04 In practice

Some technical basics to help you mix two tracks together

Your computer is powered on, you’ve started up the DJUCED® software, you’ve selected and loaded your music tracks. Your DJ controller is also powered on and connected to your computer. So let’s get started!

Step ONE

You’ve selected a track for deck A, and another track for deck B. Listen to both tracks carefully, one after the other, to immerse yourself in the rhythm and get a good understanding of it. Listen to the tracks over and over, as many times as necessary.

Step TWO

Next, for each track, you’ll start off by determining a cue point: that’s to say, the point at which playback of a given track will begin. In order to do this, we suggest that you set your cue point on the stressed beat of a bar (generally the first “kick” in a bar).

Step THREE

Now you’ll be using the pitch fader, the fader on each deck that lets you adjust the number of beats per minute. You’ll need to set both tracks at the same speed: this allows you to avoid making it sound strange to the audience when you switch between one track and another, and – most importantly – ensures that the two tracks don’t get out of phase with one another.

Step FOUR

When this is done, you’re going to start playing the first track, and then, when the first track gets to its outro, you’ll get ready to start playing the second track as well. You should always remember to start playing the second track on a stressed beat of the first track: this is the all-important “Dropping on the One” mentioned earlier.

Don’t worry if the results of your early mixing attempts don’t yet sound totally professional: you’re just getting started, and are still in the learning process. Be sure to give yourself some time to really discover how the art of DJing works, and master all of the different controls on your DJ controller, along with the techniques and features in our DJUCED® software.

If there’s a slight phase shift between the two tracks, you’ll have to adjust the second track by either moving it forward or backward a bit using the outer ring on the jog wheel, or the Pitch Bend buttons.

Ideally, all of these steps should be carried out while you’re wearing your headphones, so that the audience won’t hear the different adjustments that you’re making; however, since you’re still learning how everything works, don’t worry at all about practicing these steps without your headphones on.

Once both tracks are properly phased with one another, you’ll use the volume faders on your DJ controller to fade out the first track while fading in the second track.

You can make a transition between tracks progressively or suddenly, depending on your tastes and the musical styles that you’re mixing with. That’s what the audience will hear: when the volume fader on a deck is all the way down, only the DJ can hear what’s happening on that deck by monitoring the deck on his or her headphones.