How to DJ Right

1. DJing Starts with Passion, Not Fame.

DJing isn’t really about celebrity, or money, or getting laid, it’s about music.

True motivation matters. The core drive of a great DJ is an overwhelming, impractical passion for music and an unavoidable need to share it. While DJing is now a glamorous career, chasing dreams of money and celebrity without this fundamental love makes you merely a jukebox. The most moving compliments come from those whose perspective on their craft is deepened by understanding its history and purpose.

Beyond technical skills. Success might come from technical ability and access to tunes, but greatness requires experience, sensitivity, and a lover's drive to share musical pleasure. Obsession that crushes normal life, where record shopping rivals sex for excitement, is the mark of the finest DJs. They live and die for their collection, constantly searching for the next song and the next musical pleasure to share.

Musical evangelism is key. Without the deep-seated gene for musical evangelism, you lack the essential fire that fuels truly great DJs. They are driven by the sheer orgasm of seeing people go nuts to a record they've discovered. This innate need to discover and share music is what separates the greats from those merely chasing external rewards.

2. Your Music Collection is Your Soul.

Your worth as a DJ begins and ends with what’s on your shelves and in your bag.

The real work happens off-stage. For every hour spent playing in a club, a good DJ invests days, months, and years in finding, knowing, and understanding music. This relentless research involves searching dark record stores, devouring lists, and sniffing out wonders in daunting stacks of vinyl. The depth and breadth of your collection are the foundation of your performance.

Build a killer collection. Adopt the philosophy of Victorian critic John Ruskin: "Have nothing in your home unless you know it to be useful or believe it to be beautiful," applying it to records. Focus on quality over quantity, buying only records you can't live without, and never buying something you haven't heard unless a refund is possible. Regular shopping, checking condition, and saving receipts are practical steps in this ongoing quest.

Knowledge is musical power. Become a "trainspotter," a dance-music librarian excited by lists of records, accumulating knowledge wherever possible. Utilize DJ charts, buzz charts, sales charts, store charts, reviews, radio shows, and recommendations from others. Keep a wants list, follow producers and labels, and cultivate endless curiosity to explore, investigate, and learn about your music's roots and connections.

3. Master the Fundamentals: Cueing, Fading, Beatmatching.

PLAYING RECORDS ISN’T ROCKET SCIENCE.

The apprenticeship begins here. While the craft is intuitive and ruled by improvisation, certain technical skills are necessary, though they represent maybe 5% of the total artistry. Learning to cue, fade, and beatmatch is your initial apprenticeship, quickly getting the "boring stuff" under your belt so you can move on to being creative and individual. Anyone, even your mum or dad, could learn these basics from a book.

Cueing is dual listening. "Cueing" involves listening to the next record in your headphones while the audience hears another, and getting the needle in the right place to start. The crucial skill is learning to separate information coming from each ear, eventually hearing two records at once. Practice holding headphones over one ear and adjusting volumes until the records sound equally loud, training your brain to split-hear.

Beatmatching requires practice. Getting two records to play at the same tempo is hard and requires endless repetition to rewire your brain. Start the second record in time with the first, listen for drifting, and adjust the pitch control or use hand nudges to synchronize the beats. Learning to hear which record is faster, even by tiny amounts, comes only with persistent practice and fine-tuning adjustments.

4. Mix with Musicality: Phrases, Structure, EQ.

When you mix, you should line up records’ phrases as well as their beats.

Beyond just matching tempo. Great mixes align musical structure, not just beats, to avoid sounding jumbled or confusing to the dancefloor. Most dance records are built on a four-on-the-floor beat, arranged in four-bar "phrases" that often travel in pairs to make eight-bar sections. These phrases are marked by subtle musical cues like extra percussion, cymbal crashes, or changes in instrumentation.

Respect song structure. Your mixes should respect the natural flow and structure of the records, starting and ending transitions at the beginning of phrases. This ensures that musical "events" in both tracks are synchronized, creating a cohesive sound. Getting it wrong, by cutting off or starting halfway through a phrase, can throw dancers off and make the mix sound awkward.

