- The majority of
controllers on the market,
now support up to four
decks playing at once.
Now most DJs learn how
to play with 2 decks,
a third deck can add some
real creative elements.
So in this video, I'll go over three ways
that you can introduce using
a third deck into your DJ set.
And if you enjoy tips and tricks
videos just like this one,
make sure you subscribe to this channel.
And now let's get into how
to introduce a third deck
into the way you DJ.
the last thing you want is to drop a track
that sucks the energy
out of the dancefloor
because of a drumless section.
Now two things you wanna keep
in mind is the BPM of the loop
that you're playing.
And also you wanna make
sure that looping is enabled
in your DJ software so the drum
loop will play continuously.
Then load the drum loop to the third deck,
then beat mix the loop to
your tracks that are playing
and then drop it in the mix.
I like using this technique
over songs with breakdowns
and buildups without
drums to keep the energy
in the crowd going.
Sometimes these sections can take too long
and you lose the momentum with the crowd.
And this is the perfect way to
prevent that from happening.
So let me go ahead and show
you an example of this.
Now, although this controller only has two
physical jogwheels,
this can actually control four decks.
So right here with the input selector,
in the middle,
it will be deck one, deck two.
And if switch it to the right, deck three,
and deck four.
So notice that it changes colours from red,
meaning deck three and deck four,
back to blue, meaning
deck one and deck two.
So keep that in mind as I'm
going through these examples.
So again for this example
of adding in a drum loop,
all of a song going in deck one,
that's gonna hit the breakdown.
Then I'll drop in a
drum loop in deck three
and have that playing
to carry the energy over
as I bring in a song in deck two.
♪ I wanna be the one you
tell all your friends about ♪
♪ Baby I'll be the one you
can't just do without ♪
♪ You gotta give me everything,
baby ain't no doubt ♪
♪ Give me 100, need you 100% ♪
♪ Give me 100, need you 100% ♪
- [Marc] This second technique
may require a little bit
more practice but it's so effective.
Now much like adding in a drum loop,
you'll want to load the
acapella to a third deck,
then match the BPM of the
acapella to the tracks
that are playing.
The tricky part is dropping
the acapella in on time
as many acapellas do not come
in exactly on the downbeat.
So, you may wanna practice
with a few acapellas at home
and get the timing down
before trying this at a gig.
One thing I like to do when
I use an acapella like this
is to transition from one track to another
with the acapellas still running.
This is a creative way to use an acapella
as sort of a bridge
between the two tracks.
So again in this example,
I'm gonna go ahead
and have a song playing in deck one
then I'll switch to deck three.
Start the acapella playing and looping.
Then I'll go ahead and
transition from deck one
into the track playing in deck two.
♪ The mechanism of incessant, incessant, ♪
♪ habitual conceptualization ♪
♪ Creation of ideas,
goals and frameworks ♪
♪ that are turned over,
completed to the friend within ♪
♪ Who am I? ♪
♪ Someone's that afraid to let go ♪
♪ You decide, if you're
ever gonna let me know ♪
♪ Suicide, if you ever try to let go ♪
♪ I'm sad and low, yeah ♪
♪ I'm sad and low, yeah ♪
♪ Who am I? ♪
♪ Someone's that afraid to let go ♪
♪ You decide, if you're
ever gonna let me know ♪
♪ Suicide, if you ever try to let go ♪
♪ I'm sad and low, yeah ♪
♪ I'm sad and low, yeah ♪
♪ Who am I? ♪
♪ Someone's that afraid to let go ♪
♪ You decide, if you're
ever gonna let me know ♪
♪ Suicide, if you ever try to let go ♪
♪ I'm sad and low, yeah ♪
♪ I'm sad and low, yeah ♪
- [Marc] Okay.
So now we've gone over two techniques
on how to use a third
deck to add new elements
into your mix like a drum
loop or an acapella loop.
Now this third technique is
a little bit more advanced
but can be a lot of fun.
Now you can use three decks
With this technique, you'll
want to have cue points saved
at different distinct
sections of the track.
Then once you have the
track playing in one deck,
load the same track to the two other decks
and use the cue points you
created to have the song running
at different parts.
I suggest having one cue
point at the drum intro
of the song.
Another cue point at the
synth or lead melody.
And another cue point with
the higher energy section.
Now you can use the three
decks playing to blend and mix
between the different
sections of the song.
You can bring in and
out the melodic section
over the drum intro.
You can add that melodic section
over a section of the song
that usually doesn't have it.
Or you can use the drum loop
to play over the breakdown
or buildup section of the same track.
This technique allows
for a lot of creativity
and improvisation.
And this is where using a third deck
in this kind of situation
can be a lot of fun,
where instead of just using
cue points to jump around
different parts of the song
using one or two decks,
now I'm using that third
deck to have another element
of the same track playing
making this whole song
sound a little bit different
from someone that might know
how the song usually goes.
You're adding your own little spice
and you're adding your own
little bit of creativity.
(upbeat music)
♪ Sundown, you walk away ♪
♪ I should have known
to stay away from you ♪
♪ Light down, you fade to gray ♪
♪ I should have known ♪
♪ You're heart would stray away ♪
- [Marc] So the recap in this example,
I had the drum intro of the
song playing in deck one,
then I grab a melodic loop
from somewhere later on
in the song and dropped
it in over that drum intro
to make it a little bit more exciting.
Then in deck two I mixed in the buildup
so I could just take the level of energy
of the track a little bit higher.
Then still have that melodic
loop running over the drop
to make it sound different
than it usually did.
Then added a little bit
more creativity by dropping
that melodic loop in and out rhythmically,
to just kinda make it sound different
and kinda make it my own,
then took it one step further.
Then went back to deck one,
jumped right back into the drop,
keeping the level of energy
that I've been building
over the course of this
live DJ edit going,
and just keep the crowd going,
keep the crowd more into it,
and just making this whole song
and making this whole live DJ edit my own.
and creative elements to your DJ set.
And these three techniques are fun ways
to start implementing more
than two decks when you play.
So give these techniques a try
and let us know how it goes.
Or if you already
use more than two decks
in your DJ sets, let us
know how you use them
down below in the comments.
We'd love to hear what
you guys have to say.
And as always, if you enjoyed
tips and tricks videos
just like this one, make sure
you subscribe to this channel.
Now get good, get out
there, and make the moments.
