To be a DJ, you must first know the following nouns:
Beats per minute
As the name implies, it is the total number of beats of songs in a clock. Because the turntable and the adjustable CD player have certain restrictions, and the sound of songs will become very cartoon and funny if the speed is adjusted too much, the speed of the two songs to be picked up should be similar, preferably between 5~ 10 beat. In addition, the rhythm and speed of each dance music type are similar, which is more related to the same type of concert, otherwise it will be very strange. For example, Trip-Hop and Raggae are about 80~90 beats, House is about 120~ 130 beats, Techno is about 120~ 150 beats, and Drum 'N' Bass is about150 beats.
point out
The starting point of a song is usually the first beat of a bar, but some people think that the second beat is more accurate. The purpose of grasping the cue point is to make the two songs have the same speed. The normal way of dance music is 4/4 beats (that is, 4 beats per bar, quarter note 1 beat). When a song comes out of another bar at the end of the fourth beat, the cue point in your hand will be played at the same time.
Scratch (scratch record)
The technique of using record anti-sound is usually used in Rap and Hip-Hop, and other music styles will be used according to the situation, but scratch will hurt your beloved records and needles, so don't abuse it even if it is dazzling; In addition, scraping is usually carried out together with cross gradient. For example, crssfader plays a record and comes out, and crossfader pulls it back and goes back to another track.
Overlapping songs
One of the most basic ways to receive songs, the so-called overlapping songs, is to use the pitch function of the special turntable and CD player to tune two songs to the same speed (there are acceleration and deceleration devices on the turntable and CD player), and then play two songs at the same time by using the prompt point. After overlapping songs for about 2-4 bars, the two songs will fade in/out. For example, the BPM of the underworld's Born Slippery is about 139 beat, and the PF project's Choose Life is about 136 beat. If you want to connect the latter with the former, you have to adjust it three times faster.
For example: a song │32345678│42345678│ fade out …
B song │ enters (1)2345678│ fades in (overlapping with the beat of A song at this time). Depending on the situation, the number of bars is lengthened, and it is suggested to take 32 or 64 beats when one song enters another song (basically pop music will repeat several bars). It may be uncomfortable to get in and out at other points.
Throw a song
The lost song was thrown at the end of the last song or at some point after the cue point was captured. Usually alternative rock doesn't pick it up, and the speed difference between the two songs is too big, but the genre is not picked up. For example, fat Silm's new song "The Rockatelle Skank" is the embarrassing beat of 152, too fast to get Big Beat, too slow to get Drum 'N' Bass.
For example: a song | 4 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 | fade out.
B Gediu 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 |
adjust
Just because the beat of two songs is right does not mean that the beat will always be accurate when they overlap. Occasionally, you should nudge the record with your left hand (speed up) or rub the turntable (speed down), and nudge or pull the pitch with your right hand to correct it.
class monitor
The volume of headphones should not be too loud. You should be able to hear the music playing on the loudspeaker outside. Sometimes you have to switch between listening to the song to be played and the music being played, and turn the volume closer to eq to avoid being too abrupt.
Officially entering the theme, to be a DJ, you must have at least two adjustable turntables. At least you must find a direct-drive turntable, and you will regret using a belt turntable! Or a CD player with Pioneer or Dennonw is better, a mixer and a sound system that is not too broken. Next, you need to start wiring.
Basically, there are two line input interfaces on the mixer: CD/AUX and Phono. The CD/AUX connector can connect CD, Tape, DAT and MD (the above outputs are all line level) ... The turntable must be connected to the phonograph connector, and don't forget the ground wire. The ground connector is often behind the mixer, and there is usually only one. If you connect two or three turntables, don't forget to connect all the ground wires to the grounding terminal of the mixer. The mixer has 2-3 outputs-main output, monitor output, recording output, etc ... Usually, the main output is connected with an amplifier to drive the sound of the dance floor. The monitor is connected to the monitor speaker. Rec Out can enter the recording stand. Attention! Sometimes the EQ processor on the mixer will only be sent from the main control. In the case of DIY, there is generally no monitoring speaker. Just connect the Master Out to any Line In (tape amplifier (tape, CD, tuner, video, Aux)!
