Mixing a new beat that will blow those stragglers off their barstools and onto the dance floor is the goal of any good DJ. Sometimes it takes some special tactics though. Here are a few ideas to get them up and freaking out:

Start with a popular song and only slightly modify the lead-in. Almost nobody is going to get up and start dancing only to sit down because it’s not exactly what they wanted. Trick them into getting up off their barstools and starting to groove to dancing queen. Then blow their faces off with a brutal drop. Make them think it’s over once in a while and smack them in the face for doubting you.

That’s the second tactic. I love knocking people off their feet with a wall of sound that can be danced to. You need a good drum beat and rhythm that can be heard but above that you can make people jump and they will pay attention. Just make sure that each song isn’t like that. You need to jazz it up. Maybe not literally but why not? Throw some jazz in there. Maybe you’ll be the father of a new style. Kick and snare with some quick cymbals are the basis for anything worth dancing to.

I mentioned jazz but throw in some other styles. Reggaeton infused dubstep is gaining a strong following but hasn’t hit its peak yet. Metal, goth and hardcore has been top dog recently, so transitioning from that to a new style may seem awkward but it’s not impossible. Remix a remix and throw everyone off.

Modulate the hell out of those bass lines. Vibrate the floor and shake those barstools. Make them feel naughty for sitting on those barstools because of how hard they are vibrating. Make them feel it in their chests. Make the old man creeping in the corner worried that he’s having a coronary.

You don’t have to take my advice but this isn’t a formula for success. It’s just what I have had work for me. See you at the club.

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This is a guest post from DJ Sean who teaches video DJ Lessons on his popular DJ training blog, How To DJ Fast.

When I was learning to DJ it was with a big bag of records that you’d have to lug over your shoulder. Times have changed but there are a few time-hardened facts that remain the same when it comes to learning how to DJ.

Whats funny about “the facts of life” for DJing is that so many beginner DJs tend to make the same mistakes as I did when I was starting out as a DJ. I wish that an older veteran DJ showed me the ropes so I could become a great DJ that much quicker.

I didn’t have money for DJ Lessons but I wanted to learn how to DJ so I just sort of stumbled my way through the learning process.

So to help you get ahead with your DJing and save you some time and pain through mistakes, I’m going to share with you some of the time-hardened DJing facts:

1) Beatmatching Is Tough

The first time you turn on your Pioneer CDJ or throw a vinyl onto a turntable you’ll know what I mean. The technology is so exciting and you can’t wait to start playing your tracks together.

Soon you will try to play two songs together and the moment you do you’re instantly lost. You were feeling like a DJ with your flashy gear and a decent collection of music but then it hits you.

There is a mis-mash of sounds and you don’t know which are which. It’s just noise. You’re overwhelmed by the sound but you try to focus. You’ll squint your face and press your headphone ear cup harder to try to hear better but it won’t help.

Don’t worry! You’re not alone.

Even the world’s top superstar DJs started out the same. You see the human brain isn’t naturally programmed to listen to two sounds at once. We are good at focusing on 1 sound but as soon as you add another we have a tough time keeping track of both.

The even better news is that its pretty easy to train your ears and your brain to tell two songs apart and to be able to pick out different elements of a song. This is great news because its an essential part of learning to DJ.

So don’t get frustrated. Don’t give up. Anyone can learn to beatmatch.

2) DJ Egos

Once you’re able to beatmatch and mix like a DJ you’re probably going to start trying for gigs. Its at around this point when you’ll start meeting more DJs. And if you have an social intelligence at all you’ll quickly notice that most DJs have egos.

The ironic thing is that the vast majority of DJs have egos. There are even a lot of local DJs that only play house parties for their friends that have the ego of a celebrity.

Don’t be one of them. Not because people don’t like egos (they don’t), but because it won’t help you as a DJ. A lot of my DJ career was advanced because I am a very easy person to get along with. I would be offered big DJ gigs because promoters and nightclub owners enjoyed working with me.

The nicer and more down to earth you are, the better you will fair as a DJ. Don’t believe for a second that you have to be full of yourself to succeed.

3) DJ Training will save you time

For whatever reason a lot of DJs post on message forums asking for advice on how to start. The old wrinkled veterans from the vinyl days will say “teach yourself”. Very few DJs share the advice of “invest in DJ training”.

Yet that is the best tip I can give any new DJ. It took me almost 2 years to learn how to DJ because I took their advice and taught myself. I could have gotten my first gig within 2 months instead of 2 years if I had invested in some DJ lessons.

And I know that DJ lessons are expensive. But online DJ training videos or online dj lessons are cheap. You get to watch them over and over again and you’ll make the $50 or whatever nominal amount it is back with your first gig. So why not save months or years of your life and learn to DJ 10 times faster with some DJ Training?

