Mix Club - The Remedial Class

gcw

Matt - in my head it feels like every mix, but I’m doing myself a disservice there as it’s probably only 2 or 3.

Dubman - I’m changing the pitch control but it just feels like it’s always slightly off

Cyril - it is indeed fun but also frustrating (as you know). I’m focusing too much on long winded transitions when I just need to focus on the basics. As you say, the audience really won’t care.

Should have said …this is two x technics and a Behringer mixer. Nothing else (i missed the boat on CDJs and mp3 dj’ing)

Dubman

gcw
I’ve got a bunch of records and no matter what I would do I could never beatmatch them perfectly. I don’t care anymore. Just enjoy it.

Dubman

gcw (i missed the boat on CDJs and mp3 dj’ing)

I went straight from vinyl to using a controller & mp3’s and have now gone back to just vinyl.

hugopal

gcw two x technics

In how good condition are the technics and how old are they? Have they been repaired or recalibrated recently? Is the pitch fader smooth? etc.

A solid pair of technics can stay steady remarkably well, but it’s also possible to have decks that can drift a bit, and where the speed might be a tad inconsistent even if you’re not moving the pitch bend at the time. This can make super smooth transitions very tough.

mono-stereo

gcw did you get this fixed in the end? I was gonna suggest that it might be out of phase audio.

Old-Dutch

Get absolutely cunted and it will all sound brilliant

gcw

Old-Dutch not a bad strategy!

Mad_Cyril

Old-Dutch Get absolutely cunted and it will all sound brilliant

Solid advice. 😂

More cost effective than getting the audience cunted too

gcw

Dubman yeah that’s what I need to do. Prob my last ever time playing to someone other than my dog, so may as well embrace it

Amps

gcw Listen back to a recording of your mixes and judge from that rather than what you are hearing at the time. You might find that part of the ‘miss match’ that you are hearing is noise from your cans, noise from the carts, a little slap off a wall etc. So a recording listened back in the car should give a you a clean monitoring space.

Also, you might have your kicks lined up like NASA’s space ducks on re-entry, but it might be some other bit of percussion making it sound off. You’ll get this a bit if you mix a track with lots of swing and one without into each other.

gcw

Amps thanks, good advice

303abuser

Good advice from amps, check the mix in a different environment.

Also, it’s possible to have two track that are synced too well and you get phase cancellation on the kicks, causing them to sound hollow and a bit off. A slight drag on the platter to nudge them off time should fix that quickly though. I

If the center hole of the record is a bit too big/loose, that can cause the tempo wobble; that’s easily fixed with a bit of folded paper jammed in.

Vinyl is finicky, that’s why I find those mixes way more interesting to listen to. Perfect is boring.

whatever

Agree with all the points above. Would just add that the older the track is, the more likely that the tempo will drift because it was made by a human using a basic drum machine trying to keep time, whereas these days it will be perfect because it is computer-generated. Added to that you are basically using lumps of plastic that can warp over time, the quality of the signal it produces can deteriorate if played too much or scratched or just general wear and tear. Plus, you probably didn’t notice beats that were out of time 20 years ago as much but because everyone is now accustomed to nice clean digital mixes, vinyl fluctuations are much more noticeable.

Even with current technology available, modern music producers like to inject an element of swing into the tracks to stop them sounding too robotic. It might be that the kicks sound fine but the quarter and sixteenth notes sound a bit off which is done intentionally because it provides the swing or the groove of the track. Think about soulful house that may use a lot of percussive effects or techno tracks that are meant to sound slightly behind the beat even though they aren’t.

303abuser

whatever Even with current technology available, modern music producers like to inject an element of swing into the tracks to stop them sounding too robotic. It might be that the kicks sound fine but the quarter and sixteenth notes sound a bit off which is done intentionally because it provides the swing or the groove of the track. Think about soulful house that may use a lot of percussive effects or techno tracks that are meant to sound slightly behind the beat even though they aren’t.

That’s a really good point too. I know that kicks are usually the only percussion I put right on the grid. My snares are always a touch early, the main “time keeping” hat is usually late, the rest of the hats and percs are manually nudged to fit a groove. Throw in delays that aren’t time-synced and that will explain why even modern tracks can be difficult to mix together, even when the keys match.

gcw

Thanks, good insight.

Agree on the clean digital comment. We’re so used to perfect mixes that it’s a real surprise when a beat is off.

gcw

hugopal they are 22 years old and in excellent condition. I had them serviced in 2019 and the guy that did it said they were one of the best sets he’d seen .
They haven’t had huge usage over the years but they’ve always been stored correctly

Old-Dutch

What did the service cost out of interest?

gcw

Can’t remember exactly but I wanna say £100 or less. It was a chap that only works within the m25. So I had to drag my decks to work (which was within the m25) and he met me there.

Was an interesting character , he was/is a sound engineer and had been involved in the scene for many years

Old-Dutch

Did you have the details mate. I’m within the M25 and I’ve got an issue with sound only coming out of one speaker with one of my decks. Probably only a loose connection and will take a look myself, but might need a bit of professional help depending on the problem.

Edit - is it this guy?
https://en-gb.facebook.com/theoriginaldeckdoctor/

Edit 2 - I’ve just taken the deck down and given the cables a bit of a wiggle and it’s working again so might not need him after all.

gcw

Old-Dutch yeah thats him. I remember thinking the name was a bit cheesy, but he was actually really sound. He replaced the power cables/wiring on my 1210s to something a lot more robust. I was really happy with the service

Dubman

Old-Dutch Edit 2 - I’ve just taken the deck down and given the cables a bit of a wiggle and it’s working again so might not need him after all.

You beat me to it. I’ve got the same problem. I thought it was my mixer to start with but once I started fiddling with the cables it sounded much better. I really need to buy some new cartridges & needles.

Old-Dutch

Cheers. I’ve heard others recommend him in the past but forgot his name. Hopefully my own service will hold out but will get him in if required.

The hard-wired cables on 1210s are a bit of a ball-ache - the Vestax PDX-2000’s I had prior to the Technics had jacks out of the decks which was much better

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