Learning Tool - Looking for Feedback on Concept

FreakBoy

FreakBoy

New member
So for the past 5 years I've been the worlds worst DJ. Originally due to a lack of turntables to practice on, and then due to a lack of records that were within mixable range.

To solve the problem of not having enough records I got myself Torq with Connectiv (thank you christmas bonus). Now I have plenty of things to mix and to help me learn to beat match.

Before I start taking advantage of the really crazy stuff that Torq will allow me to do I'm forcing myself to get my bread & butter DJ skills down so that I could still DJ on a system without Torq.

Since I still have problems hearing the direction of the drift, I still have problems beat matching. So I hit upon an idea that might help me out.

The idea is to start of simple and build up the sonic complexity as I learn.

First I will create a few simple drum loops (with my FL Studio) with no real backing music. Export those as mp3s in a load of different BPM. Open these up in Torq and randomly choose two to mix, when I get the mix, hold it for a bit, then load up the next file... rinse and repeat.

Thoughts?
 
That should work well, it's somewhat similar to how I practice by grabbing random break records and trying to mix them on the fly. Of course, by now I know my break records pretty well, so I know a lot of the BPMs off the top of my head.

Getting the beats to match up isn't too difficult, especially since you're just running with the drums right now. The next thing to watch out for is making sure you mix records that are in key with each other, or that when you mix records not in key, you're doing it on purpose.

Also, as far as mixing for a club is concerned, your beatmatching doesn't need to be perfect. You can be off between your records by several BPM, but as long as you fade over before the inconsistency is noticeable you'll get away with it. Trying to get records to match consistently for 30 seconds or more is a bit of a trick. Especially if you're mixing music that has a live drummer, as his BPM will be inconsistent with itself at times.
 
Thanks for the input. :D
I really have no aspirations towards mixing in a club, though if I was good enough it would be fun. I'm doing this solely because I like it. I had a great friendship back when I lived in California with the guy who started me spinning. I'd go over, we'd have beers and spin (well he'd spin, I'd mess up) for hours on end.

Thats really what I'm in for. I went very quickly from wanting to spin Trance, to House, and now I'm interested in breaks and IDM.

Oddly I have more consistent success with the IDM. Not that its much, but I catch the beats better. I think it has something to do with the lower BPM of my favorite tracks (BoC, Tipper, Luke Vibert and some random crap).

If all that my spinning amounted to was me and a couple of friends sitting around and listening to tunes, I'm more than happy with that.

Though first I have to make it so there aren't so many trainwrecks
 
learning how to count bars should help you to. As soon as you get that, it makes everything else simple. Well it did for me.
 
I've got counting bars... I have trouble when it comes to hearing both tracks at the same time, and if there's any real speed to it... telling which way the drift is going.
 
learning to beatmatch that way is good but its not just about beat matching drum patterns.
for example in some songs it might be harder to count the 1,2,3,4 beat if theres like bongos in the background or something or alot of instruments playing at once. u need to learn to isolate sounds in a song to calculate which way a song is drifting. i've been DJing for a while and still hard to hear which way a song is drifting. like practicing anything else though its gonna be frustrating as hell to pick up certain sounds or drums and beatmatch properly but all of a sudden it'll sound clear to you one day. and you'll finally hear what you been practicing for all this time.
i hope that made sense and good luck
 
I'm right up on that. I started with trance (as so many do) and found that there were certain songs where I just couldn't get my ear into the beat correctly.

The plan with the loops was to start with simple drums, and then add stuff to mess with myself.

Of course, I'm still spinning regular music to. Trying to spend some time spinning every day. If for nothing more than to learn the tracks better.
 
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