DJing A to Z: The Complete Beginner's Guide to Mixing, Beatmatching & Club Gear

What Is DJing?

DJing is the art of transitioning from one song into another song seamlessly, so your audience feel like they're listening to one massive progression.

As a professional DJ, what you're really doing is playing music that the audience in front of you like dancing to and are enjoying. That's basically what it all comes down to.

If I had 3 minutes with you before a DJ set, we wouldn't be discussing technically how to DJ. We'd just be putting together a very, very good playlist of songs.

I've been to events where people are going crazy and dancing around like mad people to an iPod. I've also been to events where the DJ is playing music that no one knows and he's doing technical transitions and no one's dancing. I can tell you which party I'd rather be at.

DJ Software: Serato vs Rekordbox

There are two main programs — Serato and Rekordbox — and they basically do the same thing.

Once you can understand one program you can switch to another in basically an hour or so. It takes no time at all, so really do not stress about this.

The reason I made the switch from Serato over to Rekordbox is because I wanted to start DJing in clubs. The standard DJ decks in clubs are the CDJ 3000s, and the software you need to DJ with them is Rekordbox.

With these DJ deck controllers you will only ever control stuff that's on the program. When you go to a club you just take a USB — you export your playlist onto it and plug it into the CDJ 3000s. The CDJ 3000s are not controllers, whereas these entry level decks are.

Setting Up Playlists in Rekordbox

Creating a playlist is as simple as clicking the plus button and dragging your music in.

When you drag music in, Rekordbox loads the waveform, gives you the track name, the key, and the BPM. It figures this stuff out for you automatically.

My top tip when it comes to playlists is don't have too many songs in each one. Keep your playlist nice and tight — maybe 20 to 30 songs each.

Where to Get Your Music

Here is a full list of places to find music, from inspiration through to downloading.

For inspiration, go to Spotify. Search for playlists in your genre, and Spotify will recommend more songs based on what you like. You can also go to YouTube, watch DJ sets from artists like James Hype, and use Shazam on your phone to identify tracks.

Tracklist101 is a website where you can search any artist and see the actual playlist of all the tracks they've played — really useful for finding songs to download later.

Download Options

Record pools like BPM Supreme, ZIP DJ, and DJ City let you pay a membership fee and download as much music as you want. They often have cool remixes and mashups which is pretty cool because playing remixes gives your audience just a different flavour of a track and makes you look cooler as a DJ.

For streaming directly to your decks, Beatport and Beat Source are two solid options. If you miss anything here, just go to Google and type in DJ pools or download music and you'll find a ton of results.

Understanding BPM and Grid

BPM stands for beats per minute, and getting this right is critical to blending tracks together.

Every single track has got a beat. A faster beat will have more beats per minute than a slower beat. A track at 160 BPM is fast, a track at 90 BPM is slower.

BPM is relevant to DJing because we need to blend from one track to another. We have to make sure the two tracks are the same speed and the beats are aligned.

What Is the Grid?

Most music today is made on computer programs where beats are placed electronically to a perfect grid. If you set a loop on two tracks made on a computer program, walk away for a hundred years and come back — it will still be digitally perfectly lined up. You can't do that with real instrumentalists.

In Rekordbox you can see the grid visually. Every track has four beats to a bar — that's the case in all music. The beginning of a bar is always marked with a red line.

Mixing in Key

Songs are written in keys, and certain keys clash while others complement each other.

When you write a song, certain notes are used because they sound nice together. Certain notes you hit at the same time on a keyboard just clash and sound horrible. That's how all music is written.

When mixing, if two tracks are in clashing keys and you overlay them, it can sound really horrible. So it's quite important to make sure you're mixing keys that complement each other.

This is particularly important if you're doing mashups — putting a vocal from one track over an instrumental of another. You need to make sure they're exactly the same key for the vocal to sit perfectly.

The Camelot Wheel

In the DJ world, keys are coded using a system you can reference with the harmonic wheel.

