Part four of our ‘learning to mix’ series, and it’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for, as we guide you through that all-important first beat mix...
At last, it’s time to get two records on together and keep them both perfectly in time. Before we do however, there are several points to keep in mind. I recommend using two simple house tracks of similar BPM. When I say simple, you should be looking for tracks that stay true to the eight-bar phrasing that most house tracks conform to – if you don’t then it will confuse the issue somewhat. Once you have chosen the tracks learn the phrasing of each, at the very least for this exercise, the intro of one and the outro of another.
With all of the above in mind you should now be about ready to get ‘in the mix’. We’ll call the tracks ‘record A’ and ‘record B’. What you need to decide is exactly where you are going to start your mix. In other words, at what point in record A do you release record B? To do this best, try and never have only drums playing on their own. The bassline on A should stop and the bassline of record B should start straight away. Here’s an example of two tracks and the thought process that would go into putting them together in a correctly phrased mix using the end of track A and the beginning of track B.
If A has 16 bars of drums after the bassline stops and B has 16 bars of drums before the bassline starts, you know that on record A you would have to count back another 16 bars, which would mean releasing record B 32 bars before the end of record A. Put into practice it would mean moving the crossfader to the middle after record B had been playing for eight bars. This leaves you a mix of 24 bars or about 45 seconds long (it’s handy to know that house tracks of exactly 128 BPM can be timed as every 8 bars is 15 seconds. You shorten this time for faster tracks and lengthen it for slower ones, great for quickly knowing where to go on a CD). All this might sound a bit Open University, but it’s simple really and if you’ve spent enough time listening to your tracks and counting phrases you’ll be ready to do the mix.
So how do we match the beats?
If you’ve followed what we’ve done in this series so far you will have BPM stickers on your records. You will then know which record is faster and which is slower. Whilst record A is playing at its correct speed you need to practise the mix in the headphones, the first thing to do is cue up record B to the correct point (the start of the track for the example given).
Once you have cued up record B and set the gain to the right level you need to push it back and forth to the beat of record A. With two hands on the deck playing record B – one on the record middle and one on the pitch control – you need to release it. Even when just setting your mix up it’s worth keeping in phrase so you don’t get confused by things happening at the wrong time. Say record A is 128 BPM and record B is 126BPM, you know that you must speed up record B slightly. Wind the record middle round to speed it up whilst moving the pitch fader slightly. Every now and again you should take your hand off the record and see what speed it returns to, if a little push on the record brings it in time for a second or two nudge the pitch up a little more. Obviously if you are touching the edge of the platter because it’s too fast then the reverse would apply. It is very important to learn the art of moving the vari-speed or pitch-fader control by tiny amounts… something else to practise!
Take some time to match the beats in the headphones: the more time spent, the less adjustment you’ll need to make when in the mix! Now re-cue record B and push it back and forth with the beat again as you come up to the mix point. At the right point you should be able to release it and it should be in time with record A.
As soon as you let go of record B your hand should be on the pitch control ready to make any fine adjustments to the speed. Never put your hands back on the record or the platter. If you’ve prepared thoroughly you’ll be able to keep your mix in by using the vari-speed alone, therefore avoiding any whirring sounds. Keeping one hand on your mixer controls and one on the deck playing record B: after eight bars of this mix you should be able to bring your crossfader to the middle and enjoy your perfect mix for 45 seconds or so!
Oh, and did I mention using EQ? That’ll have to wait for next time!
Source: I-Dj Mag