Completing the above procedures means that you have an instrument in the orchestra, and then you will start to choose songs. As mentioned above, to connect two songs together, they must be of similar type and speed, so there is nothing to do. Listen to more songs, record the BPM of these songs, and then make a song list to see which song is followed by which song, such as producer Hit My Bitch/Chemical Brother Sunset. AplLO 440 "Ainit Talking" "Boutdub"/Essen Dub Foundation "Buzzin" can be connected; Amazon II "King of the Beat"/Jungle Brothers "Jungle Brothers" can wait. After choosing a song, you should practice adjusting the speed and choose when to pick it up. These are beyond words, but we should work hard at ordinary times. It is suggested that some songs with similar musical styles should be prepared at the beginning and selected repeatedly! Wait until you receive it before replacing other songs. Changing songs all the time can easily distract you when you are collecting songs.
In fact, the skill of choosing songs is not too difficult. As long as you practice hard, you can practice well in a month or two, but what matters is the concept and what's on your mind. If choosing a song is compared to playing the guitar, being a DJ is equivalent to singing the whole song. You should be familiar with the functions of the machine, and listen to songs at least 65,438+00 times more than listening casually, so that you can know which songs can be picked up and when they should be picked up, because the songs have been replaced. So, you should keep up with the trend. Besides listening more and buying more records, you can also read professional DJ magazines (such as Muzik, Mixmag, DJ, etc. ) Not only should you know about the new release, but you should also know some information about DJ. Besides, you can ask the current DJ for advice, copy their song list or steal their singing skills. In short, DJ is a niche, professional and fascinating industry, because you can drive the rhythm of millions or even tens of thousands of people on the dance floor with only one person, so it is no wonder that many people can't extricate themselves once they fall into it.
From Disco craze in the 1970s to rock music and soul blues of Motown in the 1980s, as well as House whirlwind in the late 1980s, Hip-Hop Kuroshio in the United States, and rave culture in the early 1990s, all kinds of electronic dance music have been undergoing endless transformation until the end of the century, and DJ's works and skills are constantly innovating. After such a generation change, DJ culture has not declined, but has been more and more respected and favored by the world, so more and more people have devoted themselves to the DJ industry. In view of this, this teaching gives friends who want to join the music ranks a preliminary concept of DJ's work and skills.
Although professional CD players now have the function of receiving songs, it is better to learn DJ skills from traditional record players. Without it, the traditional record player can make a scratch effect, which is not easy to type. How many squares are left to play clearly, and it is impossible for the CD player to repeat or type a sentence in the lyrics all the time (two record players must play the same song). Anyone who has seen the tape of the World DJ Competition will know that some players even jumped on the record player and used "that place" instead of their hands to play DJ skills.
Of course, CD players are not without advantages, such as setting the sound quality to remain unchanged when speeding up (the voice of traditional record players will become sharper when speeding up, and sometimes even the male voice will become a female voice). When playing a CD, you can immediately know the BPM of songs. The biggest advantage is that a CD can accommodate more than ten songs without changing discs frequently.
Second, hardware understanding
The special record player for vinyl records (LP) needs pitch (speed correction).
The CD-specific turntable of CD player needs a space.
The mixer mixer should have the following basic equipment: output/input of more than two channels, and master volume adjustment; Headphone output, and can control the headset monitoring terminal (cue) and its volume; A set of microphone inputs. PGM level (output rail volume decibel indicator). Of course, there is also a set of crossfader R. It is better to have an independent equalizer (EQ) and a built-in effector and sampler.
The monitor monitors the speakers. Put it on both sides of the DJ table to avoid the time difference caused by the echo limit exceeding 17 meters, and let the DJ go astray when shooting. The bass should be strong enough and the sound level should be clear, so as to avoid the time difference when monitoring due to the turbidity of bass and treble.
