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George
02-27-2012, 05:50 PM
hi im a beginner dj and am playing my first ever gig at a local tavern. I own a crappy little Numark mixtrack with a sync button, The setup i am to be using is 2 pioneer cdj 2000's and a 800 mixer. I am tottally unfamiliar with this setup, aswell as the manual beat watching using the jog wheel etc. Is there anyway i can give myself a better chance of not looking like a complete idiot on the day?

Defiance
02-27-2012, 05:52 PM
just fade in and out between the decks. Keep it simple.

DjBlanco
02-27-2012, 05:53 PM
use your ears they usually work best ....

Boomcie
02-27-2012, 05:56 PM
Yeah...don't take the gig. I'm not trying to be a dick or anything, but you're setting yourself up for failure

Windows 95
02-27-2012, 05:57 PM
You could try learning to beat match between now & the gig. A lot of people claim to pick it up pretty quickly.
If you haven't learned to beat match by then, do as Defiance suggested, just cross fade the songs without beat matching them.

VjQue
02-27-2012, 06:36 PM
Yeah...don't take the gig. I'm not trying to be a dick or anything, but you're setting yourself up for failure I'm With You On This.

If You Don'T Know How To Work It Don't Mess With It.

Don't Do The Gig Your Not Ready.

DjBlanco
02-27-2012, 07:21 PM
lol or you could do what i seen some wanker do @ pacha nyc and hook up his controller on top of the cdj's and 800 xD but ya probally should learn how to dj first without automix/sync

fueledbymusic
02-27-2012, 09:55 PM
Its remarkable that he got a gig in a "big" place!

George
02-27-2012, 10:19 PM
its more of a competetion, each dj goes up against another 15 mins each.. i know how to mix just not familiar with the equipment, i will possibly have access to similar equipment to practise on 2 weeks before the event will this be enough time to familiarise myself with the equipment?

DjBlanco
02-27-2012, 10:21 PM
^^:lush::lush::whack::whack::whack::whack::monkey:

Andrew B
02-27-2012, 10:24 PM
its more of a competetion, each dj goes up against another 15 mins each.. i know how to mix just not familiar with the equipment, i will possibly have access to similar equipment to practise on 2 weeks before the event will this be enough time to familiarise myself with the equipment?

If you already know how to beatmatch by ear, then you'll be fine. Most equipment works pretty much the same way.

Liam
02-28-2012, 03:27 AM
its more of a competetion, each dj goes up against another 15 mins each.. i know how to mix just not familiar with the equipment, i will possibly have access to similar equipment to practise on 2 weeks before the event will this be enough time to familiarise myself with the equipment?

Like you said in your first post if you rely on the sync button i'm afraid you don't know how to mix fully. If you have access to similar equipment a few weeks before the event that should give you enough time to practice and get familiar.

But if you have never beatmatched by ear or even using the CDJ counters as just a quick reference you have a little bit of learning to do mate. :)

Era 7
02-28-2012, 03:39 AM
prime example of why it is best to start out on setup that offers no help to skip the basics. it is good to have them. use sync or whatever all you want after that and you will have no problem jumping from your setup to a basic 2 players/TTs and a mixer.

Manu
02-28-2012, 05:10 AM
You're clearly not ready for competitions, don't go there with high hopes...


You could try learning to beat match between now & the gig. A lot of people claim to pick it up pretty quickly.


Mixing in a bedroom and mixing at a live gigs are 2 different things. When live you have to deal with echo, delay, crowd noise etc. All he can do is enjoy himself and set himself up on a damage limitation crash course. Kids are being told here all the time why they should learn to beatmatch ( go look at the 20 page thread with that title on it), most won't bother until they're facing into the abyss. Most fail their first gig while they trainwreck themselves into oblivion...

Regardless, good luck, have fun:tup: You have 2 weeks to learn beatmatching which is plenty. Don't expect anything, the other competitors have either similar experience of DJing or better.

Subprime
02-28-2012, 06:16 AM
Pull out now. You could do yourself major harm (in terms of getting future gigs) by looking stupid in front of the wrong people. If you can't mix going to the competition will be pointless anyway.

DJ Braz
02-28-2012, 09:19 AM
what subprime said...there might be people there that could be future employers. if you train wreck really bad they might not consider you for future gigs. sometimes you are better off walking away with nothing then walking away with bad cred

mostapha
02-28-2012, 10:26 AM
If it's actually a competition, walk away.

If it's a 15-minutes, open-decks "lets all have fun" kind of thing where they explicitly say that it's neither a competiton nor a tryout, then turn off sync and switch to your software's "library only" view and learn to mix manually. It's more fun anyway.

dlove
02-28-2012, 12:57 PM
Most equipment works pretty much the same way.

the only mixer that's bamboozled me was a massive Allen & Heath. When I walked in the club and saw it, I was like 'oh f...' :lol: I just used a tiny bit of it, and probably missed loads of cool features with my fear of it!