Investing in DJ training is the best investment you’ll ever make!

I have been getting lots of emails and comments lately asking for a post on different kinds of DJ software. So today I will let you in on one of my personal secrets – the beat making software that will teach you how to make beats for your DJ mixes!

The reason I have kept it a secret for so long is that I didn’t want people to know just how easy it is to make really awesome beats for your music when you have the best beat making software. I figured that if everyone knew about this, they wouldn’t be as impressed by my music. But then I decided that I’d rather give out solid tips to my readers than worry about what people think about my own work.

So here you go – one of the best beat making software I know!

For a long time now, I have been using Sonic Producer to make my beats. I had tried a few different programs before, but most of them were not as good as this one, so I stuck with it. If you want to hear an example of what kind of beats I make with Sonic Producer, you could listen to a few samples at their website.

So you can see, the beats sound very professional and high quality. That’s exactly why I stuck with this software after trying a bunch of other ones. But there were 2 other main advantages – lots of features and simplicity. It is so damn easy to make awesome sounding beats with this beat making software that I didn’t want to put it down when I first started using it. I spent hours making one beat after another. In fact, even if you don’t yet know how to make beats, this beat making program will help you learn quickly.

Here’s how it works. You get a screen that looks like this:

You can either record from an instrument that you have, like a keyboard, or just use the built-in instruments in the software. That’s what I do, since I find that easier and quicker. So after you choose what kind of instrument you want to get your sounds from, all you have to do is click on the squares where you want that sound to play. Depending on the BPM you choose, you could think of each 4-square segment as 1 second in real time. So if you want to play a drum once per second, you just click every 4th square in a row. But regardless of your BPM, the cool thing is that with the way this is designed, your sounds will always be properly spaced. So even when you change your BPM, everything is preserved.

This can mimic the sound of having a complete drum set.

Here’s what the other parts of the screen are for:

This is what I was talking about when I said there are a lot of features. You have full control of the volumes on every channel, you could export to high-quality MP3 format, change the tempo and do whatever else you want with it.

I don’t mean for this to be an advertisement for this software. In fact, I don’t think this is the absolute best beat making software. But I do think that it’s one of the best for beginners who don’t yet have the experience in how to make beats in Ableton, Fruityloops and other more advanced software packages. I have just been getting requests to reveal some of the software that I use and this is one of them. It’s up to you if you want to use it, but the point is that it has my recommendation. Another DJ software I have been asked to make a post about is Atomix Virtual DJ, so that will be in one of my future posts pretty soon.

If you want to watch some videos of how to make beats with Sonic Producer, check out their website!

- The Mixing DJ

Every month, thousands of people just like you visit this blog. People who are looking for DJ tutorials and tips, or just looking for more ways to become better DJs.

There are some good DJ tutorials and tips on this site, and I want to make being a visitor here even more valuable for you.

From now on, I will be more active about sending out exclusive tutorials, tips and tricks to subscribers on my email list. So if you want to get DJ tutorials and tips in your email – exclusive tips that are not published on the site – enter your email address in the subscribe form on the right. You won’t regret it.

Questions & Answers:

- Will being on my email list make you a better DJ? Yes, if you follow the tips and tricks and tutorials, and you’re serious about learning, you will become a better DJ.

- Will you get updates on new tutorials that are published on the site? Of course.

- Will you get exclusive tutorials and tips that are not published? Yes!

- Will you get special recommendations from me for top DJ products or helpful DJ books? Yes, you will.

Don’t wait – I have some exciting things planned for my email list, so sign up for it today!

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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?

One thing you should look out for when looking for DJ headphones is that they are sound isolating. This is different from noise cancelling, which you probably won’t need. Sound isolating headphones are usually over the ear style headphones and they act just like how that sounds. Over the ear headphones fit snugly over your ears so that the sound coming out of them does not leak out to the outside world. This means that you hear the sounds clearly and accurately. Usually, the better the headphones are at sound isolation, the better they’ll sound to you because you’ll be able to hear all the tiny nuances of the music. These headphones also isolate your ears from the outside world, which means that you won’t get outside sound leaking in. However, most DJs want to be able to hear a little of the outside world because the helps for beatmatching. For example, it’ll be easier to match the beat of the track playing through your headphones if you can hear the beat on the track you’re playing on the club speakers. But this really depends on your style of beatmatching. Many DJs take off one cup of their headphones so that one ear could hear the outside sound while the other ear hears the track you’re cueing up in your headphones.

Another thing to consider when trying out different kinds of DJ headphones is how the different frequency ranges are coming through. Some DJ headphones are pretty heavy on the low end, so you hear the bass more prominently than the other frequencies. This can be good for hip-hop or house DJs, who often focus primarily on the beat of the track. In contrast, some DJ headphones come out stronger in the middle range of the frequency spectrum, so you hear the other instruments a little better and the bass may even be a bit downplayed. Make sure that the sound isn’t too tinny – that’s not something you want. You want a deep, natural sound.

