After learning how to beatmatch, fade out tracks and drop mix, Independant journalist Marcus Barnes is back with the second part of our DJ course review! Missed the first part of Marcus’s DJ Diary? Click here to check it out!

This post was originally featured on planetnotion.com.

DJ Annie Mac on a recent vist to Point Blank

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.

Point Blank’s CEO Rob Cowan with DJ legend Carl Cox.

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.

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. 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.

DJ Diary: Part 4 – The Final Instalment.

7th Feb: So, it’s almost here… my final day at Point Blank. It seems like only yesterday when I walked into the class, a little late, and set off on the road to becoming an international superstar DJ (well, a wannabe international superstar DJ).

Now, four weeks on, it’s my last practice session before the day of reckoning – my big mix. I get in early, in fact according to the signing in sheet I’m the first in… check me out, a regular teacher’s pet. For this week’s practice session all I’m going to do is plan out my mix – I have a selection of six tracks to lay down on the decks, I’ve thought about it quite carefully… as Ben, our teacher, suggested I’ve got myself a little intro (a scene from Robocop – one of my favourite films as a child), and I’ve added a little outro tune, something I imagine might stir up some memories for those who grew up in the 80s.

And so I spend the whole six hour session mixing these tracks and trying to work out neat ways to interconnect them and make some cool transitions. It’s not easy, but I kinda think I have it locked by the time I finally make my way home…

Bailey on a vist to Point Blank’s DJ studio.

8th Feb: It’s the big day! I’m dreading this, maybe I’ve built it up too much in my head but the fear of failure is one that consumes me from the inside out – I feel like I’m going to implode with nerves at a few points in the lead up to my turn on the decks. But after a while, that all subsides and a several last-minute practice runs make me feel at least a little more confident than I did this time last week. In fact so much so that I lumber myself with a stupidly risky new mix to do right at the end of my proposed set… throwing in a track over part of a tune that has no beat and basically ‘double-dropping’ the two tunes – the only way I can get it in time is to use my intuition (and some counting). It’s stupid and there’s a good chance it could blow up in my face, but I figure I won’t be doing another mix for quite a while so I might as well take a slight risk.

One thing that makes a lot of difference is that almost all my practice has been on headphones – of course, in a class of 7 or more people there’s no way we can all have our music blaring out over each other through speakers, so we practice inside our headphones… which is where everything works fine for me. However, once I start trying to mix with one headphone and the speakers, it starts to fall apart a little. Maybe I should have got myself more practice on the speakers?

Marcus Barnes with Certificate of Completion.

Anyway, after watching the main man Taylor (my American classmate) get his groove on on the decks I realise that maybe it’s not so bad after all. Before I know it Ben’s asking me if I’m ready to have a go and get a mix recorded… ‘Ready as I’ll ever be’ I tell him, and with that it’s time to get started. Ben has shown me a little trick to get an echo on my intro sample which sounds great, I ease in the first track underneath and it comes in a little off time but still sounds ok… I won’t into a detailed analysis of the mix from end to end, but let’s just say I ballsed up more than I’d hoped and let my nerves get the better of me. Once I listen back to mix I feel pretty deflated, Ben edits a couple of bits to make it sound better which is great. Overall, although I have to be realistic and remember I’ve only had four weeks training and I’m only human, it still pains me when I hear the mistakes I made during the mix – more so because I don’t know when I’ll be able to have another stab at it.

Ben finishes the class by showing us some more scratching techniques – he’s so casual when he does it and makes it look easy… every step of the way he explains things in such a way that is very easy to grasp, dropping in history lessons every now and then too (have a look at the video for evidence of this).

All in all it’s been a great experience and I certainly have a new found appreciation for DJs – now every time I listen to a mix I pick up on the techniques that are being used, likewise when I’m out raving I can identify what the DJ is up to. Of course, as well as having my ear trained for things like this, I’m also able to mix two tunes together myself (although I’m probably better in my own headphones than I am with a speaker and one headphone, but that can be worked on…I hope) – the next step is to get my own decks and practice every day. Only then will I be at the level I want to be… watch this space.

Missed the first part of Marcus’s DJ chronicles? Click here to catch up with part 1 & 2 of his instalment.

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