Sensei is a Japanese title used to refer to or address martial arts
teachers, professors, professionals such as lawyers and doctors,
politicians, clergymen, and other figures of authority; more commonly
a master of a craft. With attaining the title of sensei, many hours of
instruction, dedication, discipline and long hours of learning is
required.

MixSensei is a black belt in the art of mixing, and over the following
MixSensei releases onMusiqAve.com, MixSensei will take you through the
rigorous curriculum of training that he went through starting from
Lesson 1:

1.      Lesson 1: Mixing
a.      Equipment
b.      Science of Mixing in the 80s

Equipment

•       The mixing curriculum was undoubtedly greatly influenced by the
early use of Techniques SL1210 turntable equipment. The S defined
‘stereo’ and the L ‘Player; in essence a ‘stereo player’. The SL1210
was unique in that it had direct drive technology surpassing the belt
drive technology which allowed a dj to manipulate the turntable easily
when mixing vinyl records. Technology also included:
o       Variable pitch control, allowing the rotational speed to be adjusted
from -8% to +8% (for the purpose of beatmatching).
o       High torque (1.5 kgf•cm or 0.15 N•m), which means the platter would
spin at the desired speed almost immediately (0.7 s to reach 33 ¹⁄₃
RPM from standstill), and would very rapidly reacquire the desired
speed, without “overshooting”, if the platter is dragged or nudged.
This aided in beatmatching.

Science of Mixing in the 80s

Training was characterised by attaining the art of listenening to, and
following the drum beat of a song, and then synchornising two songs or
“tracks” together (the drum beats) into one beat when transioning one
song to the next. The aim was to ensure that each song played would
not distract the listener when transitioning from one song to the next
in the club when they danced.
Sensei Instruction included:
1.      Removal of default rubber mat that comes with your turntable and
replacement with a DJ slipmat. The purpose of slipmats was to let the
vinyl record “slip” over the turntable’s platter, so you could control
the record with your hand and still let the turntable keep spinning
smoothly underneath.
2.      DJ needle and the turntable’s Tone Arm to be adjusted correctly and
ensuring how to Balance a Tonearm. DJ’s sometimes glued or taped coins
on the cartridge shell to ensure that the needle stayed in place..
3.      Lastly, listenening to the song that you want to “cue up” (the song
you want to start playing) through your headphones only. The DJ mixer
volume fader should be in the down position, so that the song was only
playing into your headphones, not through the stereo speakers.
4.      Starting the turntable using your hand and then spinning the record
around until you find the first drum note or “downbeat”.

To attain Basic Sensei level Black Belt 1st Dan; a mix would require a
smooth mix out of a song into the next at both the break or the outro.
A break would usually be somewhere in the middle of the track, where
the drum pattern ceases or changes. MixSensei achieved a 1st Dan, but
levels can go as high as 9th Dan masters which Djs such as Mujay, Swit
T and Mista Cee attained.

Next Episode (MixSensei 80z Club Mix Vol 3):  Lesson 2 – Music Appreciation