mixing without headphones?

[empath]

has anyone ever tried to do this?

i left my headphone adapter at my gf's apt last night and REALLY wanted to try mixing some new records I got in... so i just mixed using the sound coming off of the stylus.... this is suprisingly easy to do...

so if you're ever spinning in a club and the headphones break completely-- ALL IS NOT LOST....

[DJ ORI]

lol....acually I noticed the same thing..tho if you are in a loud club im not sure if the faint highs you get from the needle are going to be loud enough...

[rajdeep]

John is kidding..... I hope. :scared:

[uberclkgtr]

yeah, i've tried this. just have to make sure you put year ear close to the stylus, that your dreads don't make the needle skip, and then go at it. :D

it helps that my stylii are loud as hell. i imagine on a club system, the stylus noise would be drowned out by the monitors. works fine at home though.

[Nquire]

thats how i am teaching my son to mix. I just have both channels turned up all the way so i can explain it to him.

[empath]

John is kidding..... I hope. :scared:
no you really can do this--- you should try it :)

[housecat]

Ummmm due to reasons beyond control didn't this have to be done for a lil bit @ Hybrid last year. Matty?

:afterbuzz:

Can't remember who had to do it though.

[Matt Sanborn]

I mixed at HYBRID last year with some little earbud headphones for a walkman one time lol

and there is no way in hell mixing without headphones and cueing by listening to the stlyus would work at the club.

altho once the rekkid is cued and you can distinguish the sounds ok with practice you can take your phones off

[Nquire]

Once the music gets past a certain loudness just listening to the Stylus would not work. I agree.

[retail]

it helps that my stylii are loud as hell.

:no::sadblue:




:wink:

[apple]

it'll make u match faster, i'll tell you what!
i think this is a great way for new djs to practice; whenever i gave dj lessons i had the students mix sans phones for a while.

[Wickity]

I did that at Metatrack... It really does help a lot. I still try it once in a while.. but not really using the needles, just drop the new track in at full volume.

[empath]

yeah, i've done that before just because i switched records like 18 times and didn't have time to pre-cue..

[A.B]

Its true. Once music is too loud, I don't think the sound out of the stylus will help a lot

[Moebius]

Yes, I have totally mixed off of the sound coming from the stylus.

[djane]

I've never personally tried this, but have seen Derrick Carter do it on several occasions, very succesfully. That is why he is The Master.

[DjAmP]

The only major reason we need head phones is to beatmatch.. If you knew the BPM of your records, and have a BPM Counter (TTX, DJM). All you would need to do is drop the record at the first kick and your should be able to pitch correct on the fly.. Just make sure the Bass and Mid is down a lot and use the high's to beatmatch out loud..

[DJ ORI]

The only major reason we need head phones is to beatmatch.. If you knew the BPM of your records, and have a BPM Counter (TTX, DJM). All you would need to do is drop the record at the first kick and your should be able to pitch correct on the fly.. Just make sure the Bass and Mid is down a lot and use the high's to beatmatch out loud..

we also need them to tell what we are playing when we are too drunk to read

[RAMIRO]

i've forgotton my head phones quite a few times and since i pretty much know if a record is a fast one or not.. i just move the fader over so i can hear the record just a bit when i throw it in .. and just start adjusting like mad crazy.. i usualy take out the mids so not to sunds to clashy ya kow.. i've benn pretty sucessful at this.. not syaing all the mixes sounds like butter.. but im glad to know if worst comes to worst i can still get a decent vibe out fo a set..

[kandykidkris]

has anyone ever tried to do this?

i left my headphone adapter at my gf's apt last night and REALLY wanted to try mixing some new records I got in... so i just mixed using the sound coming off of the stylus.... this is suprisingly easy to do...

so if you're ever spinning in a club and the headphones break completely-- ALL IS NOT LOST....
Wow. I'm a newbie bedroom DJ and my bf did the same thing! His headphone wires were f#*ked up from god knows what. He had some beautiful mixes that made me wonder. Damn, I didn't realize that mixing without headphones can be done! MIDAS is now my favorite house DJ! Go electric empire!

[kandykidkris]

You guys are great! It's only been the 5th time that I've even touched a turntable and I already know how to cue and so far had 3 mixes. Good fading and blending however I have trouble when it gets off! I'm such a dork. I even cried when I made my first mix. Not to get off the subject but what do you guys think? (I practiced this without headphones.) What do you all recommend???

