I am new to Djing (3-4 months) and have taken to it fairly quickly as my flatmate has basically taught me the basics of beatmatching. I practise daily and of course find it incredibly fun.
My Gear
Traktor S2 MK2
Traktor for iPad
Pioneer CDJs (Old ones but no mixer yet so unusable)
I have two questions:
Other than beatmatching, having obscure songs to hand (so you don’t just sound like others), ability to play to mood of crowd…what other important skills will I need to develop to become a skilled DJ? I am primarily playing House (proper house, not Disclosure) and Grime.
What other kit should I buy and can I get by on what I have so far? (Money is tight)
Beatmatching is great but don’t keep it to just intros and outros of songs, get creative in the process. Practice blending for long periods of time, practice blending in and out of breaks, see what songs of yours mesh together best, etc. There’s a lot to figure out. Watch some videos of guys like Eats Everything and Carl Cox on CDJs and see what they do. You’ll eventually find your path.
if youre determined enough (and it sounds like you may be) , you can get by with just traktor and a laptop. throw in an s2 and you really have all you need to rock out. as time goes by you will find your workflow sending you to the computer to use functions not mapped on your s2. once it starts to become bothersome to go to the laptop you will either start learning to map those functions out, buy a new controller that you feel will fill in the blanks , or both. just let time take its course with the gear thing, trust me on this. when youre new the best thing to concentrate on is learning one thing really good. if you keep adding new gear, it increases new things to learn, which makes the overall process slower. just stick to the basics until youve mastered them.
practice beat matching but also equally important, phrasings.
practice good library management ( process your music as soon as you import it , ie: hot cues, beat grids commment tags etc)
practice playing in front of people.
master these 3 things, and then you will naturally see new doors open to go through as far as style and tricks.
listen to a lot of music and only keep the things that really really stand out. strive to keep your traktor collection smaller rather gigantic.
p.s i find it highly annoying that on this “think outside the box” community, that people constantly point people to the search button. the search button isnt THAT accurate, and usually even in the best cases, finding someone elses related thread doesnt exactly answer your own issues. the mods(and veteran users) here seriously need to stop policing the forum so much. be more open to new users just posting their own threads! and one last thing to remember is that different browsers can yield different results with the SAME SEARCH ENGINE! just because you insta-google the right answer, does not mean someone else ges the same answers for the exact same question through google. If you know something share it, or link it, but dont be a dick because someone posts yet another thread about sync vs manual beatmatching or whatever. just answer it or dont.
It’s just who came to mind when thinking of those dope CDJ mixing videos where they show you the view from up top. Can you record a mix? Mixing should also be a journey in a sense, so getting your flow down will be tough if you never play to a crowd. You should know which songs are higher energy, which ones are fillers, etc. Try recording a mix and see how you do under pressure.
Beatmatching is the “riding a bike” skill for DJs. It seems hard, until you “get it”, and then it’s like “riding a bike.” That said, the skills needed to peddle around your neighborhood, win the Tour de France, and compete in the X Games differ significantly.
Obscure songs are one route to take…but it is increasingly difficult to keep your set fresh this way. It involves a TON of time spent digging in crates for out of print music.
Alternatively, learning to layer effects, loops, and other more subtle elements to make each song have “your” sound. Finding your sound can be a big part of your journey as a DJ. Just remember, less is more (in most cases).
The S2 is a great place to start, especially to learn two-deck mixing. Later, depending on the workflow that appeals to you, adding a MidiFighter 3D or Twister might be appropriate. Or, you could look at a more modular route built with various dedicated controllers. It is more about how you want to work than any specific “magic” bit of gear.
Haha yeah I can actually. My mixcloud is basically my name on here. HOWEVER, I deleted them yesterday because they were full of songs that I now know are NOT really deep house…and I didn’t want to be associated with them!!
I’ll record another one tonight. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
I’m also going to learn music production at the same time, using Ableton. I trialled a few and I seem to like that the most. I guess having both of these skills should enable them to feed into one another, no?
Maybe we can make this a bit of a challenge… Since you’re a new DJ, chances are your first few bookings will be opening slots. Let’s say you got booked to open for a deep house type of night(Let’s say someone like MK would be headlining). What would your mix be like? How would you play? Record your mix later with this mindset and I’ll gladly critique you
Or you can just record your mix and we’ll critique you anyways but I thought that may be a fun little challenge.
I’ll x2 wha Kwal said.
Have fun, be creative, don’t be afraid to explore your talent, it’s where the best ideas come from. Draw inspiration from DJ’s who you like to listen to, and develop ideas from there. Look forward to hearing your mix.
Inspiration for me was listening to ‘as heard on Radio Soulwax pt.2’ - 2manyDJs - It totally changed how I play live, so many ideas on one CD, that it had me buzzing.
Yeah it is kinda rare I can easily vouch for that lol. I’m a part of a huuuuuge gaming forum and I am known as one of the biggest dickheads there. It’s all to kill time though
