i’d say this is a pretty good explanation of things.
use this and keep counting. practice makes perfect (in reality no ones perfect though 
)
Spin back is your friend 
Also, don’t plan out the entire set. It makes you inflexible. What if someone has a genuinely good request that you have? If you’re using Traktor, prepare a playlist with loads of tracks you think would work, and then just comment in if a track goes with another as a reminder. That way you build a few micro-sets consisting of 2-4 tracks that fit together.
No matter what practice is the best bet, but as has been said, after the second breakdown or pretty much anywhere after that are ideal places to mix in a song. I personally think mixing intro into outro like that gets boring, but especially when you’re first learning it’s good to do as that’s like every dj’s go-to formula if there isn’t something more innovative and fun they want to do.
That’s not intended as an insult btw, the excitement of doing that same transition will wear off after awhile, and that’s when you’re gonna start learning your own little tricks.
Edit: Also, yeah, beat counting is important, but again, you’ll be counting music on accident if you practice long enough. Most of the time you can just kind of feel whether or not a drop or buildup is coming
Correct!
I am thinking Quarter Beats (kicks). So a bar musically is 16 Quarter Beats.
I always get the term wrong…
So if i was to count the kicks, 16 would give you a bar.
Lol, yeah if you have a waveform its pretty hard to miss phrases…So by feel it he means you can look at a multicolor waveform and see when it changes colors.
Some people still have to count beats/bars phrases because they dont use computers but in this case he is so just go with the color change.
Otherwise you can’t go that wrong if you drop a tune on the 1 and use effects to get out instead of trying to hit the drop.
you will, trust me, with a bit of practice. I have every set planned out in a fixed playlist with a bunch of extra songs at the end, yet I have never managed to stay on schedule for more than the first few tracks. not once. so what I recommend is to create a playlist with a nice intro and then throw about three times as many tracks into it than needed for your set. then wing it. as long as the playlist has a clear theme, you should be fine. if a transition doesn’t work out, don’t be afraid to just x-fade it and try again with the next one. happens to everyone from time to time. people will forgive you if they like the tracks you play.
if you’re really unsure, then sort the playlist in ascending order of punchy-ness, power, whatever it’s called, so that you can cruise easier if you’re not sure what exact song to play. need more punch? move down a few tracks and check them out through the headphone cue. need to give people a bar break? move up a few tracks and see what you find. in the heat of the moment it happens that you know exactly what track should be next but you can’t remember the name or what the artist was called. now good luck finding it in a playlist with 2k tracks in alphabetical order…
good luck
So lost me on this one
Holy shit, this isn’t brain surgery FFS! Just sit down, cue up a track and start playing and mixing tracks one after another.
Done.
How hard was that? If you don’t even have the confidence to do that at home, what makes you think you are ready to play out?
Most dance music is in 4/4 time. This time signature implies that a quarter note (usually where the kicks are) gets 1 beat, and there are 4 beats in a measure. A measure is the same thing as a bar. 4 beats in a bar.
I think dope was saying that if your only contribution to a thread is posting the word ‘weak’ then you’re not being hugely helpful, and may do better keeping your opinions to yourself.
I think its a confidence thing - if you’ve not done it before, DJing out when you really give a shit about sounding good can be damn scary. My first sets were fairly well planned out before I started, and over a time I ended up building things on the hoof. Thesedays I usually have no idea what I’m going to play with about 5 minutes to go before my first track …
This
aaaaand this
and I don’t even play EDM
What did you exactly get in before the lock?
That is exactly what i do!!! Grease the wheels!!
I kinda started skipping posts after a bit as things degenerated into being the complete opposite of helpful, but fwiw I can understand you wanting a “safety net” in having a set all planned out before your first gig, and even if there are “veterans” on here who tell you not to, you’d be surprised at how many veterans also had their sets planned out when they were just beginning. Confidence and knowledge of your music is what you need as previously pointed out, but I also find that marking out the busy parts of tracks with cues (I use fade in and fade out markers as I don’t use them anywhere else) as a sort of “shit will clash badly at this part” kind of warning (usually it’s the melody). That way I know to chuck in a safety loop, or prepare to throw in a bunch of stupid fx to transition, to stop two busy parts of tracks from clashing. Might be helpful for you. Might not.
Again, two completely unhelpul and rude posts.
If you’re only intention is to flame the op, then I suggest you stfu and keep it to yourself.
Although I agree with youfreestyle mixing isn’t rocket science and planning a live set (for a crowd) isn’t the way to go about djing. But everyone learns different.
To the op. Leave your tracks & the beat jump feature is yourfriend.
god damnit boy, as I said in my first post I look at the waveform so i know if I’m nearing the end of a song. listen to no beef - afrojack around the end it picks up and then drops off and feels like the song is about to end but then it gets even heavier in cases like this I uses the 30 second reminder (how the waveform flashes when you near the end of a track) to tell me when the track’s going to end. next time try not to put words in my mouth.
Those are Quarter Beats…Crotchets…
Fuck…I always get it wrong.
I took music for 8 years at school…can read and play it.
Translate it into DAW use…fucked.
LOL