You can find this by searching harmonic wheel in Google Images. Here's what you need to know:

• The same key code sounds perfect together — e.g. 2A to 2A
• Going up or down one or two works well — e.g. 2A to 3A or 2A to 1A
• You can sidestep from A to B — e.g. 2A to 2B
• Do not go from 2A to 3B — that can start clashing

B is major scale and A is minor scale. That's basically all you need to know.

Mix in Key Software

The most reliable key detection software I've found is called Mix in Key. It's independent software that detects keys more accurately than Rekordbox's built-in detection.

What I typically do is drop my songs into Mix in Key first, let it figure out the key, then bring them into Rekordbox. You have to turn off Rekordbox's own key analysis under Preferences > Analysis so it takes the existing key Mix in Key already attached to the file.

The Basics of DJ Decks

The DDJ FLX4 is one of the most popular entry level DJ decks in the world, which is why I'm teaching on it here.

Looking at the decks, this section and this section are identical. You only really need to learn one side and then you know both. The middle section is primarily used for mixing from one track to another, and then there are effects and master settings.

Play, Pause and the Cue Button

The cue button is really important. You don't always want to come in right from the beginning of a track — sometimes you want to come in a little bit further in.

You can move the track forward using the platter, land on the point you want, and hit CUE to set that point. When you hold the cue button down, the song plays. The second you take your finger off, it snaps back to that cue point.

You never really want to touch the play button until the track is ready to commit. What you do is set a cue point, tap along to get the beat, and when you're ready — hold down cue and hit play with your other finger, then take your hand away.

The Platter

The platter has two functionalities. When the song is playing and you hit the top of the platter, it stops — like touching a vinyl record. You can then do a hard rewind or forward.

If you touch just the sides while the song is playing, it won't stop. Instead you can nudge it — spinning forward micro-speeds it up, spinning back micro-slows it down. This is used for beat matching when the two tracks drift slightly out of sync.

The Tempo Slider

The tempo slider speeds up or slows down the track and changes the BPM. You can see the current BPM in the circle on screen as you move it.

You can change the sensitivity by toggling between 6%, 10%, 16%, and wide. I typically have mine on 16. If you find it too sensitive, bump it down to 6.

Looping

Looping buys you time — and that's one of its best uses. If you can see the track is coming to the end and you need more time, you can put a loop on.

Hot Cues

Hot cues are permanent cue points you can set throughout a track. You can set up to eight of them. Unlike the regular cue button, hot cues stay there even if you load a different track and come back.

You set them the same way as the cue button — navigate to the point, hit the hot cue button to set it. Remove one by hitting shift and the button together.

Beat Jump

Beat jump jumps the track forward or back by a set number of beats. It's relevant because all tracks are written in phrases — sections of 8 or 16 bars — and beat jump lets you hop between them.

The value 32 beats equals 8 bars, since there are four beats to a bar. Jump forward 32 and you land perfectly at the next section of the track.

The Mixer Section

The mixer section in the middle handles volume, EQ, and transitions between tracks.

The trim knob sets how loud the top volume will be. Set it to the 12 o'clock position and leave it there. The only time you'd move it is if the track is clipping — if the level meter is hitting red, turn trim down slightly.

The three EQ knobs — Highs, Mids, and Lows — are all just volume for different frequency ranges:

General rule: don't boost the EQs. The track was made exactly how the artist wanted it to sound. Use these to mix from one track to another and avoid clashing frequencies.

The volume faders control how loud each track is playing. Keep both at full during a mix and use the EQ to blend. Do not use the crossfader for mixing — it makes it nearly impossible to have both tracks at full volume simultaneously. The crossfader is really only used for scratching.

The cutoff knob sweeps through the frequencies. Turned left, it cuts the highs and mids and leaves just the lows. Turned right, it cuts the lows and mids and leaves just the highs. Next to it is the Resonance/Parameter knob — leave that at 12 o'clock and don't overthink it.

