FROM

7 PROVEN WAYS YOU CAN

IMPROVE YOUR DJING TODAY
This PDF report is part of the Digital DJ Masterclass training resources produced by
Digital DJ Tips. It is written by Phil Morse, founder and editor of Digital DJ Tips.

INTRODUCTION
THE BEST WAY TO GET BETTER at anything is to find someone who's where you want to
be, and get them to show you how they did it - and this is completely true for DJing as
well. Trouble is, if you are lucky enough to have a successful DJ as a friend, and they've
got the time to teach you, they will nearly always (with the best of intentions) fall into one
of two traps:
1. They'll tell you to do it they way they did it - with the same gear, following the same
path etc. Trouble is, things change all the time and their way might not be the right way
for you
2. They'll give you very broad advice ("read the crowd", "play good music" etc) - stuff
that's important to do, but that's not actionable. (How, exactly, do you "read the crowd"
or "play good music"?)
In many years as CEO of Digital DJ Tips, I've helped tens of thousands of people to
become good DJs, and I've learned the things that really trip people up and hold them
back - things that with the right training, can be overcome, leapfrogging your DJing
hobby or career to where you want to be, cutting out months or years of not getting
anywhere. Because truthfully, having a passion for music is essential, but it's not enough
- you need to have a pathway of things to be doing to get you to where you're dreaming
of. And that's exactly what this PDF is about.
Below, I reveal seven proven ways you can start improving your DJing today. I know
you're going to find them useful, because they answer the frustrations shared with me by
hundreds of DJs every single week inside our courses, in our comments, on our forum and
through our support tickets.
I'd love to hear your results - so please feel free to email me at [email protected]
and let me know how you're getting on. Alternatively, come and join in our at http://www.
digitaldjtips.com/forum - we'd love to have you share your successes with us!

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1. MASTER LOOPING & FILTERS

If you want to lift your mixing to the next level and incorporate two things that practically
all pro DJs use, practically all the time, this is how to do it.
Filter is basically a "fancy EQ". Its huge benefits to the DJ are that it is pretty much on all
gear nowadays (in software, on many controllers as a dedicated knob or part of the FX
section, on most club mixers) and it is used so much by producers that youd be silly not
to be using it in your mixing too. Try listening for its use in tracks and accentuating whats
already there by copying the filter sweeps of producers, or using it instead of the EQ
(especially the bass EQ) to bring tracks in and out of the mix. Using filters will make your
mixing sound smoother and more professional.
Looping first arrived on CDJs, with manual loop in/out points, and quickly became a
mainstay of DJ software, where it took a huge leap in usability. How? Because as DJ
software knows the BPM and beats of a track, it can easily loop a perfect 2, 4, 8, 16 or
32 beats (for instance) without you needing to specify the exact start and end points - and
it will more often than not still sound good. Either way, though, looping has revolutionised
DJing and specifically mixing, because now, you can loop a section that interests you, and
mix over the top of it. CDJs or software, its there for the taking.
Nine times out of ten, its simply used to get from one tune to the next, by looping a
nondescript section of the end of the outgoing tunes and mixing tightly and cleanly over
the top of it with the incoming tune. In todays pop world where many songs people want
to hear in clubs have shorter sections for you to mix over, this tool can help you to make
things flow much more easily. True, overusing it can make sets sound boring, but used
sparingly and carefully, looping can allow you to perform mixes that otherwise would be
impossible. Its a bit of a secret weapon of the pros, and again, youd therefore be silly
not to incorporate it into your own DJing.

2. UNDERSTAND LEVELS
If you want to sound good, this is so important. Its one that so often gets overlooked,
but that with a bit of practice, you can tick off the list and so improve your DJing hugely.
There are two elements to this: Understanding gain staging - or how sound moves
through a DJ system - and understanding mixing levels.
Gain staging, audio levels, VU meters and so on all refer to how loud the signal is at
given points in its progress from music source to speakers. So first, the signal enters your
DJ mixer (hardware mixer or internal software / controller mixer - its the same principle).

