by Native Instruments

Everything you need to know to start DJing

These essential tutorial videos will get you mixing in no time

As a beginner, you might not always know where to start when it comes to DJing, or what to practice first. There are countless options of setup configurations, mixing techniques, and musical styles to choose from. To avoid being confused by the collosal number of DJ tutorials out there, it makes sense to narrow it down to a few key elements. Helping you ease into your first DJ set, Native Instruments sat down and compiled a list of tutorials providing you with the technical essentials of DJing.

 

Setting up TRAKTOR

Learn how to download, install, and run the TRAKTOR software on your computer. This tutorial helps you set up the software without any extra gear needed, and although the video refers to previous incarnations of TRAKTOR, the learnings can be applied to TRAKTOR 3 as well.

Phrase mixing

Typically dance music is divided into beats and bars so different parts of a song are easily distinguished and can be utilized for mixing purposes. This video explains the concept of phrases that are based on counting these beats and bars, making your mixing tighter.

How to mix

Dave Clark from Point Blank Music School explains how to level your tracks and find a good moment to phrase mix the next track, by either by using the beatmatching technique or switching directly to the other track without syncing tempos.

How to blend – mixing different rhythms

You might not want to only play one genre throughout a whole set. Combining different musical styles can be a challenge though. Here are a few tricks and techniques to switch between different rhythms, courtesy of DJTechTools’ Ean Golden.

Harmonic mixing

The concept of harmonic mixing has gotten very popular within the last few years. It basically adds another dimension to mixing records, so now, additionally to beatmatching the records you also chose tracks that work together harmonically, either having the same key or being related scale wise. Sounds more complicated than it actually is, but check for yourself:

How to mix pop music

DJTechTools gives a hands-on explanation of how to mix pop music and different genres. Before getting into the actual mix, Ean Golden gives an elaborated and detailed introduction to track structures to make sure you also are equipped with the underlying theory.

DOWNLOAD FREE TRAKTOR DEMO

Related articles