DJ Sunshine
02-28-2012, 06:03 PM
If you don't want to back down from it, I'd probably make a few miniature mixes, maybe 10-15mins each, thus limiting the amount of beatmatching you have to do and saving yourself from more potential trainwrecks. The other option is just to pre-record the whole thing, but that really wouldn't look good and you'd feel like a failure. What everyone else is saying though is true, learn how to beatmatch. Even if you don't have it down by the time of the gig and you have to just fade in between songs, you should still keep trying to learn.

EDIT: How long do you have? Is this like a 30-minute thing, or a 2+ hour set?


BTW: Hi Mostapha :)

Defiance
02-28-2012, 06:17 PM
I find it kind of funny,

I occasionally used sync before I used Itch as my software. I can't even for the life of me figure out how to use sync in itch if I even wanted too.

ampnation
02-29-2012, 01:56 PM
My first impulse is... don't do it. I literally laughed out loud when I got to where you said it was a competition. If you were invited to this competiton, I'm guessing it is because you're the patsy. You'll be there specifically because they want someone to make fun of. It made a lot more sense too. I couldn't figure out how anyone with so little skill (trust me, you don't know how to mix well enough yet) got a gig at a place smart enough to have a proper Pioneer setup with 2000's.

If all you were doing is providing music for a crowd of people dancing, you could be okay. You could probably get away with not knowing how to beatmatch by ear. But you're not. People will be watching your technique. They'll be listening closely for any hiccup and simply fading songs without beatmatching will be a big no no.

I recommend you back out of this one and go watch it as a spectator. Take your time and do it right. Learn how to beatmatch first. THEN enter a competition.

I mainly say this because as others have pointed out, trainwrecking could cost you future gigs.

Atomisk
03-03-2012, 10:25 PM
its more of a competetion, each dj goes up against another 15 mins each.. i know how to mix just not familiar with the equipment, i will possibly have access to similar equipment to practise on 2 weeks before the event will this be enough time to familiarise myself with the equipment?

If you're a quick learner, yes. The first CDJs I ever touched were 2000s, and I picked them up instantly. You could try watching reviews, demos or tutorials of the gear to try to familiarize yourself with it.

Cryder
03-04-2012, 01:22 AM
I'm not saying that it's honorable or a way to make friends in the industry(especially if you get caught) BUT one possibility is to choose tracks with similar BPM's then warp them to the exact same tempo. Then you shouldn't have to touch the tempo faders and just worry about the jogs and the mixer functions... BTW I don't do this, but it is a possibility if you've backed yourself into a corner.

Nicadraus
03-04-2012, 06:03 AM
This case is one of the very good examples of why you should learn to beat match by ear. Because if not, situations like this will definitely put you in humiliation.

Learn it. You'll love it and will make you forget using the auto sync.

moyo wilde
03-04-2012, 09:11 AM
having warped a ton of electronically produced music, most of it at this point is even numbered anyway, no decimals. so most songs are 66, 83, 95, 125, 130 nothing is like 125.5 or 125.36. i haven't run into a song that wasn't even in like years.

also another vote for don't do it, unless you get the practice and feel really comfortable. not only could you make yourself look bad in fornt of potential employers, but you may also damage your own confidence.

mostapha
03-04-2012, 09:53 AM
Once again…it's a DJ competition at a tavern…the only way to not look like an idiot is to not go. My suggestion is to go and get drunk and laugh–quietly, to yourself–at all the people who think fifteen minutes in a shitty bar is going to make or break their career.

KLH
03-04-2012, 11:04 AM
^ I agree with Mos. I'm not seeing the upside for the OP.

If you're used to mixing on a controller with a computer, going to a CDJ setup might take a bit of an adjustment. If you REALLY want to get up to speed, make two CDs and head down to your local music retailer and address your comfort level by playing for the customers there. If you can rock it and a crowd builds, then you're ready. Likewise, if you're thrown out on the street and posters go up banning you from all local retailers, well, you have your answer too.

There's a double-edges sword with that CD-based setup. It's the new(ish) club standard. Getting used to it will cause massive hurt to your pride as you'll want that setup... I hope that you have $5k just begging to be spent.

But maybe we're missing something. Why not make a 15m mix and post it to the Mix Submissions thread? We'll evaluate it for you so that you can get the mix tight by the event! What do you think?

-KLH

DjDisArm
03-04-2012, 11:29 AM
^^:lush::lush::whack::whack::whack::whack::monkey:

lolz..

RaphaelJohn
03-05-2012, 05:57 PM
lol or you could do what i seen some wanker do @ pacha nyc and hook up his controller on top of the cdj's and 800 xD but ya probally should learn how to dj first without automix/sync

Was this in the basement or main room? Asian guy? If it was the basement and is and Asian guy, I know who you're talking about