TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 0:15 Episode overview 1:25 Tips for "quick mixing" on the fly? 9:52 How to branch out from single-genre mixing? 13:19 Advice for building confidence as a DJ? 20:48 Tips for improving the sound of older tracks? 27:58 Best way to approach a DJ set playing background music? 32:19 How do DJs pick which transition techniques they use during a set? 39:17 Any DJ apps that help with preparing mixes? 42:16 Ways to get DJ gigs in a small town? 45:13 How to book more DJ gigs? 47:14 What's the best way to EQ tracks in a DJ mix?
On quick mixing. I use a lot of beat jumping. I’ve got to where I rarely setup many cue points other than the first beat. Start with a 4 bar loop, jump to where I want to drop and wait for the proper moment and boom. Stems make it even easier tbh.
Re smalltown gigs - I've done 5 sets so far since Jan (1 per month) on a remote island in the middle of nowhere (WA 6798, ipad DJpro and Mixon Reloop Buddy) - 3 at a friend's keep fit boot camp for mainly work colleagues and 2 at an oldies stay on your feet session for Chinese Malay and Australian "seniors". I'm for the first time actually performing live sets -- preparing a set list pressing the buttons and using the sliders, cuing, mixing, doing transitions, reading the audience and making changes to my set list on the fly - ok I'm still terrible but they are very forgiving audiences and i've come on massively
Hello there! I am a 47 years old re-starting after 30 years. Last 18 months i did play many open formats in clubs over 40 (of age) because i knew the music allready, payd for difference drinks selling and mannaging to get up to 250 euro for that. Hard work i gotta say, keeping the floor up and then making them sit and drink with keeping audience happy the same time to be booked again. I tought myself "triks" to be able to make unbelievable "transitions" sometime but my public has never said something bad, i managed to get away with it. Also played some privat party's and weddings but never had the chance to play a festival for 90 minutes. I guess i will buy a dj course. Thank you for all your advices. I start learning.
Thank you, great show! I am a mobile DJ in central Florida. I have 26 years in the business; always learning, and now I'm always watching your tips. I have to play multiple genres and have to be familiar with Latino as well, so the mixing changes. Everything you've said is well thought out, and is gold to the new DJ as well as us older ones. I only wish I knew someone back in the day, like you, to learn from, as I am self taught.
Sat here currently watching this video . Another great one thanks . Is there a definite definition of energy levels ?? Or is it purely personal?? Would it be done by BMP/key or ?? Thanks
It is personal and it is not fixed. A track the crowd loves will have a higher energy level compared to the same track played to a crowd that doesn’t love it so much. So it is art as much as science
You can adjust the trim in rekordbox in the Beat grid adjust section so the volume is somewhere near, serato can be adjusted on the dial at the top of the screen
I'm not the best DJ by any stretch of the imagination, but very few people know more than I do when it comes to sound quality. Watching the video, I see some huge red flags. Most of the problems come from not understanding how the hardware works, and not understanding how the actual music formats work, as well. It seems like volume was the biggest concern. The single most important thing you need to know about volume controls, is to know the difference between a volume control and a gain control. Even though they both adjust volume, they're completely different, and not interchangeable. Even a fairly simple DJ setup can have multiple adjustment for gain and volume. Gain controls are always placed on the input of a component. Only a gain control can distort or damage an audio signal. Volume controls are always placed on the output of a component, and can't harm the signal no matter how you set it. If you've ever used a guitar amp, you'll know that if you want to get distortion you keep increasing the gain until the signal overdrives the input of the amp. You can do the exact same thing with any piece of audio equipment that has a gain control. That's why you always hear the term gain staging, but not volume staging. Every DJ should go through their entire system and make sure they know what every single adjustment is. When you set your equipment up, you need to focus on setting every gain control correctly. Each one has to play at an acceptable loudness, and there should be no distortion. Once you have gain set, leave it alone and use volume to adjust loudness. If you have an exception, like a trim adjustment that alters gain, that's fine. When you do your gain staging, just make sure it sounds clean in whatever range you typically use it. If you don't know all of this, you may plug into an unfamiliar system and have distortion issues. Instead of panicking, and randomly trying different level settings, you now know that the only way to fix it, is to lower your gain. There's one last detail that can be very important. Due to