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Assisted by:
Danny Bastian, Jim, William Kelly, Joncas D., Aaron J. Grier,
ProformDJ,Will E. Reburn, Artie, DJ Ellis Dee, Michael Erb
With a special thanks to Al Weltha for his valuable feedback and
suggestions.
This paper is an excerpt from Steve Shah's alt.music.makers.dj FAQ that
he edited. More info about the FAQ can be found at the bottom of this
paper.
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Contents
So, What is A DJ • What Are the Different Kinds of DJ's •
Terminology
"I want to learn, what should I do?"
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So, What is a DJ?
Tough question. A DJ (disc jockey) takes many forms. The three most
common forms is: Radio DJs, Mobile DJs, and Club DJs. All three share
the common goal of providing an entertainment for a wide variety of
people through various means, mostly however, through music.
A DJ's job is to combine all the elements necessary for their
performance into one fluid package which can be easily swallowed by all
of his or her's listeners. For some DJs this includes talk and games,
while for others it means spinning the latest and greatest to the
hippest people in town.
All DJs, however, deserve respect for the job they do. This gets really
tough among DJs themselves simply because you can't fit too many
ego-inflated heads into one room without some of them bumping into each
other (and believe me, the average DJ has an ego-inflated head... =).
But in the end, we're all trying to accomplish the same thing --
providing entertainment. Respect that.
Contents
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What are the Different Kind of DJs?
There are three major kinds of DJs: Mobile, Radio, and Club.
Mobile DJs are the most common. They generally work parties and special
events (ie: weddings, birthdays, etc.) onsite. This sort of work usually
entails entertaining a wide array of tastes and age groups, as well as a
bit of MC'ing.
Radio DJs are the least common. Their task is to make sure there is
never any dead air time by filling it with either their words, or music.
Again, there is a certain mass appeal that needs to be worked on and
being a Mr. Personality is important.
Club DJs can be found, but aren't nearly as prominent at mobile DJs.
They have a very specific clientele (age group wise) and are expected to
play the latest and greatest all the time. This sort of DJing often
requires the most technical know-how on mixing since style and
uniqueness are critical to establish a name for yourself and the club
you work for.
Contents
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Terminology
Before we can even get to the interesting stuff, we all have to be
speaking the same language. Here are a few terms you should know to
communicate with other DJs effectively...
Pitch control -
The ability of a device to change the tempo of a song. This is very
important if you are beatmixing.
Pitch lock -
The ability of a device to change the tempo of a song, without changing
the pitch. This lets you drastically speed up songs with vocals without
a "chipmunk" effect.
Pitch bend -
The temporary changing of pitch to get beats in phase. Vinyl DJs
typically use their fingers to speed up or slow down the record by
pushing/pulling the record by the label. Some twist the spindle in the
center to change the pitch momentarily. CD players offer this as
buttons. Once the DJ stops bending the pitch, the decks will
automatically snap back to the current pitch control settings. This is
necessary since its possible for two songs to be playing at the exact
same tempo yet have their beats out of phase. By bending the pitch
momentarily, the beats come into phase and the DJ doesn't have to worry
about readjusting the pitch control.
Tempo -
The speed of a song. Usually measured in Beats Per Minute (BPM).
Mixers -
The essence of a mixer is that it can combine two or more audio signals
into one output signal. It should be noted though that most mixers can
do much more than just combine signals.
Turntables (alias: TT's) -
The proper term for a "record player." Now -- if you ever hear
anyone say the "rec.. player" term again, you must take the
time to either severely hurt them or educate them. Whichever you deem
appropriate.
Beats Per Minute (BPM) -
The number of beats during one minute of a song. An identifier of a
song's tempo.
Cueing -
Using your headphones to find the spot you want to start the next song.
