Understanding Beats, Measures & Timing as a DJ

are you familiar with this song okay are you familiar with this then alright let's let's go over here what does this start on how many how many beats in one bar for four beats right okay so what beat does this start on what do you know the beat that is starts on this does it start on a one or two or three more starts on a one oh yeah because I want to okay you know what this starts huh no no it starts on a four one two three four oh yeah okay see you have to know that as a DJ because let's say I'm playing so tell me how do you add it define well I'll do it because you know like one it's more than what I want is for okay how do you identify which one is the worn-out which one I don't want to keep boom right well I wanna do solas also think about it do you grab the record where you hear the one for me so come over here I'm gonna play the song I want you to stop the record don't look at the laptop okay don't look at the laptop use your ears use your ears tell me where the one is by grabbing the record by stopping it okay so your arms right now shouldn't be folded you wanna right the first one I want you to grab the first one that's the one okay and then grab the one here see why your hands here yeah it should be ready to grab the record all right so it's good morning now do me a favor drop from I just want to be your lover to Billie Jean so you're gonna transition from the right turntable to the left okay okay okay so what beat does the Billie Jean start on one so where you gonna drop I'm gonna drop 91 good here you go [Music] so that was good so you dropped on the one out of I just want to be a lover okay now I want you to drop I just want to be your lover on you want where does this start it's not from it from for Gossard start from what number four four and where did you say you wanted to drop it on Krypton one but why would you drop this on a one if it's time for forum this one exactly oh yeah you can't you can't just take a song and drop it anywhere this is a four so you drop it on a four okay alright so I'm dropping I'm dropping this on this one correct [Applause] [Music] you just dropped the 4 on a 1 I know I got it you can't do that and that's the problem with a lot of DJ's that don't learn the proper way is the goal is to establish alignment with both songs so you do that by keeping the math the same so if you're on a 4 with I just want to be a lover you got a drop on the 4 of Billie Jean for there to be alignment you see how they both lined up yeah you're not gonna get that if you treat this like a 1 and you got a practice that you got to work on that at home so the drop is actually [Music] I'm not dropping on your does that because this is a for yes all right watch see how they both lined up together I'm not gonna get that if I drop the for online of one [Music] you're gonna drive the dancefloor crazy doing that what you drop people aren't gonna know what happened they're just gonna be sort of like jolted for a second and then they're gonna have to stop and find the groove or the the four count of the next song before they start down again right exactly exactly so you that's another thing you gotta practice not every song that you play at a party club wedding anywhere you DJ is gonna start on uh on a1 here's another example where does this start but don't don't look see the laptops not helping you right I need you to listen okay so look [Music] no it's a 4 and 1/4 and so it goes y'all gonna get a 4 it's not a Ford just cuz it's the sound before the 1 doesn't necessarily mean it's gonna be a Ford it's the end of 4 so from end of Ford and it go back to 1 immediately it goes into one in exactly so to drop down kind of look and kind of drop it on you one behind it it's a problem you can you can but you can't learn how to drop on a beat other than the one I can do that you don't you wanna like right so you don't want it you don't want to have to do this alright you don't want to have to do that you want to be able to drop on the four okay no I'm just okay don't wanna leave you dumb so look [Music] you see but most DJ's will do this [Music] before when I when I drop only to do that in pure fun I know I drop it on four hundred four hours before the one to write it down and then it's because it's because people who teach this art here's the thing people that teach DJing only tell their students to drop on the one but they're not telling their students that not every song starts on a one I could go through a gazillion songs in my library I know stuff that don't start on a one and that's a perfect example Justin Timberlake um SexyBack starts on a four and one and two and three and four when you drop you from under four end it makes sense they make you fund that make you sound like nice right it's just smooth it's a seamless transition um what's another example here here's a good one any idea what this is and for exactly it's the end of four so it's 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 but most DJ's would treat this one like a 1 and it's not a one I used to do I used to tell you that's one got you on the body with a little bit on it at retail for one not every song starts on one big information about it so you should practice like go through these songs at home and practice so here what you could do is just practice looping this from the forehand I wasn't dropping on the one there I know you it doesn't open it under you and 1/4 for you right exactly that'll help you develop your listening better oh yeah cuz I need to I need to know one up for my exactly so I know this is 4 this is 1 right and then practice then taking all these songs and dropping in and out of them in succession so start off with sexy back then going to I just want to be a lover then drop in to get right and figure out the time and get the timing right and you're not treating the songs like they all start on the one you're adapting to each drop one might be a four end another might be a four look at this one any idea what that might start on nope nope nope watch okay I'm just gonna drop and I'm gonna stop after maybe three drops and I want you to tell me where I'm placing the first word which is where am i placing it so that when the one eventually comes around it lines up with the other turntable [Music] that's what I'm gonna do one more time I'm gonna do it one more time listen closely if you have to do the count do the fork up okay here we go [Music] oh did you want nope it's the end of one look just when to fall to solid so it look like the universe oh there's one - yummy not a man's life in one bar there are four beats but in between each beat there's a half no you can't argument you have to have the half note is there whether you realize it or not the half note is there I never can do it looks kind of long you haven't you don't see you don't have to count the hammer you have to know that but you have to know that it's there because not every song starts on a one or a whole note some songs start on the half note they're not something that you're not gonna learn at the majority of these DJ schools or these dudes that teach DJ lessons then they're not gonna tell you that Fred tell you tell you can't do half of one I'm thinkin oh I did one one idea what this song you know yeah I live for because I won't drop it on the eye for what right I would just go to one and see you write a lot of information process it all process it all take your time with this there's no rush man there's no rush how do you might know yeah I think 36 dude you got time man you got there's all the time in the world to learn this stuff do not rush it take your time master it the right way in a healthy way um give yourself the proper amount of practice time to soak this up physically sonically and I promise you man when you start DJing out after you've really developed the knowledge the technical approach to this art dude you're gonna be a monster you're gonna be [ __ ] on dudes the problem right now is so many people want to be a DJ right now that they rush the process of like mastering these subtle details like dropping on the end of one yeah you know what I mean no it's like okay you drop on the one okay I'm good I have the equipment or I'm good I got that b3 let's DJ let's get babe I want to [ __ ] rock out I want people to know who I am and it's like it's a process before when I see the end of one I just put it on it on it on the queue I just put it on the queue and then what they call it you know they are those key on it on maybe for buck you or you just play the cue button so I can continue to write then man just I just push it off you know right now I know that you can talking on the phone bar or right exactly right but before I won't do it another doing this for eight years yeah you you you you'll develop man fine I'd not worry that you're not gonna pick this up you will you'll get this just practice take your time be patient and most importantly study especially the tutorials in US and you watch them all they cover everything that we went over today okay in detail okay all right so study the tutorials and then practice what I preach in those tutorials okay and before you know it man this would be second nature to you right on my own [ __ ] maybe it would be straightforward that's you should come back is when you have all this stuff down okay all right good job man thank you so [ __ ] man this [ __ ] bro

Channel: Rob Swift

Views: 757,596

Keywords: +DJ Rob Swift, +DJ Tutorial, +Beats, +Measures, +Timing

Id: zvSHwn6l37c

Length: 17min 56sec (1076 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 15 2018