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How To: Be a DJ – Recording a demo Reported by Steve Milton / Submitted 30-04-08 16:47 Continuing our major series, How To: Be A DJ, this month our industrious reporter Steve Milton alongside guest contributor, DJ and internet radio presenter Mat Lock talk you through one of the most vital features of getting yourself out there to promoters, indeed prospective employers, the process of recording a demo or in other terms the DJs CV. If Rec, CUE and Nero leave you scratching your head, let us help you through. In the last couple of features we’ve covered the basics of mixing and playing to a crowd but this time we’re going to get a little technical and cover the all important aspects of recording yourself a demo. The previously released article The Beginners Guide To Demo Production covers things from a musical and artistic perspective so we won’t go over it all again; instead we’ll concentrate on how you do this from a technical point of view. Joining me on this feature is HarderFaster regular and DJ, Mat Lock who kindly put together all the info for this feature so lets get down to business. First things first. Your mixer should be connected to your computer via the Rec Out socket on the mixer to the Aux In on your computers sound card. This is done by way of an audio cable. We’ll also have to assume for the benefit of the feature that you are already running suitable recording software; in this instance we’ll be using Sound Forge 7.0. Most of the principals explained will be largely the same on alternative packages such as the excellent (and free) Audacity; they’ll just go about it in slightly different ways. First off start by opening your program and creating a new recording, you can do this by the shortcut keys ‘Ctrl+N’ or by going to File > New on the Soundforge menu bar. A New Window options menu will appear. The default settings should be as follows: Once you have checked the settings are correct press OK. In the Soundforge window should now be your new timeline Sound 1. It should look like this: Before we can record any audio we need to click the Record button on the Soundforge menu bar indicated here: Pressing this button will bring up a Record – Sound 1 window. The recording attributes will show the same settings as you previously chose a few steps ago. Make sure that your device is setup in the pull down bar (for our demonstration system it is M-Audio FW AP 1/2). Your sound device may differ in name. Make sure that your channels are showing audio (you can test this by playing audio from your source). All the other settings can be left as default. The options screen should resemble this photo: Make sure when you test your levels that you do not exceed the maximum peak range. To gain a closer reading of your maximum peak range right click the numbers in the centre of the 2 level indicators and select Peak Range and choose -24 to 0 dB. You are now ready to record your audio. Once you are ready to record, click the Record button that is on the Record – Sound 1 window: When you have clicked the Record button, the Time Recorded clock will start to count up. It is advisable to check that you have enough hard disk space to record the amount of audio that you require. The red Recording indicator will also flash to show that the audio source is being recorded. You can now start your mix. Once you have completed the mix click on the Stop button. This is the same button as the Record button but because we are already recording it shows as a stop button. The waveform will now be displayed behind the Record – Sound 1 window. As shown below: As the mix is now completely recorded we can close the Record – Sound 1 window by clicking Close. And that's pretty much it. Obviously if you have access to someone who'll master the mix for you then by all means go for it. Mastering will give it a brighter more rounded sound and iron out any minor noise glitches in the mix but generally an unmastered mix will sound fine in most circumstances. It is worth however normalizing the mix. This process ensures that the loudest part of the file is at the maximum level. To begin the normalization process press Ctrl+A to select the entire file. Select Normalize from the Process menu and the Normalize window will appear. Next, select the Peak Level option and move the Normalize to slider to -.50 dB (94.41%). Press the OK button and Sound Forge will normalize the file. Now you mix is complete so save it and get ready for the next step. Creating and Burning a Cue file First off go to this website Then select the number of tracks in the pull down menu and click Create Table. The screen below should now appear. Fill in the top table as you see fit. Artist: e.g. Mat Lock Title: e.g. Twisted Visions v07 Filename: e.g. Mat_Lock_Twisted_Visions_v07 Be aware that it is essential that you have exactly the same spelling of the filename as the actual file on the PC or it will not create the CUE properly. Filetype: MP3 or WAV file format. Make sure you have the correct file type selected. Then proceed to fill out the tracks on the second table including all the relevant information (Ignore the time section for now). Fill out the split times section. The columns are: Minutes | Seconds | Milliseconds Note: You can ignore the milliseconds unless you want to get really accurate. Now fill in the times on the table where you feel is the best point for the track change. The first track will always be set to 00:00:00 as that’s your start track. Once the table is complete select Download and then click Create Cue. This will download the CUE file to your PC. Remember to make sure the CUE file is in the same directory as the file before creating the CD from the CUE file. Now open the CUE file in your Image Burning software e.g. Nero Burning Rom. I always find Nero takes a very long time to read the CUE file before it will continue and allow me to burn. It looks like the program has locked out but what it’s doing is getting the CUE file ready. Note the Not Responding messages for Nero in Task Manager. I leave Nero processing for a few minutes and then it seems to work fine so it's not something to be concerned about. Once Nero is unlocked you can select all the options for your burn Burn Speed Number of Copies Disc-At-Once I usually find it's better to burn at a lower speed such as 24x to prevent any possible glitches in the burn. Once this is all done you can write as many CD's as you wish that'll be trouble free. It may also be useful at this point, once you’ve burnt your first CD, to remember to always label the CDs you give away, even if it’s just your name and contact number! Hopefully this feature will have cut a few corners for those unaware of the necessary requirements for recording and burning a demo. In the next feature we'll be looking at sometimes dull but necessary implications of being paid for what you're doing so until then . . . see you on the dancefloor. Screenshots courtesy of the writers. Not to be reproduced without permission. Share this :: : : : Follow HarderFaster :: Other Features By Steve Milton: The Final Zoo The Death of Clubland? Trousers, Caps and Trance Anthems - It's Dave Pearce! Boom Box, Bulldog Breaks and V1 - It's Time to Reload with DJ-X(lab4) Clubbers Guide to Photography: Part Two The views and opinions expressed in this review are strictly those of the author only for which HarderFaster will not be held responsible or liable. Comments: From: RWalsh999 on 3rd May 2008 18:53.41 Nice article. I had to do trial and error to learn to record my demos. This will be a great help to Begginer Dj's. The "How To Be A DJ" series is a great Idea, wish it was there when I was starting out! From: Mat Lock on 12th May 2008 21:06.27 Clearly everyone is a dj already seeing as there's no other comments From: John Silver on 14th May 2008 12:58.18 Add your comments here Don't worry, Mat - it's just that DJ's don't like to admit that they need to read 'How To Be a DJ' articles in case it damages their cred! Doesn't look cool, does it?? Many thanks both of you, Steve and Mat, for latest in wikkid series - looking forward to next one to take me further on my upward path from bedroom DJ From: Ped on 15th May 2008 11:47.30 One thing I would have added is that make sure you record at a low volume so that no clipping can occur to the sound. A low volume can easily be amplified, but if you are recording at too high a volume, clipping occur causing a loss in the sound quality which can not be recovered. From: Dj Zipsta on 20th May 2008 22:15.38 ditto Ped Good tinkin to mention, bass + bass has a nice way of sounding like mushy pea's if it's too loud on your Gain's a tip :: Reduce the line in as much as possible as it does not require oodlles of puppy power !!!! sometimes reducing the Gains on the bass can help allot toy around and have fun 8)

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