Stage One of Mixing in Phrase for the New DJ

0:00 Camera, say hello

Right, ladies and gentlemen, I have my little boy Blaze with me. Blaze, look at the camera, say hello. Hi. Okay, so what we're going to do now is we're going to do a very basic mixing lesson for Blaze. How old are you, Blaze? Seven. Seven. And what do you like doing most of all? You like art. Look that way. You like doing art. You like drawing and stuff like that, don't you? Cool. Alright, so I've got a tune here by Mark. This is the tune. I'm going to press play. Let's skip forward a bit so people can just have an idea of what it's like. This is just, this is a good tune man. This is one of those deep and like, it's got it man. Okay, right, so what we're going to do Blaze is we're going to count bars like this. You know how to count a bar don't you? One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. So as soon as I press here, or there, as soon as you press that button,

Let's put it back to the beginning again. As soon as you press that, I want you to start counting 1. So 1, 2, 3, 4. Go on. 1, 2, 4. Oh no, but just let it play. Let it play. So just let it play, but count like this. 1, 2, 3, 4. 1, 2, 3, 4. OK? So 2, 3, 4. 1, 2, 3, 4. This is a great way of practising. Now what we've got, we've got the same track on both sides. So I'll give you a demonstration first and then I want you to copy what Dad does, okay? So watch this. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. Okay, so what I did, I pressed play here on the count of one. So one, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. And then one, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. You try and do that for me?

2:48 They're both at the same position

Well done! That was very good. Well done. That was pretty cool, man. Okay, so they're both at the same position. Alright, so what this does, it helps you with your timing. Now, if you're using the same track as well, it means that you're not going to get any problems with keys and also, so long as the pitches are in the centre position, of course they're going to be the same BPM. Now, when I did it, the same BPM beats per minute. Now when I did it, it was slightly off. When Blaze did it, it was pretty much bang on time because you had that phasing sound which, well, when you get that phasing sound, it sort of almost proves that the kicks are in exactly the right position or the same position. What we're going to do now though, Blaze, is we're going to now use some hot cues. So this is just the beginning. Shall we make this more interesting and fun? Yeah? So let's do... Alright, so that's the beginning.

4:53 First, OK, what I want you

But what we're going to do now, what I'm going to do is I'm going to go to say a bit further into the track. And this is going to be fun now. Do cue point there. There. So you've got the same one there. Okay, let's do another one on this side. Right, now this is going to be interesting and fun. Now, I'm now going to engage what's known as the crossfade, this thing here. Alright? So what that means is that when the crossfade is on this side, listen. We can hear this side, but because it's on this side and not on that side, guess what? When we press one of the hot cues here, we can't hear anything. Let's move that over. Now we can. Alright? We can hear both, yeah. So I'm going to demonstrate first, OK, what I want you to do. And seeing as I only did it once and you were able to copy me straight away...

I'm only going to show you once, alright? So ready? Watch this. Do you reckon you could do that? And then press one of those hot cues, but at the same time you press the hot cue, you've got to move the crossfade over. No, you could do a random one because they're all in phrase, so they're all starting on the first kick in a bar, number 1. And they're also starting at the beginning of a phrase. So, for example, you could do something like this. Listen. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three. Okay? But once you've done this I'm going to make it more exciting, okay? So you go... You do that then. So that side first. Remember to count from there.

7:27 It's a bit more fast but it's fun

Just hit a hot cue, that's it. Then we crossfade. Shall I show you again? Yeah. Okay, I'll show you again. It's alright. Now remember I'm on this side here, watch. So 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4 and now 1, 2, 6, 7, 8. When I press this side... So you're switching sides? That's it. When I switch to this side, I move the crossfade over to the same side where I hit the hot cue. That was actually pretty good because it got from something that sounded a bit dodgy to something that got better. The more you did it. But now, should we do something fun? Okay. Alright? This is fun. It's a bit more fast but it's fun. Okay? Watch this. Ready? Watch. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two... Watch my both this finger and this.

10:05 I did it twice once

1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1. This is about timing. You see, it's all about timing. I did it once. I did it twice once. You did it a few times there. Well done. That's very good. But it's all about learning. It's all about practice. And what? Practice and enjoy. Have you had enough now? We don't have to if you don't want to. Do I have to though? No, you don't have to. Would you like to finish now? Do you want me to? If you want to do a little bit more, you can do a little bit more. Do you want me to though? I would like you to do a little bit more. Is that okay? Good lad. Right, okay. Now let's concentrate on from one side to the other. Listen. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three... Okay, I think I've got it now. Good boy.

That's enough, because we don't want to put people off this track. And again, when you're practicing, you're doing something like this, of course for a beginner it's going to be out of time and out of beat and out of sync, but what it will help you with is your timing. The first one was good though. Yeah, it was pretty good mate. Alright, that was pretty good. Okay, thank you very much for helping, yeah? Practice and enjoy. Yeah!

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