DJ Diary: Part 3

30th Jan: Back in for more practice today – Taylor, one of my classmates is also in for some practice, obviously as serious about improving his DJ skills as I am… in fact, more so as he’s been in over the weekend too. We discuss how we’re getting and both vent our frustration at being so inconsistent. So far every time I thought I had it licked I’d balls up the next mix and realise that I’m not actually as good as I thought I was – reality giving me a kick up the arse. But the more we practice, the better we’ll get… something that’s been drummed into us from the start.

Over the last week or so I’ve been thinking about this course so much, I even dreamed about mixing the other night. It’s consuming a lot of my thinking time, which is great. I want to finish the course being able to at least mix a few tracks together at a house party – obviously I’m not going to be the next Grandmaster Flash overnight, but as long as I can show a little dexterity on the 1s and 2s I’ll be happy. As an aside, it’s also nice to be able to listen to a mix and recognise the techniques that DJs are using – which helps when I’m reviewing club nights.

Anyway, for the practice session today I repeatedly use the same 6 or 7 tracks, attempting to beat match them over and over. For me, I think this is the only way I’m going to really feel comfortable on the decks – it’s also good preparation for our impending final half hour mix (which fills me with dread!). So that’s what I do, I spend four hours mixing the same tunes over and over… it helps to a degree, I leave feeling relatively more confident than I did the previous week.

I guess that’s what it’s about ultimately, building confidence and understanding of your music… while also getting used to relying on your hearing and judgement to really get a feel for mixing two tracks together.

31st Jan: It’s time for class… I always feel a little wave of excitement when I’m on my way to Ben’s Wednesday class, for two reasons. 1) It’s been a long time since I actually got taught anything in a classroom. Makes me sound a total geek, but the whole process of learning a new skill is actually pretty exciting. 2) I now know that each week there will be some new revelation about DJing that will everything that little bit clearer – this gets the adrenalin pumping.

So, here we are – week 3. First off Ben does a little run through of what we learned the week before, tests how much we listened and paid attention. Then we get into some BPM theory and practice. Now this week, Ben shows us a little ‘cheat’ method that can be applied on CDJs that lets you mix any tracks that have similar BPMs almost seemlessly… I won’t repeat it, but it was a great tip and one which can save your skin if you start buggering up a mix. But definitely something I do not want to be reliant. Great to know, but not good if you’re a lazy so and so. Then we move on to EQing – that is, playing around with the equalizers to remove areas of sound and make mixes sound a lot better. Up to this point I’d found that basslines on tracks would clash etc… and I didn’t understand why. With Ben’s helpful tips this all becomes clear – as I said before, every week a new revelation hits me like a tonne of bricks. This was invaluable. Now my mixes are sounding a lot better. Just like yesterday I practice with the same 6 or 7 tracks, I want my final mix to be pretty decent so this is the only way I can see myself succeeding in my quest to put together a nice little mix. My track selection is on point (I think) – mainly thanks to the huge amount of promos I get sent thanks to my work as a music journo. I’m thankful for this, and keep reminding myself how lucky I am to have all this music, and to be in this class learning to DJ.

Click to enlarge

Every week by the time we get to 6pm (the class is almost 6 full hours long) I always feel like it’s flown by yet somehow I’ve learned so much. I realise how gutted I’ll be when the course is over and how crap it is that I don’t have any DJ equipment myself – now I know the basics I’m hungry to learn more.

Right at the end of the class Ben gets some vinyl out and shows everyone his scratching/cutting skills – very impressive they are too. Some of the class even film him at work, it’s that good.

Click to enlarge

We’re in safe hands at Point Blank – one more practice session and it’s the final mix. How will it turn out? Well, that’s down to me… all I can say is the next seven days will be filled with me nervously working out, and preparing for, the mix.

- Marcus Barnes

For more information go to the Point Blank website
http://www.pointblanklondon.com/,Facebook,Twitter