How To Become A Dj – A quick overview

These are some steps that will and should make someone a DJ. It is high level and meant to point in the right direction. The prospective DJ will then research further into the different areas mentioned. But at least this is a path that one could follow.

The music

Build yourself a good music collection so that when you play, you are playing the music people love. Not just a random collection of music. Itunes is a great program for storing your music.

Label your songs carefully so they are easy to read and categorize the so they are easy to get to. Best to put them in different genres. Like Electronic Music, Hip Hip, Country and so forth.

Advanced tip: Process the music using software like Platinum Notes so that all the levels are the same. During DJ, less level adjustment is needed. Additionally process the music using software like Mixed In Key. This will give each song a key. So when you DJ, you can match songs that sound a like for a very smooth mix.

The mixing of music

This is the part when you play the music, you will “mix” them so they play continuously. Use software like Serato, Virtual DJ or Tractor as a starting point. This is mainly for using computer to DJ.

When mixing, mix between the phrases. This means songs usually are build in sets of 4 beats or 8. On the multiple of 4th or 8 beats, you can mix to the next song. (More on this later – this is argued as the art of DJing.) There are various ways to mix a song to another. There is the smooth transition, there is the cut.

The hardware 

Buy some good speakers (don’t forget a mic – will be needed from time to time, else plug your earphone into the mic jack for emergency!) and be the DJ that you’ve always wanted to be!

As said before, this article is just a very high level of how to go about becoming a DJ. There’s more to becoming a DJ. In future articles the following items will be covered in more details.

1. Music
   1. How to build a great collection of music
   2. Different curation methods
   3. Tools to analyze music and store music
   4. Backup – Safe guarding your music
2. Mixing
   1. Type of mixes
   2. Tools

Until then. 🙂