DJ guides: learn to mix and prepare your sets
Learning to DJ is about more than understanding the buttons on a controller or player. You also learn to listen, choose tracks, build transitions, manage the energy of a set and gradually develop your own instincts behind the decks.
These guides are designed to take you step by step from the fundamentals of mixing to your first sessions on professional club gear.
How do you become a DJ?
Where do you start, what do you need to learn, what equipment do you need and how do you progress? Explore the main steps from your first mixes to developing your DJ skills.
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What equipment do you need to learn to DJ?
Controller, headphones, speakers, XDJ or CDJs… Find out what you actually need to get started without buying a complete setup straight away.
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How do you learn to DJ?
BPM, beatmatching, phrasing, headphones, gain, EQ and transitions: the fundamentals you actually need to start without getting lost in technique.
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How do you build a DJ set?
Track selection, order, energy, preparation and improvisation: move from isolated transitions to a set that actually develops.
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From controller to CDJs: what really changes?
USB, navigation, waveforms, controls and workflow: see what feels different on a club setup and why you are not starting again from zero.
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Learn, practise and develop your own style
DJing can look very technical at first. The fundamentals are actually fairly simple: know your music, listen, synchronise two tracks, understand their structure and learn to choose what comes next.
Technique then becomes a tool for your musical choices. The goal is not to know every function on a mixer, but to have enough control to build a set that sounds like you.
Looking for practical help with CDJs and Rekordbox?
To prepare a USB drive, start a CDJ/DJM setup, use Rekordbox, record your set or solve a problem during a session, visit our DJ Help.
And if you want to practise on a club setup with CDJ-3000s and a DJM, explore our DJ studios.
