Need Help Learning the Basics Of Djing

-Practice all the time. When you mess up, keep going, and try to fix it on the fly. Record everything you do and listen to it later. Find out what worked and what didn't.

-Get some songs that aren't 128 BPM as well. Learn how to gradually bring the energy up. Unless you're the headliner and going on immediately after someone else, you won't be able to get away with playing only peak time cuts. Build up a nice collection of things from 110 to 120.

-*WARNING: Super cheesy spiritual life advice henceforth* Consume other media. Watch movies. Read books. Go to the art gallery. Find the emotions and feelings you want to convey. Get in touch with yourself.

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Originally Posted by brandoncapela

Hello I'm Brandon I'm new to the DJ world and I need advice on how I can get better at Djing. What should I practice first? I already have a whole setup Using Traktor S4.

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The first thing to do is to find music that speaks to YOU, that makes YOU want to get up and move around. Then work on assembling an "album" of those songs in a specific order. Work to convey a message with the songs you pick, and the order you arrange them. Do not worry about "beatmixing" those songs - just get the songs into an order. Work on getting a flow to the music across three or five songs.

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Originally Posted by Kulture

-Set goals, as well as time limits for your practice sesions!

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This. Everything in this post is excellent advice - but setting goals and limits on your practice sessions is key. Given a blank slate, very few people know where to start. Given a constraint, ANY constraint, you can start to work out an approach to the material. Even the most arbitrary constraints will give you a place to start and something to work around as you practice.

Time limits, bpm windows, only one genre, NOT one genre, etc. Even something as dumb as "play songs, in alphabetical order from A-Z by artist (if you are missing a letter, just skip it)" is a way to force you to look for the next song in a way that you might not otherwise think to do "naturally."

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Originally Posted by overcast

-Practice all the time. When you mess up, keep going, and try to fix it on the fly. Record everything you do and listen to it later. Find out what worked and what didn't.

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Yes. Practice and critique yourself. Train wrecks happen - and learning how to recover, fix the mistake, and keep going is an essential skill you will need when you start playing live.

Can't stress the importance of recording yourself enough.

My friend was in my car and was wondering why I was listening to my own mix thinking I was being egotistical. Really though, it's to hear the mistakes you aren't really hearing during the transition because you may be focused on one thing.

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Originally Posted by SlvrDragon50

Can't stress the importance of recording yourself enough.

My friend was in my car and was wondering why I was listening to my own mix thinking I was being egotistical. Really though, it's to hear the mistakes you aren't really hearing during the transition because you may be focused on one thing.

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THIS!!! I record most of my practice sessions and it really helps to listen back to what you mixed as you hear things just listening that you don't hear while mixing. It'll help tighten up your mixes and help make the transitions smoother.

buy Technics 1210 and learn using Vinyl

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Originally Posted by SlvrDragon50

My friend was in my car and was wondering why I was listening to my own mix thinking I was being egotistical. Really though, it's to hear the mistakes you aren't really hearing during the transition because you may be focused on one thing.

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My girlfriend accused me of the same a couple of weeks ago, she understood the practising element but it made complete sense to her when I told her the thing thing that makes my recorded mixes unique is that there aren't any tracks that I don't like in them.

I jumped right in and started with two cdjs and a mixer, but for the first few weeks of learning covered all of the screen with any kind of tempo info. Learning to beat match by ear is really valuable, and while I dont have extensive turntable experience, its a skill that transfers to every genre of djing . Spend a few weeks honing your ears