Teachig a workshop on digital djing - any advice?
Hey, so I’ve been given the opportunity to teach an hour long workshop on the introduction to digital djing this coming Thursday to teens 12-18. Does anyone have any advice on what kind of topics I should cover and how I should go about doing this? I use a S2 with Traktor Pro 2. Has anyone done this kind of thing before?
EDIT: This thread is like a year old but I’m doing it again this year so any tips are still appreiated. Thanks fam.
Start of with beatmatching basics, then move onto volume faders, then EQs. Finding a good initial cuepoint is important too.
And don’t let them look at the screen! 
Ensure they have an understanding of routing audio and assigning maps to controllers along with the DJing basics. Beginners waste a lot of time trying to get to grips with simple routing.
One hour is short but with good planning you could cover a lot in a short period of time.
1 - Musical structure ( which I find more important than just right into the rest of the technical stuff)
2 - technical (beatmatch, eq etc)
3 - advantages of digital djing (seeing as this is a course about the subject), cue points, looping, fx, teach them to be sensible and not overdo it 
4 - Building a “journey” through a dj set.
Thanks for the replies. Turns out these kids will be on the younger side, 13-14ish so I don’t think I’ll cover anything too complex like audio routing or beatmatching. So far I’m thinking first going through the basic functions like the faders, eqs, looping and cue point then I’ll plan out a small routine to show them. Maybe next I’ll dive into the structure of how you’re supposed to mix(build ups etc). Then a bit on effects and scratching followed by a chance for all of them to mix a couple songs and than ending with a q/a. Hopefully that’ll be about an hours worth of teachings.
I’d say beatmatching is well within the reach of 13-14 year olds, is certainly a simpler concept than effects and scratching, and is a very useful skill to have.
^^^^ This. An hour will fly by fast. I’d really concentrate just on #1 and 4 the first session. Explain what is meant by #2 but don’t even think anyone will get it down in an hour, especially if they don’t all have S2s in front of them to play with while learning. 3, introduce the topic, but don’t expect to get into explaining much about FX or looping etc. Best you can do is make them leave curious to learn more; don’t try to overdo it. If you expect them all to leave with a command of beatmatching, effects, and scratching, they will just leave confused and overwhelmed.
I think music structure should definitely be taught. At least have them count the beats along side with you. Ask them if they hear the change in the phrase. Also use some very popular recognizable songs, that way they can relate. A popular guetta song or something, maybe something they have heard on the radio.
You have to talk about the goal of a digital DJ. There are only a few basic things they have to do. Pick a song and mix the song. How you do that varies, and the techniques vary. But here is the most widely known. I usually explaining beat matching to two cars on a track. How can I get those two cars to line up and drive at the same time. Explain mph = BPM, and the jog wheel is an accelerator.
I’d stay away from theory…teach the basics first…
Surely getting them interested is the main thing? Basic phrase/beat matching and eqing would be the best way to do that, no?
Get them actually mixing two tracks together with help from yourself and they’ll enjoy it miles more.
If they are their they are already intested I would think. Even though DJ-ing is ALOT of theory, there are still a handful of basics that need to be taught. (I really think beatmatching is just about obsolete. It’s a great skill to have, but once pioneer dropped in sync…game over)
maybe give some history…
Alrighty I’m gonna revive this thread from the depths of long ago. I’m doing this again next Tuesday and I’d love any more tips you guys have. Anyone know any good short videos on the history of DJing or the like?
How about if you start with counting the beats, bars and all that good stuff (1,2,3,4) and then move on to BPM and give a little explanation, beatmatching and different techniques, teach them how to make a mix flow and take you one step beyond… Then where to find banging tunes and then how you can go on to do gigs 
Phrasing is most important, being able to hook te other song at the right moment is key. I’d use sync or matching bpms for a first try, just consider them trainingswheels that can be removed within the next lessons.
+1 to all this.
“Musical Structure” should include some general information about 4/4 time, how to count beats, 8 measures to a phrase, etc.
For the “Technical”, I would add something about digital music file formats. I would prepare a “handout” (pdf, webpage, etc) that talks about digital file formats, ID3 tagging, etc. There is a LOT of frustration to be avoided by learning to rip & tag music to start with. The recent DJTT article on tagging is a GREAT place to start.
Somewhere between “Technical” and “Advantages of Digital” these are GREAT references.
All of Ean’s “5 ways” videos are great in terms of foundation skills.
This is an example of a more “advanced” technique.
There are three metric cr@p loads of information on this channel. Pick a handful to share…