variance in equipment, you can have very different settings for different systems. I'm going to tell you something that no one has never told your before. Knobs and controls are not clocks. You don't put them at predetermined time settings. You set them where they need to be. If you want something that tells time, buy a watch. Now for the statement that is going to get me in trouble. Gain staging takes precedence over everything else. Sometimes you'll find that after you set your gains, you'll redline quickly with volume adjustments. It doesn't matter. If you are not overdriving any of the inputs, you can have solid red bars, and it will do absolutely do nothing to the signal. This next bit is going to be more practice. If you want better sound quality, you need to have a good understanding of the types of music formats you're working with as a DJ. This is where the industry really failed DJ's. Standard resolution for audio is considered CD quality. 16/44. The general equivalent in analog is vinyl LP's. Overall, both formats are about the same quality. Vinyl is considered to be the better format. But this only relevant for critical listening, usually on a higher end audio system. DJ gear doesn't the type of resolution you need to really hear the difference, so I'm just going to say both formats are the same quality. If we take a CD and rip it to a lossless file like flac or wav, at 16/44, you now have a music file that's the same quality as the CD you just ripped. 99% of DJ's work with MP3. That's a lossy format. If you look at the lossless rip you just made, the bit rate will be about 1000kbps. Most of the time its a little higher, but not enough to worry about for this discussion. When you transcode your lossless music file to MP3, the highest possible resolution you can choose is 32o kbps. If you don't have a CD or lossless file, you can buy downloads. Those are typically 256 kbps, even lower quality than 320. You need to be aware of these numbers for 2 reasons. When you transcode from 1000 to 320, that means you've taken about 2/3 of the musical information from the lossless file, and literally throw it away. Or, if you buy a 256 mp3, 75% of the music is thrown away. And it doesn't stop there. There are 2 types of volume controls you need to be aware of. Digital and analog. If you are using DJ software like Serato, you're going to have at least 1 digital volume control, probably more. Digital volume controls have some drawbacks. The resolution of your music files change as you make volume adjustments. You can only get full resolution of your digital music files if all of your digital volume controls are set to maximum. As you lower the volume, you lower the resolution. So, our 320 kbps music file is only is only 320 with max volume. DJ's have to constantly change volume when you're mixing. Its not optional. You can realistically loose 80 to 90% of the original file. This process is called bit stripping. The impact on sound quality can huge. I can only make my post so long. There's plenty of other factors that can effect sound quality, that I didn't go over. The topic is just too big cover it all in a single post,
Thank you for sharing this, all of which we teach at various places (we have detailed training on gain staging and file formats). You're right it is a big topic, and far too much to go into detail in one post or podcast, but you did a good job!.
What compact audio mixers\interfaces would you recommend for use with the DDJ-FLX4? I'm looking for a 4 channel (min) digital audio interface. I want this purely for music from the FLX4. The setup is simple: MC6000mk2\FLX4 (will be getting the Rane Four later this year) - 2 x 8" monitor speakers - 2 x 12" main speakers - 1 x 12" subwoofer. All speakers are active. I've read, and watched untold UA-cam video's, about mixers - that my brain is overloaded! Thanks in advance.
@@digitaldjtipsMainly for recording mixes. Just following the great advice given by your good self, about an audio interface in the dj kit bag, Phil. 😅
the live stream sounds easy but setting up whats hard like putting info into the twitch etc and how to use obs maybe make a templete that DJS can use to get started .
Last SUMMER; I travelled with my 'PERFECTED EURORACK MODULAR SYNTH'; I put the 'INSTRUO' Module; the INSTRUO 'LUBADH V2 (records 9 minutes/side) *TAPE EFFECTS is the SOUND 'FILM 📽️ TAPE, is RECORDED; I DJ VINYL; However... A MODULE with TAPE/DUB (OVERDUBING constantly SOUNDING like a an OVER PLAYED CASSETTE; I actually tried giving a TUTORIAL using the 'LUBADH' as a DJ CONTROLLER that FITS IN A (EURORACK); TAPE vs. VINYL VINYL: STATIC with FIREPLACE 'CRACLES and POP' TAPE: THAT WARM HISS SOUND ALL (BOTH ANALOG); TAPE/VINYL What BACKGROUND NOISE DO YOU PREFER??? SYNTHESIZER have options 'NOISE, WHITE NOISE, BLUE NOISE, CRUSHED NOISE (Using as a MODULAR to EFFECT the OSCILLATOR making the SOUND SOUND BRILLIANT; SAMPLE & HOLD and SYNTH MODULES (ALL DIFFERENT); YOU KNOW WHAT EURORACK SYNTH MODULES CAN DO??? AMAZING 🤩😍❤❤❤
Bro, I need help with transitioning, I suck at it but the crowds love my music and overlook it. Any suggestions besides lowering the bass and bringing it up on the other?
