How to DJ: The Basics

Any club you drowsily stumble upon on a busy weekend night will usually feature an individual huddled inside the confines of a booth, head low and headphones on, leading the crowd through either familiar territory or the relatively unknown. Indeed, it's the DJ's job to make sure that she sets the tone for the evening and that her audience knows that she's in charge and possesses the capacity to steer them all the way through the wee hours of the morning. On the surface, it may seem that DJing is simply about playing one song after another in a smooth and seamless transition. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Upon the DJ's shoulders rest the immense responsibility of making sure that the night at the club goes off without a hitch, and for that to happen he multitasks in various, unseen and seemingly arcane ways.

First off, the DJ selects the music that he will be playing from a large crate of vinyl or a collection of CD's that he lugged along inside the booth. After choosing, he puts it on the turntable or CD player, cues it up to start at the beat that he wants it to, matches the speed/BPM of the song with the one currently playing, and patiently waits for the point at which to begin the transition to the next song, which would need thoughtful and very delicate EQing to make sure that the transfer is smooth. While all this is happening, she also has to read how the crowd is reacting to her music while exchanging pleasantries with those who wish her well in front of the booth and taking a drag from her cigarette or having a sip of whatever drink that the club provided that night. Essentially, the DJ is the single most multi-tasking individual at the club at any given moment.

The basics of DJing primarily involve learning how to match beats and mixing them in a smooth fashion. While there are some situations that would call for suddenly dropping in the next track, majority of the DJ's set would involve transitioning from one song to another, occasionally either speeding up the beat by small increments with each song (if necessary, or if switching up to a genre with a relatively faster BPM), or slowing it down. Listen to some mixes by your favorite DJ's and figure out for yourself how they do it. It also helps to have some basic theory of music if you want to make really smooth transitions, such as knowing how many beats there are in a measure (in the case of house, it's 4/4) and also learning about keys in music if you want to base your set around a selection of keys that complement each other. Also read up on some basic EQ technique, which will come in handy when you're in the middle of a transition and you've got to manipulate the bass of both tracks so that their volumes don't clash with each other even if they're both correctly on time which would lead to a spike in the low end response that's clearly heard on the dance floor.

It always helps to just keep watching DJ's that you love and listening to their style as well as analyzing how they're able to drive a crowd by keeping their energy up all throughout or aiding them in winding down an all-nighter. The seasoned DJ's ability to make well thought out decisions that positively influence her dance floor is the main reason why club management never trusts a computer generated playlist to man the decks on a packed Saturday night.