Using EQs when Djing

It depends both on the track you’re mixing out of and the one you’re mixing into. This may be a bit difficult to explain, but what’s worked for me is to just make sure that I’ve always got a “full EQ meter.” What I mean by that is to always ensure that a single track, as well as the combination of tracks when you’re mixing, has 100% of each “total EQ” (treble, mid, and bass of both tracks). Sorry if this is really basic but just in case, treble is going to be the hi-hats and cymbals, mid is vocals and melody, and bass is kicks and low frequency bass (obviously).

Take for example that you want to do a slow, gradual, drawn-out mix (like with trance or something similar). When you’ve just got deck A playing, all your EQs are at 100 (I assume). Once you bring in deck B, all EQs are at 0 (or at least this is the way I would start it). I would gradually bring up the treble of B, say to 25%. I would simultaneously bring A’s treble down to 75%, making sure that the “total EQ” remains at 100% (75% A, 25% B). Continue to gradually increase the B treble and decrease the A until you’ve got 100% B and 0% A, then do the same with the mids followed by the bass. At the end you’ll end up with just B coming through the master, yet your “total EQ” stayed at 100% the whole time, resulting in a smooth mix.

The percentages above aren’t accurate, don’t just set A and B both to 50% thinking it’ll sound good because it totals 100% (your ears should be always be the ultimate judge) but this principle has always worked well for me. The order of the EQs is up to you too, I just seem to normally like it best when I start with treble and end with bass.

And finally, I will generally always bring in the bass on the 1, although a great trick I’ve learned is that instead of bringing it fully in, only bring it in to about 75% for a few bars to get everyone used to it when they think it’s already dropped, then hit them with the full 100% when you think the time’s right. I hope some of this helps.

Yep, as you raise one, lower the other.

Fair one, I initially monitor (PFL) everything at 100% to make sure beat matching, gains, etc. are correct before bringing all the EQs down in order to mix them back in. This is why it’s so important to really know all of the tracks you’re playing. When you’re familiar with each track, you can just listen and EQ through the master. You can then be confident that you know what’s going on the whole time even without the monitor playing the original, un-EQ’d track.

Ean Golden made a video for DJTT showing a bunch of mixing techniques a few years back. mix techniques 3 and 4 show him cutting out the bass on the eqs to “fit” the tracks together and he rides faders to make sure that there’s no bump in the master volume when mixing the tracks together. It’s pretty basic but is a good example of how to use the eq’s to mix tracks together. at the end of the day you’re making room for bits of tracks that you want by taking bits of tracks that you don’t want out.

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@Frosh thats how I taught myself to do it when I started.
@Prototype1 on some mixers you can select between pre/post EQ for the monitor, like on A&H’s. Though a lot of my friends do it your way and think the way I do it is weird.

I’d like to get more info on EQ’ing really. I see a lot of the US DJ’s are really big on EQ fiddling for effect like Theo Parrish, Juan Atkins, Derrick May etc. Where as in Europe movements are kept smaller – seen Ame and they do tiny movements to EQ. Dunno who is right as I enjoy both styles.

Haroon K, post: 17101, member: 16 wrote:
I’d like to get more info on EQ’ing really. I see a lot of the US DJ’s are really big on EQ fiddling for effect like Theo Parrish, Juan Atkins, Derrick May etc. Where as in Europe movements are kept smaller – seen Ame and they do tiny movements to EQ. Dunno who is right as I enjoy both styles.

no method is right or wrong, but I’d keep to 2 rules if you want a smooth neat mix…

1. never have it so both eqs are too much against each other. (most obvious example is both bass eq up at zero)

2. change the eqs in time with the phrases of the music.

That’s the beautiful thing. Everything regarding EQ’s is alright as long it sounds good to you (and you’re not clipping, of course). Many times while mixing I’ll have one bass at 11 o’clock and the other at 9 o’clock or something similar. Different tracks have basslines, kicks, etc. at different strengths relative to each other so you just have to use the EQs to compensate for each one and keep the mix running smoothly.

And also http://www.djtechtools.com/2011/12/07/filter-vs-eq-which-when-why/