DJ TIPS, TRICKS, PLOYS AND WINNING THE COMPETITION WAR
Don't be gambling on Your Show - Take Control
There Is a lot of competition in the Entertainment Industry. Sure you can buy the best Equipment, Have every Song under the Sun and purchase the biggest and brightest lighting available, but so have a lot of other Entertainers done the same. I've seen my share of DJ's. 20,000 watts of power and ready to rumble. But most were, at best, forgettable. A performer needs to find his slot. You can't make it in this business unless you have personality. You need to be a person people, have a commanding Voice, a great smile and be able to harness the intelligence to work under adverse conditions. To be able to deal with drunks and a@@holes. To be able to present yourself as a knowledgeable expert in your field.
Below are a few Ideas, thoughts and advice. Some are just common sense. Others may be something that you never took the time to consider. Don't let your show be a game of roulette. Take the time to learn the trade inside and out. Play it smart. Read everything you can about being an Entertainer. Win the gamble of who gets the job, you or the competition, by being ahead in the game. Knowledge can make the difference of being a player or sitting home on a too many Saturday nights.
TURNING THE DANCE FLOOR - is a term that is used to describe the way you handle your crowd in relation to the Gig you are performing at. We all like to see the dance floor packed, it's great for our ego, but at times it's not so great with the bar manager. If you're playing a wedding or private function, your main job is to keep the people up on the floor, so you play great dance songs and you really don't have to worry about it. Playing at a bar or club is quite different. The club owner wants profits, your the key to those profits. Everything else aside, you need to "Turn the Dance floor" - quite simple, yet very important. Every time you play a song there are people who are dancing, then there are the people who are drinking. Here is the problem. The people dancing are not spending money and the people drinking are not getting hot and sweaty so they drink less. While it's great to have the dancers happy, you must make sure that they only dance to 2 or 3 songs in a row. So you change the type of music after say the 3rd song. Most likely you will find that the people dancing will sit down (their now hot and thirsty and ready to spend $) and the new style of music will induce a new round of drinkers up to the dance floor ( so that they can get hot and thirsty again) you could have 3 different styles of music which would mean that you would get three different sets of people up on the dance floor (or sitting down and drinking) every 9 songs (3x3). This is a proved way to get people to spend more money per evening, which makes the bar owner happy and makes you the DJ to Hire because you bring in more cash. The patrons will be pleased with this also. Time to drink, dance and socialize. Everyone wins when you turn the dance floor......
* You should arrive to work early. There's nothing worse than a club filled with eager dancers, but no DJ.
* Some DJ's make a play list to evaluate their format at a later time. Also, play lists help DJ's monitor problems such as repeating the same music in the same order nightly.
* As a rule, don't play the same song twice in one night. Nightclub staff and management often notice this. You have plenty of music at your disposal.
* You should make it a habit to occasionally leave the DJ booth to monitor the club's volume.
* You should stand throughout your shift or set. It looks unprofessional to mix tracks while sitting in a chair.
Great information for beginners to experts. Check it out!
The needle drop is a technique used in hip hopdeejaying, probably originated by Grand Wizard Theodore. The DJ sets a record spinning, then drops the stylus on the turntable at the point where he or she wants playback to begin. According to AMG: "Instead of cueing up the record silently, the DJ simply drops the needle onto the exact start of the passage to be played."
The Sticker Method of locating the sample or Break:
A DJ often uses colored labels "dot" labels to mark the sample to be used. Marking a record involves several steps... The first step is to locate the desired sample, the second step is much more critical. The sample is located, then the record is brought about an inch or two backwards from the beginning of the sample. A "Dot" label is carefully placed up against the stylus (Needle) and a feather touch is applied to keep the label in place. Too hard of an application may lead to the needle being misplaced on the record, slipping to the next several grooves, an undesired result. After the needle is removed from the label, (sample area) the label can be pressed into place more permanently. If the DJ so desires to remove the label, any residue can be removed from the record with any widely available record cleaner solution.
CD Mixing Tips – 10 Tips To Get Your Music Mixes Rockin
By Jeremy Rwakaara
With the widespread availability of affordable computers and powerful software for music mixing, the average musician is now able to set up a reasonably decent home studio on a relatively small budget. However, even though the software is extremely powerful and versatile, what seem to be missing are tips on how to create a great mix.
So, without any more fanfare, let us get right down to the 10 mixing tips you can try IMMEDIATELY to improve the quality of your mixes:
While mixing, keep a close eye (and ear) on all those plug-ins. Each one of them will distort if the output signal exceeds the acceptable threshold level. Because the output meters are out of sight when the plug-ins are closed, it is fairly easy to be unaware of the distortion, all of which can absolutely ruin your mixes.
Make use of the high-pass filter found on many equalizers to cut off the low frequencies on tracks that do not need the presence of low frequencies (e.g. frequencies below 100Hz) in order to sound right in the mix. These include vocals, hi-hats, keyboards, etc. Of course, all this depends on the song itself. For example, if you are mixing a song that is just piano or guitar and voice you might run a high-pass filter much lower down, around 40Hz or so, in order to maintain some of the bottom end in the mix. However, even the bass and kick drum can be improved by rolling off frequencies below 20Hz. Most project studio mixes sound terrible because there are too many sounds competing for space in the lower frequencies. On the opposite end of the spectrum, you can use a low-pass filter on instruments like bass and kick drum that do not need the presence of high frequencies.
