DJ basics

Hello again,

I hope the previous videos and tutorials have been of use to you guys. Now it’s time to get down to business and find out what being a DJ is all about.

It’s important for me to take small steps initially and not get too much in the deep end straight away. I was practicing a few techniques earlier to help me create an action plan for how I want to progress over the next month or so. This may change, however I need a starting point so let’s roll with the following plan.

Musical theory

• The components of a dance track
• Beats, bars and phrases
• Pitch, tempo and key

Beatmatching

• What BPM is and the usefulness of the CDJs built-in BPM counter
• Cueing a track
• Matching beats with stop/starts
• Matching beats with jog wheel
• Matching beats with pitch riding

Transitioning techniques

• Where in the track we should being to mix
• Blending with eq switches
• Killing 4th beat of track whilst sampling the cued track
• Cutting straight into the cued track every 4th beat
• Killing the power before the track goes mental
• Slow the track to a halt then jump into the cued track
• Cut straight into the cued track
• Loop the main track to give time to bring another one in
• Spin the main track backwards before transitioning

Until next time….

Ok, that’s a comprehensive list and we will get started on it next time. Let’s get the boring stuff out of the way first, i.e. the musical theory. I’ll try to make it as fun as possible by explaining things through good tunes.