Throwing -
Giving a record a little push when it starts up so you don't have any
lag time while it gets up to speed. CD players do this by featuring
instant start. (normal CD players may take a few tenths of a second
before a song starts) Throwing a record nulls the lag time while it
accelerates from zero to 33ish RPM. It sounds silly at first but it is
actually very critical for beatmixing. (see below)
Cross fader (alias: x-fader, fader) -
A slider control which moves from one input channel to another in a very
smooth fashion. The volume on each channel is inversely proportional to
each other, so if the x-fader is completely on the left side, you will
only hear the input for that channel. Once you start moving it to the
right, you will gradually hear the right channel becoming louder. When
the x-fader is in the middle, each channel will be of equal volume. As
the x-fader continues to the right, the right channel will approach full
volume, and the left channel will diminish.
Beatmixing (alias: beat matching, beat synching, hot mixing, mixing)
The art of bringing the beats of two different songs into phase with one
another and fading across. For example, if the song the crowd is hearing
is 130 BPM, and the next song you want to play is 132 -- you slow the
second song down to 130 bpm using pitch control, and cue it up to the
beat. When you are ready to bring the second song into play, throw the
record so the beats stay aligned and listen to it on your headphones.
MAKE SURE THEY ARE IN SYNC!!! Once you are sure things are in order, use
your cross fader to let the new song blend into the old one, and
eventually go completely across so only the new song is playing. This
will give the illusion that the song never ended.
Once you get the hang of getting beats into sync, you will quickly find
many more interesting ways to fade in and out of songs.
Decks -
A very generalized description of gear used by a DJ to play music. Most
often referred to turntables and CD players.
Vinyl (alias: records, wax, 12" (reference to LP), 7"
(reference to single)
- If you aren't clear on what a record is, then this probably isn't the
sort of thing you should be doing...
Contents
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"I want to learn how to DJ? What should I do?"
The single greatest piece of advice that can be given to someone
starting out is -- PRACTICE! Many aspects of DJing are reasonably
intuitive and will present themselves the more you practice. The core of
being this sort of entertainer is being able to work your music. Learn
your songs well, and get your beatmixing down solid. A natural
progression will start from there.
The hardest part about writing this document is covering all the
different choices available. From my experience and listening to other
professional DJs, I've learned that most decisions are personal choices
which only you can make. If you find yourself unsure about what
direction you want to take, examine both for yourself. Its not nearly as
easy as someone telling you "decision X is the best way to
go," but you will be much more confident in your choice and will
have much less room for bad decisions.
The first few questions you have to ask yourself are common amongst
beginners, and they are:
Do I really want to do this?
This may seem like a terribly odd question to be asking, but it is
something that you need to evaluate carefully. DJing requires a lot of
time, energy, money, and patience. If you aren't sure you have these
sort of facilities, avoid making any commitments until you are sure.
What sort of equipment do I need to start with?
If you aren't sure about whether this is something you want to seriously
pursue -- don't buy anything. Find a friend who'll let you use their
equipment and practice on it a bit. (Don't forget to take them out to
dinner in exchange! =)
Once you're sure you want to get into this some more, be ready to drop
serious money on gear. Professional level gear should run you about
$1000 to get started. This will include either a pair of turntables or a
pair of CD players, and a mixer. You can use a home stereo as your amps
and speakers while you get started.
If you aren't sure that you're going to be doing this for the long haul
and can't drop $1000 for equipment, then skimp as much as you can and
save for the real stuff once you're sure. This means getting turntables
with minimum features (ie: Gemini XL-BD10's) and a simple mixer. If
you're going to spin CDs, this becomes tough real quick... the minimum
priced pitch control CD decks are from Gemini and cost about $250 a
piece. They are good starter decks, but moving up to better CD players
in the future is something to seriously consider. Bottom line: Spend the
least you can if you aren't sure. Buy the real stuff as soon as you can
afford it and are sure thats the direction you want to take.
And don't forget to buy a pair of good headphones! You can get them from
Circuit City or similar stores for about $40 for a decent pair.
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