Juggling and watching the marker

[Lam]

Hey djf.

When you are juggling, how do you concentrate on how many times the marker passes the styli. I find it difficult having to watching the marker to see how many times I have to backspin to get it back to the original starting point, and doing the same with the second record. I always either over backspin or under backspin and the beat gets all messed up. This is without counting in the first place, as if you just picked up a record and started juggling without previously counting.

[Vekked]

Hey djf.

When you are juggling, how do you concentrate on how many times the marker passes the styli. I find it difficult having to watching the marker to see how many times I have to backspin to get it back to the original starting point, and doing the same with the second record. I always either over backspin or under backspin and the beat gets all messed up. This is without counting in the first place, as if you just picked up a record and started juggling without previously counting.

I think at first try and count the rotations, but eventually you just kinda get a feel for how many rotations a record can travel in a given amount of time and it becomes semi natural especially when it's only a few rotations. In other words it just takes practice and you develop somewhat of a sixth sense for the record movement but until then try and count/do your best. Also you can open the fader for a split second where you think the first beat should be to check and if it's not there just backspin another rotation. Eventually you'll get more on point though.

[Dj_4-$hure]

Where do you place your markers. Most place them at the 12 o' clock position.

[TheRabbitMonk]

rotations is the trick my friend

[Lam]

Where do you place your markers. Most place them at the 12 o' clock position.

I place my markers at the point of the styli, where the beat starts.

@Everyone: Yeah it can get tricky...extreme multi-tasking. You are counting the backspins on the record playing, backspinning the record that is not playing back to the original beat, deciding what record to use next, where to place the styli, etc. Yeah it will take some practice. Thanks guys

[iBoogieDown]

I place my markers like you Lam. I use a different color to mark the end of something -may it be a full 16 bars, etc... This may make it easier for you to remember. Juggling is quite a bit of work when you're trying to develop your own composition. Some dj's can do it purely by ear, but that takes time. Initially, I'd try using different colors. One for beat, snare, etc... I used to use Sharpies. More accurate than stickers. Just get a sharpie and draw a line when the sound hits the needle. Hope this provides some insight.

[Anomoly]

just takes practice... after doing it enough you will naturally know without really thinking about it. A lot of times you don't need to count, depending on the loop and timing you will know that say, 'i can do three rotations by the time i need to juggle back to that record' so then you juggle to one record, crossfade, and immediately start backspinning the other record until it's close to needing to juggle back. then the marker serves more as a general (i know that's where the loop starts and i need to cue to that point, rather than counting how many times it rotates).

of course each person, record, song, loop, juggle etc is different. These days i fear the art of beat juggling is all but lost with digital... but i still love to do it.

[Deejay Irie]

The main advice I would give you is practice your foundation: try an 8 count loop first and then a 4 count bar, then 2 then 1 till you can go really fast (1/2 count or 1/3 count). Once you mastered that you could move your starting rotation from the first count (often a kick) to maybe the first snare. What you want to be able to do is break down the whole beat and be able to start from any place and still be on beat.
Have fun practicing.

[bernardgregory]

practice. honestly if you're practicing a routine, and you spin a record back one revolution and it needed to be spun back twice, you'll remember the next time. if you listen to a song enough on the TT, you can judge how many beats are in one revolution IMO.

[Rek_Aviles]

practice. honestly if you're practicing a routine, and you spin a record back one revolution and it needed to be spun back twice, you'll remember the next time. if you listen to a song enough on the TT, you can judge how many beats are in one revolution IMO.

^^ This +100

Get familiar with your records and you'll know how many times you'll need to spin back.

[sense]

set the pitch on -8 on both decks and practice like this until your more comfortable and then slowly increase the pitch. ( to be used as a practice session)

[mikeyg]

i think it's just part of getting your backspinning down. Eventually you'll get used to the loop frequency you're going after and you'll know the number of rotations by feel. if you are looping 4 bars or 2 bars, it'll just sort of become automatic. It also helps really knowing the record so even if you go too far back or not far back enough you can easily correct it because you know you haven't hit your snare or kick that you are looking for