All About DJing - Start DJing NOW for FREE (A Beginners DJ Guide)

Where to Start: A Beginners DJ Guide

So you’ve decided to have a crack at DJing. Awesome! It really is a never ending source of joy.

DJing is a way to get lost in a journey through one of the last remaining pure things on the planet – MUSIC.

Whether you want to play every now and then for your friends and loved ones OR starting as a paid professional – all roads lead back to the basics.

Zen and the Art of DJing

So let’s begin with a mindset of openness. I want you to be open to explore ALL that you can be as a DJ.

If we remain open, we will be free and present with the music and explore it fully for all that it can be.

It’s all about feeling.
Not technical ability.

The Fundamentals of DJing

Selection (what)

Mixing (how)

That’s it! At it’s heart DJing is essentially those two things – Select a song, then transition to the next one. Creating a DJ mix or performing a DJ set is simply repeating that cycle.

I’ve written another article that focuses on selection.

Fact – Even if you stop one song and start another, you are still mixing. So don’t think that beat matching has to be done every time because you will be limiting yourself as a DJ. You can blow the audience away simply by cutting off one song abruptly and starting another if your selection is good.

Basic Terms

Deck: This is the sound source where you play your song from. Originally this was a turntable.

Mixer: Device (or section of a device) that combines different signals and the final sound that is plugged into your sound system. It also will be where you can adjust the volume and frequencies of the sound coming from each deck.

Crossfading: Blending between songs by adjusting the amount of each song that is present in the final sound being sent out of the mixer to the sound system.

Cueing: Loading a song onto a deck and setting your start point

Tempo/Pitch: Adjusting the speed of playback

Beat Matching: Aligning the beats of the songs so that they blend in with each other

EQing: Short for Equalising – Adjusting the frequencies of the songs for some desired effect

Looping: Making part of a song play over and over which is great for extending a song or creating your own intro (where there was none previously). Looping is extremely useful and opens some great creative pathways.

My Advice: Watch a Few Different Videos

Hearing the same thing said a few different ways can be really helpful.

Youtube is your (my) friend. Of course you can pay for DJ courses but honestly we all know that you can find everything you want to know on the internet for free if you’re willing to skip a few ads.

There’s heaps of decent tutorials on youtube that show you exactly how to do it. I’ve picked one out and it’s not the one with the most views!! But feel free to find one that resonates with you. As long as it covers those Basic Terms above that’s all that matters.

DJing doesn’t have to be complicated. It might feel (and sound) a bit awkward at the beginning. I also realise that imitation is part of beginning anything new.

But take a moment to enjoy exploring the gear (or software) as a child would – without instruction.

Above all you want be (and DJ like) yourself – not someone else.

My Suggestion: Try Before You Buy

If you have a laptop you can start mixing right away. No Hardware Required!

Doing it this way allows you to dip your toes in without spending any money. You can then explore different ways of mixing and later by purchasing a DJ Controller that fits your budget and appeals to the kind of DJ skills you want to explore in more depth.

This one is good because:

It introduces the basic concepts mentioned above.
It uses Rekordbox Software, which you might end up using if you become a professional.

Try This First: Mix One Song into itself

No beginner tutorial that I’ve seen has endorsed doing this.

That’s right. You heard it here first.

You only need one track. Pick whatever track you are obsessed about.

The reason why this is a great idea is that it is a simple way to train your ear (and brain) to discern the subtle differences between the two audio channels that you are trying to mix.

It allows you to feel get comfortable playing with the frequencies in the EQ and noticing all those subtle differences.

Also you are learning that you can extend and therefore – remix the track at the same time.

Also it can be done with any genre and doesn’t have to have ‘beats’. You could try mixing an ambient track or jazz into itself if you like.

Can I Start DJing with Streaming Services?

Yes but it’s complicated. it is possible but major music streaming and distribution platforms are fighting to make sure you are paying for what you use.

Spotify recently disabled 3rd party apps for DJing apps.

I think it’s important to support artists. So I encourage people to purchase music (physical and digital files) from the below online retailers

Where To Get Music

There’s heaps more – these are just some of the major online retailers.

There’s also record pools (e.g., https://www.beatjunkies.com/) that you can sign up to for a fee. These are constantly uploading new music for you to download and use in your DJ sets.

If you are starting out your digital archive then it’s a great idea to buy compilations or DJ charts – which is where an artist or record label curates a collection of music usually from different artists or perhaps they have edited a selection of tracks. This usually gives you the chance to explore a range of sounds and tempos.

Here’s some suggestions from my personal collection! Most of these feature ‘intro beats’ that give you a chance to transition between songs.

All up that is 79 tracks total! If you made a new mixtape containing 10 songs from the 79 you could have 5,227,941,748,053,024,000 permutations (possible sequence combinations) of songs. That should keep you busy for a little while.

FREE MUSIC!

You can also get digital files for free by searching for free downloads on soundcloud.

*WARNING* Free downloads are the wild west of the internet so take care when you are clicking on links. Usually people want you to sign up to en email list or ‘like’ and ‘follow’ them on a platform in exchange for a track. Make sure you use your spam email address if you don’t want your email inbox bombarded with spam emails.