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How to be a DJ

How to be a DJ

How to be a DJ

This is a pretty good video that shows the basics of how to be a DJ.

You can use a vinyl deck, a cd jog wheel, or you can create your mix digitally on a computer. As I began to get a handle on the jog wheel, I became a convert, but now I am totally into just plugging it in and fire up the software. Even more adaptable to a dj setting, computers save a ton of time, but some people consider digital DJ decks cheating.

The DJ in this video starts with Vinyl and goes all the way through to DJing on an iPad, with the DJAY app.

Most DJs are either on laptops, or are using hybrid systems. Novation’s Dicer makes queue points looping and effects easy. Apart from clubs, like the ones this DJ talks about in Berlin, that only play vinyl, pretty much every DJ is digital. There will always be some outliers, just like there are some photographers that still shoot on film, but really modern DJs are digital, and that is OK.

What kind of software should you use as a beginner DJ?

This is a quick list of DJ software. You can check each out and decide for yourself. I know that End up using the app “DJAY” or “iMaschine” quite a bit.

DJ Etienne David Franc has a really fun quote that talks about how much technology has changed how he creates music:

Franc does a huge amount of his composing on iMaschine, the phone app version of a drum machine/sequencer/controller that is changing the way producers make beats and perform live. “I’ve been starting 90 percent of [my latest] music on my phone when I’m in a parking lot, waiting for my wife and kids to come out of Home Depot or something,” he says. “It’s actually ridiculous how much my iPad and iPhone are these core tools for me right now. I still practice my bass and my guitar; I still sit down in front of dots on a page; I still transcribe and I still do all that hyper-nerdy, ivory tower, music studies type stuff, but on the flipside, I can totally make music just by yelling into my phone.”

If you really want to be a DJ, check out that software. I know that you are already on your computer, probably a mac, so you already have 90% of what you need, Go for it!

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