Why Does A DJ Use Headphones?
VideoJug user DJ Tutor is here to tell us why a DJ uses Headphones. Learn all you need to know about becoming a DJ with these great videos.
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Step 1:
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Beginner videos:
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Alright folks, we’ve got a set of videos coming now and they are targeted at the complete total and utter novice. In other words, if you’ve never touched a turntable or CD player in your life and you’ve never seen a mixer, then these videos are for you. Now, then, I’ve had quite a few emails. People been asking me, what do people listen to, what do DJ’s listen to when they’re using headphones. In other words, you see a DJ and he’s like this, he’s got his headphones on, he’s doing this, well what is coming through here? Right, now that, if you think about it and you’re a DJ you know. But then again, if you think about it, on the basis of well, if someone’s never ever heard what’s coming through here before, how do they know what’s coming through here? Quite a logical question. And there is a logical answer.
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Step 2:
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Two music sources:
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Now then, very quickly, where a DJ’s concerned, quite often, they will have definitely two sources of music. Now, it can be anything. Okay? It could be a keyboard, it can be an effects, a effects unit, it can be a CD player, it can be a pc, it can be a turntable, a CD player, basically anything that makes music. The whole concept of a DJ is he can, or she can, mix two forms of music together, almost to make one. Or he can start off, he or she can start off with one form of music, then blend another on in, and then let the second one play and take the first one out. Now then, headphones. Where we start to use the headphones is where we have the terminology that I described blending: the usage of making the two come together.
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Step 3:
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Have a listen:
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Now first of all, I’m going to play you two different types of, or, two different parts of music. One from the CD player, the CDJ, and the other one from the turntable. Now then, listen to these because I’m going to have to mix these two together. Okay? First of all here’s the CDJ. Right. We’ll cue that up and get that started ready. Start it at the beginning. Okay, now here’s the other one, and the other piece of music is going to be on the vinyl turntable. Now then, if, let’s say, I have both volumes up on my mixer. I have the cross fade in the middle, and I start, and I start the two together, and I play them together, without listening to beats, without cuing anything, without doing anything, just for a start; this is what it sounds like.
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Step 4:
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Synchronisation:
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In other words, it’s absolutely all over the place. Alright, now this is where we start looking in more into how to synchronize beats and beat matching. Go and watch those videos. What we’re on about here is what is going on in this guy here, alright? Now again, normal headphones are two, left and right. I’ve only got a right side, or a left side, depends on which side you want to listen to. But the main thing is, is you need one source, you need one headphone at least, to be able to listen to one element.
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Step 5:
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What you can and can't hear:
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Now then, an easy way of describing it is this: Let’s say for example, on your PA system, or if you’re looking at a DJ, this is an easy way of describing it. If you’re looking at a DJ and you are listening to the music he’s playing, okay? Now then, that music you’re listening to is coming through the big PA, the speakers, the hi-fi, whatever. But the DJ will also have to listen to the music, to, well, he’ll listen to the music you can’t actually hear yourself. Now then, for example, let’s say you’re listening to the music that’s coming out of this turntable. Alright? The music coming out of this turntable is going through this mixer, and through the big PA. But at the same time, the DJ can hear what’s coming through the cdj, through the mixer, and he can hear that through his headphones. Not only can he hear that through his headphones, he can also hear the music that’s coming out through the main PA. The reason being is because he will have his headphone on this ear, like so, listening to the CDJ, and then the other ear is going to be listening to the music coming out of the PA. Now, the opposite can apply.
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Step 6:
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It can be reversed:
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Let’s say the CDJ is playing the music out of the main PA so you can hear the music out of the CDJ. Now then, the DJ then can hear the music that’s playing out of the main speakers, but, by pressing a couple of buttons, he can then hear the music that’s playing on the vinyl turntable without you hearing it. Now that is the main thing, okay? That is the whole policy and philosophy behind using headphones, and when you see a DJ using headphones, that’s what he’s doing.
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Step 7:
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Cue up music:
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Now, I’ll give you a demonstration, alright? Let’s put the volume up on the turntable. Now then, what I need to do, and you need to watch a few other videos so you can see exactly what buttons I’m pressing, etcetera. But, what I’m doing now, volume up on the turntable. Right. Now what I’m going to do now, is I’m going to cue up the actual volume, or cue up the CDJ, and listen to the CDJ only through my headphones and not through the main PA. Just through my headphones. So I’m gunna cue this up ready, using this on my right ear. Okay, now, I’m listening now to this through my headphones. The volume on the mixer, on this channel, is down. Now, I’m going to slowly bring the volume up on this channel and have a listen. Okay, there you go. Now, that’s up, and that’s finished. Okay, and what I was doing, was basically, I was listening to this, through this headphone, I was listening to the CDJ, while the volume was down, I could hear this channel. I could also hear the main PA through my other ear. You could hear the PA out there, but you couldn’t hear what was coming through here, alright? Now then, again, dodgy hat.
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Step 8:
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Working example:
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What I’m going to do now is I’m going to wind this turntable back a little bit. I’m going to mix it properly now, okay, utilizing headphones to listen to this one, and utilizing the main PA so you guys can listen to this, but you can’t listen to the headphones. And then as I slowly increase the speed, you will actually be able to hear what I am listening to as well, through the headphones. But at the same time, what’s happening is that the volume that’s coming through this headphone will slowly be coming through the main PA as well. And that is when we start to get the mix. That’s what’s happening. The music then is starting to mix. So let’s try it. Okay, so what I’m gunna do now is slowly bring the volume up, let’s start it off again, sorry, it’s halfway through. Okay, and, go. Wrong one. Sorry I’m going to start that again. Alright, I’m counting the bars, if you don’t know what the bars are, go back and have a listen, have a look at the other video. Alright, here we go. Now I can hear, through my headphone here, this one, you can’t hear it because the volume’s still down. Now, I’m going to start increasing the volume. Now you should start to hear the other channel as well.
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Step 9:
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Thanks for watching:
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There you go. So that is basically it. That’s the principle behind using the headphones. Now then, again, if you think about it, for someone just to say, well you play that, listen through here, and you play it out on the PA, you know, fair enough you may be explaining it, but, what I’m trying to do in my videos is explain it as in depth as possible so anyone can understand it, alright? Thank you for watching, practice and enjoy.