3 Turntables, Whats the dealio

[Dj Hempenhymer]

Hey Guys

Whats the deal with using 3 turntables, appart from the fact im guessing its really difficult what genre of music is that set up usually used for, what are the benefits of the extra deck and any other info would be great. The reason i made the thread is because of out of curiosity and also in the very near future im thinking get another deck to make 3 turn tables or get some cdjs....
Im really anti-cd so im trying to look into other methods if you know what i mean ;D

Thanks,

[pomrocks]

if you're wondering why people use 3 tt's then probabky not necessary for you to buy 3?

but basically used to mix 3 tracks, or two with acapella, over each other....

[Tha Gooch]

the 3rd one is for resting your drinks on ;)

[Lukey]

generally it just enhances your layering of sounds, mostly it just makes more noise when the all fall out of time hehe

[johnjay]

i doubt there would be many clubs left with 3 turntables


but even if your not mixing three songs together at once, three lines makes mixing alot easier, because while you have your two tracks on, you can go looking for the third, place it on get the pitch etc right, so you can do more things instead of always having to constantly look for your next track. And you can add samples of the third here and there

get what i mean? i think it makes it alot easier when you have three lines, esp two turntables and one cdj

[crazy_tripper]

trying to do three deck mash ups is fun, i'm not usually all that successful though. a third deck can also be good if you're dropping an acapella over a track and wanting to mix out of it at the same time

you'd probably be better off getting a cdj as your third deck.. i did that because i wanted to be trial some ideas before getting to clubs etc. but yeah, you're far more likely to see two turntables, two cdjs in a club than three turntables unless it's been organised for something specific

[Bracko]

i doubt there would be many clubs left with 3 turntables


but even if your not mixing three songs together at once, three lines makes mixing alot easier, because while you have your two tracks on, you can go looking for the third, place it on get the pitch etc right, so you can do more things instead of always having to constantly look for your next track. And you can add samples of the third here and there

get what i mean? i think it makes it alot easier when you have three lines, esp two turntables and one cdj

there aren't :( I really like playing on 3 decks as opposed to 2 and CDJ's.

I wouldn't mind bringing an extra deck, but it's too much of a hassle mid way through the night.

[jootsiejuice]

Layering. Done well, It's the best thing I can imagine hearing. Done badly, makes baby Jesus cry blood from his anus.

See Ben Sims, old school Adam beyer, old school Richie Hawtin, Jeff mills.... and Melbourne's own Ben Cromack, for examples of 3 deck brilliance.

[Dj Hempenhymer]

those artists you have mentiond are all into tech, tech-house sorta Dj friendly material if my mind serves me right, is that a coincidence? because using dj friendly stuff on 3 decks would make "layering" and 'mash ups' alot easyer i assume. what about carl cox? does he still use 3? i know he did back in the day, havent heard him for ages though....

Another question while its on my mind, If production isnt your thing and youd rather focus on being a good performer, would the 3 deck avenue be something to look into? or in other words something good to 'wow' the audiance

[jootsiejuice]

Techno can very 3 deck friendly, plus techno's my thing so naturally I'd point out techno artists as those are the ones I'm impressed by. Carl Cox used 2 decks badly last time I saw him, but I remember the days when he was a gun on 3....

If you want to impress performance wise, 3 decks could be the go. But you'd wanna be really good at it, cos it can easily turn to muck if you aren't in control.

[big eddie]

deetron followed by ben cromack @ public office was the best example of techno on 3 I've seen

[jootsiejuice]

Deetron is definitely a gun. Definitely.

[crazy_tripper]

those artists you have mentiond are all into tech, tech-house sorta Dj friendly material if my mind serves me right, is that a coincidence? because using dj friendly stuff on 3 decks would make "layering" and 'mash ups' alot easyer i assume. what about carl cox? does he still use 3? i know he did back in the day, havent heard him for ages though....

Another question while its on my mind, If production isnt your thing and youd rather focus on being a good performer, would the 3 deck avenue be something to look into? or in other words something good to 'wow' the audiance
nah, the three deck thing can happen in any genre

hip hop is often two decks because of the whole beat juggling thing etc. but i've seen folk use three.

really it all comes down to you. if you can think of three different songs you'd like to layer together then you'll need three. it's not really about "wow-ing" the audience, in my opinion... i've been wowed plenty of times seeing folks with two, it all comes down to how you use them

[Dj Hempenhymer]

awsome, yeah im thinking something easy dj friendly to start off with, tech-house, elecktro, tech ect... Im really keen on focusing on being a good performer over music production, and there are alot of good performers out there so setting myself appart from the crowd will be the biggie. wow factor is a must, im thinking 3 decks and a xone92 or vestax CX with an efx unit or something along those lines, any input or ideas??

[big eddie]

start with music you actually like?

[Dj Hempenhymer]

^^^

Oh yeah i love tech, house and all that, for sure. to be honest i love every genre but there comes a time where i must "narrow" my feild i think. youd probably agree to

[jazam]

tech and all that.

...

..

.

you sound so passionate.

