Vinyl DJ tips part 1

There are numerous methods and techniques to mixing records, so for the sake of consistency and simplicity, in these articles, I am going to discuss mixing 4 to the floor dance music (house, techno, trance). To begin, you’ll need a turntable. I’ve used a number of brands and technic 1210’s are the industry standard for good reason. Although they can be costly, they are incredibly reliable and their resale value will probably be the same, or even more, than what you purchase it for. 

Once you’ve got your hands on a turntable, a good starting point is to learn how to cue up the record. With most functional dance music, the kick drum occurs on the first beat of the first bar of a song. When mixing records, it’s very important that you are quickly able to find this kick beat. It’s the reference point for starting the beat matching process (this will be discussed later). To practice this, begin by placing your record on the turntable and listen to the output either through the speakers or your headphones. Repeatedly move the record with your hand on the edge of the vinyl to try and locate the first kick drum of the song. It should sound like this - 

Keep practicing this process until you can locate the kick drum without even thinking. This is useful for many reasons, including mixing under time pressure, mixing in the dark where you can’t see the record grooves or where the music begins and locating the first beat of a song if there is an ambient intro. I remember when I first started mixing records that some records were impossible to mix, yet all I actually needed to do was locate the kick drum which came later on in the track.