| The key to DJ mixing is finding the right balance | | | | When the two records are almost (but not quite) in |
| between the cued record and the live record. If | | | | sync, you may hear some minor phasing artefacts. |
| you’re using your headphones fully on, you might | | | | This is difficult to describe, but happens when two |
| want to have the cue balance set so that the live | | | | identical (or near identical) sounds, such as a typical |
| record is playing quite faintly in the background, and | | | | house music bass/kick drum, are played slightly |
| have your cued record loud when you’re finding | | | | out-of-time with one another. This creates an |
| the beat. | | | | interference wobble in the waveform, which will differ |
| On the other hand, some people prefer to have the | | | | depending upon which kick is coming first and how |
| two tracks at the same level. You can even have the | | | | much delay is between the kicks. After an extensive |
| live record louder than the cued record if you really | | | | amount of listening experience you should be able to |
| want to – again, there’s no right or wrong way | | | | detect the sonic differences between a cued record |
| to do this, just find the solution that works best for | | | | that’s too slow and one that’s too fast. |
| your ears. You can change the balance between the | | | | Again, this is one of the most difficult skills of Djing, and |
| two records at any time, if you want to check the | | | | there’s no magic formula to getting it right – |
| sync more closely. | | | | what you need to do is keep mixing as many discs as |
| It can be quite difficult to tell if your cued record needs | | | | possible, change the tempo of one record so that |
| to be faster or slower to match the live track, even at | | | | it’s running slightly too fast and listen to what that |
| the best of times - if you’re listening to the cued | | | | sounds like. Then change the tempo again so it’s |
| record with one ear on the headphones and the live | | | | running slightly too slow and listen to that. Keep doing |
| track blasting out all around you, it gets even harder | | | | this until you can tell the difference between how the |
| again. However, the more you practise, the less | | | | two cases sound. You should then be able to apply |
| you’ll be guessing – you’ll learn (hopefully) to | | | | this knowledge to pretty much any two records that |
| identify which track is running faster and get them | | | | you might want to mix, and your mixing abilities can |
| matched with fewer errors as time goes by. | | | | develop from there. |
| As I mentioned previously on the online DJ tips site, | | | | If you are still playing two copies of the same track, |
| it’s often much harder to pick out which disc is | | | | then setting them slightly out of time will cause a very |
| slow when the tempo difference is small. Large tempo | | | | distinct phasing effect – this is sometimes |
| mismatches will send one record galloping off much | | | | deliberately used as a more advanced DJ effect, but it |
| faster than the other, so this should be quite easy to | | | | also is a good way of illustrating the concept of |
| spot and rectify. | | | | ‘waveform wobble’ or phasing itself. |