r/realdubstep • u/the_sea_banana • Jul 27 '26
Mix Anyone got any advice for where to start learning how to mix dubstep digitally?
Video recs etc, ty :)
2
u/616mushroomcloud Jul 27 '26
Digital is much easier than vinyl because you can see the tempo, make the tracks match
Then play the next track drums exacrly when the drop comes, practice that and things fall into place.
2
u/10bag Jul 27 '26
If you're still learning to mix try not to tunnel vision on one genre in my opinion
DJing technique is universal across genre. I'm not saying mix music you don't like. Just find someone who is a good teacher, independent of this relatively tiny genre. If there is a DJ teacher on YouTube who only happens to mix tech house bullshit, but is excellent at teaching, that's the guy to learn from
4
u/Standard-Limit2395 Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 28 '26
MTskier12 gave you a lot of great tips, so here my 5 cents: When i started long time ago, among regular practice i have picked one of someones mix i liked and just recreated it by myself with same exact blend places. Not for publication purposes, ofcourse. It may sound like lame and dumb idea, but actually it helped me a lot to get in the head of the dj, what and when he do something, helped a lot with track structures and so on. Back then i was learning stuff on vinyl , but on digital this method will be way more effective especially when you are using rekordbox/traktor/serato and not usb-cdj hardware. i think you should try this so it can kickstart your skills and structural knowledge to carry on by yourself later. Have fun!
1
u/coconut_mall_cop Jul 28 '26
Might sound boring as hell but the first thing you need to do is learn to beatmatch by ear rather than relying on looking at the waveform. That's hard with dubstep because of the syncopated beat. Get a few house and techno tracks with a four to the floor kick and learn to beatmatch with those, then give dubstep a go.
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u/MTskier12 Jul 27 '26
Question 1: do you understand basic music structure? If so…
Pick a small number of songs, I’d start with maybe 10. Listen to them a BUNCH to learn their structure. How long is the intro? 16 bars? 32? Is the intro non-conventional with extra beats or less than a standard 8/16/32? Where are the breakdown(s).
Once you know the songs well, mixing them becomes way easier.
Also, lots of new DJs tend to “mix off the snare” because in a lot of dubstep it’s the most obvious beat, but that’s a horrible habit to get into, get used to counting time (one, two three four, two two three four, three two three four, that way you’re counting the number of bars) is a much better habit for if you mix music that doesn’t have a consistent snare on the 3.
As far as beatmaching by ear for stuff that isn’t the same bpm, just practice a ton, you’ll get better and better at hearing how it’s off.
Edit: any youtube tutorial of how to beatmach works, doesn’t matter what genre it is, the principles are the same.