Beat mixing to indie/alternative music

Can this be done? I have just bought some (basic) equipment, the deck is belt driven as its all I could afford I do not intend to any scratching. The only technique I need to perfect is getting the songs to blend together.

What is the best way to do this? At the moment although I can ensure there is no gaps between songs some times the songs kind of clash.

The other problem is our very limited budget, we are using two HIFI CD players and a DJ tunrtable, so only the turntable has a pitch control.

We are spending quite a bit on music at the moment. We just want to play in very small venues at first.

The mixer is basic but sounds decent, its NOT one of the cheap awful sounding mixers, you can't tell much loss of quality at all through my HIFI system when the signal is passing through it.

 

Just discovered the cueing control on the mixer, it has now come clear how you do it

I just hope the deck is good enough for the first few gigs, I am not expecting to scratch or do anything like that on it. Its a Technics 1200MK2 clone.

I.e a Genimi XL200 belt driven affair It was very cheap though and I have been using for several hours now and it sounds ok and starts and stops quickly so I can't see why I will have any problems with it.

I still want a Technics 1200/1210MKII but I suppose I better learn how to use the mixers properly and get some gigs first

 

AT, many venues will have their own equipment.

There should be somewhere that runs courses in basic mixing. A local community center, arts center, or perhaps just get friendly with a few of the local djs and ask them for some pointers.

Good luck.

 

Thanks, I have been speaking to a DJ and he says with most alternative tracks its impossible ot beat mix as all you can really do is make sure the songs blend well together, this itself is quite difficult to do.

 

Not impossible, but not easy. Have a listen to the 2many djs stuff. http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos...8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/202-2874851-8128610

They manage to mix just about any and everything together.

With MOst "indie" DJs, it's MOre about the content of the set than the delivery. Of course you don't want to be stopping and starting and should try to keep it seamless as possible, but the majority of djs I've come across playing this stuff tend to just cue it up and fade it in.

 

Thanks so do you spin stuff yourself? You seem to you know a about this. And yep certainly in the clubs in Manchester they just seem to fade in/out.

As you say the seamless delivery is the most important thing, this is somthing I have been playing about with a lot, experimenting with different songs to see which ones sound good mixed together.

 

I've had a go at it a few times but it's MOre a case of (in the words of Kid Koala) "Some of my best friends are DJs.
My brother's the manager of a nightclub and I know people (DJs and musicians), who play in there and elsewhere. A good friend of mine plays random nights at various venues and, as I was saying earlier about places having their own equipment, he just turns up with a box full of tunes. Expect to get a lot of requests, even if it's just "hey, i'm drunk, any chance of playing anything at all for me".
You've mentioned before that you plan to play a mix of well known and lesser known stuff and that's probably the best way to go. It's about getting the balance right between playing for the crowd and a bit of self indulgence.