Fluxdeep

JSeabee, post: 16938, member: 1658 wrote: That’s to funny I just cant seem to get into any of the 80’s stuff but I still play it ever now and then when its requested.

Sure man, it’s all good 🙂

Personally i like a lot of pop/rock stuff from other decades, and also it’s fun to use some really old stuff to spice up an indie set 🙂 Of course i don’t cut guitar solos in the middle like the other guy i mentioned haha

OK so first you should check what edition exactly are you using; I believe MK4 comes with VirtualDJ® DJC edition (i don’t know the details on that particular edition). So maybe it’s some kind of limitation? Or are you using another edition?

In VDJ, go to Settings – Mappers, pick Hercules DJ Console Mk4 and check the mapping. look for CROSSFADER_CURVE; also, just to make sure, check also the mapping of the keyboard; maybe you have some key or button or whatever changing the crossfader curve mode without you knowing about.

If you feel comfortable with it, open the Windows Registry (WIN key + R, type regedit, click OK). Now go to HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareVirtualDJ. Look for the key ‘CrossfaderCurve’. 1365 is smooth, 2048 is Full and 4095 is Scratch.

Oh and never change anything in the Hercules Drivers with VDJ Open!

Well, apart from some things you mentioned and other obvious ones (quality MP3, quality cables, check the tune in flat eq. and so on), a thing I do often is to use some tunes that sound perfect to me as a kind of benchmark; i just play it a bit (flat) and them quickly crossfade (most cases, several times) to some other tune i want to compare; By doing that, i manage do identify the tunes with lower sound quality by nowadays standards. That really helps me a lot with equalization. Most times, i just can’t spot any big difference in quality without making a comparison.

Maybe i’m not the right person to comment this topic, because i just don’t spin house or trance or dubstep. I have three different kinds of gigs, namely indie, rock/metal and lounge/nu jazz; so I’m constantly dealing with different production values, spawning for different decades. So for me it’s not a matter of WAV versus MP3@320, it’s a matter of how the musics were recorded and produced. Never Enough (Cure, 1990) simply doesn’t sound the same way as Monarchy of Roses (Red Hot Chili Peppers, 2011). Joy Division versus Muse, Dizzy Gillespie versus Thievery Corporation, Iron Maiden Versus Slipknot…. I’m always struggling with this. But it helps me to anticipate big differences in sound. Also i always pick the best sounding tunes for sound check purposes. While mixing, several times i don’t play first and tweak the eq. knobs later, I do exactly the opposite.

So, to all indie DJ’s out there, this is my 5 cents (ok 2 cents lol)

I can check it later when i get home; what version and edition of VDJ are you using, and what skin?

Hi 🙂

I totally understand your point, since I also feel the same now and then. DJ Hessler is dead right by saying “play out for an audience”. Only then will you manage to spot your weaknesses and above all, to learn what are the right questions to ask (yourself). This is something that is always on my mind: “what are the right questions to make?”

Dj’ing is not a science, it’s a craft; therefore, there is not a formula, only experience. Lots of trial, and ten times more the amount of error. Just accept it, there is nothing wrong with it. If there is any formula for instant great DJ’ing out there, i would love love love to get it for myself also 🙂

My last gig (Friday) was a lesson by itself: i was just awful, my mixing was a joke; didn’t loop, didn’t sample, didn’t mashup, nothing. At the end of it, I had more people coming to me and saying that they love it then i had before. Damn i was so confused, i was felling pissed as hell with myself at the end of it and then that happened. That alone was a lesson (but i am still confused with that). You don’t learn this kind of lesson in any blog or video or whatever.

So to keep it short, the “better and faster way to apply myself to learn the right techniques and skills to become a better dj” is this simple: don’t loose the passion that you have for music, play out as often as you can, no matter where, accept failure as a part of the process, but allow yourself time to learn and gain experience. Make all errors possible, just try not to repeat them 🙂

I would say that there will never be a general consensus about this topic. Some folks will say that even WAV or FLAC or whatever is not top quality because WTR format is better, others will say that 256 is more than enough, others will say 320 period, and others will gladly use 192.

Personally, i aim for 320, yet totally happy with 256, and will use 192 if necessary without a problem. Unless the sound gets crappy, nobody will notice, and above all, nobody will care. Anyway, can one buy MP3 at less that 256 nowadays? Of course there are now and then bands offering stuff at lower rates, but that’s more for promoting i guess, it doesn’t represent the final product.

Do you have access to a nice sound system? If yes, try this: pick 2 or 3 very popular tunes at 320, re-encode them at 256, 224 and 192, ask 2 or 3 friends to help you, and test them, namely start the same tune at 2 different rates in 2 decks (mute one of them) and now and then cross fade from one deck to another and see for yourself what difference can you actually ear. Ask your friends to also comment, defy them to guess.
i assure you that whatever conclusions you take, they will give you a (personal) final answer.

By the way, WTR format means WhaTeveR 😀

Hello Emma 🙂

I also must apologize if I sounded offended or anything, I assure you that’s not the case; i just didn’t agree with a detail you said (for the reasons i expressed), but that’s fine, truth is we don’t have to agree on everything every time. So I assure you that it’s all good, honest 🙂
Also i was amazed to see than i can actually fool people about my country of origin, i still think that my written english is too much weird not to suggest it’s not my first language; it’s funny because i often end up saying something that it’s not what i meant to say but i’m just not aware of the right way of saying it. I guess that to communicate is a bit like DJing, details counts a lot 🙂

That’s why i always write so much, to try to make sure that i am being clear and that in my process of translation i’m not screwing things up (happened before).

Also i may add that what you’ve said UK bars/pubs was really interesting to me, over the weekend i commented with some friends about that…. we just don’t see that happening here, and it’s a shame we don’t. That alone would bring much more diversity to the music being played, it would be great to spin stuff like Peter Tosh, Man At Work or Kid Creole and having people coming to say “hey! I have that vinyl back in my house” 🙂

So please take also my apologies and keep giving all us your views and opinions, they do help 🙂