Hello!
I have two questions which I hope you’ll be able to answer.
I’m a beginner DJ and I’m going to play my first gig in a month at a small disco.
Something which I’ve not really understood is how DJs pick the right tracks? I know this is one of the most important things to know as a DJ.
How do I practice picking the right track to mix and how should I know where to mix in? Can someone maybe give me some tip on how to do this/practice doing it.
Key, tempo, energy, overall feel (in arbitrary order). You should know which tracks work well when played together and mixed into each other and pick next track using this knowledge. For example, if you want to increase the energy on dance floor, pick some banging high-energy tracks, possibly increase the tempo slightly; if you want to decrease energy to give people short break to get drinks, choose track with lower energy.
You can practice this by practicing (lol). Just play tracks together (without planning), mix in, mix out, try every trick. Remember to use your ears, listen how everything sounds. Also it will help to record your mixes and listen to them afterwards, so you can take some distance and then judge how songs work together, how good the transitions were, which tricks worked and which didn’t etc. This is also how you can find out good points for mixing in and mixing out.