[Bracko]

lolz.... I'm thinking the same thing.

fiver on seeing a B&S thread in <6months

[stubs]

if u dont know why someone would want 3 decks, then why would you be considering getting another?
Do you currently own 2?
more decks = more possibility of creativity

[Dj Hempenhymer]

oh yeah gotta love the itm forums notourious "toughen up or die" style of remarks ;)

The Passion flows when the music is being played jazam, I have no need to convince an audiance of dirt kicking keyboard warriors, i just would like some friendly advice... guess thats even hard to come across now days isnt it, maby im asking to much :)

[WhiteMeat]

If you are drunk all the time, you can miss most of the comments that get put up here... Mind you - there is a greater chance of forgetting that you even posted, but yea, cost vs benefit.

But watch these, Jeff Mills.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bLanIfR13A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUrUCMMSVK0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-kY0DVuU4w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svyAC-e8nbw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGsJ4XEf-8g

[Dj Hempenhymer]

Awsome, thanks!!

[jarnos]

So you can play all 3 mixes of flaunt it at once :rock:

[Tha Gooch]

So you can play all 3 mixes of flaunt it at once :rock:

:lol:

[dj oldfart]

gold pure gold :lol:

[stubs]

So you can play all 3 mixes of flaunt it at once :rock:
:lol:

[Je_Z_zA]

Reminds me of a story.

A bald man decides he is going to buy shampoo. Unsure of why he needs the shampoo he has planned on purchasing, he asks a hairdresser what shampoo actually does, some potential uses for shampoo and who else uses shampoo. Realising that he really has no effective use for shampoo at the moment, he decides to see Advanced Hair and have hair treatment so that he can show off a 'silky-smooth, tangle free' hairstyle to everyone around him.

He died in a car accident when he drove off the edge of a cliff while checking out how awesome he looked in the mirror.

[WhiteMeat]

Reminds me of a story.

A bald man decides he is going to buy shampoo. Unsure of why he needs the shampoo he has planned on purchasing, he asks a hairdresser what shampoo actually does, some potential uses for shampoo and who else uses shampoo. Realising that he really has no effective use for shampoo at the moment, he decides to see Advanced Hair and have hair treatment so that he can show off a 'silky-smooth, tangle free' hairstyle to everyone around him.

He died in a car accident when he drove off the edge of a cliff while checking out how awesome he looked in the mirror.

i like this story. It should apply to all audio products, no matter how old (or new) they are.

[Bill]

Melbourne's own Ben Cromack, for examples of 3 deck brilliance.

ben and his three deck brilliance is what got me into techno :zabiela:

[jazam]

oh yeah gotta love the itm forums notourious "toughen up or die" style of remarks ;)

The Passion flows when the music is being played jazam, I have no need to convince an audiance of dirt kicking keyboard warriors, i just would like some friendly advice... guess thats even hard to come across now days isnt it, maby im asking to much :)

sorry dude my bad.

from the posts youve posted i assume that you don't really have any passion for the shit... of course, i may be wrong but to you havvve to do what you love.

Those Jeff Mills vids are a pretty good example - another good example is your imagination.

[havik]

Derrick Carter, playing house (not techno) on 3 decks is incredible.
He just layers them shits for days!

The other thing that 3 decks/CDJs allows is to have more tracks cued and ready to go, even if you're not always mixing 3 live. Can just reduce the time between tunes playing by themselves.

[johnjay]

^^ yeh thats what i was trying to get at, if you have 3 decks you can bring tunes in faster, that is can mixmore tunes in and out. And then once you become even better 3 at the same time.

and then u have guys like sasha and digweed who apprently used to mix 4 decks at a time and now they click mouses, djing sux now

I just hope clubs will stil have 2 sl1200s in 5 years time

[jimrocks]

^^
Ya dreamin

[hotdogpete]

2 tracks create a binaural harmony , 3 tracks opens the 3rd eye . Well with techno anyway would sound rubbish with dnb .

[Funkedub]

for me its about being able to have 2 tracks ready to go instead of one .. or 2 tracks mixed with a 3rd for samples/scratching

what can be fun is if you're mixing off 2 decks as per usual ... then you feed a mixer with one or 2 decks into a 3rd channel, then you can go between 2 people mixing and/or scratching ... but remember to listen to each other or it will all end in tears !!!

[Bracko]

^^
Ya dreamin

i don't think so, but hey, that's another gay thread on it's own.

[mentalyst]

RJD2 rocked it big time on 4 decks when he toured last. He didnt even use headphones. :rock: :bow: :love: :zabiela:

[nathanh]

It would be good fun messing around b2b with a mate on 3 or 4 decks. Gotta give that a go

RJD2 rocked it big time on 4 decks when he toured last. He didnt even use headphones. :rock: :bow: :love: :zabiela:

Yeah that is rediculous. Props for the skillz

[Donnie Darko]

Hey Guys

Whats the deal with using 3 turntables, appart from the fact im guessing its really difficult what genre of music is that set up usually used for, what are the benefits of the extra deck and any other info would be great. The reason i made the thread is because of out of curiosity and also in the very near future im thinking get another deck to make 3 turn tables or get some cdjs....
Im really anti-cd so im trying to look into other methods if you know what i mean ;D

Thanks,

http://www.inthemix.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=183378

techno

jeff mills

watch and learn :thumb:

[Nick Vidal]

also check out derrick may http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdbZMSLhfHM

[vinh_]

Rotating Circles of coke!