Effects

To apply an effect, click the button and select which deck it affects — deck one, deck two, or both. Select your effect, turn it on, and use the depth knob to introduce how much of the effect you hear.

At minimum depth, nothing changes. As you increase it, the effect comes in. Past the halfway point, there is more effect than original signal. At 100%, it's pure effect.

The beat knob controls how quickly the effect happens relative to the grid — halving it doubles the speed of the effect. This is another reason why having the grid set correctly matters so much.

Song Structure: Beats, Bars, and Phrases

Understanding song structure is the most important thing in DJing — this is what tells you exactly when to transition.

A beat is usually the kick drum. There are four beats in a bar. The way you count as a DJ is: 1 2 3 4 | new bar 2 2 3 4 | new bar 3 2 3 4.

A phrase is where something changes. In dance music, something changes every 8 or 16 bars. If you don't believe me, pause this, go to one of your favourite dance tracks, press play and count eight bars. Notice how something changes — a new instrument comes in, the drums get taken away, or the drop lands.

The whole reason behind this is because producers who make this music need to make it DJ friendly. Everything is done to a very strict structure — always 8, 16, or 32 bars.

The Structure of a Dance Track

Every dance track follows this structure:

The Three Most Common Places to Transition

The most common transition point is lining up the outro drums of one track with the intro drums of the next.

Both sections are typically 16 bars. If you hit play at exactly the same point, the two tracks blend themselves. Instruments are being stripped away on the outro while instruments are being added on the intro — they complement each other perfectly.

The second most common transition is at the drop. You bring in the intro of Track B at the exact moment Track A's drop starts. Towards the end of that drop you blend, and instead of going into Track A's second breakdown, you go into Track B's first breakdown. This lets you skip the entire second half of Track A.

The third most common is a drop swap. Set your cue point at the beginning of Track B's build. As Track A hits its build, you bring in Track B's build and blend. When people are expecting one drop, you swap it out at the last moment and they suddenly start dancing to a different track.

How to Set Hot Cues Like a Pro

The biggest mistake beginners make with hot cues is setting them randomly with no system.

Here is the big secret: set your cue points at exactly the same structural point on every single track. That way whenever you load a track, you instantly know which button gets you to which part of the song.

Here is the setup I recommend. Use Beat Jump at 32 to hop between sections:

The reason you set both the start of the outro and eight bars in is as a fail-safe. If you're in the club and get distracted and miss G, you know H gives you exactly eight bars to complete the mix rather than sixteen.

If you hit the intro marker of Track B at the exact same moment as the outro marker of Track A, they line up perfectly. If you wanted to do a drop swap, you know that C on any track is the beginning of the build — so hitting C on Track B as Track A reaches its build will always work.

Beat Matching for Beginners

Beat matching is the most fundamental transition in DJing, and it is simpler than you think.

Start with two plain beat tracks at the same BPM so there are no distracting elements — just the kick drum. Drag them into your two decks. Snap your tempo sliders back to centre so both are at the same BPM. Bring both volume faders to full.

Here is the process step by step:

1. Press play on Track A and tap along to get the feel of the beat
2. On Track B, hold down the cue button and tap along
3. When you see the red bar line coming — hit cue and hit play together
4. Watch the screen — if the beats are slightly out, nudge the side of the platter in the direction that brings them together
5. If nudging makes it worse, go the other way

That is it. That is your first beat match. If you just rewatch this section and go do it, you are going to get it.

Mixing Different BPMs

If Track B comes in at 131 BPM and Track A is at 128, just move the tempo slider on Track B down until they match. It really is as simple as that. Then do the same beat matching process.

Blending Frequencies During a Mix

Don't let two baselines and two kick drums sit on top of each other — that is the main thing to remember.

The lows control the kick and bassline, so on the track you are bringing in, cut the lows using the EQ. What the audience hears from the incoming track is the top-end and percussive sounds only.

As you bring the incoming track up to around 80% volume, start removing frequencies from the outgoing track. Cut the highs to around the 11 o'clock position, cut the mids to around 11 o'clock, and bring the incoming track all the way up.