Headphones, monitor headphones. The bass should be strong enough and the sound level should be clear, so as to avoid the time difference when monitoring due to the turbidity of bass and treble. The earphone cover should be as big as the palm of your hand, which is convenient to take and wear. At present, some DJ-specific headphones have to be tilted to one side to be clamped (there is only one wire and one earphone).
Cassette head and stylus. Special stylus for DJ is preferred.
Anti-static slide rail for Slipmate turntable; Otherwise, it will be difficult to catch it.
Hardware brand selection configuration and how to install skip here. ......
Basic concept of verb (abbreviation of verb)
1. The basic structure of electronic dance music-the concept of cycle
Almost all electronic dance music has a certain structure and rules, no matter how complicated and changeable, there is a certain structure to follow. If it is electronic dance music with drums, you can learn about the operation of the basic structure of electronic dance music with drums. Just like writing, a tune is an article, and an article is composed of words, sentences and paragraphs; The same is true of electronic dance music: one beat equals one word, eight characters (beat) is one sentence, and four sentences are one paragraph (that is, 4×8=32 beats). Such a segment is called "cycle". And then there's the cycle. Well, now the basic structure of electronic dance music will not be too difficult to explore. It is easy to recognize every time you beat the drum; But if it's a T like Breakbea or an interlude without drums, it's not so easy to identify, but it's still carried out according to the basic mode of every four eight beats. With a basic understanding, it won't be so difficult to be a DJ.
2. Beats per minute
BPM is the abbreviation of "beats per minute", which is the unit of beats per minute. The simplest concept is that the drum rings several times in a one-minute cycle, and the unit of this number is BPM. For example, a dance music by House is drummed 124 times in one minute, so the music is 124 BPM. As for the calculation method of BPM, you can use a watch or stopwatch to calculate and count the drums slowly by hand; You can also use some machines or synthesizers to calculate BPM. For example, the mixer of Pioneer DJM-500 has a built-in BPM metronome, and Casio also has a G'mix watch with BPM calculation function.
Step 3: Prompt points
At the first beat at the beginning of each cycle, that is, the moment when the first drum comes out, we call it a "drumbeat" (or cue point). Finding drums is the basis of DJ skills. There is no DJ who doesn't look for drums before mixing, unless it is the wrong DJ, that is another matter.
Step 4 vote
DJ's special phonograph only has this function, perhaps it should be said that DJ can use the phonograph with this function. Pitch literally means pitch control, but in fact the change of pitch is caused by the change of the speed of the record player. DJ needs to control the speed of the track when shooting, and the music from the left and right tracks is exactly the same in the beat speed BPM, so the two songs can be seamlessly mixed together. Pitch is a device that controls the speed of the record player on the record player, thus adjusting the BPM of songs.
5. Gradient/Cross Gradient
Sound attenuation control slider on the mixer; That is, a sliding button that can move up and down or left and right according to the trajectory. There is a scale display next to this slide button, indicating the volume played at the mobile position. The DJ controls the volume of the left or right channel through the volume controller. As for crossfader, it controls the volume of all channels at once, as shown in the figure below.
6. Emotional intelligence
EQ is the abbreviation of equalizer. On the more advanced mixing stage, there is always an equalizer adjustment button. Generally speaking, EQ adjusts the audio changes of treble, alto and bass when the audio track is played.
The application of emotional intelligence needs to be trained after the DJ foundation is laid.
Six, start
Now we will officially enter the description of DJ skills. In this part, we will explain it from the perspective of a DJ's thinking when mixing, so that everyone can understand the method of DJ mixing more clearly.
