How to Chop & Screw Using Virtual DJ
The Chopped and Screwed style originated in Houston, Texas in the early 1990s. It was created and largely popularized by DJ Screw, but has since found many followers in the Hip-Hop world. The signature elements of the Chopped and Screwed sound are laid out in the name: a screwing, or slowing down, of a song's pitch and tempo, and a chopping, or editing, of the song done in stops and scratches. Chopping and Screwing is a technique that was developed on vinyl before the onset of digital DJ equipment Fortunately, programs like Virtual DJ have a thorough enough feature set to allow digital DJs to simulate the technique.
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Instructions
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Screwing
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Load a song into one of Virtual DJ's virtual decks. Allow it to fully load and for Virtual DJ to analyze the pitch and BPM of the song.
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Click the lock icon located nearby the tempo slide so that it appears unlocked. This is the "Key Lock" and, when unlocked, allows a song's pitch to change naturally with tempo change, a la a vinyl record.
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Move the tempo slider down into the 60 bpm range. The song is screwed.
Chopping
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After screwing the song in the first deck, load the same song into Virtual DJ's second deck. Allow it to fully load.
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Make sure the "Key Lock" on the second deck is unlocked as well.
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Press Virtual DJ's "SYNC" button to match the tempos of the two decks. Make sure the cross-fade is pulled completely towards to the first deck.
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Begin playing the song on the first deck. Allow only one beat to pass before beginning the song in the second deck.
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Now use the cross-fader to occasionally cut to the second deck, which should still be playing one beat behind the first. This will create a chopping effect.
Chopping Alternative
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Pull a song into either deck of Virtual DJ. Allow it to load completely.
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Play the song.
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Use the "Flippin Double" and "Beatgrid" effects to achieve a result similar to the cross-fading method. The "Beatgrid" effect is also customizable.
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