EQ adds drama and clarity. Using EQ controls (bass, midrange, treble) allows you to clean up mixes by cutting frequencies, especially bass, when two tracks overlap. More creatively, EQ can highlight or exaggerate elements, adding drama to buildups or creating contrasting sounds like a tinny "all highs" effect or an ominous "no highs" sound. Careful use of EQ can make a mix sound polished and dynamic.

5. The Dancefloor is Your Instrument.

The whole point of DJing is that you interact with the people on the dancefloor - otherwise you might as well just put on a tape.

Reading the crowd is essential. DJing is a dynamic interaction; you must get inside the heads of the people in front of you to figure out what makes them dance. Think of the dancefloor as a single organism with its own energy, mood, and desires. Observe instant clues like demographics, what they danced to earlier, and what they're wearing.

Conduct experiments with music. Once you start playing, gently probe the crowd with different records to see how they respond. Pay attention to who leaves or arrives on the floor, who goes nuts, and who looks expectant. Use their reactions – their faces, their energy – as your guide to choosing the next record and shaping the set.

It's a team effort. You are the team leader, but you must win the crowd's trust by giving them enough of what they want before leading them in new directions. Make eye contact, find "party starters" who generate energy, and try to draw in "party poopers" or bystanders. While you lead, let them guide you, balancing the expected with surprising choices to keep them engaged.

6. Pacing and Programming Shape the Night.

Where you mix is more important than how you mix.

Programming is the core talent. Choosing the order in which you play records is the single most essential skill, taking years to perfect as it requires a sensitive understanding of how people react to music. This isn't pre-planned but an improvisation based on the crowd's mood, often feeling instinctive as a record just sounds "right" for the moment. Each record should hold powerful memories of past reactions.

Create a journey of moods. Each record has a "mood" that affects the dancefloor, and programming is about choosing records with the right mood for the moment. Develop a mental library of moods and energy levels for your tracks, learning how they work in different contexts. This allows you to build a set with a shape, full of undulations, peaks, and troughs, rather than a monotonous flatland.

Control energy and suspense. Your job is to encourage and control the energy in the room, treating the evening like a workout with warm-up, peak, and cool-down phases. Build tension and expectation by playing rising series of records or hinting at big songs, then release it dramatically when the crowd is desperate. Vary tempo, mood, and style to keep dancers engaged and prevent boredom, remembering that dancing is "thinly disguised sex" and needs variety.

7. Equip Yourself Wisely, Practice Relentlessly.

DJing is like running: most people can run to catch a bus, some might manage a jog around the park, but only a tiny few can ever be Olympic champions.

Invest in quality gear. While talent and music are paramount, decent equipment is essential for learning and performing effectively. Prioritize spending on the best turntables you can afford, as unwavering speed, reliable pitch control, and sturdy construction are crucial for mixing. Technics SL1200s are the industry standard for a reason, offering durability and performance, though other brands like Vestax offer modern features.

Mixers are your control panel. A mixer allows you to blend multiple music sources and listen to the next track privately. While you can learn on a basic mixer, better ones offer superior sound quality and more precise control over fades and EQ. Consider features like crossfader curves, gain controls, and level meters, which are vital for matching volumes and cleaning up mixes.

Practice is non-negotiable. Like any skill, DJing requires dedicated practice to develop proficiency and artistry. Spend hours honing your technical skills – cueing, beatmatching, fading, and eventually more advanced techniques like scratching or beat-juggling. The more you practice, the more intuitive these actions become, freeing your mind to focus on music selection and crowd interaction.

8. Expand Your Toolkit: CDs, MP3s, FX, Hot-Mixing.

The future of DJing is not about whether vinyl will survive, The future of DJing is about media-mixing.

Embrace digital formats. While vinyl remains iconic, CD and MP3 DJing are increasingly common and offer distinct advantages. CDs are cheaper to collect and equipment can be more accessible for beginners, while MP3s allow carrying vast libraries on a laptop or a few discs. Learning to cue and beatmatch on CD decks involves mastering jog wheels and pitch-bend controls, while MP3s can be mixed via software or dedicated hardware emulators like Final Scratch.