Step 1-Count the beats:
At the beginning of duet practice, take an electronic dance music record that is not too difficult and not paradoxical as the first track and put it on one of the two record players, assuming it is the one on the left. After putting it away, press the start button of the record player to start rotating, and carefully put the stylus on the record, as shown in the figure. When playing, count the periods of the left channel in your mind: "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 ~ 22345678 ~ 32345678 ~ 42345678 ...12345678 ..." Then continue riding.
Remember: if you can't hear this cycle, you can't be a DJ. Memorizing 1234 while listening to music can train the recognition of cycles. After all, every DJ walks so slowly.
Step 2-Choose a song:
Next, we will do the second one. Choose a dance music record whose BPM is not more than 8% different from the first one within the control range of Pitch, but it is actually better to play it at 4 BPM, and there are two kinds of music that cannot be too different. It's best to pick the same music, for example, Techno is connected to Techno, and you want to connect Breakbeat to Techno unless you are completely proficient.
Step 3-Find the cue point:
Now monitor headphones will come in handy. When wearing headphones, you can only wear one ear, and the other ear is responsible for monitoring the currently playing audio track; So at present, both ears hear completely different tones. As for wearing the left ear or the right ear, it depends on your preference. The next step is to grasp the hint point.
For convenience, the track currently played by the sound system is called CH 1 (assuming that the phonograph is on the left), and the track appearing in monitor headphones is called CH2 (assuming that the phonograph is on the right). First, switch the monitor cue on the mixer to CH2, which means that the music in the earphone is the song selected in the second step. Press the start button of the record player to start rotating, and carefully put the stylus on the record. Listen with headphones at this time. If there is a drum sound as soon as the stylus touches the record, it is necessary to lift the stylus and reposition it outside the contact point of the previous stylus, that is, to find the first drum sound at the beginning of a song, and find the prompt point according to this principle (there are also DJ grabbing the fourth beat or the third beat; If I were you, I would take the second beat, because if I am not familiar with the dance music being played, waiting for the dance music to be taken out, it will be difficult to catch the first beat as long as I miss the mixing point. Usually, in most cases, House's music has drums at the beginning. In this case, the cue point is the point at the beginning of the music. Other electronic dance music with strong musicality may be preceded by an empty melody, and it is difficult to find the cue point. One of the characteristics of records is that some tracks with drums are sparse, and some tracks with empty beats are dense. If you master this feature, it is easy to find the first drum. Once you find the prompt, don't let it run away. At this point, put your hand on CH2' s record player and push and pull the record back and forth as shown in the figure, so that the first drum beat appears repeatedly. After catching the cue point, it is best to push and pull the cue point of CH2 with the beat of CH 1, so that the drums on both sides can overlap (when pushing the record, the drums are normal; When playing a record, the drums are just the opposite.
Step 4- Adjust the pitch:
Memorize the cycle of CH 1 At this point, the cue point of CH2 is pushed back and forth with the beat of CH 1. Pay attention to the cycle of CH 1 at any time. The first beat of each cycle is the only chance to deduce the first beat of CH2. In other words, if you miss the first beat of this cycle, you have to wait for the first beat of the next cycle. If the cue points of CH 1 and CH2 appear at the same time, the beat difference between the two songs will be obvious, so it is time to adjust the pitch.
First of all, we should judge whether the speed of CH2 is faster or slower than CH 1, which depends on the accumulation of experience. If CH2 is slow, push the record on the record by hand, as shown on the right; If it's faster, gently smear it on the edge of the turntable of the phonograph with your fingers.
As shown on the left, add a transverse component to slow down the speed of the record player. Change the speed of the record player with one finger and adjust the pitch with the other hand according to the speed.
Follow this principle: if the speed is slow, push with your finger and adjust it faster; If the speed is faster, pull with your fingers and slow down the pitch. By repeating this exercise, the shooting can be more accurate and the shooting time will be shorter and shorter, so that the playing skills and fading time can be won in CH2. It's done, and it needs fine-tuning to confirm.
