Learning DJing

Learning Song Structures

Each and every song is composed with beats, and in music writing you will quite frequently hear 4 because each and everything is based on rule of four in a song production like,

4 Beats makes 1 Bar
4 Bars makes 1 Phrase
4 phrases make 1 verse and so on.

To be a good DJ you should possess a good knowledge about song structure so that to create seamless mixes. It is not a good technique of mixing in which you only concentrate on the vocals and selection of tracks in a mix. You should also see the flow of music you are producing so that you do not create a silence or bad beat matching in the end of each track. To create a good seamless mix set you should have a good knowledge about the song structure i.e. how they are made.
A song is usually constructed in 4/4 pattern that is 4 beats 4 bars. You can hear the change in sound or an introduction to cymbal at the end of every 2 bars or so on. For this you should be active listener of the track as you should know the flow of music in which it is produced. Count Bars like this in a song

One two three four, Two two three four, Three two three four, Four two three four.

This technique will helps you keep track of the bar you are at. As you are counting the first beat as the number of bar, and listen to the changes made at the last beat of the fourth bar. Counting the bars will help you finding the outro of the song and letting you put in the next song just in time to create a seamless mix. So carry on guys keep on counting the bars and try to mix you will definitely feel the improvement in your remixing, but it needs patience, so b patient, keep practicing catch you in the next blog cheers!!!

Ten Tips for Writing a Good House Track

http://chocolatepuma.com
http://www.myspace.com/chocolatepumamusic

Chocolate Puma stormed into the charts in 2001 with the monumental house hit ‘I Wanna Be U’ and since then Gaston Steenkist and René ter Horst have topped the house charts many times over.
Their latest track ‘Disco Electrique’ is currently sitting at No.5 in the Beatport Top 10, and you can bet their next house track will there too. But what goes into making a hit house track? Is there a secret formula?
Beatportal decided to jump inside the brain of the Dutch duo and get their tips for writing a hit house track.
Read here 10 basic tips that every aspiring house producer should know.
The Dutch producers Zki & Dobre are responsible for so many productions in all kinds of styles under so many different names that they are difficult to categorize. One thing is obvious though and that is that their productions have been round the dancefloors ever since the 90ties! Examples written and produced by Zki & Dobre are the classics: Give It Up (1992) released under their alterego The Good Men , Vallee de L'armes (1993) released under their alterego Rene et Gaston, and Shake It, Movin' thru your system, Rave Against The Machine under the name Jark Prongo. Chocolate Puma with: I Wanna Be U (2001), Always and Forever (2006) Another Day (2007)

Swine Flu Hits UK Glastonbury 2009 festival

text source

Three people have been sent home from this year's Glastonbury festival with suspected swine flu, organisers have said.

Two students from Edinburgh and Exeter universities and a 10-year-old child from a family of four were all taken to isolation facilities after being diagnosed.

Festival spokesman Christo Hird said: "Three unconnected people were taken off-site, straight to an isolation unit on the advice of the doctor and have now gone home. They presented with symptoms. All medical staff have been fully brief. The view of the chief medical officer is that they had this before turning up. This was anticipated. There is no more risk here than anywhere. The figure of three in 177,000 people is regarded as very low."

No other revellers had presented with symptoms, he said. A medical team of 600 is on hand to deal with medical emergencies.

There are many superstar EDM DJs performing on this year Glastonbury such as David Guetta, Eric Prydz, Deadmau5, Pete Tong, Calvin Harris, Paul Woolford, Crookers, Josh Wink, Tom Middleton and many more.

Gadget Updates

Pioneer CDJ 400


USB Integration and MP3 Playback

The CDJ-400’s cosmetic design is simple and compact yet elegant with all of its various controls and features located directly on top of the unit. A USB port found on the face of the player allows DJs to play their MP3 music collection from a wide variety of portable music devices such as thumb drives, MP3 players or external hard drives. With the use of a multi-function selector knob/button and its large, bright, dot-matrix LCD display, locating and accessing of files from these types of music devices as well as MP3 music files on CD and CD-R/RW through the CD slot are done with a turn and press of the knob.

