Why do people say it's harder to mix disco with controller than with decks?

This topic has 29 replies, 1 voice, and was last updated 13 years, 1 month ago by adit.

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February 10, 2013 at 5:25 pm #36529

DJ Vintage
Moderator

Hummm, you have me confused. If you have two ears (which I am assuming :-)), wouldn’t your right ear be free to listen to the monitors? Unless of course you have the volume of your headphones WAY up.

I hear you on the split cue on headphone, it took me some time to get used to it.

Greetinx,
C.

February 11, 2013 at 1:45 am #36545

adit
Participant

Yes, my right ear is free. But I can’t monitor what’s going on in the speakers when my mind is busy getting the beats right.

February 11, 2013 at 7:20 am #36558

Terry_42
Keymaster

I have absolutely no problem mixing disco with my controller. But on disco I never use the sync button. Get it to about +/- 2 bpm (if you match at all), nudge the new song in and transition rather quickly is what I do. Or do not transition at all and do a goofy fade over, which is well accepted in disco.

February 11, 2013 at 8:02 am #36564

adit
Participant

Terry_42, post: 36714, member: 1843 wrote: I have absolutely no problem mixing disco with my controller. But on disco I never use the sync button. Get it to about +/- 2 bpm (if you match at all), nudge the new song in and transition rather quickly is what I do. Or do not transition at all and do a goofy fade over, which is well accepted in disco.

yes, turning off sync, quantize and snap is a must to mix disco. even bpm counter. you can trust it for house/techno but for disco, not so. as for nudging, I actually prefer pitch riding for disco.

February 11, 2013 at 4:41 pm #36583

adit
Participant

Just practiced mixing disco again and there are some new things I want to ask:

1. Is it possible to loop disco? I tried it on a number of songs and it sounded unnatural.
2. It’s well known that the bridge of a disco song could be slower than the other parts. So what should I do if I want to drop a tune right when the bridge starts? Is there no other way than to beatmatch “on the fly”? Should I start the new song with zero volume as to avoid trainwreck?

February 11, 2013 at 10:25 pm #36602

TheReturn
Member

1. I was going to suggest that you try looping tracks, so I’m glad you asked. I agree, sometimes it sounds unnatural, so I often use looping only while I am cuing up the track, and then turn the loop off for the live transistion. That means it should be sitting at approximately the right tempo when you are ready to mix.
2. Yes, that is a strategy. I would probably recommend that you find an appropriate point in the bridge and cut in the next track. Rather than start the volume from zero you could use effects to distort the track you are mixing out of. For example at the same time you could stop the track you are mixing out off, while slamming on the echo (or some other effect)

Listen to Kenny Dope’s Roller Boogie Mix and it should give you some hints on when and how to cut. Mind you, he is using records, but the theory is the same.
http://djcatnap.com/?p=521

February 12, 2013 at 1:26 am #36607

adit
Participant

Good idea about looping for cueing. Usually I’m comfortable enough with cueing while the song plays normally but I’m gonna try it.

When you use echo, do you let the track echo out for a bit and then introducing the next track or do it at once (hit echo and play/slide fader at the same time).

February 12, 2013 at 2:00 am #36608

TheReturn
Member

umm.

It depends on whats going on in the bridge and/or how quick and coordinated I am with my hands (I play off serato and turntables). But either method can be good, although the latter is harder to do on the fly.

February 12, 2013 at 7:34 am #36612

Terry_42
Keymaster

1. You can loop, but you have to be much more “aware” of whats happening. So if you loop in a section where there is an off rhythm then you could be totally off and it will sound extremely bad. You also have to turn off all “autosnap/sync” of the auto-loop fuction. Basically the best thing is to do it by hand again, press the loop in button at the right time and then the loop out button when it is down to end, which might not always be exactly where the bar ends.
So it is quite difficult but doable.

2. If you want to transition before the bridge, then you just have to prepare earlier and do whatever transition, so that the transition is done before the bridge starts.

February 12, 2013 at 10:07 am #36617

adit
Participant

What I wanted was actually transitioning at the start of the outgoing song’s bridge. TheReturn’s advice makes sense.

February 12, 2013 at 11:17 am #36621

adit
Participant

another question: what should I do if a song doesn’t have any “quiet” part to be mixed out from? I have this 7:30 minute song that’s busy from start to finish. if I let the track finish, I’m afraid the listeners/crowd would lose interest.

February 12, 2013 at 10:15 pm #36640

TheReturn
Member

Yes. this is

adit, post: 36777, member: 2099 wrote: another question: what should I do if a song doesn’t have any “quiet” part to be mixed out from? I have this 7:30 minute song that’s busy from start to finish. if I let the track finish, I’m afraid the listeners/crowd would lose interest.

Yes this can be an annoying issue with 70s disco and a lot of early disco rap too. Again I some times find the echo technique can work on carefully chosen parts, like the end of a chorus or another change in the structure of the track. Sometimes this is even impossible for example Rappin and Rockin the House by the Funky 4 + 1 goes for 13 mins with virtually one chorus or break. If you’re not quick you’ll miss it and have to wait another 6 mins.
[media=youtube]DoGmK_b-XVw[/media]

Sometimes, if you really want to make a track work for you, you’re just gonna have to get in there an edit it.

February 13, 2013 at 7:58 am #36663

DJ Vintage
Moderator

And obviously there is the “lazy” choice, pick another of the zillion songs out there 🙂

February 13, 2013 at 8:33 am #36669

adit
Participant

Is it just me or pitch riding is easier with disco than in electronic dance music? I can quickly tell which song is slower.
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