DJ Mixing Tips and Trix 

BEAT MIXING TUTORIAL

Unlike other inferior products, SPUNTRIX1 does not have BPM counters or computer assisted mixing. 

This means that once you learn to mix with the software, you will be able to use practically any DJ Hardware (Turntables, CD Decks etc) once you familiarize yourself with their operation.

 Visit any big club or disco and see if they use BPM counters. Professional DJs simply don't need them - they rely on real skills to do their work. With SPUNTRIX1, you become a true DJ.  

2007/8 WINTER SPECIAL:
For a limited time, the $99.00 registration fee for Spuntrix1 has been REDUCED to $64.00!

MIXING IS AN ART

Mixing is an art that requires skills. Any skill worth learning needs practice and dedication to perfect. If you really want to be a REAL DJ then you must be prepared to practice daily. Sometimes you will try everything but the music will just refuse to be mixed (by you); this can be very frustrating and every DJ experiences this when starting out. When you are just about to throw in the towel and dash for the nearest BPM counter to help you, then that is the time you need to practice more. Remember this:

Knowledge + Practice + Dedication = Perfection

LESSON 1: GETTING STARTED 

1. Load a song (preferably a song with a simple regular beat) onto the LEFT deck and press q to play it. You could also press the play button...

2. Now load the SAME SONG onto the RIGHT deck.

3. Press e to stop the LEFT deck. Pressing e stops playback and jumps back to the selected cue-point (in this case, the beginning of the song...). You can also right-click the play button to do this. 

4. Now press both p and q at the same time. The song will start playing on both decks. Beats might clash a little but don't worry about that for now. Let the music play...

5. Make sure the cross-fader is at the center position and that you can hear both decks at the same volume.

Now you are ready to learn your first (and very difficult) DJ skill: How to tell which deck is faster or slower. Master this - and you will never need a BPM counter 

LESSON 2: MATCHING BEATS

In order to match beats you need to have:

• Both songs playing at the same speed.

• The beats of both songs aligned seamlessly and musically.

How do we do this? If you followed lesson 1 correctly, you will now have two decks playing at the same time. Because they are both playing the same song, their speed is the same. Now do the following:

1. On the LEFT deck, click (and hold down) the + button just above the pitch slider.  This will temporarily bend the pitch up on the LEFT deck.

2. Notice how the beats really start clashing. They clash because the two decks are no longer playing at the same speed! Sounds terrible, doesn't it?

3. Now release the + button and even though the music will still sound terrible (clashing drums), both decks will be playing at the same speed. The green light at the centre of the pitch slider should be on for BOTH DECKS.

4. Which deck is lagging behind? Can you tell by ear? You're right, its VERY HARD to tell especially if both of them are playing through the amplified  speakers at the same volume. 

5. Now reduce the volume of the LEFT deck so that it is significantly lower than the RIGHT deck. You should be able to hear both tracks - but at different volumes.

6. Notice how it suddenly becomes easy to tell which deck is ahead - by just paying more attention to the song playing at a lower volume. This is one reason why DJs need to use headphones to mix.  Was the noise of the beats clashing getting onto your nerves? That is also another good reason for using headphones to preview a song and match the beats.  

7. Now, Increase the volume on the LEFT deck so that both decks continue to play at the same volume.

8. Now lets match the beats. Click the  + button on the RIGHT deck and hold it down. The right deck subtly speeds up.

9. Keep the button pressed and the beats will start to align (i.e., Bass kicks to bass kicks, snares to snares). The sound will become less irritating and more pleasing to the ear.

10. Suddenly the bass seems to disappear and the music sounds as if it's playing through a narrow tunnel... Congratulations! you have just created a live Flanger effect!  When both decks play the same song at more-or-less the same speed, the sound waves cancel out in our brains and sound weird.

11. You have also successfully made your first flawless mix! To prove it, smoothly bump the cross-fader to the left and right. Is it easy to notice the switch from one deck to the other? If these were two different tracks, your Mix would have been perfect! 

Once you get used to matching beats on the same song, you can move on to the next stage. Matching two different songs with different speeds. The same basic principles as above come come into play. However, you now need to be familiar with a few more extra functions:

• Use the Pitch Slider to match the speeds by increasing or reducing the tempo.




• Headphone Monitor - Use your headphones to preview the next song. (See DJ setup examples for ways of connecting your headphones...)




• As usual, match the Kicks (Bass Drums) to Kicks (or Snares to Snares) and bend the pitch to make minor corrections...




• Use the crossfader to smoothly blend to the next song.




• Use the Equalizers to liven up your mix, give more thump to the bass and to correct music frequencies.




• Use the Kills-witches to blend music even MORE PERFECTLY!




• Loop short Intros to make them danceable and "Out-tros" to give you time to mix in the next track - or make an announcement.




• As an advanced DJ, start cutting, beat juggling and scratching digitally with Spuntrix1 using the turntable effects and the X-fader cuts.   

Keep Practicing! More mixing lessons will be posted on our website so be sure to check it out regularly (www.spuntrix.com). 

HEY I DON'T WANT TO MIX, I JUST WANT TO CUT AND SCRATCH !!!

Hold on a second. Let's define scratching first:  

Scratching is an art of LIVE music composition using short sound clips sampled from an existing audio track. The samples' characteristics are altered on-the-fly using simple techniques such as reversing and immediately forwarding the clips at different speeds, cutting with the the crossfader etc. This modified sample may then be mixed in to another song to give the impression that the song has been remixed.  

The sample could be a Vocal phrase, a Beat, an Instrument, or a combination of all these.   Before any sound or effect can be labeled a "scratch" or a "cut" it has to make musical sense. Otherwise it is just noise. The whole idea behind scratching is to remix music in a live setting. Scratching is therefore an advanced form of beat mixing. LEARN HOW TO MIX FIRST AND SCRATCHING WILL COME NATURALLY AND EASILY!

"Even a monkey can move a record back and forth. A real scratch must have a musical rhythm - no matter how complex or fast" - Anon.

Listen to the short audio clip (DJMix.asf) that came with spuntrix1. Some of the scratches were made using spuntrix1. Can you tell the difference between the turntable scratches and the spuntrix1 scratches? QUESTION: Which scratches were made using spuntrix1? 

RECORDING AND BACKUP

• The best way to learn is by listening to your own mix. You can now record CD QUALITY mixes to your computer's hard disk. These recordings do not use a lot of disk space. Use them to identify areas that need improvement or more training. These DJ mixes can be later converted to WAV files using the FREE Spuntrix ASF-to-WAV converter and burned onto CDs.




• For back up, you can simply use a good Disk-man or  a tape deck to play PRE-RECORDED mixes. A typical CD will give you more than an hour to sort out any problem with your PC/Laptop. 

Whether you are using Turntables (needle may break or deck hums mysteriously...) or CD Players (lenses get dirty and decks start skipping) or a Laptop, it is always advisable to have your backup system already setup in such a way that all you have to do is flip a switch or two and press play.

ORGANIZING YOUR PLAYLISTS

• Avoid having one huge playlist with all your songs. Instead have several playlists targeted for particular events (e.g. a wedding playlist, teen party playlist, Christmas party playlist, New year party playlist etc). These are easier to manage and mix.




• Alternatively you can have playlists categorized by the music genre e.g. a Trance, House, Rap, Jazz etc




• Deleting a song from the playlist DOES NOT delete the actual MP3 file from your hard disk.




• SPUNTRIX1 playlists are compatible with Winamp playlists.