In general, you can get a pretty good pair of DJ headphones in the $80-160 price range. There are definitely some really high end DJ headphones that can cost more than $300 but for the most part you will be happy with a $130 pair if you’re just starting out. In fact, they’ll probably sound better than any headphones you’ve ever heard before you became a DJ.

So what are some good ones?

Sony MDR-V700 DJ Headphones

Sony MDR-V700DJ DJ Headphones – These are one of the most popular DJ headphones, used by both amateur and professional DJs. I have a pair of these and I think they tend to be a bit heavier on the bass than other DJ headphones I have tried. One thing to keep in mind is that these headphones are known to break fairly easily when under heavy use, due to their plastic construction. However, most DJs who use these love them so much that they keep buying the same pair even after they break. These are currently (July, 2009) sold for around $90-120 in online and retail stores.

Technics RP-DH1200 DJ Headphones

Technics RP-DJ1200 DJ Headphones – These are my favorite DJ headphones and the ones I choose to use most on gigs and while practicing. They are also used by many of the top DJs in the world. For example, I recently saw Armin Van Buuren (currently the world’s #1 DJ) wearing a pair of these headphones at a show in Chicago. And who wouldn’t want a pair of Armin Van Buuren headphones? The sound of these headphones is very clear and accurate. The bass is strong but not so strong that it muddies up the other instruments in higher frequency ranges. These headphones have a very sturdy construction and that is one of the reasons many DJs prefer them over the Sony model. They also have a detachable cord, so if the cord breaks you can just replace it instead of replacing the whole headphone. These can be found in the $85-140 price range.

Pioneer HDJ-1000 DJ Headphones

Pioneer HDJ-1000 DJ Headphones – This is another very popular pair of headphones. It is a bit pricier than the other two headphones I’ve mentioned here but the sound they create is exceptionally good. I have not used these heavily yet to I can’t offer my own opinion, but I do know that they generally get pretty good reviews. However, I have seen people complain about these breaking occasionally as well. A pair of these DJ headphones will run you approximately $140-190.

Behringer HPX2000 DJ Headphones

Behringer HPX2000 DJ Headphones – If you are a DJ on a budget, these are the headphones to get. These were actually my first headphones back when I was just starting out and I have to say that for $20-30 this is probably the best pair of DJ headphones you can get. The price is very low for good headphones and the sound is good enough for a DJ to use. The one major complaint I have about these headphones is that they are not very good at sound isolation. There is a lot of sound leakage from the outside, so this makes it hard to hear the track in the headphones if the outside music is very loud. But other than that, it’s a decent pair of headphones especially for use while practicing at home.

There are many other factors to consider when choosing a pair of DJ headphones like their weight and ear fatigue. So if you need any more advice for choosing a pair of DJ headphones, just leave a comment and I’ll try to help you out. And feel free to post more suggestions or experiences you’ve had with different kinds of DJ headphones too!

-Mixing DJ

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.

In Depth Beatmatching Tutorial – An excellent and very detailed tutorial on how to beatmatch from Funk Fader at DJforums.com. It’s really old but the principles of beatmatching don’t change so it’s still a great resource for really understanding every aspect of how to beatmatch.

Which Turntables to Buy – If you’re trying to figure out which turntables to buy for your setup there’s some good basic advice here. I’d recommend doing more research than just this article, but it’s still worth a read. Before choosing your setup, make sure you first decide on the question of “What kind of DJ should I be?” because different kinds of DJs use different equipment.

How to Scratch – This video is basically a beginner’s guide to learning how to scratch records. A must for any DJ who wants to learn how to scratch.

DJ Tutor – This website has a variety of information about learning how to DJ for beginners and moderately experienced DJs. It’s a good one to check out if you’re not sure exactly what you’re looking for but you know that you want to learn more about DJing techniques.

How to DJ: A Mixing Tutorial – This description is taken directly from the site: “A basic tutorial for the beginner DJ which covers the fundamental concepts behind mixing two records on a pair of turntables.”

Learn to DJ with Final Scratch – A detailed guide about how to DJ with Final Scratch. Final Scratch is an audio interface from Traktor that lets you play MP3s from your computer through your regular turntables. It uses special records and custom software to deliver pretty good performance. This type of DJing has been getting more and more popular over the past few years, though Serato Scratch Live is a more popular audio interface and used by more professional DJs.

There you have it, a few tutorials from other websites. Don’t forget to keep coming back here for more tutorials and links to resources!

And please leave a comment if you found this helpful or if you just want to say anything at all.

-Mixing DJ

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