At a phrase point — every eight bars — swap the baselines. Turn the low EQ back up on the incoming track and cut it fully on the outgoing track. Now continue to gradually take away the highs and mids on the outgoing track while slowly lowering its volume fader. That is how I do it 99% of the time.

Beat Matching by Ear

Beat matching by ear is not critical, but it is a useful skill to develop over time.

Use the 128 BPM beat track on both decks. Set your cue point, press play on one track, and without looking at the screen — hold the cue button on the second track, tap along, and hit play.

If both kick drums are sitting perfectly on top of each other, you have done it. If not, nudge until they are.

One tip: because you are tapping along to a kick drum while listening to a kick drum, you can confuse your brain as to which one you are listening to. Try tapping to the side of the deck rather than along with the sound in your headphones.

Once you are comfortable with beat tracks, move to real songs. Set 8-bar intervals using beat jump and go and listen at each interval point. Notice what changes at each phrase. A drum fill often signals the end of a section. White noise builds, then the kick gets stripped and brought back. These are the moments you are listening for.

The Sync Button

The sync button automatically matches the BPM and snaps the incoming track to the grid.

If Track A is playing at 125 BPM and you hit beat sync on Track B, it will automatically move Track B from 128 to 125 to match. When you hit play, it snaps to the grid. That is essentially it.

Loads of DJs like to complain about the sync button. My opinion is it is so easy not to use it anyway — you might as well just do it manually. But if you want to use it, use it. We are all using the technology. I am looking at waveforms, using the grid, using the tempo slider. I am just as reliant on technology as someone using sync, honestly.

One Creative Use for Sync

The one genuinely useful creative application of sync is simultaneous tempo changes. Once two tracks are synced together, moving the tempo slider on the master track moves both simultaneously.

It is literally impossible to match both tempo sliders perfectly by hand — the sensitivity is too fine. So if you want to bring both tracks from 125 BPM up to 128 while they are playing, sync them, then move the master slider. Both tracks ride up together perfectly.

Master Tempo

Keep Master Tempo on at all times. This is the setting that keeps a track in the same key even when you speed it up or slow it down. With it off, speeding up a track will raise its pitch and slowing it down will lower it — which sounds terrible and will clash with your other track.

Emergency Transitions

Emergency transitions are your go-to tools when beat matching isn't possible — at weddings, open format nights, or between wildly different BPMs.

Pop songs don't have intros and outros. They come in with vocals and often end with vocals. You can't blend vocals on top of vocals. So these transitions become your bread and butter for open format DJing.

Transition 1: Drop Into the Most Recognisable Moment

Bring the incoming track in at the most memorable, most recognisable moment. If you played two seconds of it, everyone in the room would know it. That is the point. Not the intro. Not the first bar. The exact moment everyone screams when they hear it.

Wait until the outgoing track reaches the end of its drop — usually a long tail off or fade — then filter it down with the cutoff knob while simultaneously pushing the volume fader down. The second it almost hits silence, hit play on the next track at that recognisable moment.

Transition 2: Echo Out

Echo out is the most versatile emergency transition — it works almost anywhere in a song.

On the DDJ FLX4, go to Pad Effects and select the Echo effect. Activate it at the end of the drop, then filter down and bring the volume out. It creates a trailing echo that smoothly exits the track.

On CDJ 3000s, Echo out is not built in as a pad effect. Instead, set the Echo or Reverb effect at a high depth level, activate it at the end of the phrase, then filter down and bring the volume out. You can create almost the same result.

Mashups: Acappellas and Instrumentals

Mashups take a long time to prepare and are more complicated than most people realise — here is the honest breakdown.

To do a mashup, you need an acappella — a vocal with no instrumental — and an instrumental — a track with no vocals. For acappellas, go to YouTube and search the song name plus the word acappella. For instrumentals, search the song name plus instrumental.

