Help starting out.

Well it seems that you have a great start, when I was 13 I was chilling on a beach in Japan, but that is a different story. I have watched your video of your House mix, but what I didnt see was you beat matching by hand. I believe that your a wave rider like a lot of new DJs. If I was you I would try working on beat matching by ear for a while. Your young, and you seem to lack some of the skills that I have seen many new DJs never attempt. But don’t think for a second that I am being mean, I am just putting the truth out there for you to see and learn. I watched you go back to your computer several times, and not being able to see what your doing on it would have me think that your using a DJ system to auto mix for you. This is fine if your going to just DJ at a party or if you want to throw a list of tracks up and dance. But you should learn how to work with out the computer. I started on vinyl and it looks ROUGH when you see what computers can do for you compared to just having a record and a mixer. My suggestion is to really think out what your going to be, first before you start working on your skills. From what I have learned from not only this site but from books, other sites, and DJs I hang with that there are 4 types of DJs, Vinyl, CD, MP3, and Unsure. The last group is all the new DJs out there that have not picked one style yet. And if you need help picking your style feel free to ask me. I know that you just got the SCS 4 DJ, which I have heard is a great system, but even a Vinyl DJ can use one in a set to change things up. Like I said your young and you have time to work on your style.

Well let me tell you this, beat matching is a skill you MUST have. I went to a club with a friend to DJ with him and the first thing i noticed is that there was no BPM counter or display with waveforms to show if my tracks were synced. But because I know how to beat match by ear I was 100% fine. Well first off you might be able to learn with your MIDI you had before you got the SCS 4 DJ. I use Virtual DJ to refine my beat matching skills, your able to see the waveforms and control both decks like vinyl. The best way to really learn with a MIDI controller is to set up a song you know on deck 1 and then have someone pick a random song to mix into. Place that on deck 2 and randomly start the song. With out looking at the computer at all, work the pitch until you notice that they sound to be at the same speed. Once you have them around the same speed either turn deck 2 forwards or slow it until you hear one bass kick. Now don’t think you will get it right on the first time, or even the 10th time. Every DJ out there can tell you that beat matching with out digital displays is not an exact art, you can be 0.3% off on the pitch and your tracks will fall out of beat. Heck, even I will notice when I am fading out that my track happen to fall very slightly behind. But that is the human element, its what makes us DJs and not a computer. Your very young and you might get tired of trying and failing, but dont worry. In the long run beat matching is one of the primal skills you will use. And no one likes watching a DJ push one button and have his computer do all the work, you will end up looking like your checking your e-mail not DJing. I have messed with they Sync buttons, they make beat matching easy. They do not work out all the problems. Beat matching goes farther then just getting the bass kicks in sync, you also have to adjust the sound to keep from droping the volume from one track to the next, or blasting the floor when you hit that crossfader. You also have to adjust the EQ settings to keep one bass kick from “eating” the other. But that is all second skills you will learn from beat matching. Oh and a very handy tip is to turn your entire DJ set up around, stop facing the wall. 90% of all bedroom DJs I have seen are facing walls! WHY?!?!?! When you get up on a stage your not facing a wall, your looking at a crowd. Your best bet to fix it is to get a L-shaped desk. No need to be fancy, I picked on up at target for just over $60, and its big enough that I can set up 2 CD decks, a mixer, and a laptop or iMac all on it and have PLENTY of room. But the point is that you need to stop facing a wall, you dont see DJs facing walls in clubs, so why do it at home?

I started Dj’ing when i was 13 too 😀 but I learnt to beat match from the start as I had CDJ’s not digital software. Anyway I can tell you that you need to learn to beatmatch by ear… its pretty much a vital skill. as Yuki said, I’ts whats makes us Dj’s, Anybody can press a sync button and stand there.

I also was eager to get out and start giggin by the time I was 14, but I just kept practicing… now by 18th birthday is in 2 weeks and I’l finaly start Djing properly.