Having a problem -static in audio range 12 mk2 numark scratch and PC windows 11. Tried everything it plays normal then static starts after 5 to 10 minutes
Regarding songs sounding bad... I'm probably pretty extreme regarding track quality in that I remaster all tracks to a certain RMS and peak level so everything sounds similar. Also will EQ and do a minor compression if necessary. With the proliferation of music downloads, everybody is a mastering engineer these days - except they don't understand music quality with the waveforms. Tons of music downloads are beyond the clipping range of 0dbFS... or they are super compressed which squashes out the dynamics. And you try to mix those with a track that digitized form vinyl... drove me crazy. So I go through the trouble of remastering mp3 files. I use Audacity with a couple of plug-ins, along with a formula, and my ears... takes a few minutes - it's all good.
Put myself in the people shoes? I don’t think the people will like me , if I take their shoes ! I won’t get recommended and I can’t afford my jordans 😂
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Intro
0:15 Episode overview
1:25 Tips for "quick mixing" on the fly?
9:52 How to branch out from single-genre mixing?
13:19 Advice for building confidence as a DJ?
20:48 Tips for improving the sound of older tracks?
27:58 Best way to approach a DJ set playing background music?
32:19 How do DJs pick which transition techniques they use during a set?
39:17 Any DJ apps that help with preparing mixes?
42:16 Ways to get DJ gigs in a small town?
45:13 How to book more DJ gigs?
47:14 What's the best way to EQ tracks in a DJ mix?
On quick mixing. I use a lot of beat jumping. I’ve got to where I rarely setup many cue points other than the first beat. Start with a 4 bar loop, jump to where I want to drop and wait for the proper moment and boom. Stems make it even easier tbh.
Thanks for sharing
Re smalltown gigs - I've done 5 sets so far since Jan (1 per month) on a remote island in the middle of nowhere (WA 6798, ipad DJpro and Mixon Reloop Buddy) - 3 at a friend's keep fit boot camp for mainly work colleagues and 2 at an oldies stay on your feet session for Chinese Malay and Australian "seniors". I'm for the first time actually performing live sets -- preparing a set list pressing the buttons and using the sliders, cuing, mixing, doing transitions, reading the audience and making changes to my set list on the fly - ok I'm still terrible but they are very forgiving audiences and i've come on massively
This is amazing! Best way to learn is to do it.
Hello there! I am a 47 years old re-starting after 30 years. Last 18 months i did play many open formats in clubs over 40 (of age) because i knew the music allready, payd for difference drinks selling and mannaging to get up to 250 euro for that. Hard work i gotta say, keeping the floor up and then making them sit and drink with keeping audience happy the same time to be booked again. I tought myself "triks" to be able to make unbelievable "transitions" sometime but my public has never said something bad, i managed to get away with it. Also played some privat party's and weddings but never had the chance to play a festival for 90 minutes. I guess i will buy a dj course. Thank you for all your advices. I start learning.
Good work DJ Bastian!
Thank you, great show! I am a mobile DJ in central Florida. I have 26 years in the business; always learning, and now I'm always watching your tips. I have to play multiple genres and have to be familiar with Latino as well, so the mixing changes. Everything you've said is well thought out, and is gold to the new DJ as well as us older ones. I only wish I knew someone back in the day, like you, to learn from, as I am self taught.
Thanks David, and it sounds like you have taught yourself well!
Always enjoy watching your videos Phil.
I appreciate that
I am always looking for re-drums or remasters of these old songs - its a chore for sure - especially the 70's and 80's
Wanna team up on a Spotify playlist to share what we've found?
