Am I weird?

Cutsville2031

Am I weird, but I find no need for hotcues whatsoever when I get in the mix. Letting the incoming tune go in the correct place is more important to me, I mix on 2 decks & add on the fly loops from the previous tune & it all goes sweetly + my mixes rock the house every time.

My question is, how do you suggest I improve/expand on my technique using hotcues, given how I mix atm?

Michael Mashup

For 10 years I bought my music from Beat port and then analysed in Mixed in Key, eventually MIK introduced auto hot cues making 6-8 for each track, I felt naked without them in the mix being able to jump to the last part of the songs mostly for a quicker mix. Now I stream all my music from Beatport link and strangely have no desire even to set a hot cue. I also use samples and the pattern player runs all the time now.

PK The DJ

No hot cues here either, just instinct and experience.

lord-carlos

 Letting the incoming tune go in the correct place is more important to me

That's what people use hotcue for as well. They mark the correct "in" point, or maybe 32 beats before the in point.

zephry

Sometimes I will tease parts of tracks. Dub things in with a delay or some heavy effects. So I will listen in the headphone cue and find something interesting. Along with the tracks already playing. 3rd or 4th deck use. Usually no more than 2 hot cues and very sparingly. Also I pick sounds that don't need a full phrase, or parts of a vocal on 2 hotcues.

I rarely set up the hotcues beforehand.

Another thing I do is repeat parts hitting a hot cue maybe along with a filter or effect while in Flux Mode. Then delete that hot cue. Of course this depends on the type of music playing and what else is going on in the mix.

Sometimes I will want to start a track at a part that is more interesting near the end. So in headphone cue before bringing it in I set a hotcue near the beginning (making sure it matches what I intend to loop near the end.) I jump to the beginning hot cue with the cover of a Beatmasher effect or a delay build, etc.

This might seem strange, but it helps keep the energy up since I have already played the juicy part. Now I am free to mix in something else and maybe even bring back the end with some effects or loop out and filters.

I think the main reason a person would use hot cues and preplan an entire set is if they perform this same set for touring performance or just need to have a perfect live set with no hiccups. Also scratch djs tend to have a bunch of hot cues and some crazy sets that need hot cues set up. And it also depends on genre. Some types of music have a lot of cuts and abrupt jumps. While some (4 to the floor) types are more blended.

One more thing I do is add hot cue where I am bringing in the next track and hit it in time while the fader is down and playing, so that I can have a more dynamic start instead of a fade in. This can add variety to how tracks are introduced.