Very sensual stuff

[holtless]

Lots of hip hop DJs do three or more turntables.. I've got a Kentaro mix somewhere where he's using three. Pulls it off incredibly.i have a cut chemist set where he's using five also.

a mate was telling me about another DJ recently who works of three or more.. and after he's dropped his first two tracks, he'll always have at least two playing at any one time.. can't.. remember.. his name though.

[ewokie]

Its been said, but its very handy to have that third deck for either scratching or accapella's. Just keep your scratch record on there qued up can save time switching back and forth from one LP to another

[Andrew Wowk]

Three deck techno = best ever.

I'm starting to learn to mix on three decks...fuck it's hard work :|

Would wanna be very confident of your ability before trying it out at a gig, because a screw up on three decks sounds really bad.

[Laptopexcursion]

Skillwise, if your competent enough with two decks then then playing three shouldn't be too much of a leap as far as beatmatching three at a time. However, what you do with three inputs is the tricky part and depends on what style your playing. Even loop based and stripped back tracks (ie techno) if you don't eq/level it right it can sound confusing, especially when your focus starts to become keeping the tracks beatmatched rather then making them sound good. Even guys that are renowned for this style of mixing (Mills, Sims etc.) don't constantly keep three, or even two, open for extended periods.

Primary benefit is being able to cue up two in a row. If you have two tracks going and its sounding sweet (ie you dont want to end the mix, but at the same time are worried esp about a lull when you will invariably have to end it), having the third ready to cut in to bring it back up is very useful.
Also, if you have two fairly similar versions (dub/vocal for eg) of the one track it can be useful to cut between those while still having the next track lined up. Also, three lets you do mess about with double copies while cueing the next track.

The other thing is that after mixing on three for a while two becomes easy as you've gotten used to keeping two going constantly on the fly while cueing and dropping three. Deceptively easy: you can beatmatch so easy that you can go to the bathroom while two channels are playing, but sometimes forget the how to just let one track play.

For styles that are quick mix based, or a have a rawer sound and are forgiving for minor mistakes such as techno three is great. For more melodic/song based tunes though cant really see the point as your inevitably going to have key/vocal clashes and cutting the shit out of the tracks is contra to what the sound is about and what the crowd will generally expect (soulful house for eg). Still handy for cueing up in advance and accapellas though.

[Marc Us]

3 CDJs thanx

[sockz]

Another question while its on my mind, If production isnt your thing and youd rather focus on being a good performer, would the 3 deck avenue be something to look into? or in other words something good to 'wow' the audiance

Realisticly, 90% of your listeners wouldn't know how many decks you were using.

[voodoo people]

anyone seen that richie hawtin dvd where he's mixin over like 4 decks and they have the track names sliding on and off the screen as he mixes em in and out? super cool, minimal over multiple decks :drool:

my thoughts on the matter; i wouldn't be too concerned with showmanship and trickery as a dj, my priority is what sounds good. that's how i shape my performance (not that i really perform to anyone)

but for mulitple decks, minimal would be my choice of genre.

[holtless]

Realisticly, 90% of your listeners wouldn't know how many decks you were using.

yeah but any man and/or his dog who looked behind the decks and realised you were using three would be impressed.

[Big Dubs]

There is definitely a sound that can be achieved on three decks that can't be produced otherwise. Ben Sims and Deetron are great djs in this regard.

Mixing on three also marries two things I love quite nicely: techno and turntablism

[sockz]

yeah but any man and/or his dog who looked behind the decks and realised you were using three would be impressed.

Surely this would only be the case if they had at least a basic understanding of how dj'ing/mixing works? Most people don't...

I remember seeing Eddie Halliwell mix 4 tracks together before me and I was suitably impressed. My girlfriend wouldn't have known any better

[holtless]

i spose you're right actually..

forgot to mention, if you wanna see something incredible with more than two turntables, watch the X-ecutioners video on the Scratch tour DVD... three guys constantly rotating between four turntables.. fucking unbelievable.

[beatfreakn]

I had a go on three for the first time last week and is it me or is their something about spinning 3 decks that makes you feel like more of a man :love:

Awesome fun. Hard to go back to just two decks. Your constantly working with cueing and doing something so it really feels like you are doing a lot more.

[jazzyd]

Here is a good example of 3 decks, note the tracklisting numbers for Erick Morillo.

http://www.discogs.com/release/125730

[RockFrog]

Anyone see Kid Koala when he came to Australia last year?

He had 3 TT's and no headphones. Two cameras were set up on the decks and projected on two big screens behind him.

He played a wicked party hip hop turntablist set and had soooo much fun. Very visual performer and everyone could check out his tricks even if you didn't know what was really going on.

He played 3 copies of "his mom's fave track" Moon River, mixing, matching, scratching on 3 decks that blew many minds.

Highly recommended.

That said, it's a bit of a gimmick isn't it?