Ive been learning how to dj with traktor and an X1 the past month or so and I see improvement all the time, especially since I started recording myself. I still cant seem to wrap my brain around effects though. Ive read a lot of effect combo threads and watched a lot of videos on youtube but I never produce anything I like when I freestyle with effects. I have a frame of mind to let the music speak for itself so far.
My question is two fold I guess. Are there other people out there who dont really like to use effects? Also, what effects do you use specifically for buildups?
I do think that most of them sound cheesy, especially if they are overused. However I do use them the basic ones such as filter, delay and reverb moderately. The ‘hawtin’ style effect is also a winner if used correctly.
ome people use effects far far too much and they just sound terrible imo.
The trick is to use them only when you know they’ll enhance the music for the crowd. The best time for this is generally the build up to a drop or a break. Also learn just a few at a time, the effects selection in traktor is HUGE. Start with beatmasher, filter, delay and maybe one or two others. Then once you’ve mastered them, start on a few more.
a little goes along way… i don’t need to be reminded that i’m listening to a DJ every 2 minutes with obnoxious knob twiddling and cheesy flanger/beatmashing sounds.
pick songs that sound TOO GOOD TO RUIN WITH LAYERS OF GOOFY FX.
I love playing with the effects at home. Playing out, or recording, I try to avoid them as much as possible. Echo freeze is the only one I tend to use in public, and I try to keep that to a minimum too.
I spent the first several years of my DJing without being able to use effects. Realistically, I didn’t have access to effects that didn’t suck until I switched to Ableton and then Traktor…I spent a LOT of time on Ableton building effects devices that were playable…and then didn’t use them.
When I switched to Traktor, it was one of the things I was excited about.
Now…my X1s don’t even have controls for effects mapped. I don’t remember the last time I used anything but a delay or a beatmasher, and I don’t remember them ever adding enough to my sets to bother with.
My feeling is that if I’m so tired of a track that I feel it needs effects, I probably should go ahead and delete it. If it happens in the first month or so, I probably shouldn’t have bought that track.
But…I’m weird. In a lot of ways, I don’t belong on DJTT.
depends on the gig. If i’m mixing in a big club, like huge then I keep the mix clean and simple, maybe use an echo, reverb, or filter to make build-up good and clean.
If im playing at a smaller gig where I am the lead or something I use them a little more and experiment. Beatmasher, crush, roll, phaser, flanger ect.
I only use Delay, Reverb, and Filter on a DJM. I tried all sorts of wacky combo’s when I used to use traktor and I mapped and created super knobs, etc. I find less is more. A little bit of an effect during a build up or a little reverb or or delay during a nice vocal can get a crowd moving. To me, anything much more than that usually sounds like over done garbage. It takes a very special DJ to pull off Hawtin style effect after effect and have it sound good. That’s not me.
Agreed…wholeheartedly. Frankly, I don’t really like it when Hawtin does it except that the minimal he spins is so freaking boring without it if you’re anywhere near sober…that you kinda can’t just play tracks.
I can count on my fingers the DJs that I thought had a solid grasp of effects usage and wound up using them. One handful are pros…the others are either DJTT, DJF, or ALDJF members.
since i’m djing psychedelic dance music which is really “intense” i don’t use much efx besides some filtering and eq’ing and this is something i also don’t “overuse” because it kicks my audience out of their trance dance experience
and when im spinning the decks in situations where the “trance dance experience” is obviously not the aim of the crowd, i select the tracks in a different way that creates more big switches in the groove or style and try to “fun/funk up” the mix in that way rather than overuse dumb effects ;D
Depends on the genre of the tracks I’m playing. The more noisy and fat the track (Electro house, american dubstep etc.) the less I use effects. With techno, tech house etc. I tend to use the effects more as I have more space to play in. Looping 8 bars and messing it up with the beatmasher + delay + iceverb/reverb on track A while doing a live mix with track B is awesome and fun.
I sometimes feel like I am missing out on something when I don’t use effects - I have a friend who goes apesh** on the gaters and beatmashers - looks cool twisting knobs but it usually comes off terrible (especially because he plays a lot of overproduced remixes).
I mostly use filters and this one combo chain for build ups (for that whooshy sound). I use gater and beatmasher on the 1/4 setting to add personal flavor to tracks that don’t contain much swing once in a while … Other than that, the only other thing I do is just drop the bass once in a while to build tension
I’m not to hot on effects either, but sometimes if cue juggling a vocal, the delay helps out. Echo Freeze is at the top of my list I run it at the end of the track playing before the drop of the new track starts a lot. I also use it in combination with beat masher running doubles frequently now, beat mash away running drum rolls, echo freeze on the last word of the vocal, back to beat mashing with mayhem fingers, all the while the track is still playing with out glitching it up horribly. I like playing synced doubles in general if I am going to go nuts with effects.
Last set I recorded, used effects once.