Once you have both, drop the acappella into Mix in Key to find what key it is in, and find an instrumental in the same key. The BPMs need to match. Rap vocals work particularly well over a wide range of tracks because rapping is more rhythmic than melodic — so 50 Cent In The Club, for example, works over a huge number of tracks.

Getting the Vocal to Land on the One

The most important thing in a mashup is making sure the right word lands on beat one of the bar.

Go to the original track, count 1 2 3 4 and figure out which word in the vocal falls on the one. If you bring the acappella in on the wrong beat, it will be off and will sound terrible.

Sometimes the BPM of an acappella is not exactly the same as the original. It is very frustrating. This is why I use Ableton to warp the acappella and make sure it is going perfectly to the grid before exporting it. Once it is warped, drag it into Rekordbox and treat it like any other track.

When James Hype does mashups live, none of it is made up on the spot. He pre-plans everything — he knows exactly which acappella goes over which track, at exactly which point, every time. He groups three or four songs together as a mini routine and marks the transitions in advance. It is a huge amount of preparation.

If you want to do mashups, I genuinely recommend learning Ableton to handle the warping and preparation. Without it, getting a mashup to sit perfectly in a live set is incredibly difficult.

CDJ 3000s: Key Differences From Entry Level Decks

CDJ 3000s are the club standard — here is what is different compared to entry level controllers.

With CDJ 3000s, you bring your music on a USB. Export your playlist from Rekordbox by right-clicking and selecting export to USB. Plug it in at the club, navigate to your playlist, and your BPMs, keys, and track names are all there.

The screen on the CDJ 3000 lets you zoom in on the waveform and put your finger on a point to see exactly how many bars it is from that point to the end of the track — 16 bars, 32 bars, 48 bars. This helps you map out the track structure visually as you are playing.

In Browse mode, you can put your finger on any part of a waveform and it will play that section through your headphones without loading the full track. Really useful for previewing.

Hot Cues on CDJ 3000s

Hot cues on CDJ 3000s work in trigger mode — once you hit the button, it plays from that point and keeps going. On the DDJ FLX4 it is gate mode — it plays while you hold the button and snaps back when you release.

This is the main reason I ended up using memory points more than hot cues on CDJ 3000s. Memory points are not playable — they just mark a position so you can navigate to it quickly. I set one at the exact intro point and one at the point I am mixing out. It keeps things clean.

CDJ 3000 Mixer Effects

The CDJ 3000 mixer has several built-in effects worth knowing:

Noise is particularly useful. You can tap it in and out to create that white noise hit effect — put your thumb against it and slam it open and closed. That is essentially what James Hype does with his white noise hits.

For Echo Out on CDJ 3000s, use the Space or DuEco effects at high depth. Activate the effect, let it take hold, then bring the volume down as it echoes out. It is a bit more complicated than the pad effect version but it works.

Jog Wheel Settings

The Jog Wheel Adjust setting controls how quickly the platter stops when you touch it. Set it heavy and it stops fast. Set it light and it spins on for a while. I keep mine around the 12 o'clock position.

Vinyl Speed controls how quickly the track ramps up or down when you press play or pause. You can adjust this in Rekordbox preferences as well.

Always keep Jog Mode set to Vinyl. CDJ mode makes the deck stutter, which is disorienting and serves no useful purpose in modern DJing.

Mono Split Headphone Setting

Mono split is one of the best settings on the CDJ 3000 and I genuinely think it has made my mixing better.

In normal stereo mode, when you cue a track in your headphones, both the master output and the cued track play together. Mono split separates them — the master plays in your right ear, and the cued track plays in your left ear.

This makes it much easier to clearly hear both tracks independently while beat matching. You can hear the beat in each ear, differentiate between the two, and get them lined up without confusion.

Once you have beat matched, take the Q off and bring the incoming track up mixing with your right ear. Because you have already heard the track in your left ear, you know exactly what is coming. I use this with in-ear headphones and it is just really clean.

Summary: Key Concepts at a Glance