Does your cross fade work properly?

0:00 Hand side, left hand, side volume

Alright folks, in this video what we're going to be looking at is something called the crossfader on a mixer, DJ mixer. Now then, the crossfade, 9 times out of 10, is the slider that is right in front of you and it moves horizontally from side to side. The sliders that move up and down, the up and down ones, move vertically, they're normally the volume controls. Now then, the reason for this video is a couple of people have said that their crossfade is bleeding. Now, it doesn't mean to say that there's blood all over the place and you've got to take it to the doctor. What it does mean is that sound is coming through when it shouldn't. I'll show you and I'll explain. Now then, let's say hypothetically now we are playing a record, CD, whatever, on the left-hand side. The volume is up on the left-hand side. The crossfade is over on the left-hand side. Now then, let's say now we put the volume up on the right-hand side.

And there's nothing playing on the right hand side, but I move the crossfade over to the right hand side. Now, as soon as that crossfade is right against the right hand side, theoretically you shouldn't have any sound coming at all from the left hand side, okay? Likewise, the other applies on the opposite. If I've got something playing on the right hand side... The crossfade is on the right hand side, the volume is up on the right hand side and I have something playing and then there's nothing on the left hand side and then I slowly move the crossfade to the left hand side. Theoretically, nothing should be coming through at all because the crossfade has now gone to the left hand side. Now what happens with bleeding is simply this, alright? Back to the first one. Something is playing on the left hand side, nothing on the right hand side. Volume up.

2:32 1, it should go to bang

On the left hand side, we move the crossfade over to the right hand side and as soon as it's as far to the right hand side as it can go, sometimes you can hear a sound. You can still hear the sound. Now then, also what you'll find is that sometimes, especially on older mixers, as you move the crossfader over, you can hear there's a crackly sound and also the volume won't be a nice smooth... The DJ Tutor, Ellaskins, The DJ Tutor. When it is on the left-hand side and the tune is playing on the left-hand side, when you move the crossfader over to the right-hand side, it should almost go like 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. It shouldn't go to 1, it should go to bang, 0. Nothing at all. Now then, if you are starting to get some sort of sound still on the right-hand side when there shouldn't be any sound, in other words...

A tune is playing on the left, but you're getting something still coming through when the crossfade is on the right hand side. That means two choices. One you start to need to try and clean it or the other one is replace it. Quite often on some mixers you will actually be able to replace the crossfade, remove it, put a new one in. The only way initially of cleaning it is something called contact fluid. I recommend you contact a DJ shop and just make inquiries. Quite often it will come in a small canister with a small little straw. Shoot the straw, well you spray it actually into the crossfade area here and then give it a rub about and what happens? It eventually starts to clear. What is happening is over a period of time you're getting deposits of dirt and goodness knows what in there and of course what happens is the contacts don't start staying nice and clean. They get a bit dirty so the initial idea is use a bit of contact fluid

Bung it in there and see what happens. And move it about a tiny bit, okay? Right, we've got to do a bit of a mix for you, haven't we? So the two tunes I'm going to be using is the Dub Masters and its track here entitled Forget Me Not, which is a bit of a cut from Patrice Russian. It's a sample from that Forget Me Nots. And then also on Strictly Rhythm on the other side it's DJ Sneak, track entitled Keep On Grooving. So we'll just bung them in halfway through, see what you think.

4:23 Hand side, okay, and then the left hand side we'll do likewise

And again what we're going to be doing is using the crossfade. Now think about it, volume's up on the right hand side, crossfade is on the right hand side, nothing playing on the left. If I move the crossfade over, sound has gone. And also as I move the crossfade slowly over, the sound starts to decrease, like so. Right, what I'll do, I'll have a bit of a close-up so you can see a bit better. Right hand side, okay, and then the left hand side we'll do likewise. So we'll put the left hand side on.

And then move it across. And again, even with the volume up, notice there's nothing playing here now. That's how it should be. That's how it should sound. You shouldn't get any sound at all here. And also, if I take the needle off the record, move the crossfade... You shouldn't have any popping, crackling or whatever. Bearing in mind, if you're going to buy a new mixer, always check this out. Check the crossfader, alright? Just because it looks clean and tidy and nice and shiny doesn't mean to say it's in good condition. Use it, okay? Like I've said in previous videos, if you went to buy a second-hand car, you wouldn't just say, here's the money, can I have the keys, drive it away. You'd test drive it. You'd do exactly the same thing with a mixer, turntables, etc. Right, let's do a bit of a mix for you. Here we go.

Right, that wasn't exactly the smoothest mix in the world simply because I've had to mess around here with the EQ, not the EQ, sorry, the actual crossfade curves just to make sure that you had exact idea of what was going on. I hope that's a help, ladies and gentlemen. Don't forget, this is a video explaining to you in what are the ins and outs and the pitfalls and what to look for with a crossfader, okay? First of all, don't forget, give it a good clean with contact fluid or there, something like that. Just contact to shop first to make sure you get the right stuff, okay? Thank you for watching. Practice and enjoy. Take it easy.

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