March 22nd, 2011
What Are the Basics of All DJ Mixing?
Who doesn’t wish they knew how to mix a DJ set? But if it’s something that you’re really interested in pursuing, then you need to know a few basic things about the art.
When it comes down to it, who isn’t into a great DJ set? You have to be in a pretty bad mood to not get caught up when a great DJ does their thing. We all love and are moved by music, and when someone is able to string songs together to create a powerful flow it’s infectious and easy to admire. A great DJ makes a lot of different songs come together while making it sound like they were made to fit with each other. Top rate DJ mixing is something to experience at least once in your life.
While it’s not the easiest or simplest practice to pick up, it is a great skill to learn and get good at. If you decide that it’s really something that you want to learn, than you need to know a few basic things to start.
To begin, you need to adopt the right mindset. DJ mixing is not something that you are going to master in a week or two. The first stages of learning the art require you have a lot of patience, because it can be really frustrating when something that seems effortless ends up being much harder than it looks. As long as you understand that it is something that you’re going to pick up over the long term, you should have the right mindset from the start.
Once you’ve picked up the right attitude and mindset to succeed at learning this skill, then there are some technical things you need to understand that will save you a lot of frustration.
* The most basic technical thing you need to understand when it comes to music are bars and majors. These are the reason why some music mixes well together, and why other types of music just plain don’t. To put it simply, bars and major make up the basic structure of music, and each genre of music has a different basic structure.
* These different base structures are the reason why different genres of music don’t generally mix well together. One genre can work, for example, at 90 beats per minute while another genre can work closer to 200 beats per minute. Because of these drastically different structures, these two genres would be hard to flow with each other.
From that short description you should be able to understand that DJ mixing is a really complex thing. Because of this, it’s a good idea to seek out some type of structured learning. While you can find someone you know to teach you, it’s probably best to learn the basics on your own using something like online instruction and practice. After all, until you get the ground level down, you probably are just going to be wasting your time and money with an in-person instructor.