DJ Software Compatibility and MIDI Control

With more of today’s DJs utilizing different DJ software for their performances, the CDJ-400 is also equipped with a PC mode. In this mode, the CDJ-400 is a native controller for software such as Pioneer DJS computer software and SERATO® Scratch LIVE. For example, the movement of the pitch slider on the CDJ-400 can control the pitch slider on the computer software and no timecode CD is required for audio control. The player can also act as a MIDI controller where the user can assign virtually every button on the player to trigger functions of various DJ software programs.

World’s First Scratch Jog Effect

A highlight and an advancement of the CDJ-400 is its scratching capability. In addition to traditional “vinyl” mode scratching, Pioneer implemented the World’s First Scratch Jog Effect. Three highlighted buttons, each assigned to a special effect, Bubble, Trans and Wah, creates unique scratching sound effects that can be enabled by the DJ on the fly. A “hold” button was also added to retain the different effects throughout the session or until its release, which can also be triggered at any point of play.

Other Performance Features:


Digital Loop functions: A variety of loops can be created for additional audio effects.

Beat Loop: Automatically creates a four beat loop based on the tempo of the music (BPM) being played.

Loop Divide: Rhythmically divides the loop to create different patterns.

Hot Loop: Restarts the loop seamlessly from its entry without interruption of the music.

Digital Jog Break: In CD mode the CDJ-400 contains three effects, Jet, Roll and Wah, which further enhances the audio by simply rotating the jog dial. The same buttons for the Scratch Jog Effect are assigned to the Digital Jog Break which are accessible at any point of play.

Tempo Control: Four tempo modes, ±6%, ±10%, ±16% and WIDE, provide additional speed control with a resolution of 0.02% in the 6% range.

Cue/Loop Points: Up to 10 cue/loop points per disc, for up to 920 discs, can be stored to player’s memory.

Jog Indicator: A red halo illumination around the jog provides instantaneous visual feedback to the DJ.

Customizable Jog Wheel: Users can create their own customized image to insert under the removable jog wheel top.

Digital Output: A digital output is available for a direct connection for clearer sound to a connected mixer.

Resume Function: The function takes effect if a CD is ejected accidentally. Once the DJ re-inserts the disc, it automatically starts playing from exactly the point where it stopped.

Axwell Interview

- http://www.axwell.co.uk/
- http://www.myspace.com/axwell
- text source
- Houseplanet.dj

Criminal intentions or not – Axwell, Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso, better known as the Swedish House Mafia has (not very quietly) taken over the club world lately. Their anthem Leave the world behind, featuring Laidback Luke and Deborah Cox, is one of the biggest house tracks of the year. In March, Swedish House Mafia honcho Steve Angello ended up in the celeb gossip columns after a dj booth punch up with Paris Hilton’s boyfriend at the Miami WMC – and was hailed as a hero by the global dj community for litterally hitting back on year’s of ill-advised song requests.
So spring was good to the Mafia – but summer might prove to be even better. June 22nd sees them move into Pacha for a Monday residency at the most legendary of Ibiza’s night clubs. Pacemaker celebrates the occassion with a live mix from Axwell’s appearance on Kiss 100 recently – and a few words with the mafioso himself.

So Axwell, the Swedish House Mafia night at Pacha is called The Dark Forest. What’s that all about? –
Usually when there’s a resident night at Pacha, they hang some logo from the ceiling. We wanted to go big, so we spent a 100 000 euros on the interior and hired people working with the Shakespeare Theatre in London to do the decoration. They’re putting up trees, wolves’ heads and stuff. It’s a disco version of Lord of the Rings. It will be fucking brutal.

Will you, Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso play all nights?–
We will play back-to-back on the opening party, and also on two more nights later in the season. But two of us will be there on every night. On the opening, Bob Sinclar joins us in the booth. Later on Dirty South, Dizzee Rascal and Basement Jaxx will have guest spots.

Bob Sinclar said in an interview that after his wife, Axwell is his ”second love”?– Yeah, we have a nice little relationship going.

Who are you replacing at Pacha?
– Roger Sanchez. I know him a little, but I don’t know why he left. Last time we played at the same spot we shared room backstage. Unfortunately I had a bunch of friends with me and trashed the place before Roger actually played his set. I hope he didn’t feel dissed.

Are Paris Hilton and her boyfriend, whoever he is at the moment, welcome at Pacha?
– I suspect not, actually. If they turn up we will probably throw them out.