Try using compression to even out volume variations and control the attack of a sound. Using a FAST attack will accentuate the body of a sound, while using a SLOW attack will increase the definition. Bass, kick drums and vocals tend to benefit most from compression, although you should listen to all your tracks with and without compression to see what works best. Keep an eye on the other settings on the compressor (Input, Release, Threshold, Ratio, Output Gain) since these can dramatically affect the results you are trying to achieve. It’s also important to remember that compression can raise the level of background noise in your mix as well as accentuate sibilance (esssssss’s) in the vocals. It may help to place a de-esser after the compressor to take care of excessive sibilance.
Listen for tracks that can be cleaned up by scooping out (reducing) the frequencies between 150 – 300 Hz. This is generally where the ‘mud’ tends to be in most tracks. Be careful when you do this however, since this can also be where the meat or warmth resides on some tracks. Listen for the track(s) that can benefit most from this action, and do not scoop out too much of the track or else your mixes will start to sound thin.
Always listen to your mixes IN CONTEXT! It doesn’t matter how great that kick drum sounds by itself if it sounds terrible once you turn everything else up. Its okay to solo a track briefly to get a sense of what is happening to the sound as you apply processing, but only do that for a few bars and then listen to it with everything else in context.
A parametric equalizer is an extremely powerful signal processing tool used to sculpt sound. It is generally better to cut (reduce) than it is to boost (add) frequencies, although you should always do what is right for a particular track. Begin by making the track sound terrible (by boosting a specific frequency dramatically and sweeping slowly across the spectrum at a fairly narrow bandwidth as you listen), and than cutting the frequency that sounds bad in order to reduce the presence of the ‘bad’ sound. Do that several times using each band, listening for when a cut or a boost is necessary, until you either run out of ‘bands’ or don’t need to make any more cut/boost corrections. Don’t feel the need to use every band available, though. When using EQ and other signal processors, less processing tends to be more beneficial to the overall sound of the mix (i.e. less is more).
Don’t mix entirely in headphones, or at extremely loud volumes through your monitors. Spend most of your time mixing at moderate and even low volumes, occasionally cranking it up to see how things move at those high energy levels. Try listening to your mixes through several different headphones (which can pick up clicks and pops not heard in the monitors) and at different volume levels through the monitors, as well as on different monitors if possible. The mix will surely sound different on the different systems, but the objective is to get things to sound good on all systems, not great on some and terrible on others. Occasionally walk away from the monitors and listen to your mix from another room. This gives you another perspective on level imbalances not apparent inside your normal mixing environment.
Concentrate on the busiest parts of your mixes first. This may be the hook (chorus), or bridge section, and this is where your mixes tend to get away from you the most. As you listen, make a determination as to whether or not EVERY SINGLE TRACK and EVERY SINGLE LAYER absolutely NEEDS to be in the mix ALL THE TIME. Mute / un-mute and add / remove tracks one at a time to evaluate their contribution to the impact of the song. It may be necessary to strip away some of those layers in order for your mix to sound more punchy and energetic.
Make good use of automation. If that is too complicated (based on your understanding of your music mixing software) you can try breaking up your tracks into song sections (e.g. VOCAL intro, VOCAL verse 1, VOCAL B-section, VOCAL hook, VOCAL verse 2, VOCAL bridge, etc). The reason for this is that the signal processing and volume / pan settings that work for a track in one section of the song (e.g. VOCAL verse 1) may not necessarily be right for another section (e.g. VOCAL hook). In this instance, you may need to set your EQ, chorus, compression, reverb, pan, and volume settings differently for the different song sections. The same may apply to other instruments as well.
Tune your instruments often during your recording session, or at least CHECK the tuning often. Even though this is a no-brainer for bass and guitars, don’t forget that even drums (kick, toms, and snare) need to be tuned in order to sound their best. No matter how well you process the tracks for your mix, out-of-tune instruments will distract the listener and contribute to the impression that the mix sucks! It is sometimes possible to tune your instruments after the fact, but that time could be better spent on other crucial areas of your mix.
And there you have it! Try out some of these mixing tips and you will find yourself on the way to better mixes in no time.
copyright 2007 Jeremy Rwakaara
Problems getting your music mixes to sound right? Confused about what to do with your CD once you've finished recording it? Don't know how to put together a tour so that you can make some money selling merchandise, tickets, and lots of CD's? Author, consultant and music producer / engineer Jeremy Rwakaara offers music articlescd mastering tips music mixing software list, glossary of recording terms and a music directory at the maryland recording studio site
NO REDO'S ON SENT DROPS - BY ORDERING YOU AGREE TO THE FOLLOWING Please be sure of what you are ordering before hand. Send us any instructions in advance of your recordings. We can not read your mind.
We provide samples of what you are ordering and we record the drops as to the description, and the sounds in the demo mp3's.
oue drops are sent as 192kbps, 44100, mp3 stereo files. Any change must be requested before they are recorded.
We only redo drops if we make a mistake on words, or if we did not follow your directions. No directions = No redo's.
Our drops are produced in a quick and orderly fashion. Any problems that arise from miscommunication
on your part effects all orders and slows down the process for everyone else. Be specific or don't complain.
By ordering, you agree that you understand and agree to these statements.
WE DO NOT DO PHONE ORDERS OR MAKE PHONE CALLS TO VERIFY NAMES AT THESE PRICES
All chargebacks are thoroughly investigated and may add you to a blacklist with our processor which will complicate future online purchases. Denying a purchase that you have made is illegal and will result in an investigation which can lead to heavy fines or other legal action toward you. Your credit rating can be affected by false claims of fraud. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us to clarify the matter.
*No refunds on downloads. As we cannot verify that you are not using the downloaded drops. We have provided samples and demos of the voices used to produce our drops so that you understand what you are ordering. Please do not order if you disagree with this policy.
.jpg)