Step 5-Fine-tune:
Sometimes you just listen to one or two cycles and ignore them. It is easy to have some slight beats as time goes by. At this time, you need to turn on the monitor on the mixer, so that the sounds of CH 1 and CH2 can appear in the monitor headphones at the same time. When you hear both tracks at the same time, it is particularly easy to hear whether you are running or not; At this point, fine-tune CH2 and listen to a few more cycles before proceeding to the next step. Speaking of good beat (we call it on beat), you will only hear on beat in monitor headphones. If there is a running beat, you will hear drums that are not a point.
You may not be able to hear it when you start practicing, but you will be particularly keen after proficiency, and you can detect it after running a little.
Step 6-Fade out In/Fade:
When CH 1 and CH2 both travel in the same BPM, that is, on the beat, the next work is to act on the mixer. As mentioned earlier, DJ-specific mixers include fader (independent silencing control slider) and crossfader (transverse silencing control slider). When the fader position of CH 1 is not ∞, the fader position of CH2 is ∞, and the cross gradient position is in the middle (as shown in the left figure), the sound output to the speaker is CH 1. On the contrary, it is the sound of CH2 (as shown on the right); When CH 1 and CH2 are not at infinity at the same time, both channels can hear the sound from the outside, and the higher the fader position, the greater the volume (note that all the above cases are when the cross fade-in position is in the middle). So if you want to cut into CH2, first cut the crossfader to the middle, and then slowly push up the fader of CH2, and the sound of CH2 will become more and more obvious. When the volume is cut to the same as CH 1, the fade-in action is completed. Then you need to slowly pull down the fader of CH 1, so that the sound of CH 1 will slowly disappear until only the sound of CH2 remains, and then the mixing action will be successfully completed. Another method can complete the fade-in and fade-out actions at the same time, that is, cut the crossfader to the left first, that is, CH 1 can play dance music, at this time, the fader of CH2 will be invalid, so that the fader of CH2 can be adjusted to the ideal volume in advance, and then slowly push the crossfader from the left to the right after the ideal volume is adjusted. At this time, the volume of CH2 will appear slowly and then increase. When it reaches the central position, it is the most obvious time when the two channels speak at the same time. Push it to the right, and the sound of CH 1 will become smaller and smaller. When it reaches the extreme right, the sound of CH 1 will disappear completely. At this point, the fade-in and fade-out actions are completed at the same time.
Step 7-Adjust the equalizer:
Advanced mixers have equalizer knobs. EQ adjustment is a powerful assistant when mixing (in mixing) such as fading out in/fade. If used properly, it can be used without leaving a trace. The use of EQ, in theory, is to turn down the bass and treble of CH 1 and also turn down the bass of CH2, so as to avoid the resonance caused by the overlapping drums on both sides and make the mixed sound abrupt. When CH 1 fades out, bring back the low tone of CH2. The above are the major principles for trimming EQ, and success is not far away if you master the principles.
Seven, other matters needing attention
1. Contact selection:
Usually, a piece of music has high tide and low tide stages. In the climax stage, there is usually a melody or a particularly obvious timbre, and sometimes there is a voice. This time is not suitable for bringing in the next Song Fade; On the other hand, there is usually no main theme wandering at low tide, only drums, hi hats or bass lines, and there are only one or two timbres at most. At this time, it is excellent contact. Most of these contacts will appear at the end of music or in the middle of a song.
2.DJ set's journey:
In a party, the scenery of a DJ is about two hours, so how to highlight the characteristics of a DJ through the overall trip of two hours is a very troublesome job. In two hours, about 30 tracks can be played, so the pursuit of the journey must be based on the principle of playing the same dance music for a considerable period of time. If you want to play all the music in one set or in a short time, it is easy to be confused.
Eight, postscript
DJ's job is not only to connect songs in series on the surface, but a truly powerful DJ should have a deeper understanding of music, that is, playing music is actually like creating his own music and putting his emotions into it, so that no matter what music he plays, he will have vitality, so that a track will have a soul, and it is only a matter of time before a dancer can reach a high level.