So what do you have coming up production wise?–
Since we released Leave the world behind I have mostly been working on an album, but that takes a hell of a long time. The plan is to spend the summer building up my label Axtone. I’m releasing a track by Denis the Menace called The first rebirth, which you can hear in the mix, and I also have a new guy from Sweden called Adrian Lux who’s coming out with his stuff.

Muat To Know Artist

- http://www.myspace.com/nicchagall
- http://www.nicchagall.de/
- http://www.highcontrastrecords.com/

One more release today which worth your attention. New work from Nic Chagall. Nic Chagall – the mastermind behind the high-flying DJ team Cosmic Gate, a highly prolific producer with hundreds quality tracks to his name. Currently not only touring the hottest clubs around the globe every weekend, but out there established as one of the most creative and eclectic producers in the edm scene .

Deadmau5 Gets a New Look

Celebrated electronic music producer Deadmau5 will unveil a Halloween-themed version of his infamous Mau5head-a giant, tailor-made mouse head costume used during live performances-at this year's electronic music festival HARD Haunted Mansion on Friday, October 31 at the Shrine Expo Hall in downtown Los Angeles. Deadmau5's signature Mau5head already comes in a striking blue and devilish red, but with the spirit of Halloween alive and thriving, the Mau5head will be donned in pitch black with a bright orange light within the eyes of the head to perfectly reflect the image of a pumpkinMau5.
Billed alongside some of the biggest names in electronic music today, Deadmau5 is expected to deliver one of the most highly anticipated live performances at the HARD Haunted Mansion event. Featuring performances by Justice, Soulwax, Simian Mobile Disco, Boys Noize and Crystal Castles, Deadmau5 joins an elite roster of artists who are taking the electronic circuit by storm. Deadmau5's appearance at HARD is in anticipation of his debut album Random Album Title, due in stores November 4 via Ultra Records.

International Dates
Sat10/17 Dublin, IRE, Tripod
Sun10/18 Newcastle, UK, Digital
Thu10/23 Brighton, UK, Digital
Fri10/24 Nottingham, UK, Boudoir Superstar
Sat10/25 Leeds, UK, Victoria Works Warehouse
Fri11/7 Curitiba, BR, Park Barigui
Sat11/8 Buenos Aires, AR, Creamfields
Sat11/14 Rio De Janeiro, BR, Cream
Sun11/15 Belo Horizonte, BR, Creamfields
Mon11/16 Sao Paulo, BR, Xxxperience
Sat11/22 Santo Domingo, DR, The Cave
Wed11/26New York, NY, Webster Hall
Thu11/27 Vancouver, BC, Celebrities
Fri11/28 Vancouver, BC, Celebrities
Sat11/29 Detroit, MI, Bleu
Wed12/3 Merida, MEX, Centro De Convenciones
Thu12/4 Anaheim, CA, House of Blues
Fri12/5 Phoenix, AZ, Myst
Sat12/6 Mexico City, MEX, Vegas Night Club
Fri12/26 Toronto, ONT, This Is London

North American Dates
Thu10/30 Sacramento, CA, The Park
Fri10/31 Los Angeles, CA, Shrine Auditorium: HARD Haunted Mansion
Sat11/1 Las Vegas, NV, Orleans Arena
Wed11/19 Boulder, CO, Fox Theater
Thu11/20 Atlanta, GA, Opera
Fri11/21 Philadelphia, PA, Electric Factory

text source
http://www.deadmau5.com/
http://www.myspace.com/deadmau5

Trackter Duo Daily Giveaway From Tracktor and Native Instruments

Beatport, Beatportal and Native Instruments have teamed up to give a copy of Traktor Duo to one lucky winner every day this week.

Traktor Duo provides all the essentials of modern DJ software. Based on the industry’s leading DJ software Traktor Pro, Duo offers 2 fully featured decks with rock solid performance and complete creative freedom - no matter what your style.

Traktor Duo daily giveaway!

For seven days only, starting Tuesday June 23rd, Beatport, and Native Instruments have teamed up to give away one Traktor Duo every day!

Enter for your chance to win your own Traktor Duo professional DJ software when you buy* any track in MP3, MP4 or WAV formats from Beatport. Then watch this post every day at 5pm MST for the winning names to be announced.

*No purchase necessary. Click here for the competition rules.

