Bed Time Bedroom Beginner DJ Mixing Lesson

0:00 Using the same track, we have Paolo Mafia and Maria J

Right, what I'm about to show you, you can pretty much do on any controller or any CDJ. This video is targeted for the beginner DJ and it's a way of experimenting with beatmatching. Also, it's a great way of just having fun with some effects. Using the same track, we have Paolo Mafia and Maria J. Boston, a track entitled One Day from Karmic Power Records. There will be a link in the description. So I'll give you a demonstration first, then I'll run through exactly what I was doing. I can hear that going off there, the jog wheel, with sort of phasing sound, changing frequency very slightly.

3:19 First of all, I formed a link

Okay, so first of all, I formed a link... a link... Oh God! I formed a loop on the left hand side, then I started the right hand side. Now, very quickly as well, just to let you know for the partially sighted as well, exactly what's going on with the player. Both the pitches are in the centre position, the same track on both sides. Actually, I tell a lie, it's the same track, but I've got the club mix on the right hand side, the instrumental on the left. I apologise. I formed a loop on the left hand side and let that play. That was like my time. I mean, my metronome. Also, I'm adding a little bit of an effect on the left hand side as well. Then I'm also then bringing in the right hand side. Now, something like this, the analogy I give you, it's a little bit like, let's imagine you want to be a great football player.

4:37 The analogy is very simple

All right. So, of course, you all of a sudden get your football, you join a club, you join a team and you go and play a match and you're shit because you haven't practised. All right. You know what a football is, you know what to do. You've got an idea of the rules and regulations and you know where to kick the ball, but you just have no idea really how to play. This is exactly the same. This is the practice. So what you would be doing if you were the prospective football player is to kick around, I don't know, in the garden somewhere and have a go, you know, try and kick the damn ball in between a couple of trees to make sure you get it in the garden. So that's what we're going to be doing today. And then we're going to be doing a bit of a practice.

And then we're going to be doing a bit of a practice. So the analogy is very simple. What you're doing here is you're practising a few skills that hopefully you will take with you and do them correctly instead of making a mess. Now, I did have the headphone plug in, but I wasn't using my headphones. The headphones are here. What I'm trying to do is make sure that we don't have that double tapping sound, which, of course, is the beats going off. Also, I was listening for that phasing sound. Now, when I get that phasing sound, that tells me that the two tracks are perfectly in time. But there are different elements to that phasing sound. Now, as soon as you hear the phasing sound, that's great. That will tell you that they're in time.

But does that phasing sound change frequency? Is it a little bit like, again, another analogy, like an aeroplane flying over your head? Is it doing that sort of sound or is it staying in one position? If you get that phasing sound, then you're in time. If you get that phasing sound and it's staying in one position, that means it is exactly in time. If, on the other hand, you get the phasing sound and it slowly changes frequency, then they're slightly out of time. So then it's up to you to start moving and messing around with the jogger, which I was doing. Now, very quickly as well, again, rewind if you want to. This is pure logic. If you hear that phasing sound slowly change. And let's say you move your jog wheel on one side clockwise and it changes even more, changes a lot quicker.

6:52 Trying effects, lock, moved wheel

That means you're moving the jog wheel the wrong direction and you need to move it the other direction. So, for example, if you hear that phasing sound and it changes and you move the jog wheel, say, anticlockwise, and then the phasing sound gets back to where it was, that means you have moved the jog wheel in the correct direction. Alternatively, like I said, if you move the jog wheel in one direction and the phasing sound completely goes and you start getting an echo a lot quicker than you would have done if you hadn't have moved the jog wheel, that means, of course, you've moved the jog wheel in the wrong direction. Now, little things like this are very confusing to beginners to begin with, but slowly over time, again, another analogy, as I've said to a lot of my students,

It's a little bit like driving a car, you know? You get in your car and the instructor says, right, in front of you is the steering wheel, the gears, the stick, the brakes, the clutch, the everything. And you've got to pull that throttle, press that lever and do... And your mind's going, oh my God, am I ever going to learn this? But two years down the line after you've passed your test, you get in your car, you look in your mirror, you adjust things and off you go. You don't even think about what you're doing, which is exactly what will happen here. Now, also... What I was trying to do is add a few more effects. So if you think about it, you're not only now trying to beatmatch, but you're trying to add effects as well.

And again, the analogy back to the football player. Let's imagine you want to do a few skills, you know? You want to pass the ball, but dribble it a little bit. You know, these are your skills that you will get over time. But again, it's about the practice. So not only are we learning to beatmatch here, we're also adding a few effects. So we added some echo, I added some sweep and some filter. So for example...

There's that phasing, Zoom! Sound. 3. 4.

5. 4. Sweep. 2. 3. 4. 1. 2. 3. 4. 1. 2. 3. 4. 1. 2. 3. 4. 1. 2. 3. 4. 2. 3. 4. 1. 2. 3. 4. 2. 3. 4. 1. 2. 3. 4. 1. 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, spin back, 2, 3, 4. Seriously, for beginners all the way around the world, small little demonstrations like this will help you immensely, alright? Try it at home, alright? I don't recommend you do this in front of your mates, just do it, lock your bedroom door, lock, I don't know, wherever you are, lock the door and have a little bit of fun, alright? I hope that's been helpful, practice and enjoy. Thank you very much.

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