Post
by Dexes » Tue Apr 28, 2009 7:31 pm
There is deffinatly no "right" answer to your question. As Superchibisan said everyone does it differently. It depends on the genre of music, it depends on the subgenre, it depends on the song, the song you play next, which parts of the songs you're mixing, even which beat you start the 2nd song on, the atmosphere at the moment you start, whether you want to keep the tension, build it up or break it down, and last but most importantly (as this affects all the previous points) YOUR personal preferances.
If a song has a very dominant bassline you can try to start with the low eq at minimum or half level and slowly bring it up to have a smooth build up. On the other hand you might want to wait until there's a break in the first song and then just slam in the second one on the first beat after the break. Use it to add a short break by killing the bass for a beat or a bar.
If you play melodic stuff you might want the melodies to play together (which obviously does not work with every combination of songs) slowly fade the mids or quickly switch between them by killing (with eq not necesarily kill switches) them alternatly.
Use the highs to put some extra emphesis on the hihats or to keep them out till the right moment.
The uses and combinations are endless. For decades, before live, tracktor, etc came out, the eq was more or less the the only modulation possibility for DJs beyond the volume and which records you play.
Remember it's music not rocket science, there is no right or wrong, good or bad. If you like the way it sounds, do it! (as long as you don't bust the PA or literally kill the audiance by making their brains burst) Spend hour after hour, day after day, year after year playing and trying different things and eventually you'll find what works best, when and where.
To kill switches, they are a help when you want to do several things at once. ie turn up the mids & kill the bass on one channel and throw up the line fader of the other deck at the same time, is a lot easyer if you just have to stick out one finger of the hand turning the mid than turning to knobs simultainiously with one hand or bringing the fader up with your nose while eqing with both hand.
But I would try to keep the use to a minimum when not nececary. I use a kill switch maybe 2-3 times in an hours set max. Usually less (more often not at all) as I want to be able to do what I'm used to, wherever I play - I DJ with vinyl so I don't have the same "control interface" (mixer) everywhere, and I'd absolutly hate it if I had a great transition in mind but couldn't play it because I don't have the controls needed.
