Laidback Luke's DJ Tips

[TopFloorDjs]

This a direct quoted article from Laidback Luke himself. Ive extracted this from his official website. I hope this comes of some use to some of you, it opened my eyes to a few things.

Record Control Part.1
Make sure the tempo on the record you want to mix is correct. If it runs along nicely over your headphones your ready to mix. Find the start of the first beat in the track to mix. Slide the fader on your mixer all the way. Try and release the track on the beat. This is not standard procedure but you're trying to gain control in handling records. Release It. If you screw up close the fader and try again, and again. You will see by practising this in almost every mix, your control over your records will get better. This will help you build self confidence.

Pitch With Slider Only
Very important in good mixing is when the mix slides, you stay off the side of the record. Otherwise your mix will sound like "weeooh". For this, use the pitch slider only. Check its position and slide up or down and then back in its position. At first you will be very put off by this method, screwing up a lot, but practise and once mastered you can make the hardest corrections without people even hearing it.

Hand Control
Try and become fast when using the faders. For instance, in a mix, open and close the fader on the beat. If this works try it at double the speed. If you master this then try and do it at double the speed again. Its important to create quick hands for hand control. Why practise this in a mix? The other hand will be for correcting the pitch with the slider. When you become better and better it would be useful to do different things with both hands.

Record Control Part.2
Three words, learn to scratch. Try and figure out how one hand on the record and one hand on the fader can work together. Diving into scratching will help you get endless possibilities in record control. Say for instance you screw up a mix bigtime... dont worry. Grab the clap of one of the records and simply drop it on the second count. Hell, drop it on the first count and correct it automatically with a simple scratch. Scratching will help you get major self confidence in record control.

Freak
Alright, you can properly mix 2 records... big deal. Anyone can mix a record in 5 minutes. Now try and make a mix within 30 seconds. See what happens and how you can get yourself out of trouble. You will see that records dont often mix in each other's mid section of the track, take control and work it untill it does mix. Why always tweak the bass eq, when you can tweak the mids and highs aswell. Making a lot of problems in a mix will help you deal with problems better. Freak and you'll learn.

Record Your Sets
Come on you suck. Be your own worst critic, try and listen back every set you play. There will be very good things you will hear, try and remember these. There will also be very bad things you will be doing there, remember these also... and dont do them ever again. Listening to your own sets will help you improve very fast.

Music
Probably the most important thing in DJing is music. I no DJs who cant even make a propper mix but thanx to their excellent choice in music, make a really good party. Take the time to listen to your records. What do you hear? I mean explain to yourself what you hear. Try and hear the different elements in music. This way you can gradually mix different elements in tracks that compliment each other.

Atmosphere
Very important for DJs is recognizing the atmosphere in tracks. Try and give tracks a second, atmospheric, name like "floor wild", "one step back", "atmospheric" or "sensitive". Imagine yourself playing 3 "atmospheric" tracks, then bashing out 3 "floor wild" after each other. Crowds will go mad! People will often not hear half your skills,but anyone can sense a good or bad vibe.

[roque]

awesome, thank you for that.

[JWTZ]

nice one!
laidback luke has style.

[TopFloorDjs]

Well since he broke on the commercial scene with his bootleg mix of "Be vs Show Me Love" his name has become big. I like his tribal style and think he will grow to a substantial height in the music industry.

[MickyMau5]

Originally Posted by TopFloorDjs

Well since he broke on the commercial scene with his bootleg mix of "Be vs Show Me Love" his name has become big. I like his tribal style and think he will grow to a substantial height in the music industry.

that mash up was done by hardwell not laidback luke

[TopFloorDjs]

True true, but have you noticed Luke is taking the credit for it, him and Steve Angelo. The track has been included on an upcoming commercial MOS eletro house album, theres no mention of Hardwell at all

[MorganFour]

I see Luke found my notes for mixing then

[gallo]

Thanks for information!!!!!!!!!!

[Dj Electrolove]

Cool Thanx

[djrj]

thnks for hte info bro.....liked it...