Any DJs learned how to mix without hardware/controllers? -.-

[Electric_Head]

For now a good trick as I said above is to know your tunes well.
You`ll start to figure out specific points in tracks that produce a great mix together.
One break to a drop......etc.

[Basic A]

I learnt to mix with 2 side by side tape decks.
Now that`s an effing chore.
You need to know your tunes and keep the tempos similar.
Know the breaks

Why Start at 160?

Try 145 to 150, it`s far easier.

I found 160 - 170 easiest, but I'm starting to think it's because I don't hear them go out of time as easily. So now I've just started practicing around 120. Lotsa Moodymann and Theo Parrish.

I'm not really practicing song structure now as much as just getting the beats lined-up, though.

Thats the best way to learn though man, work on getting the beats matched at first and totally ignore all your other faders/eqs/bleh bleh bleh... just play a tune, set the crossfader at center, and play another one and try to sort your ears on whats happening and needing fixed... Should take you a few weeks to get confident in that, from there, limit yourself to say, just the crossfader and practice practice practice fading track to track, the add the eq's in and practice with them...

Start at step 1 and work on up.

Alot of DJs like to show off run 3 decks and kaoss pads and shit which is cool/fun/ect... but really, at the end of the day, the true judge of a DJs skill is what they can do with just 2 players and a fader.

[Genevieve]

For now a good trick as I said above is to know your tunes well.
You`ll start to figure out specific points in tracks that produce a great mix together.
One break to a drop......etc.

Oh word, yeah. That's what I'll get into once my beatmatching is tight.

I learnt to mix with 2 side by side tape decks.
Now that`s an effing chore.
You need to know your tunes and keep the tempos similar.
Know the breaks

Why Start at 160?

Try 145 to 150, it`s far easier.

I found 160 - 170 easiest, but I'm starting to think it's because I don't hear them go out of time as easily. So now I've just started practicing around 120. Lotsa Moodymann and Theo Parrish.

I'm not really practicing song structure now as much as just getting the beats lined-up, though.

Thats the best way to learn though man, work on getting the beats matched at first and totally ignore all your other faders/eqs/bleh bleh bleh... just play a tune, set the crossfader at center, and play another one and try to sort your ears on whats happening and needing fixed... Should take you a few weeks to get confident in that, from there, limit yourself to say, just the crossfader and practice practice practice fading track to track, the add the eq's in and practice with them...

Start at step 1 and work on up.

Alot of DJs like to show off run 3 decks and kaoss pads and shit which is cool/fun/ect... but really, at the end of the day, the true judge of a DJs skill is what they can do with just 2 players and a fader.

Word, thanks. I'll definitely stick at it. I'm actually making more progress than I thought, with beats staying in time for longer than before.

I edited my last post without noticing other replies since. Like, this tut says I can get shit matched using just the pitch, by going back and forth until I've got it matched, without having to match using the platter... but I can't see how this can make for tight matching? Right now, my beats stay in time for longer than before but definitely not tightly enough for long. Is it a matter of me having to correct them manually more or just beatmatch tighter from the get-go?

I understand why some people would say 'try and see what works best', but the added weight of no hardware and just a mouse and keyboard make it far harder for me to judge exactly how good it is what I'm doing. I'm having way more trouble than I did with CDJ1000s.

[Electric_Head]

I'm having way more trouble than I did with CDJ1000s.

You will though, the hands on feel of the jog wheel can`t really be beaten.
Unless you learn to jog with your mouse which requires you to be able to beat match slightly.
But all beat matching starts by understanding how to cue the beats up correctly.
If you cue them correctly and now how to many times to tap or how far to push the jogger to adjust the tempo to your liking.
It`s all really about practice.

[Genevieve]

Yeah, I'm starting to think that most of the progress I've made, which granted isn't that much, just came from doing it. I guess I'm just starting to get frustrated, wondering what I'm doing wrong, but if I did anything wrong I wouldn't have made ANY progress.

I'll just stick to doing what I do and hope I'll have the gear soon.

[hayze99]

Yup, started out with Virtual DJ, like 6 years ago, and moved up the ladder onto being a vinyl junky.

[Sheff]

haha its natural to get frustrated at first, i felt like throwing my decks out of the window every day when i first started

but once you get the hang of it and look back at what you was like when you first started you'll feel stupid that you found it so difficult as it comes like second nature.
just keep practising, it really is so rewarding being able to pull off a flawless set