Advanced DJ Lesson on Loops, Spin Backs and Acapellas

0:00 In this video we're going to do some new releases from CDPool

Alright ladies and gentlemen, in this video we're going to do some new releases from CDPool. We'll be looking at the club releases for October 2014. Also, we're going to do a few tips and tricks. So this video, as well as covering some of the new releases, it'll give you a few tips and tricks. That's what I just said, isn't it really? Okay, we're going to start off with track one from disc number one. And then we also have track one from disc number two over there. So, let's play the tracks first, have a listen to the tracks, see what you think. And don't forget, there will be a lickable clink in the description that will take you directly to the CDpool website where you can get info on this CD. Well, actually not that because the CDs are in there. A floppy CD like a floppy disc from years gone by.

And you get more info on this twin CD and also the other CDs. Bearing in mind, the club releases are, yeah, clubby. They're not as underground as The Underground, there's a little bit more going on, but they're not really happy, cheesy, sort of like full-on vocals and lots going on, the sort of like lovey-dovey kind of stuff. They're a little bit more deep, the sort of tunes that you would maybe get in... I don't know, a bar or a pub in Ibiza, something like that. Alright, so track one, disc one. What I've done is I've pretty much beatmatched track one from disc number two and if you do want to know the names of the tracks, I will always say the track number and CD. So track one, disc one means you've got to go to track one, disc one on the website and check it out.

2:27 Around about one minute, okay?

Excuse me. I've got this one ready here, so I'm just going to wang towards the latter part of this tune here. We'll go to sort of around about the last minute. Now, first of all, first tip for you as well, and I have said this quite a few times in videos, but the more I can get it out there, the better. When you're listening to EDM, around about the last minute, roughly, it depends of course on the BPM of the track, very important, but when you get to around about the last minute, you're pretty much on the last 32 bars. So what you need to do is you need to listen for a definite change around about the last minute and more than likely, most of the time, that will be your last 32 bars. It could be before, it could be after, it could be on. Around about one minute, okay? So we're at 1 minute 9, let's have a listen for that change. There, I missed it. Oh dear. Let's go back a bit. Take the bass out of the one that's coming in. Slowly bring the bass in.

Still playing that one. Again, spinbacks. Some people seem to think spinback is, well, that's it. It sort of is because that's the move of spinning it back. There's many ways of doing it. Of course, it depends on where you bring it in, how long it lasts for, what the spinback is like. So, let's have a look at the spinbacks. That's a quick one, two, three, four. Bang! Another one. Like that. Or... Another one is where you spin it back fast, but then you bring the volume down at the same time. It's mainly about experimenting here and just trying again and again and again and again. Alright so let's stick with track 1 from disc 2 which is Jacob Leboehm I think, a track entitled Nia, N-E-A. Let's find something on the other CD.

5:24 This is about as random as it gets

Alright, this is about as random as it gets. All I can promise you is that I didn't plan this video, it's just happening. Let's go back a bit. Waiting for a point on this track. Okay, that's pretty much called a cut, where you find a point on the other track and just sort of cut it over. Many ways of doing this, two very simple ways to remember, is the up-faders, up-fader on that one, and then as soon as you're ready, up-fader on the other one. Of course, you haven't got it playing, but the up-fader is ready. And then press play. As soon as you press play, bring the up-fader down on the other one. Boom, away you go. This one here is track two from disc number one. Paul Van Dyke. Some of the random one here. Okay, let's go towards the end of Paul Van Dyke. Again, let's go back to sort of around about the last minute. There. Okay, get that ready. I didn't give myself enough of time to count it in. Five here from disc number one. Alright, I'm going to...

9:47 You should either do something creative or just not do anything at all

Choose another track here from disc, sorry, beg your pardon, track number 5 from disc number 2. This one here is back again. So, I'll find something else. Nice track this. 12 from disc number 1. Within remix. All crate X ma man finds woman. I hope you can understand that because I'm a little foggiest. Okay, we'll go towards the end of this track here. Now, a lot of times, I don't know if you've seen DJs, but while they're playing an extended mix of something... They pretend that they're doing something by messing around with the bass, mid and treble. Right, this is what you should do. You should either do something creative or just not do anything at all. So instead of, you know, oh look, I'm moving the bass and treble and I'm being a DJ. No. Use effects. Do something that will enhance the track, not change it. So for example... Bring in track number 12 from dish number 1.

12:39 From disc number two first

And then we're going to talk about loops. Loops. Loops. Loops. Back this side. Oh, nice track. Right, just need to move the camera a little bit. Right, are you okay? Goodbye guys. Sorry. Bit of a storm outside, you see. Okay, give me a random number. Seven, okay. Okay, hello, loops. Let's have a listen to track seven. From disc number two first. This is a random one. You chose it, not me. Let's bring the pitch down. Okay, let's just move that around. Hold on. It's like there's that many things on this camera. It's very annoying. Sorry, not the camera, the stand. Right, hopefully I'm now going to teach you how to... Stand on things. How to be excellent. How to be perfect at making loops. So we're going to do this manually and...

