WHY Does a DJ Move the Vinyl Back and Forth Before a Mix

1:40 Quite a few people have asked me about why a DJ does that

OK, so what was going on? Well, quite a few people have asked me about why a DJ does that on a piece of vinyl. Why are they moving the record backwards and forwards when you can't hear anything? First of all I'm going to give you a demonstration of what it sounds like when you move a record backwards and forwards. So what you're about to hear now is what the DJ would be hearing through his headphones, his or her headphones, beg your pardon. There you go. OK, so why does a DJ do that? Well, really what the DJ is trying to do is quite a few things. One, make sure that the point where they want to start the record is still at that same point. Also it's a good way of just helping you get in time, you know, one,

Two, three, four. So your timing, moving the track backwards and forwards should be in time with the track that's playing. Now because there's a needle on the vinyl it's possible that the needle could jump. So you could, if you wanted to, just hold it very very lightly and then push it in but there's a small chance it might have moved one groove back or forwards which means when you want to bring the record in it might be ahead of time or behind time. Again it's on how the vinyl, the needle, the stylite and the whole arm is set up correctly, how much pressure you've got on if you haven't got, if you've got the shakes or goodness knows what. What I'm going to do now, I'm going to do the same thing. Play the vinyl here left hand

Side and just carry on moving the record backwards and forwards so you can hear what it sounds like. See there, jumped. So there you go. And that is why the DJ forward and backward motion on a vinyl turntable. Practice and enjoy. Thank you.

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