Sat here currently watching this video . Another great one thanks .
Is there a definite definition of energy levels ?? Or is it purely personal?? Would it be done by BMP/key or ??
Thanks
It is personal and it is not fixed. A track the crowd loves will have a higher energy level compared to the same track played to a crowd that doesn’t love it so much. So it is art as much as science
great question on quick mixing and answers from you and guests.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Super awesome video Phil. ❤
Glad you enjoyed it
You can adjust the trim in rekordbox in the Beat grid adjust section so the volume is somewhere near, serato can be adjusted on the dial at the top of the screen
Thank You!
You're welcome!
the new bumper looks super awesome
Thanks!
I'm not the best DJ by any stretch of the imagination, but very few people know more than I do when it comes to sound quality. Watching the video, I see some huge red flags. Most of the problems come from not understanding how the hardware works, and not understanding how the actual music formats work, as well.
It seems like volume was the biggest concern. The single most important thing you need to know about volume controls, is to know the difference between a volume control and a gain control. Even though they both adjust volume, they're completely different, and not interchangeable. Even a fairly simple DJ setup can have multiple adjustment for gain and volume. Gain controls are always placed on the input of a component. Only a gain control can distort or damage an audio signal. Volume controls are always placed on the output of a component, and can't harm the signal no matter how you set it. If you've ever used a guitar amp, you'll know that if you want to get distortion you keep increasing the gain until the signal overdrives the input of the amp. You can do the exact same thing with any piece of audio equipment that has a gain control. That's why you always hear the term gain staging, but not volume staging. Every DJ should go through their entire system and make sure they know what every single adjustment is. When you set your equipment up, you need to focus on setting every gain control correctly. Each one has to play at an acceptable loudness, and there should be no distortion. Once you have gain set, leave it alone and use volume to adjust loudness. If you have an exception, like a trim adjustment that alters gain, that's fine. When you do your gain staging, just make sure it sounds clean in whatever range you typically use it. If you don't know all of this, you may plug into an unfamiliar system and have distortion issues. Instead of panicking, and randomly trying different level settings, you now know that the only way to fix it, is to lower your gain. There's one last detail that can be very important. Due to variance in equipment, you can have very different settings for different systems. I'm going to tell you something that no one has never told your before. Knobs and controls are not clocks. You don't put them at predetermined time settings. You set them where they need to be. If you want something that tells time, buy a watch. Now for the statement that is going to get me in trouble. Gain staging takes precedence over everything else. Sometimes you'll find that after you set your gains, you'll redline quickly with volume adjustments. It doesn't matter. If you are not overdriving any of the inputs, you can have solid red bars, and it will do absolutely do nothing to the signal.
This next bit is going to be more practice. If you want better sound quality, you need to have a good understanding of the types of music formats you're working with as a DJ. This is where the industry really failed DJ's. Standard resolution for audio is considered CD quality. 16/44. The general equivalent in analog is vinyl LP's. Overall, both formats are about the same quality. Vinyl is considered to be the better format. But this only relevant for critical listening, usually on a higher end audio system. DJ gear doesn't the type of resolution you need to really hear the difference, so I'm just going to say both formats are the same quality. If we take a CD and rip it to a lossless file like flac or wav, at 16/44, you now have a music file that's the same quality as the CD you just ripped. 99% of DJ's work with MP3. That's a lossy format. If you look at the lossless rip you just made, the bit rate will be about 1000kbps. Most of the time its a little higher, but not enough to worry about for this discussion. When you transcode your lossless music file to MP3, the highest possible resolution you can choose is 32o kbps. If you don't have a CD or lossless file, you can buy downloads. Those are typically 256 kbps, even lower quality than 320. You need to be aware of these numbers for 2 reasons. When you transcode from 1000 to 320, that means you've taken about 2/3 of the musical information from the lossless file, and literally throw it away. Or, if you buy a 256 mp3, 75% of the music is thrown away. And it doesn't stop there. There are 2 types of volume controls you need to be aware of. Digital and analog. If you are using DJ software like Serato, you're going to have at least 1 digital volume control, probably more. Digital volume controls have some drawbacks. The resolution of your music files change as you make volume adjustments. You can only get full resolution of your digital music files if all of your digital volume controls are set to maximum. As you lower the volume, you lower the resolution. So, our 320 kbps music file is only is only 320 with max volume. DJ's have to constantly change volume when you're mixing. Its not optional. You can realistically loose 80 to 90% of the original file. This process is called bit stripping. The impact on sound quality can huge.
