DJ effects: When to use them (and when not to use them)

This topic has 26 replies, 1 voice, and was last updated 13 years, 6 months ago by Phil Morse.

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 25 total)

1 2 →

Author

Posts
July 5, 2012 at 9:04 am #1007190

synthet1c
Member

Use them when you understand what the effect is doing to the audio signal and think it will add to the song. Don’t use them if you don’t know what you are doing, that mean’s leave the damn flanger alone! and get away from the beatmasher/roll it’s a fill effect not an instrument.

I rarely hear heavy effect use in clubs because if someone abuses the effects they get a tap on the shoulder to settle down a bit or get kicked off the decks, and they don’t get another set.

July 5, 2012 at 9:16 am #1007192

piper
Member

i personally don’t use them…….. well maybe once in a night i will throw a backspin to get me out of a song or genre

July 5, 2012 at 9:34 am #1007194

2SHAE!
Participant

ive been messing around with some filter-flanger-basskill combos…used sparingly its alright, but in all honesty its unnecessary

July 5, 2012 at 10:03 am #1007195

synthet1c
Member

Terry_42, post: 23203, member: 1843 wrote: (VDJ’s built in SUCK beyond belief,…)

I completely agree, but the downloadable ones are great, and vst’s fill in any gaps on pc, but it is very sparse on mac… Hopefully the reason it’s taking so long to release VDJ8 is making vst’s work on mac to make the two OS’s equally supported.

July 5, 2012 at 10:17 am #1007196

Bradley Stone
Participant

I think the high and low pass filters are hammered in the clubs where I’m from. I only started noticing it when I became interested in DJing…

July 5, 2012 at 10:21 am #1007197

Phil Morse
Keymaster

Piper, yeah agree about backspin (although that never used to be an effect, lol, it used to be something you did to the vinyl), and Bradley I agree about filters, although done well they can be one of the most effective and least intrusive of effects.

July 5, 2012 at 10:48 am #1007199

Salacum
Member

People can go crazy and its just horrific but on the other side you have someone like James Zabiela who is very creative with his use of effects. If its well planned and you truly know what is going to happen then it can add to the dynamics of the music but if you’re just randomly pushing buttons and twisting knobs then it will sound shocking!

I also find that people set the dry/wet levels completly wrong. It’s not necessary to have it 100% wet to sound good, a simple delay on 10% – 30% can sound amazing. That’s my personal prefence though and i’m sure people will disagree. Look forward to reading other people’s thoughts 🙂

July 5, 2012 at 11:55 am #1007207

DJ
Participant

For the most part, only on the breaks. Any other time there is too much going on and I find effects just muddle things up. Effects at the breaks can also spice it up if you find the energy level dipped a bit too much. Even so however, like Salacum mentioned, keeping everything relatively subtle is key. You don’t need everything 100% wet, especially if you’re using effects at points in the song other than breaks.

July 5, 2012 at 12:15 pm #1007210

Reason808
Participant

I don’t mind the effects as much as the “performance” that goes along with it. I’ve seen too many DJ’s who act like a filter sweep is a feat of incredible physical difficulty. You’re turning a knob dude, not playing a violin solo at Carnegie Hall. Does anybody else feel this way?

July 5, 2012 at 11:58 pm #1007249

Steelo
Participant

Subtle use and preparation are the key. If you are still trainwrecking or doing a p***-poor mixes then you probably should not even be thinking about touching effects until you learn how to mix…
Just saying…

At the risk of sounding like an oldschooler who can’t let go of the past (not the case I promise you), if everyone learnt to mix on 2 belt drive turntables and a piece of crap 2 channel mixer then the quality of mixing would be much higher.

July 6, 2012 at 12:35 am #1007254

gullum
Participant

I use filter reverb and delay freeze the most, but it also depends on what song or style I’m playing I can go insane with FX in a dupstep or Drums N bass song sometimes. a few weeks ago my friend got a new DJM900 nexus and that night he was just going crazy on the FX 😀 He’s really a good DJ one of the best in my country but that night was way out of line 😛

July 6, 2012 at 11:40 am #1007267

durtyjerzy609
Member

reason808, post: 23222, member: 831 wrote: I don’t mind the effects as much as the “performance” that goes along with it. I’ve seen too many DJ’s who act like a filter sweep is a feat of incredible physical difficulty. You’re turning a knob dude, not playing a violin solo at Carnegie Hall. Does anybody else feel this way?

since when did turning a knob make a dj better? i have a mate that filters and echos almost every mix and tbh i hate it but he spins electro house and i spin what he calls “urban” so hiphop funk soul dancehall dubstep more hiphop and the only effet i use is a loop roll in some hiphop on the snares for a lil extra fill … seriously guys havent you ever heard your mom say…..

play with your knob too much and it will fall off

July 7, 2012 at 2:22 am #1007293

Erik Toth
Participant

Many times I feel I should use more effects in my mixes. But tbh I’m on the idea that if I feel an effect fits into the mix then I use it and if I feel it doesnt I just skip it……tho I might skip it too much.
At least no one can tell me I beatsmash and flanger everything to death. 🙂

July 7, 2012 at 4:01 pm #1007312

Tero Nousiainen
Participant

Filter (hp) sometimes with big buildups, maybe to cover a slight keyclash or so. I also tend to use quite a bit of echo out with 1/1 or 3/2 delay when dropping fast to a new tracks’ melody or so as well, it donesn’t hurt anyways and smoothes the mix up a bit. Both used pretty suttle and not for performance.

July 14, 2012 at 12:53 pm #1007704

Phil Morse
Keymaster

“I’ve seen too many DJ’s who act like a filter sweep is a feat of incredible physical difficulty. You’re turning a knob dude, not playing a violin solo at Carnegie Hall. Does anybody else feel this way?” – this is so true of DJs since the start of time, though, riding knobs like it’s something that’s actually difficult … 😉
Author

Posts