Count Electrifique's n00b DJ diary

[CountElectrfique]

Well, I've been reading these forums for a while without posting or even registering, but I saw Sigma's thread about noob diaries and really liked the idea and decided to give it a go.

A bit about myself
Well, I am a newbie wannabe DJ located in Moscow, Russia. I am 20 years old and I have always liked music in general. My musical taste is pretty wide, I think. I want to share the feel of music with others, to make them feel the same thing I feel when I hear sound, so I decided to give it a try as a DJ.
What gear you use
Traktor Kontrol S4 and iPad with TouchOSC. The software is Traktor Pro, obviously.
What genre(s) you spin
Electro House, Nu Disco, EBM, Dubstep, Electro Swing, anything I like.
How long you've been DJing
I am just starting, like two months I suppose
What you're currently working on
Practicing! Transitions, beatmatching, usage of samples. Everything, basically, since I am just starting out. I feel like I am still pretty bad and don't think that my mixes have any value to anyone yet, so I won't post anything yet. I certainly will, when I progress a bit :)

[dj_sly]

Cool man. Good luck.

[CleverHans]

Another one in Moscow, sweet. Good luck mate!

[CountElectrfique]

Thanks, both of you!
I admit, it is weird to see a British guy moving to Moscow though!

[CountElectrfique]

https://soundcloud.com/count-electrifique/knife-farty
Well, I made a short mix. Tried to keep it sort of mainstreamish. I find imy mix awful, but I'd be grateful if someone else pointed at my mistakes. What I myself find wrong:
- Extremly long opening track. Mixing remix with the original probably wasn't great idea either.
- BPM drop at 4:25 is too drastic, I think.
- Well, obvious trainwreck at 15:17
- Awful ending of the mix

So, what else?

Well, I am just a yellow newbie, but it gives me no excuse.

[Sigma]

Well, I am just a yellow newbie, but it gives me no excuse.

Actually, that does give you an excuse.

Ignoring playing for a crowd, as that's a somewhat different skill, getting good at the technical aspects of DJing comes down to: -

1. Understanding the core concepts (beatmatching, phrase matching etc.)
2. Practicing (including getting to know your music well)
3. Developing the "DJ's ear" - the ability to critique your own stuff well and pick our your weaknesses

It seems like you're already doing all of that, including 3 which is where a lot of n00bs lack, so there's no shame in making mistakes and posting up mixes that you think are bad. It's good that you think your mix is bad. It would be much worse if you thought it was great!

I'm gonna listen to it now.....

[Sigma]

- Extremly long opening track. Mixing remix with the original probably wasn't great idea either.
- BPM drop at 4:25 is too drastic, I think.
- Well, obvious trainwreck at 15:17
- Awful ending of the mix

For a mix that short, the opening track does go on a bit too long, mostly because you used 2 versions of it back to back. The BPM drop at 4:25 wasn't noticeable to me at first, cos I had the mix on in the background while reading the forum, but when I went back and focussed on it, yeah - it's perhaps a bit too much of a drop.

The tune that comes in around the 9 minute mark sounded a bit "thin" compared to the previous song, like it was a lower bitrate MP3, or maybe it's to do with the levels/EQing. The same with the tune that starts around 21:18.

I wouldn't call the transition at 15:17 a trainwreck at all.

The only bad thing about the ending is that the fade out part cuts off. If that continued to fade until silence, it would have sounded OK IMO.

I'm really not the best person to critique mixes like this though, cos I'm more of a hip-hop/funk/R&B/soul guy. As I don't know any of these tracks at all, it can be hard for me to tell where transitions start and end, but at the same time, if there were any obviously bad stand-out moments I'd still be able to pick them out, so I think overall this mix was pretty good. Outside of watching your levels/EQs and making sure all your tunes are high quality (which they may be - it could be the levels/EQing that's at fault), I'd say you're doing just fine.

[CountElectrfique]

Thanks! I really appreciate that you spent some time to listen to my mix! The critique is welcome too!
Well, I am having some problems with gain, perhaps that is the reason of "thin" sound. It is difficult for me to determine the right sounding gain on the fly and autogain in Traktor works weird, I avoid using it.
About that "trainwreck" transition, well, it just sounds odd for me, maybe it is just me.
Thank you once again, it pleases me to hear that my mix doesn't make ears bleed I will keep practicing.

[CleverHans]

Hey, I just had a listen to your mix.

As Sigma said, I'm not in a good position to critique your mix either as I am not into dupstep/electro or w/e at all. However, I persevered and I thought that apart from some little EQing errors, as mentioned, it was a good effort!

The transition at 15:17 sounded pretty decent to me as well, not bad at all!

[Sigma]

Not knowing the tracks, the "trainwreck" sounded like a slam from one song to the other to me, but it was well timed. A proper trainwreck is when 2 songs are playing at the same time with the beats totally out of sync and it definitely was not that.

Regarding the gains, I don't know the best way to do it with a controller. With regular turntables, I drop the needle at a busy part in the track (where it's at its loudest) and set the gain there, then re-cue back at the beginning. Use the orange light on the mixer/controller as a guide.

For a couple of months in, you're doing just fine though man and like I said above, you're already good at critiquing your own stuff - in fact, you're quite harsh on yourself, lol, although that's not a bad thing either. Get a handle on those gains and you'll be good.