Learning to DJ (w/ the 3345 Team)

Starting to mix : feeling the beat

The first thing to do is to go out and buy at least two very similar records. We recommend you start with house tunes, because their style tends to be easier to mix. Now put one record on one deck and the other on the second deck.

What we will do now is understand the technique of beat matching. Leave both records on pause, set your mixer to output deck 1 to the live mix. Go to deck 1 and place the needle just before the beginning of the track. Start the deck by pressing play. Listen for the start of the beats. As soon as you hear 4 subsequent beats, apply pressure to the record, half way between the edge and spindle, to stop it (do not pause the deck). If you have quality decks, then the plate of the deck should still be spinning beneath the record. If its not spinning, doesn’t matter you can still do it.

Now, rewind the record with your hands, careful though not to bump the needle. Rewind till you get to the first beat again. Let the record go once more, stop it after 4 beats and repeat.

Now, set your mixer so that that deck 2 is on the live output. Leave deck 2 paused so that no sound comes out of your speakers. Press the cue button for deck 1 on your mixer, and put the headphones on. Go back to deck 1 and start play back as before. Listen for the first 4 beats then rewind with your hands. You should be hearing in your headphones what you heard before on the live speakers.

Stop deck 1 and go to deck 2. Start deck 2 and put the needle from the start of the record. Let this record play. You can now hear record 2 on the live mix. Go to deck 1 and put the needle at the start of the record.

© 3345 Team

3345, the Vinyl Records Home.