BEATMATCHING A TECHNIQUE

Beatmatching

You must have seen in the clubs and in parties that Djs don’t let you leave the dance floor by playing one after the other a set of great track without a break have you ever wondered what they do?, How they do this? So let’s learn it here.

Beatmatching is a technique of pitch shifting or time stretching a track to match the tempo to the other track. Beatmatching is used by DJ’s, to play continuous sequence of tracks one after the other just to make people stick to the dance floor at the end of the track. This technique is achieved by combining equalization, attention to phrasing and a collection of tracks to make a single mix.
Most of the DJs use this technique to mix, as it’s a most common way to mix a song but all depends on you how you use this technique in your mixing.

Beatmatching consist of following steps:

1. While a record is playing, beatmatch a new record to it, using headphones for monitoring. Use gain (or trim) control on the mixer to match the levels of the two records.
2. Restart and slip-cue the new record at the right time. Pay attention to track structures; careful phrasing can make the mix seamless.
3. Before fading in the new track, check that the beats of two tracks match by listening to both channels together in the headphones, as the sound from the speakers can reach you with a delay.
4. Gradually, fade in parts of the new track while fading out the old track. While in the mix, ensure that the tracks are still synchronized, adjusting the records if needed.

It seems simple isn’t it guys but it’s not so simple to achieve a good seamless mix so easily. So keep practicing even if you get better in it needs more and more practice. That’s it Take Care guys and do comment on my this article

What is a Mixer

Hey guys here i m back. Today i will be telling you about the Mixers so keep on reading the blog. Cmon guys subscribe to my blog and be my follower so that i can write more and more and help you learn the DJing better and help you with the house music kowledge.

What Are Mixers

Mixers are a best friend of a DJ. They help you to control, and manipulate the sound which is going out to the speakers and what people will be hearing. The basic feature which differentiates the studio mixer with the DJ Mixer is the presence of Cross fader and an ability to redirect a non-playing sound to a headphone so that you can pre listen the song before putting the fader up.

Knowing Controls on Mixers

A DJ Mixer has several feature s which makes work of a DJ easier, interesting and creative. While working as a DJ you will be encountering many kinds of mixers, and trust me it’s not a difficult deal to get along with any kind of a mixer when you know the basic features of a mixer which are almost same in every mixers.
In all the mixers there are few:
- Input Points
- Output points
- Channels
- Faders
- Equalizer Knobs etc.

INPUT POINTS

There are at least two input points in every mixer, and if your pocket allows you to buy a Digital mixer which are usually expensive you even end up having a USB and Firewire inputs to connect digital sources (such as CD, MiniDisc, and PC inputs) and keep the music playing at the best possible quality. The three Input points are:
- Phono – This is used for connecting Turntables.
- Line – This is used to connect anything else, such as CD Players, Decks and so on.
- Mic – This is used to connect Microphones to a mixer so that you can talk to the people while playing.

OUTPUT POINTS

Every mixer has at least two output points but if you buy a good piece of mixer you’ll probably be getting three output points. These output points are:
- Master Out – Master out is used to connect to amplifier so that it can send music signals to the amplifier to send them to the speakers. The LED display on the mixer shows you how strong music signals are sent to the amplifier so that you can track on the music output and do not burst the speaker by any chance.
- Record Out – Record out is used to send the music signals to the recording device such as tape recorder, CD recorder, PC, and so on.
- Booth Out - Booth out is used to send the musical signal to the speaker situated in the DJ console which is used to monitor the sound that is being played.

CHANNELS IN MIXERS

Channels are used to connect CD players and Turntables to a mixer so that you can use them and produce some sound or music. A simplest mixer would be containing at least two channels but what if you want to use two CD decks and two Turntables. Yes you are right, you can connect CD Decks to Line input and Turntables to Phono input and switch the knob which is used to switch over between Line and Phono mode. But it will be a good idea to use a different channel for each CD deck and Turntable. It will be good if you always prefer to buy 3 or 4 channel mixer at least.

CROSS-FADERS

Cross fader is a horizontal slider which enables you to change the output from one input device to the other. The main function of it is to switch over between two input devices.

