Intro
to Tricks with Two Identical Records Part II: Echo/Delay and
Triples/Looping
by
Rob
Wegner
February
2002
Last month, I presented
three easy to learn turntable tricks based on playing two identical
records on each turntable at the same time. This month, I will
discuss two additional (slightly harder to learn) tricks: Echo/Delay
and Triples/Looping.
Trick Four: Echo/Delay
To begin, you may
have to read last month's Tip
of the Month to learn how to sync two identical records.
I recommend practicing these tricks with 12" hip hop tracks
(i.e., around 100 bpm).
First, sync two identical
records. Second, once the records are perfectly aligned (be sure
both pitch adjust settings on the turntables are in the same
spot - if you're new, leave both settings at zero), place your
hand on the turntable that's not being heard on the speaker system
and hold it for one beat - and then release it. If you
listen to that turntable through your headphones, you'll notice
that the record is exactly one beat off of the record that's
playing. In other words, the turntable that you held for one
beat is "delayed." We'll call this delayed turntable
- "Turntable B."
If you slide your
crossfader over to Turntable B (cutting the volume of the song
that was playing, or "Turntable A"), then you will
have delayed the song for one beat. Since it will sound as if
the record skipped, you'll want to slide the crossfader back-over
to Turntable A on the next beat.
This may be made clearer
if you count to the song "in-time" (i.e., 1-2-3-4,
1-2-3-4, etc.). If the song said "dance" every first
beat, it would count like this: "dance-2-3-4," dance-2-3-4,"
etc. If you've delayed the song for one beat, it would count
as follows: "dance-dance-3-4," "dance-dance-3-4,"
etc. You may want to picture your hand sliding the mixer's crossfader
over-and-back to get that "dance" on every second beat.
Many hip hop DJ's
will delay the snare drum by half-a-beat. In other words, the
DJ holds the record (where the snare drum hits), counts for half-a-beat
(i.e., 1-AND-2-and-3-and-4), and then releases the record. The
DJ will then time the crossfader to quickly slide-over-and-back
to sample the snare drum (for half-a-beat). To the audience,
it sounds as if the drummer (in the song) hit his or her snare
drum twice.
You can practice delaying
the other turntable in different beat combinations (i.e., two
beats, half beat on bass drum, etc.). When you hold the record
for an entire measure (i.e., four-beats), you're beginning to
get an "echo" effect. Thus, in the counting example
above, if you held the record for four beats (and the vocalist
in the song only said the word "dance" once), it would
look like this: "dance-2-3-4," "dance-2-3-4."
You've "echoed" the measure of the song one time -
or played the same measure twice.
Trick Five: Triples/Looping
The "Triple"
is essentially playing the same effect or sample on a record
three times. "Looping" refers to playing an
effect or sample repeatedly (as if you looped a cassette tape
so that it plays the same thing over-and-over again). Since you
must learn how to Triple before you can loop, we'll begin with
the Triple.
To Triple, you follow
the same procedure as Delay/Echo above. Since the above procedure
will let you play a sample twice (i.e., "dance-2-3-4,"
"dance-2-3-4"), you'll have to take one hand, reach
over, and pull the first record (Turntable A) back to the beginning
of the sample point - while the crossfader is sampling the
second record (on Turntable B). Next, to sample the record
that you've just pulled back, you'll have to slide the crossfader
back over (in time to Turntable A).
The key to this trick
is to visualize the point that you're going to replay. This is
why many hip hop DJ's "mark" their records. When the
record (Turntable A) plays the sample the first time, you should
mentally "snap a picture" of the needle's relation
to the mark so that you'll know how far to pull-back the record.
Looping entails repeating
the above procedure repeatedly. In other words, following the
Triple example above, while your crossfader is sampling Turntable
A (i.e., getting the third sample), you'll want to reach over
and pull-back the other record to the sample point. After you've
pulled the record back, slide the crossfader over - in time -
to get your fourth sample. As you can see, you can repeat the
steps indefinitely - thereby looping a sample.
A word of advice:
Looping takes considerable practice. First learn how to sync
two records, then learn how to Delay/Echo a sample. Once you're
comfortable with Delays/Echoes, proceed to Triples. You'll find
that learning Triples takes time. However, you'll need to polish
your tripling technique in order to advance to indefinite looping.
Industry
News
World
DJ Day.
The world's biggest DJ's will come together on March 9, 2002
to raise money for charity. DJ's and promoters that would like
to participate should contact World DJ Day to organize local
events (see How to
Run a Successful Event).
"Club DJ"
Class
at Scottsdale Community College
in Scottsdale, Arizona begins February 4, 2002. The class is
taught by Rob Wegner
and will feature guest speakers: DJ
Radar,
DJ Emile, Timothy
Heit,
Kevin Brown, DJ Shad, and Steve Ratz, Jr. of DMA
Magazine.
DJ
Humor
Top
Ten Signs That It's Time To Hire A New DJ:
1.
You can hear crickets chirp between songs.
2.
The mixes sound like shoes in a dryer.
3.
The needles in the DJ booth aren't meant for records.
4.
The DJ shouts out existential philosophy
quotes on the mic between mixes.
5.
At a house music club, the DJ gets a request for Elvis and says
"cool, I finally get to play some real music."
6.
The mixes seem to be in the same order as that new Ministry of
Sound CD you just bought.
7.
There's a sudden demand for earplugs..
8.
The DJ attracts more cops than dancers (or alternatively, you
haven't noticed those siren sounds in that song before).
9.
The DJ brings eight track tapes.
10.
The club sounds like a train station.
