How to Be a Drum & Bass Junglist

There are many things you have to understand, so that you can be a Drum and Bass Disc Jockey. You have to know the music, the beats and the rhythm. You also have to learn how to use the mic and make sure that people really get to like you.


  
Learn the basics of rhythm and melody.Learn how to count bars.Practice by listening to your favorite records and counting the bars.Make slash marks for the bars--put longer slashes between the phrases and make notes about what is going on in the song (basic beat, drum fills, bass line comes in/out, melody comes in/out, beat drops out of song). 6.Listen closely and you will notice that bars are grouped in phrases that are usually 8, 16 or 32 bars. The notes that you make will help you learn the records. Your goal at first is to match phrases at the end of a particular record to the phrases at the beginning of another record.

 

 

Adjust the records using pitch adjust so they are the same BPMs. Let the record 1 play through the speakers.Then cue up the record 2 in the earphones and search for the first good beat of the record. Wait for the one beat at the beginning of a new phrase on the record 1 and drop the one beat at the beginning of a phrase on the record 2 at the same time.Then you will be using pitch control on the same record to speed up and slow down record 2 until it is at the same bpm as the record 1. If necessary, pick up the needle on the record 2 and start over until the beats match. 

 

  

Learn the two records' beats perfectly match, you can switch between the two records as fast or as slow as you want, as long as the phrases match up in a logical way.You can even start the records at different points in a phrase to get really technical and funky. Not all these wacky phrase jumblings will work all the time. Use the notes you took while listening to the records and fit the song phrases together like a puzzle. 

 

  

Master this technique, then you are ready to use melody to master the art.This is where music theory comes into play.You have to figure out the key of the songs and mix them harmonically. Push any two keys on a keyboard, there is a certain feeling that the two notes give which is based on the interval of the notes to one another. You can use this to build or release tension in your set if you know what you are doing. You can mess around with your records and practice without knowing what you are doing, but it helps to look at the art like real musicians and learn theory. 

 

 

 

Pitch up or slow down a song a lot and it changes the key of the song also. This is why sometimes you match 2 records together and the melodies and basslines match great, but when you try to do it later, when the pitches are different from where they were the first time you mixed the records, they will not sound matched. 

 

 

 

Learn how to spend the time to find the bomb records nobody else will be playing and make time to practice before you preach in the club. Learn to have fun and not care about learning more, otherwise you will be like most of the DJ that quit when they can't beatmatch like the professionals. Remember that people like the music, and if you are playing the jams, nobody will remember the one or two mess ups of the night. 

 

  

Work on your mic skills and learn how to yell "shiz nizzle with the fizz dizzle". If the crowd is yelling "rewind, rewind," stop the record and play the jam you found once more. Also, remember that shouting "deal with the matter" at gurning little speedfreaks like blitzkrieg is like the staple diet of MC phrases. 

 

 

 

Between rewinds remember to "Big Up" as many people as can be thought of.

 

 

Tips

• Sometimes the pitch can't get to where you want the lead to be at 125.23 but the second record jumps 125.15 to 125.27. It will sound great for a few bars, but if left long then it will sound like a train wreck.
• It is good to get crappy ones and twos to learn with. Sometimes you will be learning on your 1200s at the house and you're decent enough to spin at a party. Then you'll be ready to go to a party and rock the jams and the DJ has some RadioShack turntables that he can wreck it on. Then you will be going on and you know you have more skills, but you sound like a beginner. Learn on that, and when you get to the club or the party that counts and the tables are better than yours you will be able to rock that show with your eyes closed.
• The records you're stealing have similar bpm (beats per minute), but rarely the exact bpms.
• The journey will be hard but the thrill of the perfect mix will be worth it. So don't give up!
• When beat matching you will get to the point where you move the pitch slightly up and it is slower than the lead record and then you will move the pitch slightly down and it will be faster than the lead record. Just try moving the lead record's pitch a little bit up or down and then try again.
• record one is at a certain bpm that can be expressed as a number, say 125.23. You job is to find out what number the record is playing at. Move the pitch on the second record so that it is slower than the lead record, then move the pitch so that it is faster than the lead record. This will be your two endpoints that show you where the bpm is between, say, 115 and 135. Then keep repeating this until you get down really close.
• Rhythm will be the main way you will be mixing records at first.
• Some records even when perfectly beatmatched will not go well with each other.
• Think about beatmatching like the game you played when you were a toddler.
• It helps to scribble notes while you're listening to your favorite records. Make slash marks for the bars--put longer slashes between the phrases and make notes about what is going on in the song (basic beat, drum fills, bass line comes in/out, melody comes in/out, beat drops out of song). This will help you learn the records and help you create the puzzle later known as you "set".
• Sometimes they will be in different keys (harmony/melody) and the keys will be clashing or the percussion (drums and whatnot) won't be complimenting each other.
• Sometimes you can be using the equalizers on the mixer to help transition between records, but sometimes you have to find a different record to use.
• Melody will be more important later on.
• You can either shift the lead record to something the second record can match up to or you can count the bars until it sounds 'off' and then make adjustments with your finger during the mix.