DJ Tutorial | DJ Mixing | How To | Music Mixing Tips & Tricks
For over a year, I have been getting comments and questions about how to DJ and the various techniques involved in getting started, choosing equipment and other aspects of DJing. I have written tutorials about these things but I never really answered the main question on everyone’s minds: How to DJ. It’s time to reveal my secrets…
How to DJ
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Whether you’re a seasoned vet or a new dj just trying to make a name for yourself – everyone has their favorite spots to check out and learn about new music they can go buy and download LEGALLY!
Here’s a number of hot sites to download new jams across all genre’s. The Free Sites are helpful to preview new jams, but please show the artist’s some love and support by downloading their jams legally through the MP3 Pools or Pay Per Download Sites below.
I update this frequently so check back for new sites to check out.
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If you’ve been keeping up with the DJ scene in the past few years you have no doubt heard of a DJ software program called Serato Scratch Live, by Rane. This is by far the most popular DJ software being used, to my knowledge. Serato Scratch Live is not just a piece of software, but actually a DJ mixing system. It allows you to connect your computer or laptop to your DJ CD players or vinyl turntables and your mixer. You can then play any music from your computer as if you had the record on your turntable. No more lugging around heavy record crates, no more bulky CD cases or scratched CDs. Everything is on your hard drive. So, let me introduce the basics of Serato. This is how the setup looks:
Serato Scratch Live setup
As you can see, the setup comes with software that goes on your laptop and an audio interface, which is more or less a 2-channel sound card, that connects to your turntables and mixer with RCA cables and to your laptop via USB or FireWire. You could also use your microphone with it. Your DJ headphones stay plugged into your mixer. [read more…]
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One of the main pieces of equipment every DJ needs to have is a good pair of DJ headphones. So, you ask, what are the best DJ headphones? Well, the answer to this depends partially on what you’ll be using your DJ headphones for and partially on how much you want to spend on them. But in general, there are a few headphones that work well for most DJs and any of those would be a solid choice for any DJ. Let’s explore the options…
Which DJ Headphones Should I Get?
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If you are a beginner DJ you are probably looking for DJ tutorials to learn how to DJ and beatmatch. In addition to writing DJ tutorials I also want to provide you with other good sources for DJ tips and information. In this post I will share with you some good resources for a beginner DJ.
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This is one of the first questions you will ask yourself when you are deciding to become a DJ –“What kind of DJ should I be?” Before you go any further, before you even learn how to beatmatch, you have to make a decision on this question. Your decision will influence what kind of equipment you get, what music you play, how much money you’ll make and lots more. So, what kind of DJs are there? Let’s find out.
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In Part 1 of How to Beatmatch we learned how to beatmatch on a very basic level, just matching the beats of two tracks playing at the same speed. In Part 2 we learned a useful trick to easier beatmatching by cueing the track the moment before the beat hits and releasing it at the same time as the beat is hitting in the track that’s playing. In Part 3 let’s learn how to beatmatch two tracks that have different speeds.
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Let’s continue from where we left off in How to Beatmatch (part 1).
You are now familiar with the basic concept of how to beatmatch and what beatmatching is. But in How to Beatmatch (Part 1) I only talked about beatmatching 2 copies of the same song, and the result didn’t sound that good anyway. Let’s get a little more advanced in Part 2 of How to Beatmatch.
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One of the first things you will need to do as a DJ is learn how to beatmatch. You’ll probably be tempted to skip this crucial step and get right to the music but it is absolutely essential that you first learn how to beatmatch. An important thing to remember is that a great DJ not only knows how to feel the crowd and has a sense for good song selection but also has great technique. And one of the most important techniques in mixing music is beatmatching.
[read more…]
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