[kandykidkris]

.....aaaaaaaaaaahhhh I'm gonna have a panic attack! I try to fix it and it gets worse! I think I need to take a break! Somebody give me a f**king cigarette! I'm getting manic!

[Wickity]

Wow...

:tweek:

Calm down, practice for 6 months.

[kirk]

record as often as possible

[Commador]

There was a time before fancy mixers and tables when people used to beatmatch without pitch adjust or headphones....

[DJ ORI]

There was a time before fancy mixers and tables when people used to beatmatch without pitch adjust or headphones....

If you cant adjust pitch it will be impossible to beatmatch unless all the records you play were created at the same bpm

[the sex molesters]

i've mixed sans headphones before... in my room, i can use the sound from the stylus, as was mentioned, in the club i've had to do it a couple times, like when the headphones break or whatever, and it that situation, i usually just play it hip-hop style with scratches and cuts. i watched sinestro and bake tag one night at a club with no headphones... it was fucking crazy, they were beatmatching flawlessly, and i didn't hear one bad mix the whole time... i wonder how they pulled that off...

[Commador]

If you cant adjust pitch it will be impossible to beatmatch unless all the records you play were created at the same bpm

They wernt beat matching, they would cue up the track, start it in sync with the other track, and cut the out going record. Theres an old grand master flash track, I think its called Adventures on the wheels of Steel where he makes an entire track out of about 11 or 12 records. It sound raw as shit... and theres no beat matching that.

DJ'ing didn't oroginate from beat matching.

It's not impossible to beatmatch either, you can manipulate the decks.... and usually, tracks of the same genere are close enough BPM wise to match for sometimes a few seconds before they drift, which is more than enough time to do a cut or a spinback.

[Commador]

You guys are great! It's only been the 5th time that I've even touched a turntable and I already know how to cue and so far had 3 mixes. Good fading and blending however I have trouble when it gets off! I'm such a dork. I even cried when I made my first mix. Not to get off the subject but what do you guys think? (I practiced this without headphones.) What do you all recommend???

Haha, I cried when I hit my first mix too.

I got a recommendation for you. Pitch blend baby. Beat match the records as best you can. There's no rush. Only hand manipulate your decks when your in cue. I wish I was shown that when I first started. Once you get your on comming audible, never take your hand off that pitch slider, and correct your mixes that way... thats how you get the butter on the bread.


After you learn to match, you can worry about things like phrasing and getting your levels right. But the fun comes in mixing when you dont constantly have to babysit your record that might be drifting out of pitch.

Go to best buy, invest $40 in an external sound card by creative/soundblaster, and you can easily make recordings on any computer. This will help you more than almost anything.

[Agent Sunshine]

They wernt beat matching, they would cue up the track, start it in sync with the other track, and cut the out going record. Theres an old grand master flash track, I think its called Adventures on the wheels of Steel where he makes an entire track out of about 11 or 12 records. It sound raw as shit... and theres no beat matching that.

DJ'ing didn't oroginate from beat matching.

True, but DJing also didn't originate with hip hop. Disco DJs used to beat match back in the early to mid 70s.

I've spun a club gig without headphones (forgot mine at home, and I was the only one there). Fortunately I practice that way at home sometimes, just cueing up the first beat and letting it ride. It's off for the first couple bars, but after that it's fine. I just couldn't play anything with an ambient intro, or start from the middle of any tracks, but that's no big deal.

[technoticau]

mastering the art takes years, just mixing is not djing. So you have to be patient...

[Commador]

True, but DJing also didn't originate with hip hop. Disco DJs used to beat match back in the early to mid 70s.

I've spun a club gig without headphones (forgot mine at home, and I was the only one there). Fortunately I practice that way at home sometimes, just cueing up the first beat and letting it ride. It's off for the first couple bars, but after that it's fine. I just couldn't play anything with an ambient intro, or start from the middle of any tracks, but that's no big deal.


If you want to get particular about it, francis grasso was the oroginator of beat matching, and he was doing it in new york, in 1969.

But the actual inception of using turntables as a musical instrument came from funk records/blue, thus hip-hop... is a poor choice of words on my part.

[DJStretchOne]

beat matching is beat matching.... no matter what you're using to hear the mix, if they ain't matched, they ain't matched.... however, if you try NOT using headphones in a club, i'll laugh in your face (unless you battle, which at that time you shouldnt even need them)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

peace to all up in hurr.