ABSOLUTE BEGINNER QUESTIONS!!!

Hi,

I used to DJ from 1988-1999 & was very proficient at using 4 decks...this was before CDJs MP3s so I totally missed that era...mixers had no EQs samplers or sequencers...anyway so I recently purchased a DDJ-RR & it goes without saying I have a lot to learn...I tried finding tutorials for beginners but it seems like they presume ur already a DJ if u buy this equipment...well I am but this is a whole new ball game coz I can’t manipulate vinyl but instead have to go into “click” mode...so the questions I have may seem ridiculously logical to those reading but I’m still gonna ask them as if I’ve never touched DJ equipment or software....btw I am not DJing any gigs just wanting to re-kindle a past passion & probably post some mixes on my YouTube channel once I can regain my former skill proficiency...

Q: When I load a track...how do I get it to auto start on the first beat if there are vocals or anything else b4 the first beat? Is there a setting in rekordbox or do u manually have to set a cue point??? (I will worry about learning to manually set cue points at a later stage)...u could just wait for the first beat & drag back the vinyl but I don’t really find it has the same effect using the jog wheels...

Q: When I am matching BPMs in my headphones & want to continuously go back to the start of the track...it doesn’t go back to the start unless I click LOAD again???...I know clicking LOAD can’t be correct & I am either clicking the wrong this or have the wrong setting...remember I’ve never used CDJs...

Thanks in advance for the replies...I’m sure this is just the start of many questions...if anybody has some good links for “real beginner” tutorials I’d really appreciate it...

Cheers👍🏻

Victory Road April 04, 2019 04:04 Answered

Official comment

Hey Victory Road, I can certainly answer those for you, I'll give you the "here's how I do it" approach, and you can use this info to adapt to how you work.

When I load a track, I'll hit the PLAY/PAUSE button twice. This starts the track, then puts it into a "pause" mode, which I can then use to move the jog, adjust the play position to where I want it, then press the CUE button. That sets the main cue for the deck (which is only a temporary cue). If you want to set that position as a cue you can use again and again, either store it as a HOT CUE by pressing one of the pads (when the pads are in HOT CUE mode). You could also store it as a memory point, but you'd have to do that in the software or with a keyboard shortcut, as there is no direct button on the RR to do that. The nice thing about creating a hot cue at the start of each track for your preferred starting point is you can set a preference in rekordbox to automatically load the track to the first hot cue / memory point every time a song is loaded, so it performs those steps for you.

The second question is partially answered by virtue of having set a main cue point on the song -- if you want to go back to the start of the song and have it stop, press the CUE button on that deck. The deck returns to that temporary master cue point and stops playback. If you want it to return to that point and keep playing, press SHIFT+CUE. The other option here would be, if you've set a hot cue, you could press that hot cue pad to jump back to that position, and it will continue playback from there.

We have lots of videos on YouTube, definitely worth checking out.

Pulse April 05, 2019 18:52

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Umm sorry...scrap 2nd question...I know I have to press CUE TWICE & it goes back to the start...🤷🏻‍♂️✌🏻

Victory Road April 04, 2019 04:14 0 votes

Thanks for that...much appreciated...

Your suggestion of clicking it twice is very logical, and after a bit of trial & error I am sort of able to manipulate the jog wheel similar to holding vinyl on the first beat & letting go at the start of the 32 beat. It is a totally different feel to SL1200s but I guess with time I'll get used to it.

This is the way I've avoided using the LOAD button repeatedly. If the cue track starts on the first beat then I just click HOT CUE. I let it play and once beat matched i click PAUSE regardless of where it is on the track, and then when the 32break starts on the track already playing I just click HOT CUE and it auto plays from the first beat and I mix it in. That's very Old Skool style and works perfectly, but more than happy for other suggestions.

I have changed the setting in the deck to "automatically load the track to the first hot cue / memory point every time a song is loaded". This will be very handy once I've set my memory cue points.

I need to know what settings I need to have in the RECORDINGS to do the following:

For example; lets say I was DJing at a gig, I want it record my set and it auto creates a playlist with all the tracks I played, and then later I can go into that playlist and can type in the date; venue etc...so if I DJ the same venue at a later date I can refresh my memory??? This would be the same as if I did a mixtape for friend & then somebody else asked me "can you do one for me with the same genre but not all the same songs???"'...Then I can go back and have a look.

One of the things that seems to be crucial with Rekordbox is that you need to have your music PREPARED 100% as in playlists; cue memory points etc...I could only imagine If I was at a gig I don't want to be wasting at least 30sec setting a cue point when I could've easily have done it when I initially obtained the track. I would definitely have the 32 intro; the 32 break and 32 outro as memory cue points. This is no different to using vinyl back in the 80s & 90s where you had to manually count the bpm; put stickers for cue & scratching points & you knew where the 32 break was to mix it because you spent 6hrs daily listening & mixing tracks so when the weekend came it became second nature during your set in a club.

One thing I would really like to know is what are the most common settings in preferences. I changed the one above that you recommended but there may be others that may assist me.

Finally; i've noticed that so many DJs use the VOLUME FADERS instead of the CRAOSSFADER. Why??? I'm an old skool crossfader mixing & scratching DJ. Why use 2 hands when you can have 1 hand free to adjust the EQ or other FX??? Is there a legit reason or is it personal preference???

Cheers!!!

Victory Road April 08, 2019 06:15 0 votes

rekordbox automatically creates a history of the songs played - it's stored under the HISTORY branch of the tree at the left. You can open it out to view the individual sessions, and you can even convert those histories into playlists to re-order or sort them as starting blocks for future events. I do this myself with every gig, so I can get a better picture of what I play (and to refer back and say "Yeah, that set was really good from the mid-point, I want to play those again!").

With regards to the prep / cues / etc., it can certainly be time consuming, but I know the waveform is an easy way to see where those important moments are as well. One of the quick and dirty ways to get to specific parts of the track and set hot cues or memory points would be to switch the pad mode to BEAT JUMP, then you just switch the parameter using the < or > buttons a few times to get longer interval jumps, and presto - you can jump up to 128 beats in a single click.

The preferences are really up to you -- the best thing to do is experiment with the different options to see how it changes and if you prefer it one way or another.

Personally, I disable my crossfader. I don't scratch. I'm all about the long smooth mix. To each their own!

Pulse April 08, 2019 19:59 0 votes