I can only make my post so long. There's plenty of other factors that can effect sound quality, that I didn't go over. The topic is just too big cover it all in a single post,
Thank you for sharing this, all of which we teach at various places (we have detailed training on gain staging and file formats). You're right it is a big topic, and far too much to go into detail in one post or podcast, but you did a good job!.
I used to DL the quick hit version as well as the extended. To save space on my SSD, I just know where to mix or jump to the outro to mix quickly.
Makes sense
What compact audio mixers\interfaces would you recommend for use with the DDJ-FLX4?
I'm looking for a 4 channel (min) digital audio interface. I want this purely for music from the FLX4.
The setup is simple: MC6000mk2\FLX4 (will be getting the Rane Four later this year) - 2 x 8" monitor speakers - 2 x 12" main speakers - 1 x 12" subwoofer.
All speakers are active.
I've read, and watched untold UA-cam video's, about mixers - that my brain is overloaded!
Thanks in advance.
Why do you want a mixer at all?
@@digitaldjtipsMainly for recording mixes. Just following the great advice given by your good self, about an audio interface in the dj kit bag, Phil. 😅
the live stream sounds easy but setting up whats hard like putting info into the twitch etc and how to use obs maybe make a templete that DJS can use to get started .
We have a remake of our DJ Livestreaming Made Easy course coming soon...
Last SUMMER; I travelled with my 'PERFECTED EURORACK MODULAR SYNTH';
I put the 'INSTRUO' Module; the INSTRUO 'LUBADH V2 (records 9 minutes/side) *TAPE EFFECTS is the SOUND 'FILM 📽️ TAPE, is RECORDED;
I DJ VINYL; However...
A MODULE with TAPE/DUB (OVERDUBING constantly SOUNDING like a an OVER PLAYED CASSETTE;
I actually tried giving a TUTORIAL using the 'LUBADH' as a DJ CONTROLLER that FITS IN A (EURORACK);
TAPE vs. VINYL
VINYL: STATIC with FIREPLACE 'CRACLES and POP'
TAPE: THAT WARM HISS SOUND
ALL (BOTH ANALOG); TAPE/VINYL
What BACKGROUND NOISE DO YOU PREFER???
SYNTHESIZER have options 'NOISE, WHITE NOISE, BLUE NOISE, CRUSHED NOISE (Using as a MODULAR to EFFECT the OSCILLATOR making the SOUND SOUND BRILLIANT;
SAMPLE & HOLD and SYNTH MODULES (ALL DIFFERENT);
YOU KNOW WHAT EURORACK SYNTH MODULES CAN DO???
AMAZING 🤩😍❤❤❤
Bro, I need help with transitioning, I suck at it but the crowds love my music and overlook it. Any suggestions besides lowering the bass and bringing it up on the other?
We have lots of mixing courses!
Having a problem -static in audio range 12 mk2 numark scratch and PC windows 11. Tried everything it plays normal then static starts after 5 to 10 minutes
Regarding songs sounding bad... I'm probably pretty extreme regarding track quality in that I remaster all tracks to a certain RMS and peak level so everything sounds similar. Also will EQ and do a minor compression if necessary.
With the proliferation of music downloads, everybody is a mastering engineer these days - except they don't understand music quality with the waveforms. Tons of music downloads are beyond the clipping range of 0dbFS... or they are super compressed which squashes out the dynamics.
And you try to mix those with a track that digitized form vinyl... drove me crazy. So I go through the trouble of remastering mp3 files. I use Audacity with a couple of plug-ins, along with a formula, and my ears... takes a few minutes - it's all good.
That’s dedication! Platinum Notes attempts to automate this for DJs too
👍👍👍👍👍
Anyone deleting Diddy tracks?
Nope.
Put myself in the people shoes? I don’t think the people will like me , if I take their shoes ! I won’t get recommended and I can’t afford my jordans 😂
🤣