14:16 The camera stand, go a little bit lower

This isn't about, this is the difference, this isn't about making a perfect loop. It's about being able to work out the timing in a loop. Very important. There's a very big difference there. To make a loop perfect of course it's better to quantize it because you could do it manually and it could be 0.001 BPM out. Each loop, so by the time it's done three loops, it's 0.003 BPM out, 0.04 and so on and so on. So over time, it will start to go off beat. I'm all about getting good, getting perfect at making loops at different times, not just on the count of one. I'll show you now. The camera stand, go a little bit lower. There you go, by there, that'll do. Right, so, tighten that up. Right, let's have a listen. First of all, I'm going to do box standard loop. Counting one. One, two, three, four, one. Let's put that on A, hot QA. OK, so now we know we've got that loop on hot QA. So, because I started on the count of one...

It will be in time, so we go out of the loop, go towards the end of the track, I'm going to hit A at the count of 1 and it should be in time. 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, come out, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, oh sorry, out, not exit, out, press exit, sorry. Go towards the right, right to the end of the track. There. So you get a general idea. I started the loop on 1 and... I've made a one bar loop, 1-2-3-4, fine. And then whenever I press that hot cue A on the count of one during the course of that track or for that matter any track, it will always be in time so long as I make sure I press the hot cue at the count of one. Now this is where it gets more interesting, more difficult but also great practice. Let's form a loop but start it not on the count of one.

You have to finish it at the same time you started the loop. For example, if you start the loop at say three and a half, you need to finish it at three and a half. If you start it at three and a half and finish it at four, it will be off. So I'll give that demonstration first. Let's start the loop at say three and a half but finish it at four. So press play. One, two, three, four. One, two, three. One, two, three, four. Listen. Sounds terrible. Now let's start it at three and a half and finish it at three and a half. Three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three. Right, it's very slightly off, admittedly, but remember we're doing this manually. But it doesn't matter. The whole idea of this practice is getting you used to starting and stopping loops at the right time during the bar, not just at the beginning.

17:11 Let's try maybe a two and a half

Let's try maybe a two and a half. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. Now I'm going to put that one now on hot cue B and give you a demonstration of how it does work but doesn't work. Now let's go out. Now let's press A first in time. One, two, three, four. Three, four. One, two, out again. Go towards the end of the track. Two, three, four. Two, three, four. One, two, three. Go out again. Three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. Alright, now I'm going to press B on the count of one and let's see what it sounds like. Remember, the B loop I started at two and a half but for this first demonstration I'm going to bring it in on the count of one.

19:10 I've got a bit of asthma as well that doesn't help

It was out of time, wasn't it? This time I'm going to bring it in at the correct time signature as I made the loop on two and a half. One, two. One, two. One, two. Okay, so let me turn that around and turn the camera like that. Okay, so why is this good practice? It's very good practice to make sure that you... Sorry. So it's just hay fever. No, it's actually not hay fever. I've got a bit of asthma as well that doesn't help. Dust in the house and there's lots of it here. Okay, so how does this help you? Now let's say you want to start mixing acapellas. Now when we listen to an acapella, it's a bit like listening to a rhyme. I was walking down the street, I've got shoes on my feet. Depending on how you say it, there will be certain letters in the words that will be on time.

But also there'll be certain letters in the words that will be slightly out of time. Now, the object of this exercise is to make sure that when you say form a loop, you can form it wherever you want, but you need to make sure you bring it back into the correct time signature so the flow stays. You're not counting 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 3, 4, 1, 2. You need to make sure it's 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4 all the time. But also in relation to acapellas. Sometimes you get acapellas, especially in hip-hop. Just the other day I was... So the actual just the other is not on the count of one. Just the other day I was... Or like, for example, as I said earlier, I was walking down the street, I got shoes. I was 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7... Oh, sorry, 1, 2, 3, 4, 2, 3...

I was walking down the street, I've got shoes on my feet. This is where a lot of people get mixing acapellas wrong because they seem to think that the first letter, the first word, is the count of one. So by my counting, if I'd have brought the I was in at the count of one, it would have been out of time. It was I was walking, the W, the W is the count of one. This is maybe, I would class as an advanced DJ lesson. But at the same time, if you can understand it and even if you're a beginner and you can start to formulate in your own little mind, I sort of get it. That doesn't matter. Sort of getting it is far better than scratching your testicles and going, I haven't got the funkies on about. So this is a new releases for CDPool.

And also it's a bit of demonstration and a tutorial as well. Practice and enjoy. I do.

This transcript was produced automatically from the audio of the video and may contain mistakes.