i recently did the steps to make my 2 deck mixer able to use a 4 deck skin but i find its hard, been using a 2 deck for a year. is there any words of advice on tricks of the trade anyone can give me on how to mix and get better? I do see small problems using this and will get a 4 deck mixer but need to start getting used to how to mix with 4 deck, which can be over whelming
Posté Sat 30 Mar 13 @ 2:05 pm
What are you trying to accomplish with the 4 decks? From what I've seen, most people use decks 3 and 4 for loops or samples to augment the tracks being played on decks 1 and 2. Attempting to layer 3 or 4 tracks at once usually results in a mess, except for certain genres like techno.
Posté Sun 31 Mar 13 @ 3:08 pm
i would like to be a good dj, so im trying to learn how to use 4 decks , partly for smoother tranistions. just get over whelmed and want to pull my hair out. i guess what im asking is how do most dj's use there 4 decks, any tutorial vidios that anyone knows of, just tips in general for a starting out dj???
Posté Sun 31 Mar 13 @ 8:19 pm
For starters you'll need a 4 channels mixer, preferably one that you can assign what side of the crossfader the sound comes out of. For example, I use an ECLER NUO4 and I usually have deck 3 assigned to the left (meaning when I move the crossfader to the right the sound from deck 3 is cut off) and deck 4 only works with the upfaders. Now I use decks 1&2 for my main tracks and deck 3 has my scratch samples loaded then deck 4 is used for loops. I have buttons mapped on my mixer which change what deck I'm controlling with the control vinyl. . It's easy to get mixed up so practice, practice, practice.
I'd definitely switch to a four channel soundcard with a 4 channel mixer before I went any further. I use an Native Instruments Audio 8 dj soundcard
I'd definitely switch to a four channel soundcard with a 4 channel mixer before I went any further. I use an Native Instruments Audio 8 dj soundcard
Posté Sun 31 Mar 13 @ 8:57 pm
i myself made this leap at one point, rather than splash for a 4 channel mixer, i modified my 2 channel Kontrol S2 mapper to allow me to freely control 4 decks, and changed my pitch faders to be volume faders for decks 3&4, this worked partly because i never used the crossfader anyway.
anyway, to answer the original questions, yes it is hard, yes you will stuff up, yes it will pay off.
i am a DJ on VirtualDJ Radio and i still to this day mess up when using 4 decks on air.
the way i like to work with 4 decks is to have 2 playing at any given time, one for the actual song playing and the other for a bit of a different beat, i then add a 3rd beat and drop the original track and bring in the first beat
this allows me to smoothly roll between songs, and if need be use a song thats already been played or sample from a different track without breaking the mix.
anyway, thats just me... it seems as though you already have your head around custom mappings, so the possibilities are endless, if you ever want some creative ways to make a 2 deck controller work for 4 decks, or make a 4 deck controller work more creatively. send me a message.
and as for tricks of the trade and how to get better, practice makes perfect.
anyway, to answer the original questions, yes it is hard, yes you will stuff up, yes it will pay off.
i am a DJ on VirtualDJ Radio and i still to this day mess up when using 4 decks on air.
the way i like to work with 4 decks is to have 2 playing at any given time, one for the actual song playing and the other for a bit of a different beat, i then add a 3rd beat and drop the original track and bring in the first beat
this allows me to smoothly roll between songs, and if need be use a song thats already been played or sample from a different track without breaking the mix.
anyway, thats just me... it seems as though you already have your head around custom mappings, so the possibilities are endless, if you ever want some creative ways to make a 2 deck controller work for 4 decks, or make a 4 deck controller work more creatively. send me a message.
and as for tricks of the trade and how to get better, practice makes perfect.
Posté Tue 02 Apr 13 @ 2:05 am
I mix on 4 decks with my ddj wego all the time with out any problems. It is pretty simple these days with cue points and looping. I like to cue up four tracks that I want to play. I mix a to b to c to d then I start over again. Now what I like to do it tease tracks from deck c and d while I am playing decks a and b.
There is not right or wrong way to do this. Keep working at it and you will come up with something creative.
There is not right or wrong way to do this. Keep working at it and you will come up with something creative.
Posté Tue 02 Apr 13 @ 7:26 am
santd wrote :
I mix on 4 decks with my ddj wego all the time with out any problems. It is pretty simple these days with cue points and looping. I like to cue up four tracks that I want to play. I mix a to b to c to d then I start over again. Now what I like to do it tease tracks from deck c and d while I am playing decks a and b.
There is not right or wrong way to do this. Keep working at it and you will come up with something creative.
There is not right or wrong way to do this. Keep working at it and you will come up with something creative.
I just made the switch myself. I am just trying it out because I might be able to get a head of my self this way. Plan the first 4 songs then once the song ends on deck 1 I can fill it with a new song. As the Mixdeck is a 2 deck controller if I play 1 & 3 or 2 & 4 together they will both play out loud. I have the custom Mixdeck Skin but its not really what I'm looking for. I want to make my own but after trying to do so with the trial version of the program I am lost LOL. I am still trying to find a skin that works for me, but when experimenting I realised that if I wanted to mix the vocals of one song and the baseline of another, or throw a Latin beat in there, that I would be able to do so with a bit more ease. Good luck man, and record some stuff when you can so I can listen.
Brendan
Posté Tue 02 Apr 13 @ 2:11 pm
djplick wrote :
i would like to be a good dj, so im trying to learn how to use 4 decks , partly for smoother tranistions. just get over whelmed and want to pull my hair out. i guess what im asking is how do most dj's use there 4 decks, any tutorial vidios that anyone knows of, just tips in general for a starting out dj???
Take this for what its worth. It may sound abrasive, but truth hurts.
I think you are mis-understanding what a "good DJ" is. It does not involved being able to use 4 decks. Plenty of "great" DJs out there using just 2 decks and accomplishing more than anyone I've seen on 4 decks. How bout just learning to master 2 decks at first. With todays technology, you don't really need for 4 decks unless you are remixing live ALL THE TIME!! Even then you are better served with using Ableton for ease of workflow.
Posté Tue 02 Apr 13 @ 3:32 pm
thanks much appreciated
Posté Wed 03 Apr 13 @ 7:42 pm