FADERS

Faders are the vertical knobs present on the mixer there are one fader for each channel i.e. if you have a four channel mixer you will be having four faders one for each channel. Fader lets you throw the sound from the mixer in to the speaker if you move your fader upward the music signal from the input device will be sent to the speakers. Remember if the fader is upward and still there is no sound out from the speakers check your Gain and master knobs.

GAIN KNOB

Gain are present above each channel their job is to control the volume output of each channel. With the help of Gain knob you can make one channels voice higher than other.

MASTER KNOB

Master knob is use to control the overall sound output from the mixer for all the channels.

EQ KNOBS

According to your mixer you will be having different sets of EQ knobs but most of them provides you with Three knobs that are:
- High – This knob is used to control the heights from the sound signal
- Mid – This knob is used to control the mid from the sound signal such as vocals and so on.
- Low – Low knob is used to control the bass line of your sound signal

HEADPHONE CONTROLS

There are one headphone jack present on a mixer to connect it to a headphone. There are few controls present there on the mixer so that you can control the output of your headphone like there is a volume control knob to control the volume of your headphone, then there are PFL (Pre Fader Listening) button present on every channel so that you can listen to a single channel at one time.

HOUSE MUSIC

Hey Guys welcome to my blog. I hope you are having good time in life, today I will discuss about the House music, where and when it started, what kinda sound is in it, how the trend is going in India for the House music. So, let’s start the journey.
House Music

Back in late 1970s and early 1980s, this electronic dance music (EDM) style was originated in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Later it became popular in mid 1980s when this form of music was infused with pop music culture. It started becoming popular from the discotheque’s serving African- American, Latino and Gay communities. The journey of House music was started first from Chicago, then in New York City and then in Detroit.
House music is influenced from the disco music, it usually uses disco percussions specially use of bass drum on every beat. House music can feature use of Synthesizer bassline, Electronic effect, Electronic drums, pop-samples, reverb, flanger, and delay-enhanced vocals. Some DJ’s or musician’s make use of looping to give the music a special effect.
House music is uptempo music using BPM of 118-135, earlier the BPM was low. House music is a descendent of disco music so it usually uses the same structure as of disco music. The most prominent use in house music is of drum beat on each beat, followed by an open Hi-Hat at eighth note off-beat in between each kick, and a snare drum or clap sound on second and fourth beat of a bar. Producers use different kind of sources to produce bass sound like by using continuous, repeating electronic lines sequenced on a synthesizer, by using bassline from other tracks, or by using studio recording of live electronic bassists.
House Music was also influenced by the DJs, producers, and audio engineers like Walter Gibbons, Tom Moulton, Jim Burgess, Larry Levan, Ron Hardy, and M & M. Producers like Frankie Knuckles also created the similar composit6ions by using scratch, samplers, synthesizers, sequencers and drums. The hypnotic electronic dance song “on and on” produced by DJ Jesse Saunders of Chicago, in 1984 became staples of early House music, it sometimes known to be the first House song.
The origin of the term “House Music” is disputed. It is believed that this term may be came from the nightclub in Chicago known as “Warehouse” which became famous between teenagers in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Warehouse was patronized primarily by the Gay black and Latino men who use to go there to dance on the music of DJ Frankie Knuckles which usually used to be the mixes of classic discos.
The House Music trend was started in India somewhere around in the late 90’s in the night clubs of cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore and is continuously growing since then. House music trend is supported by the DJ’s like Nikhil Chinnappa, DJ Pearl, DJ Nawed, DJ Suketu etc. who are continuously supporting the Electronic Dance Music Scene in India. Nikhil Chinnappa is continuously bringing Indian talent in front with the international DJ’s at his Events like Sunburn Festival and Submerge in Goa, Bangalore, Pune and Delhi.
That’s it for now guys I hope it helped you a lot please share your view about the article by leaving comments. More information about the House music is required guys so please leave your views and knowledge in the comment section so that I can update the blog. And stay tuned to my blog to more and more knowledge on the DJing skills and music.

Welcome to the world of DJ's

Hey Guys!! Welcome to the world of Dj'ing :-)
Here i will give you all the help you require in the field of DJ. All the latest track lists, all the latest things in the E.D.M (Electronic Dance Music) industry from all aroud the world. Stay updated in the House music. Shoot me up your questions and queries in the comments i will give you the answers as soon as possible. Take Care Guys Cheers!!