A very newbie question about DJing.

helder777

New member
Hello everyone,

I'm producing electronic music with Ableton 9 for about 2 months now, before that I was using FL Studio 10 for 5 months, so I'm producing EDM for 7 months.

Each track that I'm doing, I feel that I'm getting more and more better, but I'm still far from making a hit.

The thing is that I'm feeling that I should start digging about DJing... BUT, I don't know any ****ing shit about what a DJ do!!! I know that they play songs live, of course... Using some stuff, or a pre-recorded set. But that's all!!

I don't know what equipments you need, how do you connect that stuff on your computer, how do you use that stuff, what good equipments the market offers, what is the technics, etc.

You guys get the point right? I don't know shit!

So I'm hoping that you guys can illuminate my path sharing some information about how to be a DJ if you don't know nothing about that.

You can share how did you started learning this, some good tutorials for beginners or whatever!

Thanks a lot!

Cheers!
 
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I started off with a cheap crappy digital mixer in serato. Played around with it and got the feel for what it meant to "DJ". at the very least you play a track and then slide the crossfader over to the next deck and play a track on that side. the more you do it the better you get, start eqing mixing tracks together effects etc. Really just have to do it it.

Try and find some cheap controller, I would recommend serato only because I have used it. I don't know much about traktor but it will probably be more of a steep investment off the bat.

Also try and find some "good' DJ's and listen to what they do, you'll notice it's not just track after track there i a flow to a mix, peaks and valleys and the tracks will most lkely be mixed in key(minus the odd transition). Makes it a journey
 
If you are DJing with Ableton Live all you need is a few midi controllers, I use a Launchpad and a MPD 32. It's pretty simple. I launch tracks with the launch pad and I assign things like filters, EQ, and tempo to different knobs on the MPD. I put effects and stuff like delays and reverb on the pads for harder transitions. You can also mix in your own songs with other peoples' if you want you can make versions of your songs that blend in nicely with the songs before and after in your set. That's the advantage of playing your own songs.

If you want to do a live set, get the stems of all of your songs, arrange them so in ableton track 1 is drums, track 2 is bass etc, put some different effects on each track and go ham. Just launch scenes of each song with your launch pad. I've done a completely live set like this once before and it was the most fun experience ive had performing
 
Start out with Serato! Most clubs, venues, ect tend to use Serato so it is definitely useful to learn the software. Also start out with a cheap controller I can't stress this enough! The basic controllers will have all the features you need to learn the basics. Forget the fancy shit, you won't need that until you are well into your dj career and have mastered stuff like phrasing and beat-matching.
 
I recommend Serato as well, it's what I use currently, and I like it. I would like to echo one of the earlier comments, and say that listening to "good" DJs is great advice. You really start to hear what it is they do on a deeper level and get a feel for the craft. Above all, get out there, start mixing, and have fun!
 
I use traktor and always have along with starting off using a cheap mixtrack pro DJ board. Been doing it for close to 3 years now and honestly its just knowing your songs and using creativity.

Its just a lot of practice man. I would make a set every 2 days or so over and over until i finally got something worth listening to.
 
Youtubes a great place to look at the different gear available to dj on, you can see how people are using it too

Ive got a pair of cdj 1000s and a djm 600 which 99% of the time cdj's will be in every club and strangely no one has even mentioned them here, i didnt expect to see many talking about vinyl but dam, is anyone doing it on cdj's anymore?

I purposely cover every bpm counter up on my decks and mixer and i suggest doing this with whatever equipment you use because knowing how to beatmatch within seconds is very useful when mixing tracks


If you are DJing with Ableton Live all you need is a few midi controllers, I use a Launchpad and a MPD 32. It's pretty simple. I launch tracks with the launch pad and I assign things like filters, EQ, and tempo to different knobs on the MPD. I put effects and stuff like delays and reverb on the pads for harder transitions. You can also mix in your own songs with other peoples' if you want you can make versions of your songs that blend in nicely with the songs before and after in your set. That's the advantage of playing your own songs.

If you want to do a live set, get the stems of all of your songs, arrange them so in ableton track 1 is drums, track 2 is bass etc, put some different effects on each track and go ham. Just launch scenes of each song with your launch pad. I've done a completely live set like this once before and it was the most fun experience ive had performing

do you have to warp all your stems to whatever bpm you plan to play your set at? im wanting to get into ableton more for live sets after using cdj's for years
Any links or info into ableton live mixing would be great
 
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I agree with soundsplash I think what you are referring to is not necessarily Djing with turntables and a mixer but using ableton with a controller (apc, push) to play your songs, and launch clips live and manipulate the songs with effects and what not. I think you should first research what it is exactly you are trying to do because you may end up wasting a lot of time and money on something that is a whole other beast. Sounds to me that you are more interested in producing and playing your songs through your DAW. Hope that helps.

https://www.futureproducers.com/for...trap-dirty-south-etc/portishead-remix-497132/
 
the majority of posts say to use serato and that's cool it's a popular software so you should be able to find out any info about it if you get stuck.


I personally think that once you get going with serato you should definitely put the time into mixing CD's or Vinyl - this would really tighten up your mixing skills.
 
Cheap controllers would deffinitely do the job and they would save you a lot of money as well. They've got all the features that can help you to learn the basics and again they're cheap. Check out different brands and try software like serato or virtual dj or traktor or whatever really fits to you. And before purchasing anything, I'd recommend to get to know the dj controlls and techniques and really just understand the basics. You can do this by watching some tutorials on youtube, because there are lots of them there and you can choose and you can you know deffinitely learn something or even a lot by just watching them. And sometimes you'll need to watch them more than once. I'd also recommend to read some articles about dj gears, controlls and basic, fundamental techniques, cus that's what you'll really need for the start. And after watching some tutorials and learning some stuff, I'd advise you to watch the sets of some pro and good djs. And not only watch, but try to hear the music, the transitions and all that stuff. Try these tips, if you think they're good and helpful. I hope that I helped and I also hope that if you try those pieces of advice, you'll start understanding the whole thing about what djs actually do and what you should do when djing. Good luck :)
 
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