Tricks To Impress

[dirty_bass]

If you are mixing to impress, then get off the decks, it`s all about the music.

thats a stupid comment :dontevengothere:

of corse its about the music but you tell me one dj who doesnt like to try and impress? i'm pretty sure every dj has practised the odd trick or two.
someone asking for a few tips on a few tricks is hardly the end of the world. and it is a dj'ing forum afterall.

i know..lets just play tunes like the good old days like jimmy savile did :roll:

There`s tricks to enhance and there`s tricks for the sake of it.
Sure learn eq, beat juggling, all that, string out breaks, keep the bass out till people are just starting to pine, then ram it up em. All that.
But just blind trickery sucks.
No one likes a show off, when the ego supercedes the music :dontevengothere:


and NEVER pump the mids.
I run soundsystems, and DJ`s that do this really piss me off.
It`s stupid and can screw the rig.
Back off, but never push.
Subtractive is the way.

[AcidTrash]

Just love what you're doing. Thats all it takes.

[Dj_Tyronnster]

There is a guy i know who uses the Flanger (think thats the name) on his DJM600 on everymix and it spoils it,

[TechMouse]

and NEVER pump the mids.
I run soundsystems, and DJ`s that do this really piss me off.
It`s stupid and can screw the rig.
Back off, but never push.
Subtractive is the way.

Not just the mids either...

Cannot echo this advice enough.

[RDR]

If you are mixing to impress, then get off the decks, it`s all about the music.

thats a stupid comment :dontevengothere:

of corse its about the music but you tell me one dj who doesnt like to try and impress? i'm pretty sure every dj has practised the odd trick or two.
someone asking for a few tips on a few tricks is hardly the end of the world. and it is a dj'ing forum afterall.

i know..lets just play tunes like the good old days like jimmy savile did :roll:

There`s tricks to enhance and there`s tricks for the sake of it.
Sure learn eq, beat juggling, all that, string out breaks, keep the bass out till people are just starting to pine, then ram it up em. All that.
But just blind trickery sucks.
No one likes a show off, when the ego supercedes the music :dontevengothere:


and NEVER pump the mids.
I run soundsystems, and DJ`s that do this really piss me off.
It`s stupid and can screw the rig.
Back off, but never push.
Subtractive is the way.

I dont have to take that advice steve. I've done it many times, and could you perhaps explain to me how the mids are going to damage a system with their amazing low end extension? And dont you have limiters on your system? Also i forgot to mention that it and me have never ever damaged a system i've played on.

Its not stupid - it works. And if you couldnt pump the mids, how come tunes do this anyway when running through a BP filter? And how come you let live acts play on PA with their greater frequency range etc etc etc.

Subtractive might be the way in production and DJing but do you really think im gonna just do that.

As for EGO inflating past the records... dont think so. If i did that i would be playing out, but i dont cos i got other things i like doing more.

And n17 a hard trick? go and try it, its not hard at all. just takes practice like everything else...

Sorry for the militancy, but dont you think its better to learn as many tricks as possible... or do you want to be boring? (aimed at all those who wrote comments about tricks being -ve)

Cmon guys, the only people who talk about tricks being bad are those who cant actually do them. besides which it isnt as if i do them constantly - them man asked for ideas so i gave him some of mine. He didnt say lets have some ideas so the rest of you can dismiss them.

[dirty_bass]

Well I`m not going to go into a long tirade about how rigs work, and how close to the limit most are run etc.
However, if a rig has limiting, it generally sounds shit.
Pumping the mids, also sounds shit, good at home, shit on a rig.
Either you trip the limiter, and get a crap signal through the speakers, or you risk frying the mids or tops.
Some tunes have it. But these tunes are compressed and mastered, so it really doesn`t effect the rig as much as some clueless goit pumping the eq with a stupid "look at me" grin on his face.
Subtle tweaks beyond the half way are ok, but sudden pumps in the EQ are stupid, and the domain of amateurs.

I implore people not to do this.

[dan the acid man]

im not dismissing tricks at all, like i say, everything in moderation, im not a fan of hearing djs do tricks all the time through a set, it gets annoying, and i know im not alone in saying that, you have to know when to do tricks, and when to let the music play

[Louis Theroux]

I am not looking to base my set around the tricks - exactly the opposite but would like to learn one or two to make things that little bit different.

Picked up a few from this thread but nothing I think I will stick with yet.

Thanks so far!

[dan the acid man]

I am not looking to base my set around the tricks - exactly the opposite but would like to learn one or two to make things that little bit different.

Picked up a few from this thread but nothing I think I will stick with yet.

Thanks so far!

your going to have to invent your own then as i think most of the tricks have been covered here :lol:

[RDR]

Thanks for the clueless comment steve. Dont know where you get off calling me a goit either.

And as for rigs... never tripped one yet.

Ah well, i tried to help here. Hope you find it usefull. And believe me - i know these tricks, but it aint like i use em constantlty. You dont get to know these things and practice them without knowing when to use/when not to use them either.

At the end of the day i still know how to do them and will use em to good effect. you havent heard me play so how do you "know"....?

contribution over.

[S/E]

So who wants a mix tape then?

I'd love one. ;)

[Dj_Tyronnster]

me aswell

[oldbugger]

Well I`m not going to go into a long tirade about how rigs work, and how close to the limit most are run etc.
However, if a rig has limiting, it generally sounds shit.
Pumping the mids, also sounds shit, good at home, shit on a rig.
Either you trip the limiter, and get a crap signal through the speakers, or you risk frying the mids or tops.
Some tunes have it. But these tunes are compressed and mastered, so it really doesn`t effect the rig as much as some clueless goit pumping the eq with a stupid "look at me" grin on his face.
Subtle tweaks beyond the half way are ok, but sudden pumps in the EQ are stupid, and the domain of amateurs.

