Basic
Mixing - Part 3 - Introducing Your Headphones To The Process
Author: DJ Recess
www.recess.co.uk
Part
1 - The Beginning
Part 2 - The Next Bit
Part 3 - Introducing Your Headphones To The Process
Part 4 -
Mixing Two Different Tunes Together
Part 5 - Mixing Using
CD's
INTRODUCING YOUR
HEADPHONES TO THE PROCESS
Remember that you've not included your headphones into
the scenario yet, well, you can now.
The only things you're changing in your set up from the
above pieces is that you now close the cross fader off
onto the tune that you'll be playing live through the
amp (you move the crossfader to the side that represents
the deck you're playing from). The record you're bringing
into the mix is the CUED track, and will only be heard
through the headphones until you move the cross fader
across to that channel.
The one thing I'd
say about headphones is that it's a good idea to learn
about single ear monitoring. What this is (simply) is
that you have one ear with the headphone over it, and
the other ear is 'exposed' to the live sound coming from
the speakers. In time, you'll understand that this can
be very important - hard to explain why, and a bit pointless
right now as I'll probably confuse matters, but if you
can start to do it this way from the very beginning, then
it'll help you in the long run.
This isn't to say
that having both ears of your phones on isn't right, there's
no right or wrong when it comes to Ding, just the way
you do it.
Note: - If you
don't have a headphone mix on your mixer, then you'll
have a bit of trouble understanding what I'm on about
here, the same principle will apply for you, but instead
of hearing all this stuff in your headphones, you have
to rely on the live sound to check it all - which can
be problematic.
Bet all you people
with headphone mixes are now happy you got a decent mixer!!
In case you're unsure what I'm on about, a headphone mix
is a control which allows you to hear the cued track in
your headphone, and then being able to vary the amount
of the live tune you can also hear. There will be a control,
either a little slider like the cross-fader or a rotating
knob to control this. When turned to one side, you'll
hear nothing but the cued track, on the other, nothing
but the live track - in the middle, both at the same volume,
and then varying degrees in between.
So, to get you
used to using your headphones, and trying to hear two
different things at the same time; all you have to do
now is go through the first two sections, using your headphones.
Aaaarrgghh!! Those two tunes again!! Sorry people...
The principle is
really the same. If you have a headphone mix, turn it
so you can hear the tune that's playing live very slightly
in the headphones, then rock cued record back and forth
in time with what you're hearing - let go of the beat,
and listen in your headphones and the amp to see if it's
in time or not. (SIDEBAR - This is what I mean by listening
to two different things at the same time - think of the
live sound as the other ear of your headphones - if the
bass hits at the same time out of the headphone, and the
speaker - you'll know it. If not, you should hear it being
"wrong"....) You may want to increase, or decrease
the volume of the live track that's playing through your
headphones at any point - just to make sure things are
going well.
At this point,
things will start to move up a gear in the realms of difficulty.
Before, you were listening to the live sound, and just
guessing whether to speed up or slow down the cued track
when you were out of time. Then, once you've become a
little better at it, you might be able to tell a bit easier
whether the tune needs slowed or speeded up. This is still
hard when done only through the speakers, but it's a lot
harder to do when you've only got one ear of your headphones
on, and the live sound is pumping out. Which brings me
nicely onto the next section.
USING YOUR EARS
As I said at the beginning of the last section, this part
of beat matching is one of THE hardest things you'll go
through. Please be vigilant at your practise, concentrate,
listen, relax, but most of all PRACTISE!!!
Just to prove it to you, here's a mail I just received:
-
Hi I was wondering
if you could give me advice on beat matching. I am nearly
there but once I get them matched after a while they lose
sync and start to gallop. How do I tell if the tune I
am cueing up is too fast or too slow. I know it may be
dead obvious but my brain is fried. My friend can mix
well on my decks so it's not their fault. And they are
not belt drives either. Can you help?
So, there's proof
that what you're going to encounter is NOT just your problem.
This (apart from "What equipment should I buy")
is the most common question I'm asked. Again, I can give
you pointers, but it's up to YOU to get it to work.
The main thing
this all centres round is the fact that when two tunes
are slightly out of time they will make a slightly different
sound when your cued tune is running too fast, and when
it's running too slow. To try to put it in really basic
terms and broadly trying to put it in words; when two
tunes are in time, you'll hear "BOOM" - when
the cued track is running to fast, you'll hear "B-Loom"
and when it's running to slow, "L-Boom" Now,
that's a pretty confusing thing for anyone to try to understand,
everyone I've told it to has said "eh?" (But
then, once they realise what I mean, say "ah!")
so I'm not really going to hold that up for everyone to
believe and understand.
What is important
for you to understand though is that there is a definite
difference in the sound the two tunes make when the cued
tune is running slightly too fast, and when it's running
slightly too slow.
One thing that
you might want to try is to trial and error your mix until
you have everything bang on in time, then slow the cued
tune down a little - then too fast a little, and try to
hear the differences in sound that this makes in your
headphones when you're hearing the cued track and the
live one (at a lower volume).
Right about now
will be a good time to finally address a phenomenon you
should have encountered already - phasing. If you slow
down the cued track (or speed it up) very slightly when
using the same tune on both decks, what you'll get won't
be what you're looking for. What will happen in fact is
a pretty useful and funky effect called phasing. It's
something that happens when the positive and negative
phases of the same sound are reversed, gives it a kind
of 'wooshy' sound - and isn't helpful right now to your
learning - it's a cool thing to do once you've learnt
how to mix, but it's not helpful now. So, we have to move
onto the next section before we can get any further.
Author:
DJ Recess
www.recess.co.uk
Part
1 - The Beginning
Part 2 - The Next Bit
Part 3 - Introducing Your Headphones To The Process
Part 4 -
Mixing Two Different Tunes Together
Part 5 - Mixing Using
CD's
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