Techniques

Phasing (DJ related)

In the DJ profession, phasing throws some interesting challenges to DJs trying to perfect the art of mixing. Often as it may be the case, while mixing two tracks, despite the presence of perfect sync between the two tracks, it is audible that the bass keeps ‘jumping’. This ‘jumping’ which represents a change in re-enforcement/subtraction patterns between the two sound sources can become detrimental during the mixing of the two tracks, and can make an otherwise perfect mix in, well, not so perfect.

To overcome this problem , DJs can attempt a number of different solutions. One popular solution is to quickly cut the base of one track and essentially do a ‘cut-in’ mix on the bass across the two tracks, while still blending the rest of the mids and highs gradually. This technique has been and still is very popular with Tiesto and other similar DJs.

A second approach is to apply a very slight break to one of the tracks, by applying finger pressure to the outer rim of the turntable platter. You want to keep this pressure very slight and smooth, because you don’t want to loose the sync. In doing this, you are essentially moving the beat/bass waves of the two tracks relative to each other, to hopefully better match the peaks with the peaks and the troughs with the troughs. You will generally hear an improvement very quickly, at which time you may stop the breaking process. If during this process you start to loose sync and it becomes audible, then apply slight breaking to the other track, to bring them back together.

As a rule of thumb, never nudge the track forward. Controlling a nudge is much harder than the break, and nudges are generally audible as they involve sudden shocks, to the tempo of the track.

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