I implore people not to do this.

to be fair.. you should set your rig up with this in mind. i know i have.

you cant say it isnt the style of techno dj's to do this really and its to be expected. i do it myself on our rig. if you want to run your rig to the max all the time perhaps its time to upgrade and run it a bit less ;)

hahaha i could just see dave clarke killing a free party rig if he played on one:lol:

[RDR]

Well I`m not going to go into a long tirade about how rigs work, and how close to the limit most are run etc.
However, if a rig has limiting, it generally sounds shit.
Pumping the mids, also sounds shit, good at home, shit on a rig.
Either you trip the limiter, and get a crap signal through the speakers, or you risk frying the mids or tops.
Some tunes have it. But these tunes are compressed and mastered, so it really doesn`t effect the rig as much as some clueless goit pumping the eq with a stupid "look at me" grin on his face.
Subtle tweaks beyond the half way are ok, but sudden pumps in the EQ are stupid, and the domain of amateurs.

I implore people not to do this.

to be fair.. you should set your rig up with this in mind. i know i have.

you cant say it isnt the style of techno dj's to do this really and its to be expected. i do it myself on our rig. if you want to run your rig to the max all the time perhaps its time to upgrade and run it a bit less ;)

hahaha i could just see dave clarke killing a free party rig if he played on one:lol:

:)

Even if dave does break it, give the sound bwoy 10mins with a soldering iron, a will and fourteen rolls of duck tape and that Mofo will last through world war three.

Or just break down totally.

[RDR]

To all those who have played the no respect route.

http://www.blackoutaudio.co.uk/phpBB...ic.php?t=38844


Read this.

[DJsmallpaul]

I think the most i do is cut various beats & tweek the high & mid ranges

[dirty_bass]

Well I`m not going to go into a long tirade about how rigs work, and how close to the limit most are run etc.
However, if a rig has limiting, it generally sounds shit.
Pumping the mids, also sounds shit, good at home, shit on a rig.
Either you trip the limiter, and get a crap signal through the speakers, or you risk frying the mids or tops.
Some tunes have it. But these tunes are compressed and mastered, so it really doesn`t effect the rig as much as some clueless goit pumping the eq with a stupid "look at me" grin on his face.
Subtle tweaks beyond the half way are ok, but sudden pumps in the EQ are stupid, and the domain of amateurs.

I implore people not to do this.

to be fair.. you should set your rig up with this in mind. i know i have.

you cant say it isnt the style of techno dj's to do this really and its to be expected. i do it myself on our rig. if you want to run your rig to the max all the time perhaps its time to upgrade and run it a bit less ;)

hahaha i could just see dave clarke killing a free party rig if he played on one:lol:

In general we run with good headroom.
We have 60k at our disposal (rarely get the chance to use it though)
very very good amplification and run omnidrive processing.
Allen n heath mixers.
However, pumping the EQ`s can cause huge movements of the cones, among many other things (let alone damaging the actual mixers themselves, as most DJ`s end up running in the red)
And no, we don`t expect techno DJ`s to do this, it`s very rare that good DJ`s do.
Most DJ`s learned in the bedroom, and moving into the pro arena, don`t actually know everything (although they like to think they do) and probably do need to learn a few lessons.

Sorry dodgy, I wasn`t calling you clueless, I was making a general comment, as in my years of running pro rigs, for the most part I would say that 60% of DJ`s are pretty clueless.

I am getting a little over the top, for most of the shit rigs you get in the average club, pissing on the mixer probably wouldn`t make much difference to the sound quality.

But for real pro sound, I guess the rules change slightly.

[dirty_bass]

Sorry dude, just read your other post.
I wasn`t calling you a clueless goit, reread the post, it was ageneral reference.
If I was to call you something, I would just do it.

You obviously know your music tech and don`t go over your top.
But the average jock (who tend to blow into the red anyway) on hearing about "hey, you can pump the eq`s) tend to do it in the same over the top way that they handle their ever increasing levels.

There`s not enough education in DJing really, so many bedroom jocks, and no one really tells em stuff.

So it`s left to the engineers to tell em what to do when they come on the big rigs, and by that point they are generally arrogant enough to ignor you, cos they know best.

hey ho.

[RDR]

Point taken steve.

As it happens Im the one teaching the DJs as i work as a DJ tech lecturer as well.

I also take your point about headroom and your points about inexperienced DJs. I NOT one of them, i've been playing for 12years now and just like you I understand about mixers, headroom and levels.

The whole thing pissed me off to the point where i felt i had to vent my spleen about it. I dont mean to tell you that you dont know what you're talking about, as you clearly do - but in the same token i fully expect a bit of respect for the skills i worked hard to develop.

If you have any info you'd like to pass along regarding DJs and their common mistakes in running a sound system, then why not take part in the thread i've just started in the DJ forum.

In retrospect, my mistake was not to mention that i drop the gains when doing the mid pump. not by much, but just enough to lessen the impact and keep the levels sweet as obviously doing this will stress the o/p on the mixer.

Peace. Chris.

[dirty_bass]

Yeah, mate, sorry, I wasn`t really accusing you of not being able to mix.
However the thought of loads of DJ`s suddenly turning up pumping the EQ`s like some rabid twitcher, cos they read you could do it on a forum, strikes fear into me.

As an aside, this whole affair made me check out your website, and listen to some of the stuff.
Erm, why haven`t you boys been released?
Stupid question?

Yeah, I think I will post some stuff in that thread you have made.