Why Proper DJ Skills Are Important - DJing Tips

Why Proper DJ Skills Are Important

Like 50 years ago, the essence of a DJ’s job is to play recorded tracks for the folks on the dancefloor. The traits that separate real good DJs from the rest remain the same, too: their musical taste, the ability to read the dancefloor and to create that special atmosphere with their music.

That said, a modern club DJ is expected to possess certain technical skills to properly present their performance. Those skills are called “technical” because they can be explained in great detail and are universally applicable. Examples of such technical skills include mixing or its prerequisite, beatmatching.

The trick is that there’s no hard border between the art – where the DJ’s creativity takes hold – and the technique because the creativity also lies in how you apply those technical skills of yours. In any case, the technique needs to be mastered first, which is what we’ll be doing here.

About the Author JM

JM has played open-air gigs, shared the stage with the likes of ATB and had mix albums released commercially. He has been teaching DJing since 2008.

  • dj mosin says:

    hey bro…you;ve been a great help for me…everthing here is explained in a professional way which gave me some guide for good mixing…thank you and keep up the good work…and please make a tutorial for music production if you can..thank you again….

  • DJ XEL says:

    Great site. This is a good source for all the new jacks that are trying to take the DJ business seriously. Keep up the good work

  • magicP says:

    I just want to echo what the others have said above; thanks for doing this site, it’s a really good resource. All the articles are well written and really helpful. Thanks again dude.

  • Ice says:

    Good resource, as everyone says, not just for turntable DJs, but also for those creating mixtapes and the like using computer media. Beatmatching, phrasematching, crossfades and stops are essential for smooth music transitions. Thank you so much for your advice and the work put into the creation of this page.

  • @elutiondj says:

    hie guys please help me out here, i started djing using the one ear method but i never seemed to beatmatch correctly then my other dj freind introduced the two cup method (as in listerning to two track at the same time ) … My question is which method is best and how do i master the one ear cup method ???

    • JM says:

      It’s a matter of preference. When I learned, I beatmatched solely in my headphones because I had no speakers. I had no problem switching to the one-earcup method later on when needed.

  • Valarie Dotson says:

    I have a Numark turntable and I’m getting the message,( Invalid skin file) so therefore my ID jay software doesn’t work.

    Please advise.

  • Alex Z says:

    Question concerning mid track transitions: It seems that all tutorials/guides emphasise on outro/intro transitions. The issue I want to tackle here is that most tracks I have are 7-9 min long (extended versions) and leaving a song on till the end might get a little monotonous for the crowd. Do you have any advice on mixing mid-track?

    • JM says:

      Hey Alex, yes, there are a number of points you can mix out of the old track at besides A’s outro. One major alternative point is A’s breakdown. You can overlay B’s intro on top of it, or start B’s intro on A’s last chorus before the breakdown, i.e. 16 bars earlier. Or you can overlay B’s first breakdown in the beginning (if there is one) with A’s main one.

  • Question concerning mid track transitions: It seems that all tutorials/guides emphasise on outro/intro transitions. The issue I want to tackle here is that most tracks I have are 7-9 min long (extended versions) and leaving a song on till the end might get a little monotonous for the crowd. Do you have any advice on mixing mid-track?

  • nzop says:

    Thanks a lot for this article, all sections are very interesting and very well explained. Help me a lot!

  • Anonymous says:

    Well explained. ….big up. ..kaboom

  • pmc says:

    Thanks for the tips, you make it very easy to understand !

  • gaming mix 1.0 says:

    hi JM im 15 and looking for some advice on how to become pro ui have had 5 years of practice and i need some advise so please get in touch with me at djfireflyminecraft@gmail.com

  • Richard Clarke says:

    I’m want learn to Dj

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