DJ Craig

I'm a hip-hop/rap DJ with 2 Pioneer CDJ-800s and a DJM-600 mixer. I've
only been able to do beat mixing for about a year, but I practice
almost every day. I've heard a lot of DJs say that you can create a
loop of the into or outro to give you more time to do a mix. This
should be easy, since the CDJ-800 has an auto-loop function that
creates an accurate loop using the BPM counter. The auto-loop seems to
work perfectly to create a smooth loop every time. But every time I
try to use auto-loop to mix, the beats quickly go out of sync. So I'm
assuming that there is a small amount of inaccuracy in the auto-loop
that is only noticeable when mixing. But I've even tried using
auto-loop to mix 2 copies of the same song, and it still didn't work
(even though the automatic BPM counter on the 2 CD players say the
exact same thing as the manual one on the mixer)
I've also tried creating the loop manually, and then adjusting the loop
(on the CDJ-800 you can adjust the out-point of a loop that you have
already created, using the jock wheel) but this still almost always
causes the songs to go out of sync. Sometimes I can manage it using
manual loop when I am practicing, but I can never create the loop fast
enough at a gig, since most of the songs I play are only 3-4 minutes
each.
I am to the point where I can mix 2 songs perfectly almost every time
without looking at the BPM counter, and it's frustrating that I can't
get this to work, especially since most rap songs have a really short
intro and outro, and overlapping rap vocals sounds horrible.
Any tips for how I can learn to do this?

william

maybe i can help. I've been using 'old-fashioned' turntables -- have
probably never spent more than a few minutes using CD decks. I used to
have a mixer with a 5 second sampler built into it, and I could
sometimes catch the intro if i was lucky. naturally, if i let it loop
on its own it would usually go out of sync pretty quickly. the only
solution I found was manually re-starting the sample (by tapping the
button) every time i wanted to play it. its a pretty crude solution
(and i'm not sure if the CDJ-800s can even do that), but it helped keep
the imperfect sample in time with the next song.

so, basically, if its possible to manually start the sample each time
its played you can forget about making it loop correctly. probably not
the best way of accomplishing this, but it gets it done quickly.

Oh, and I highly reccomend the (newest?) DJ Vadim/One Self single "Be
Your Own"

Will.


DJ Craig wrote:
> I'm a hip-hop/rap DJ with 2 Pioneer CDJ-800s and a DJM-600 mixer.
I've
> only been able to do beat mixing for about a year, but I practice
> almost every day. I've heard a lot of DJs say that you can create a
> loop of the into or outro to give you more time to do a mix. This
> should be easy, since the CDJ-800 has an auto-loop function that
> creates an accurate loop using the BPM counter. The auto-loop seems
to
> work perfectly to create a smooth loop every time. But every time I
> try to use auto-loop to mix, the beats quickly go out of sync. So
I'm
> assuming that there is a small amount of inaccuracy in the auto-loop
> that is only noticeable when mixing. But I've even tried using
> auto-loop to mix 2 copies of the same song, and it still didn't work
> (even though the automatic BPM counter on the 2 CD players say the
> exact same thing as the manual one on the mixer)
> I've also tried creating the loop manually, and then adjusting the
loop
> (on the CDJ-800 you can adjust the out-point of a loop that you have
> already created, using the jock wheel) but this still almost always
> causes the songs to go out of sync. Sometimes I can manage it using
> manual loop when I am practicing, but I can never create the loop
fast
> enough at a gig, since most of the songs I play are only 3-4 minutes
> each.
> I am to the point where I can mix 2 songs perfectly almost every time
> without looking at the BPM counter, and it's frustrating that I can't
> get this to work, especially since most rap songs have a really short
> intro and outro, and overlapping rap vocals sounds horrible.
> Any tips for how I can learn to do this?