DJ PlayList

Aspiring DJs should build a great library of music FIRST.

YOU MUST KNOW YOUR MUSIC

• Know the BPM of your songs

Beats Per Minute. Arranging your dance music this way creates consistency in tempo and provides better continuity for people who are dancing.

• Know the harmony notes of beginning and end of songs

You can find software for that too. Here is one new software which I haven’t checked out yet but I won’t need it anyway for myself. Mixed In Key. I use Mixmeister Fusion which has all those features. It’s a great DJ software.

More about harmonic mixing

• Trim your songs

Long fade outs or talking and skits at the end can be trimmed.

A good piece of free software for trimming unwanted bits from the beginning and end of songs is   Mp3Trim or  Mp3Directcut ( is my preferred one).

If you use Wav files then try Audacity but don’t convert to another format. Always keep your original files backed up.

• Normalize your songs

Normalizing your songs will bring the volume levels in line with each other, so that the volume stays fairly consistent.
An easy way to normalize a collection of MP3s is to use a free piece of software called  Mp3Gain . For Wav files you can use Audacity.

• Select and combine

Select tracks into the same BPM harmoniously if possible. If harmony can’t be done then just beat match it and that should be OK.

Keep building the playlist.

• Building A CD Mix?

Try this!

First track should be an instrumental (no vocals) and the duration shorter than 2 minutes 30 seconds.

Second track should have vocals and should not be longer than 4 minutes.

All  the rest of the tracks should be less than 5 minutes each.

• Take in Requests?

As a commercial DJ, you are EXPECTED to know just about everything and HAVE just about everything they will ask for.

Take your DJ career serious? Then GET serious!

Peace

DJ White Hawk

Amin

How to MIX. In this video I will show you how to drop one toon into the other, basically forming a good flow of the music. Toons are taken from cdpool top 100 Dance floor fillers 5 cd box set. Toons are from cd 5 track 2 and 3. www.cdpool.co.uk This method of mixing applies to all formats of dj kit, not just cdj turntables.
ellaskins

A DJ Tip On DJ Production

This is only a briefing and is not a blueprint.

So how do we go about making our own tracks?

The two easiest forms of music making and getting recognized is by DJ mash-ups and DJ bootlegs.

• A bootleg is a track of two different complementary tracks,  for an example : DJ Gauffe  with Britney Spears ‘Oops I Did It Again’ and Eminems  ‘The Real Slim Shady’.

• A mash-up is  a track updated with original elements added to the song, for an example : Mylo vs The Miami Sound Machine ‘Dr Pressure’.

Most DJs do it, there are even albums dedicated to bootlegged music.

The art of DJing is to do with the artist and not the gear or software.

The software and gear are just tools for creating your thoughts.

Judging when and what goes  with what  is part of the art.

It is also very hard to distinguish a DJ performance from a DJ improvisation to a DJ composition.

So why mash ups or bootlegs?

• There is a great following for both, lots of people love music mixes and different styles added to tracks. For an instance there are many versions of  Depeche Mode ‘ Enjoy The Silence’ like Linkin Park’s version is a great one.
• A lot of work has already been done for you so you don’t have to spend so much time creating tracks from scratch.
• You already have a ready made audience.
• You can get quite popular from making these remixes BUT also getting into trouble with the authorities over the sample copyright clearances, so always be sure about the copyrights.

To be Continued.

Experimenting is key!