BASIC BEAT MIXING

Now, something more difficult: Beat Mixing. Beat mixing is mixing two beats exactly over each other during a certain period. The difficulty with this is that different songs have different tempos. Synchronizing B with A is the first problem, keeping them synchronized is the second (as a general tip, I would say don’t use beatlock for this)
Beatmixing is only possible when the two songs are playing at the same speed.

Therefore , during playing one needs the ability to move a playing song a bit forward or a bit backward, such that they stay synchronized. This is called nudging.

- Syncing & positioning
When a suitable song has been selected and it is playing at the correct tempo one needs to start the song at the correct moment. Typically this moment is at the beginning of a phrase (that is the beginning of 8 measures). Normally, when the song is started it won't start exactly at the moment you intended it. Therefore, you will need to nudge a little bit. Look at the waveform to see if you need to nudge it forward or backwards to make it stay in beat with the song playing. AND THIS SHOULD BE DONE IN YOUR HEADPHONES; when u pre-listen the mix, and NOT NOT live… lol.. First when beats are in sync, you can move crossfader so that the sound goes out live. Having an external controller like XP10 or Hercules makes nudge a lot easier, using the jogwheels on the controller.

(MORE ABOUT BEATMIXING AND POSITIONING IN NEXT POST IN THIS TREAD)


- Pitching and nudging
If your beatmix is a longer one (2 songs on “top of eachoter”) keep watching the wavedisplay. During the time the two songs overlap the tempo difference between the two songs (even if it is a VERY small tempo difference) will result in a slight synchronization drift.
To solve this one needs to know beforehand which song is the slowest one of both. Pitch the slower one up a LITTLE, and nudge forward to make it sync in beats again.

- Cross fading & EQ shift
When you finally have the two beats exactly over each other in your headphones you want to switch slowly to song B. Before you do this be sure to cut off the bass drum with the equalizer. Otherwise you get a very nasty (and ugly) flanging effect on the bass drums. If the volume is good, switch off song A's bass drum slowly while you turn on songs B's bass drum. This way it will go unnoticed.

- Breaking
Once you have learned how to crossfade two songs, you might want to experiment with sudden breaks and gaps in the music, or faster fades. This will give the music more punch and keep people dancing.

(MORE ABOUT MIXING AND EQ USE IN LATER POST)


* Some Final hints
Practice!! Have a small mixing device at home
Learn from other DJ's: Listen to them and what they do, the songs they are playing as the small shifts they make. Listen also at the faults they make and how they could have avoid it. Beware: the better you become, the more frustrating it is to go to parties
Take enough sound-cables, power-cables and so on with you. Don't expect something will be available. Also take a mirror with you. Some mixing tables are that fixed and unreachable that you will need a way to see.
Don't forget a lamp.
Tape your sessions and listen to them afterwards.
Check all settings at mixer etc – dj’s often leave a mess .. lol