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Theres normally a gain or trim that lets you adjust the incoming level. This should
be set to as high as possible without going in to the red. Next theres the output level
from your DJ controller or mixer - the master level. Again, same rule - as high as possible
without going into the red. Next, there may be a PA mixer. Here you adjust the volume to
where you want the overall room volume to be, again... you can guess.
So the big rule is: Dont go into the red! But the next big rule is, if you want to adjust the
volume in the room, do so from the speakers back. In other words, if youre DJing a party
and you want to turn it up (or down), head for the PA amp (or ask the sound engineer to
do this for you from his desk when DJing in a club) first. Next port of call is the master
output from your controller or mixer. Once thats at top level, youre basically as loud as
you can go. Making everything louder by turning the gain and channel volumes and EQs
etc up as far as theyll go because youve run out of other options is absolutely the wrong
thing to do and can damage ears and equipment - at the very least its guaranteed to
ruin your sound quality. Respecting and understanding this simple fact, though, gives you
clean, crisp and danceable audio that even if you dont do much else right, will stand you
apart from so many other DJs who simply are too ignorant to understand these basics.
Secondly, lets look at levels within a mix. This one is quite simple really: You need to
always know what level is dominating when youre mixing. What is the track the crowd
can hear the most? Because when it comes down to it, DJing is moving from one tune
to the next, over and over again, until the last tune. Being in control of when the crowd is
switched from the outgoing tune to the incoming one is the essence of DJ beatmixing.
The biggest single tools here are volume between the two decks (of course), and also the
volume of the bass (usually the kick drum). Thats what DJs are doing when you see them
with one hand on each of the bass EQs - theyre switching the bass emphasis from one
kick drum to the other.
A great way to practise this (and to practise so many other things in DJing - see later)
is simply to record your mix. Listening back to recorded mixes will show you where this
emphasis switches, and you can then judge whether you did it where you thought you
were doing it. Hope mixing (I hope it sounds OK!) isnt going to be good enough
here if youre serious about improving your DJing, but luckily, just asking yourself the
question every time you mix (Where do I want to change the emphasis from this song to
the next, and how will I achieve that?) will see you making strides rapidly.

3. DONT BE SCARED TO ENTERTAIN

DJing live - in public, in front of a crowd, on a webcast, even - is as much about
performance as it is about mixing and music. You're there to entertain. It's not an exercise

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in perfectionism, so there's no room for laboriously planned, rigid beatmixing and

technically perfect DJ sets, at the expense of the main reason you've got the booking,
which is to entertain people. Only when you're entertaining them should you try to
"educate" them about the music you love.
Lots of DJs are scared to put this one into practice. They think that if they're not showing
how technically perfect they are 24/7, they'll be called out as incompetent DJs. They
erroneously - fatally - care more about what the other half dozen DJs in the room think
about what they're doing that the 200 people who are actually the only thing that's really
important. (All the other half dozen DJs are really thinking is: I want to be DJing!). So
they sink into this kind of bland boring routine - no variation in style, no use of the tools
available to them to stamp some personality on their sets. Their sets are technically good,
but ultimately boring.
See, there are loads of things you can do live that'll make you stand out as a controller of
the entertainment, a leader of the party, and not just a DJ. Using the overall volume as
a tool (turn things down slowly, then throw the volume back in at the right moment) can
work a treat. Overemphasising part of tunes (using filters, loops etc to extend breaks and
make the "drop" even bigger) can build tension and confound audience expectations,
only delaying the inevitable when you slam in the bit they've all been waiting for, can give
them a huge release. Even getting on the microphone (use it sparingly in a club situation,
though) can, if timed right, electrify a room. Definitely using your body language to
encourage and help punters to let go and enjoy themselves (dancing, smiling, making eye
contact - you dont have to throw cakes n stuff!) is an absolute must.
But maybe most importantly of all, playing the right record for right now is almost always
more important than playing something that mixes perfectly. If that means throwing some
drop-dead brilliant hip hop beats in the middle of a house set, do it! If it means having
a huge pop singalong before dropping into some dirty trap, make it happen! If it means
deviating from your plan, you shouldnt have had such a tight plan! Your job is not to be
perfect or predictable, but to be edgy, fun, risk taking, and memorable. Sure, youll fail
sometimes - but people get that. At least youre having the balls to entertain them. Those
folks youre playing to have had a hard, tedious week, and this is their short window for
letting go and having fun. Dont be scared to entertain them.

