Getting started as a DJ: Mixing, mashups and digital turntables - Cole Plante

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DJ and producer Cole Plante is only 17 years old, but he's already worked alongside industry superstars Skrillex, Avicii and Major Lazer (to name just a few). In this combination talk and DJ set, Plante shows off his mixing magic and gives tips to aspiring DJs.

Talk by Cole Plante.

(Music)

Aw, thank you, thank you.

As you can probably tell,

I'm an astronaut.

No, I'm a DJ/Producer, as it says on the screen.

I am also a high school student,

just like many of you guys.

How many high school students do we have out here?

(Cheers)

Oh, okay! A good amount.

I'm a proud member of my school's marching band,

and I run track, as well,

so if any of you guys are into that,

it's one of my other passions.

I have been DJing and producing

for a little over three years now,

and I've worked with artists that you may know,

like Avicii, Skrillex, Major Lazer,

Krewella, Porter Robinsion, Carnage, and many others.

How many of you guys like dance music?

Show off hands, dance music, oh okay.

How many of you guys like rap or trap hip hop?

Okay, good amount.

Jazz? Classical?

That's good, you guys have smart minds, that's good.

What's great about DJing

is that you can combine all these genres into one idea,

and what I like to do is combine

dance, hip hop, trap, dubstep, even movie samples,

and kind of combine them into one set.

DJing creates this, sort of, combined culture

that really unites many fans.

A good example of this

is Skrillex and A$AP Rocky's collaboration

"Wild for the Night"

or, most recently, Avicii and Ella Black's "Wake Me Up."

How many of you guys know that song?

It's a great track.

Now, what exactly does a DJ do?

Well, as you just saw earlier,

they mix tracks.

What I just did

was mix a Kanye West intro from "Black Skinheads"

with a track called "LRAD."

One of the main goals is to really

trigger samples, tracks, or clips

and kind of create this long journey.

I'm going to do another little example for you guys right now

of what DJs call a "mashup,"

which is taking two or more tracks

and combining them into one.

This mashup was made famous

by a Hungarian duo Myon & Shane 54,

and it takes the vocals from Gorillaz's "Alive."

How many of you guys know that song? "Alive"?

Yeah, okay.

I'm going to take the vocals from that track

and the song "Language" by Porter Robinsion.

So, let me just play you the vocals first.

(Music)

So, that's the vocals,

and here's the actual track.

(Music)

So, what I'm going to do is I'm going to fill these vocals

on top of the track

and create a new song, a kind of combined song,

with the two vocals.

(Music)

If you turn it down,

you can just hear I'm playing it a capella

or just the song by itself.

(Music)

Now, what I'm going to do after this drops

is change it into another song.

One of the most important things about dance music

is really the drop,

so I'm going to change it into another song

and really catch you by surprise.

(Music)

And that's one example right there.

(Applause)

So, as you saw, I took three different songs

and kind of combined them into one new idea,

which is something plenty of DJs do out there

on the professional circuit.

There are plenty of ways to get started DJing.

One of the main things I did

was really take the time to study DJs that inspired me.

Whether it was watching podcasts,

watching live sets,

or just really looking them up online,

I really tried to take in what it meant

to be a fantastic DJ.

One of the best ways to really learn

is to ask a friend, you know, a friend who knows how to DJ.

Just go over there, ask him a few questions.

If no that, thankfully we have a lot of great online resources.

One of the things you can do is check out YouTube,

check out some demonstrations.

Now, many DJs, a high percentage of them,

check out Beatport or Soundcloud to find a lot of the tracks.

There are also many other blogsites,

such as Billboard's CODE, EDMTunes, EDM Sauce,

or Dancing Astronaut.

Now, there are multiple ways to DJ,

and what could originally only be done on turntables and vinyl,

by legends

such as Larry Levan, Grandmaster Flash, and Paul Oakenfold,

can now be done with many more pieces of equipment,

such as CDJs,

which are, sort of, digital turntables

and what I learned on and what I still use to this day.

There are many other amazing programs now,

such as Ableton, Traktor Pro,

Serato, or even apps for tablets and touchscreens.

There are many hardware systems

just like my APC40 here

that can launch samples, clips, tracks.

You can also just use turntables, CDJs,

an S4 controller, or an Novation Launchpad.

And all of these really kind of do the same thing,

and that's mix tracks.

So, what I'm going to do now

is show you guys another mix demonstration.

I'm going to start with one of my own songs

that I did with my friend Matt Dzyacky,

and from there I'm going to go

in a sort of medley of different tracks

and show you the different styles of mixing that you can do.

(Music)

So I'll show you guys when I start mixing the new track,

so you can hear it coming in.

(Music)

You can hear in the back, a new song is mixing in.

(Music)

Now, another thing that DJs use is what's called a mixer,

and a mixer has many different effects,

such as a beat roll,

filter effects,

and any other different ones.

There's plenty of effects to use.

(Music)

So, now I'm going into a new song,

and after this drops,

I'm going to drop it in another song

and kind of change it up.

(Music)

And that's a new song bite.

(Music)

So I'm just going to straight mash up

another song right when this one breaks down.

(Music)

Now, if I want to change up the music,

let's say, throw in some new beats,

I can just choose a trap beat I want to throw over the breakdown.

(Music)

So, I get ready to throw in my new beats now.

(Music)

And that is the end of that demo.

(Applause)

Thank you, thank you!

Now, the great thing about technologies now

is whether it's a two dollar app

or a couple hundred dollar equipment,

which I'm sure most parents

won't want to buy for their child,

is that almost anyone who has a passion for DJing

and a passion for the music

and who might want to pursue a career in it

really has the ability to, well, pursue it,

such as myself.

You can start with an app on a tablet

or an app on your phone, even, an app on your iPad,

and then move on to bigger equipment.

The opportunities are endless,

and, as you saw, you can mix

many different styles of music.

So, thank you!