What is Phrasing in Djing 2024 (Explained)

It is important to master all techniques. In the dj career. Whenever you are playing you listen to terms like beat mixing and dj phrasing. But you have no idea what is phrasing in Djing.

Instead of worrying about it, let’s master it together. To get a complete idea of phrasing, let’s understand it first.

Definition of Phrasing in Music

In the DJ field phrasing means to mix and match phrases of two different songs. The beat remains the same and only the phrases change of tracks. 

When you learn beat mixing you will find the phrasing aspect. In phrasing you can mix two tracks together. But the main point is to do it without breaking the structure of tracks. 

You can experiment within 32 beats in phrasing. These numbers can vary according to the genre of your music. You can do smooth transitions throughout the dj mixing. 

Different Expressions in Phrasing

• Punctuation
• Cadence

Punctuation

Music tells stories through its beats and lyrics. Each song has sections like intro middle and end. They tell stories through these sections. 

Same theory applies to phrasing. When you start phrasing you can pursue each phrase as a sentence. It has pauses which allows you to understand the main message and expression of the tune. 

Now do not get confused with the terms punctuation in music. It means to go with hard tunes such as forte or play in a soft mode such as piano. In short, phrases help you to end the music on a different note than the previous one. You can either change the expression of the phrase altogether or you can just end it with a difference between notes.

Cadence 

Just like punctuation, cadence is also an expression of phrasing. So the question, what is phrasing also has other aspects of music. Cadence is one of them. 

It resembles a full stop at the end of the text. Phrasing ends with cadence. When you start phrasing its ending can decide the nature of your mix altogether.  When you listen to a song the phrasing music theory does not seem very hard. 

But at the point of mixing you can see that little details such as ending each sentence and building of phrases can be hard. 

Once you get your grip you can easily master the tapestry of art. 

Application of Phrases

Phrasing is much simpler than the broad music theories. The forte and the dynamics of electronic music are not the same. These notations do not apply in electronic music. Because it already has all the bass and dynamics. 

Moreover, the terms such as cadence and punctuations are not very important when you are mixing. Because you do not pay attention to it in mixing. Just do what feels good at the end of the day. 

It is good to have a basic understanding of these terms. In the long run these theoretical terms will help you in the dj career. 

The main point of a dj is to mix and blend two songs in such a way that they do not cross each other in terms of music. The simple answer to what is phrasing?. I will mix only the lyrics of two songs while keeping the same music line. 

You need to mix the lyrics only. Leave the music. That is how you will get a smooth transition. The proper way of doing this is to align both tracks. Such as the bass, mid and treble. This way the song will mix well without sound clashes. 

The electronic music consists of 8 beats only. First understand the nature of your track. It’s mid and treble. After that you will be able to mix properly.

Many genres consist of 16 beats. When you listen to a song. Do so carefully and identify when each break or phrase comes. At the end of a track you will notice the drastic snarl. There are so many sounds that play with a certain track. 

The track changes phrases after the 16 beats. More like an interval. A loud snoring sound will come in or many drastic sounds upon the change of a phrase. 

After some more beats a track will change sound with a dramatic drop. That’s when you will understand that it is a 32 beat sound. This is what you call the climax of the track. 

Understand your Tunes

It is highly important for you to acknowledge your tunes while phrasing in djing. Rather than wondering what is phrasing in Djing you need to play around all the beats. 

A DJ puts his character in each track. After some tracks you will notice your signature style coming in. This is not intentional. 

You will know how your track behaves after working for a while in the field. You just need to pay attention to your style when phrasing  occurs in your tracks. 

Your dj phrases are almost the same because of your same signature style. That is why it is crucial to have an understanding about your style.

Because when the tunes hit in you will automatically know what to do next. Music phrasing is not that hard if you have a better understanding of tracks. 

Phrasing doesn’t only mean mixing two tracks. You can also layer up different sorts of tracks. You can mix two tracks and suddenly drop them together while the third one is playing. Phrasing is much more vast. Once you master it you can do all sorts of magical things with it. 

You will gain extra reputation with phrasing. But only practice will take you there. Once you understand which beats work best together. You will get better results. That is why it is important that you know your tunes perfectly. 

Conclusion

Now mixing is not as hard as you think it is. We all know now what is phrasing in Djing. As a beginner you will find yourself unable to do phrasing. But gradually with practice you will get a grip of it. Practice is key. Doing different mixes and experimenting with music will give you your signature phrasing style.

You do not need a high degree in music to understand the basics of what is phrasing in Djing. It is just simple beat mixing. After a while you learn to do simple and smooth transitions. The main point is to mix the tracks without breaking the sound or beat. To get a basic idea just focus on the techniques you apply to basic mixing. Then after some hits and misses you will be able to make smooth phrasing. 

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