4. MAKE MIXTAPES REGULARLY

If playing live is "yin", this is "yang" - it's the other side of the coin to all that performance
stuff. There's no audience to react to, no body language, nobody will see if you throw
a cake or do Jesus poses... it's just you, your tunes, and that big record button. It's
barebones stuff. This is where you show off your technical skills, where you express your

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musical passion, where you'll craft a journey, where you'll try and create something that'll
stand the test of time. Mixtapes are your business card, your portfolio, your showreel.
Show me any pro DJ and I'll show you a pathway of great mixtapes that helped to get
them there. Put simply, you absolutely must be making mixtapes regularly.
Not only that, but theres a huge unadvertised bonus to making mixtapes, especially in
your early days as a DJ when you maybe dont have the level of bookings you envisage
for yourself. You see, having something to aim at is a huge motivator. Knowing youve
promised to make a mixtape this month focuses your attentions on getting that mixtape
done, which is a brilliant way of regularly working on your skills. And as if all of this isnt
reason enough, as we pointed out in point 2 about mixing levels, if you dont record
yourself and listen back to your efforts, youll never hear your mixing how the rest of the
world hears it. Youll have no way of knowing what you should be working on to improve.
The key things to do when making mixtapes are 1. to plan meticulously and 2. dont
accept less than perfection. This is no time to wing it. Have your set all planned out,
decide upon and practise your individual mixes, and keep at it until you have a really
strong, good recording. I want you to be able to listen back to your mix in 10 years
time and feel as proud of it as I do when I listen back to my mixes from 10 or even 20
years ago. So dont accept less than perfection - unlike live performance, this is where
perfection really does matter. Oh, and finally - do make sure you keep the recordings safe.
For me, Mixcloud is a great place to store mixes, as its free and legal, but theres lots of
ways and choices. Just dont lose your best work by being careless after the event.

5. EXPLORE KEYMIXING
Of all the things digital DJing has made easy that once were difficult - way beyond sync,
looping, FX, library management, and all the other digital marvels - keymixing rules
supreme. It used to involve musical theory training, the requirement to be in possession
of some kind of piano keyboard, laboriously keying all your tracks, then being able
to factor in that altering tracks up on down in pitch also altered their key. Once youd
cracked all that, you could experiment with keymixing (on vinyl, and later on CDs).
Many of us did; few of us made it a natural, frequent part of our workflow. It was just too
laborious.
But nowadays, your DJ software (or Mixed In Key if your software doesnt do this) can
analyse the key for you and tag your tracks using simple systems that means knowing
what mixes into what musically is easy for anyone to get started in. You can even set up
your smart search playlists or folders to automatically group together tunes that will likely
work together musically. Now, you can begin to experiment with keymixing without any
further effort, and potentially find great DJ mixes that otherwise would have eluded you.

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Wanna come up with awesome sounding mixes, mashups and re-edits with songs that fit
together so well they sound like theyre meant to be together? This is the first thing you
should be doing.
Of course, like all such short cuts, to move past dabbling and to do it well take a lot
of theory, practice and experience; a whole training course would be needed to do the
subject real justice. But to get going? Well, thats simple. Analyse your songs for key,
make sure key lock (or master tempo on your CDJs) is switched on, learn the easy
rules to decide whats compatible with what else (see the instructions for your DJ software
or keymixing software - will take you all of five minutes) and start experimenting. Just
be sure to remember that this is a tool not a rule, and that point number 7 in this PDF
applies, as it does with all DJ mixes. Youre going to make the ultimate call as to whether
what youve done sounds good or not.

6. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

The slightly longer version of this one is: "The DJ who only pays for himself, often only
plays TO himself."
Of course, if you simply want to DJ in order to satisfy your own musical passion, and you
genuinely don't care if anyone else is coming along for the ride, then this one doesn't
apply to you. If you're a top producer who's had loads of hits, and you're booked to
DJ, you can probably do what you damned well like. But everyone else? Well, as soon
as you're expecting to fill dancefloors, or get people loving what you do, or get listens,
follows and likes on your podcasts or online mixes, or get paid for your DJing, there's one
vital element that you ignore at your peril: The audience.
It's the "sweet spot" where your tastes overlap with your audience's tastes and
expectations that you want to be hitting at least 80% of the time when you DJ. Part of the
joy and challenge of being a DJ is finding those tunes that excite you that also excite your
audience. A really well-chosen collection helps, with lots of contrast (old/new, known/
unknown, vocal/instrumental, floorfiller/filler etc), and knowledge and experience count
here too, but really it's just a case of watching and learning every time you DJ as to what
works and doesn't.
You'll notice I said "80% of the time". There will be tunes that you want to play that your
audience doesnt yet care for, maybe because youve found a great mix with something
you are pretty sure they wont like, or youve got an excellent new tune they dont know
yet, or you want to try something new - whatever. Thats what the 20% is for. Clearing the
dancefloor once in a while is OK (some might say youre not doing your job well enough

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if you dont) and actually - bizarrely, you might think - the club or venue manager might
thank you for it! (Bar take will go up for a song or two...). As long as the 80% is there, it
doesnt massively matter.
But also, it works both ways; there will be songs your audience likes and wants that you
dont have or care for. These are the requests you would rather not play, and - especially if
youre holding down a DJ residency - you need to be ready to listen to these suggestions
and find mixes or version you like of them that you can weave into your set.
Youll enrich your musical taste by doing so and learn to be the kind of DJ who is both
intimately in touch with what his or her audience wants, while at the same time satisfying
your own musical passions. There definitely is a sweet spot between pleasing yourself on
the one hand and being a human jukebox on the other, and pro DJs find this, and work
on it as a central part of what they do.

7. LEARN TO TRUST YOUR EARS

Something weird can happen when lifelong music fans start to DJ. They can lose all
confidence in their own tastes and feelings about the music they're playing, how good
their mix sounds, what goes with what and so on. They can listen way over-intently to
what others are saying, and treat those opinions as more valid than their own. In short,
they can start to doubt their own tastes and convictions, and ultimately doubt that theyve
got what it takes to be a good DJ.
So what happens to their DJ sets? They become predictable, boring, mediocre, DJingby committee. The personality and passion, and love for the music that got these poor
DJs into this in the first place, drains out. They rely on the tools rather than their instincts.
If this is you - if you end up doing this - you move away from the most important single
thing you can bring to your DJing: Yourself.
But heres the good news. If youre the kind of person who has a song for every moment,
who feels music expresses you better than words, who is the first to spot a bad mix on the
dancefloor, is the one who notices a skipping CD in a public place before anyone else, is
put in charge of preparing the music for a holiday or car journey, is the one who always
jumps on the stereo first when you all pile back to someones house, who sets up their
speakers before unpacking their toothbrush in a new house (this is you - right?) then trust
me - youve got what it takes. You are already a good DJ. You just need to do the right
things to turn whats inside you into the finished product.
Learning to trust your ears means having the balls to call it how it is. If a mix sounds great,
it is. If it sounds bad to you, it is. If keymixing says something should work and it doesnt,

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it doesnt. If a files says top quality WAV and it sounds muddy and bad, it is muddy and
bad. If a DJ sounds boring to you and youd do it differently, youre right: Your way would
be better. Have the cojones to do it differently when you get your chance and youll shine.
So what about doing the right things to turn whats inside you into the finished product,
then? Well, getting decent training to help you polish your rough talent can literally shave
years off succeeding, which is the reason this PDF, Digital DJ Tips and all of its DJ courses
exist in the first place. The good news is that the very fact that youre reading this means
you already know so much more than I did when I started out. Use our resources as much
or little as you like, enjoy the journey, play out lots, and youll get there: Just dont let selfdoubt hold you back or slow you down. Trust your instincts. Trust your ears.

Thanks for reading this PDF, and I wish you the very best with your DJing.
To your success!
Phil Morse

This report is copyright Digital DJ Tips 2015. Unauthorised reproduction prohibited.

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