LOL
SOOOOO i checked out a video of Ritchie, and i dont get what ur talking about. he using abelton and a controller. the video went closeup on his mac book and there was only 2 audio channels playing in abelton. I mean ur using abelton there no excuse to have only 1 or 2 channels going. I usally have 6 going so I dont see whats so hard about what hes doing… just my 2cents…
p.s. o and it was a 30 min video i found on themixingbowl so it wasnt just one song or somthing he mixed about 4 or 5 tracks during the course of the 30 min video.
