LEARN HOW TO BECOME A DJ: Part 2 – DJ Skills
So what does DJ stand for and what does a DJ do? DJ stands for Disc Jockey. A jockey is someone who rides and controls something, and disc refers to the round form of vinyl. So quite literally, it is someone that rides and controls music.
What does a DJ do? While vinyl may not be the most common form of music media at a DJs disposal these days, the essence of their job hasn’t changed. They still ride and control music, only now the media is digital and the equipment is more user friendly.
A DJ’s job is to entertain the audience with his music selection. A DJ does this by feeling the crowd and anticipating what they want. He then picks his track and carefully blends it into the song, which is coming to an end.
So what skills do you need to become a successful DJ? Follow me through these DJ tutorials and let’s find out!
Lesson One: Be Patient
Like any new thing you learn, you are going to struggle. You will throw your hands up in the air and wish you’d never heard of DJing. When this happens, take a break, realise every DJ on earth has been in your shoes and remember what separates a successful DJ from a failed DJ is the ability to get back up and try again.
Counting In Fours
I started writing beatmatching as the first skill to learn when becoming a DJ. But you can’t beatmatch until you can count, so we’ll start here. Counting the beats of a track (usually the kick and snare) is what you’ll spend all your time doing when you get started.
Almost all electronic music employs the 4/4 rhythm, with the bass drum sounding on each beat. So 1-Kick, 2-Kick, 3-Kick, 4-Kick. This is one bar. 4, 8 or 16 bars make up a phrase, and multiple phrases make up a track.
This is an important concept to master and recognise when you are listening to music as it is this standardisation that allows two songs to be mixable (once their tempos are lined up anyway).
The common way to count beats, bars and phrases is as follows;
1, 2, 3, 4 – 2, 2, 3, 4 – 3, 2, 3, 4, – 4, 2, 3, 4 – 5, 2, 3, 4 – 6, 2, 3, 4, – 7, 2, 3, 4 – 8, 2, 3, 4
Homework: Every song you hear, count out the beats. Also, notice that certain components of a song will only change on a 1.
DJ TLM does a mint job of explaining counting in fours
Beatmatching
Beatmatching is the bread and butter of a good DJ. When you are starting out, AVOID the sync button at all costs. You don’t want to start your DJ career by cheating.
Beatmatching is lining up the beat (the 1, 2, 3, 4) of the two songs you want to mix. This is how you blend two songs together, making them sound as though they are one. If the beats are out of alignment, your ears will know, and the mix will sound terrible. Fixing that problem is the core of DJing.
To beatmatch, get your first track playing and count the beats from the start. While you are doing this ready your second track and hit play when you say one.
NB: This assumes the second track starts on a 1. Some tracks don’t start on a 1, which is why it’s important to know the tracks in your library. If your track doesn’t start on a 1, you will need to set a cue point on the 1 of the first bar.
Now, unless you hit play at the perfect moment, chances are the songs will be slightly out of phase. You will know this if you can hear two separate beats, slightly out of sync.
Enter the Jog Wheel. All decks have a variety of functions, but the most essential of these is the jog wheel (or the record if you are playing vinyl). To get the two songs to sync, move the jog wheel of the incoming record and see how it changes the sound.
If the gap between the two beats is getting larger, go the other way. If the gap is getting smaller, keep going until the two beats become one. THIS IS NIRVANA when you get it right.
NB: Keep your movement of the jog wheel small, somewhere between 1/8 and 1/4 of a turn each time.
Tempo
The next problem a DJ faces is that every song has a different tempo or Beats Per Minute (BPM). This is why you will see a tempo fader (slider) on every Record Player, CDJ and Controller in the land. This fader allows you to adjust the tempo of both tracks in the mix until they are running at the same tempo and therefore stay in time.
This is what a DJ is listening to in his headphones when he is preparing the next track to bring into the mix.
To do this, wait for the 1 of the playing track, then hit play on your incoming track. Use the jog wheels to get the beats lined up (just as we did before) then listen to see if the beats are slowly drifting apart. If they are, your tempos are out. Adjust the tempo fader of the incoming track until the drift stops, then use your jog wheel to line the beats up again.
NB: Hunting for sync can cause your brain to bleed and headphones to fly across the room. When all else fails, start again. When that fails, walk away and come back later. BUT DON’T YOU DARE GIVE UP.
