A staple for turntablists for years was the switch on the mixer that toggled between the phono input and the line input. Originally designed to allow a DJ to easily switch between two devices plugged into the same channel, and get double-duty from one channel on a mixer, the switch was quickly repurposed by scratch […]
Please welcome today’s guest blogger– DJ Handmaid, a.k.a. Emily Makarewicz. She has been a DJ for about three years and performs primarily in Los Angeles clubs, online events via Twitch or YouTube, on the radio, and in one festival… so far! Take it away, Emily! When I was asked about my perspective as a female […]
Today let’s talk some DJ 101. This is applicable to any DJ who hires out for performances, whether you are a wedding DJ, club DJ, festival DJ, or any other flavor of DJ. If you are trying to get people to pay you to show up and spin tunes, keep reading. We’ve all been ghosted. […]
There’s a lively debate going on amongst DJs lately. The topic? The future of the venerable CDJ. Many believe the CDJ will remain a fixture at festivals and at night clubs, while others believe it will soon go the way of the dodo bird. I’m firmly in the latter camp. Even now, in 2021, I’m […]
If you play at bars or clubs with one set format, your hands are pretty much tied when it comes to changing up the musical genres in your set. If you play a hip hop club, you’re expected to play hip hop, if it’s techno night, you’d better spin techno all night. If you have […]
I’ll cut to the chase: I am not an EDM DJ. I know next to nothing about that scene, or that music. I am aware that what used to be called house music, or even simply electronic music, has now been subdivided into dozens, maybe hundreds, of categories, but I can’t tell progressive house from […]
For many years I’ve been teaching people how to DJ, and there is only one topic that I’ve never found a way to explicitly teach. I use diagrams, sound bites, hands-on demonstration, and verbal explanation to convey every topic or technique that a DJ needs to know, save one: I’ve never been able to come […]
A name that is not often mentioned when discussing the birth of modern DJ’ing is Walter Gibbons, though he made two important contributions to the world of DJ’ing: the 12″ single, and looping breaks live with two copies of a record. Gibbons’ re-edit of Double Exposure’s disco hit “Ten Percent” was the first 12″ single […]
An unheralded advantage to pulling tracks from a properly managed record pool is having access to quantized versions of classic dance tracks. If you mix only modern electronic or hip hop music, just about everything you play likely comes already quantized. It was made on a computer, and even if the producer opted to swing […]
Its been a little while since the last round-up of DJ Tech News, so lets take a look at the most interesting tidbits of tech news! Rekordbox Professional Plan – Unlimited Cloud Storage! This one is a doozy – I’ve long been an advocate of storing your whole music library in the cloud, as I […]