DJ Lessons: So You Want to be a DJ

DJ Lessons written by Ryan Morales
So you want to be a DJ? Well, I’ve been a DJ for over 20 years. I’ve played at some of NYC’s and Miami’s most famous clubs. For the last 3 years I have played at Ultra Music Festival and have been featured in various media publications. People always think it’s easy to be a DJ but it’s really not. DJing is an art and requires a lot of time and dedication to actually become good. Also, new technologies are awesome, but knowing your roots is just as important. So here is a beginner lesson in DJing:

DJ Lessons

Lesson 1:
Learn your equipment & its basic functions. Get to know all the knobs and buttons, and what they do.

CD Player:

Power on & off, play, stop, skip, & search songs, loop, tempo adjust, vinyl or CD mode, ejecting disk, time display, BPM counter.

Mixer:

Power ON & OFF, master volume, line volumes, gains, EQ’s, headphone cue, stereo or mono switch, cross fader, effects section, designate input lines.

DJ Lessons: What is the “Magic Number” ?

When you DJ, you have to count your beats. Therefore, 4 is the magic number and any multiples of it which include 8, 16, 32, & 64.
Music is measured in segments of 4 so in order to keep good timing you should count beats in 4′s or any of the other numbers related. Change-ups in music are usually every 32 beats. Most music will start a new change-up with a cymbal crash or something similar. When transitioning songs, you want to match the beats so they equally land together, meaning that if you count properly you should be able to mix the songs on first the beat of of change-up.

Try this out and see if it helps you better your mixing skills
If you have any questions about my DJ Lessons please feel free to email me at ryan@rm2project.com

These DJ Lessons are the things I believe makes a DJ good. With over 20 years of experience I believe I know what is important to make my readers better at the art of DJing.