Effects add sonic dimensions. Effects units, whether built into mixers or external boxes, allow creative manipulation of sound. Delay, echo, reverb, phasing, flanging, and filters can add drama, highlight elements, or transform familiar tracks. Use effects in moderation as a secret weapon to enhance peak moments or transitions, rather than constantly applying them, which can become tiresome.

Hot-mixing integrates instruments. Hot-mixing blurs the lines between DJing and production by incorporating non-recorded music sources like drum machines, samplers, or synthesizers into a live set. MIDI synchronizers can help align electronic instruments with records, while samplers allow live looping and re-editing. This adds a unique layer of creativity and performance to your set.

9. Craft Your Unique Sound: EQ, FX, Production, Re-edits.

I like being a producer and a DJ-1 like how it complements each other.

Develop your signature style. Great DJs are not just selectors; they are artists who shape sound and create unique experiences. This involves mastering EQ and effects to sculpt the audio landscape of your set, adding drama and texture beyond simple transitions. Experiment with cutting frequencies, boosting elements, and using effects creatively to make your mixes stand out.

Production enhances DJing. Making your own tracks or re-edits is a powerful way to get noticed and ensure exclusivity in your sets. Re-editing involves cutting and rearranging existing songs to create unique versions, extending breaks, removing unwanted sections, or boosting percussion. Production, using sequencers, samplers, and synths (virtual or hardware), allows you to create entirely new music, drawing ideas from your dancefloor experience.

Studio skills are valuable. Learning the basics of music production, whether through virtual studios on a computer or a home setup with hardware, provides a deeper understanding of song structure and sound. Hiring a professional studio offers access to high-end equipment and experienced engineers, essential for recording live instruments or vocals and achieving a polished sound. This creative output feeds back into your DJing, making you a more informed and original artist.

10. Build Your Career: Gigs, Promotion, Business.

People think my career started when I sent that tape to Renaissance. I’d actually been working hard for seven years before I got to that point.

Getting gigs requires hustle. The DJ world is competitive, and getting noticed requires proactive effort rather than waiting to be discovered. Play anywhere and everywhere, from house parties to local bars, to gain invaluable experience reading crowds. Network relentlessly, be friendly, and infiltrate local scenes by getting to know resident DJs, promoters, and venue managers.

Self-promotion is key. Don't rely solely on sending out unsolicited mixes; focus on building your name through playing out and creating your own opportunities. Throw your own parties to build a dedicated audience and showcase your unique style. Use mix tapes or CDs as calling cards for interested contacts, and consider online platforms like bulletin boards or your own website to share mixes and charts.

Treat DJing as a business. As you start earning, be professional: get paid in cash or secure deposits, track expenses for tax purposes, and consider getting an accountant. Building your reputation involves being reliable, knowing your market value, and being unique. As your career grows, consider getting a manager to handle business aspects and a booking agent to secure gigs, but remember they look for established talent with star potential.

11. Be Brave, Be Different, Be Yourself.

Lead, don’t follow. Believe in what you feel, Do what you love, not what you think people might want.

Originality is your superpower. In a crowded field, the most important thing is to do it your way and no one else's. While it's natural to have heroes, simply copying them makes you an impressionist, not an artist. Concentrate on being uniquely you, developing a sound and style that is sparkling, unforgettable, and defiantly yours.

Take calculated risks. Don't be afraid to experiment with different styles, tempos, or unexpected tracks, even if it means occasionally thinning the crowd. Sometimes, introducing a radically new sound requires bravery and conviction, trusting your instincts over immediate audience reaction. A dramatic change can be more effective than trying to awkwardly blend disparate styles.

Confidence is magnetic. Whether playing out for the first time or following a faster DJ, project confidence. Make an entrance with a noticeable track, turn the volume down slightly to create headroom, and show the crowd you are taking them somewhere exciting. If things don't go as planned, don't be too hard on yourself; learn from the experience and keep refining your approach.

Last updated: May 17, 2025