The massive increase in the popularity of electronic dance music has had a dramatic impact on today's music culture. Now more than ever it seems that everyone wants to be a DJ. Even Paris Hilton and Pauly D are getting in on the action. Paris Hilton has been booked to play at clubs in Ibiza for over $350,000 and DJ Pauly D had a residency at one of Las Vegas's top nightclubs.
This begs the question, is learning how to DJ hard? The short answer is no, learning the fundamentals of DJing is easy. However, becoming a skilled and talented DJ is not easy and takes years of dedication and practice. I've laid out three basic components of DJing that should get you started.
Beatmatching – Syncing Records
Beatmatching is the process of synchronizing the tempos of two records so that they can transition from one to the other. Since transitioning from song to song is a DJ's main responsibility, this skill is the most important DJ fundamental to learn. Is learning how to DJ hard? Well, beatmatching is a crucial part of learning how to DJ, so if this is easy for you, learning how to DJ probably won't be too difficult. If it is difficult for you, then learning how to DJ might be slightly more challenging.
Harmonic Mixing – Keeping Things In Key
Records don't always sound good together. Often times this is because they aren't in the same key signature. Harmonic mixing is the style of mixing in which a DJ only mixes songs in similar key signatures together. This ensures that the songs can potentially fit together based on their key signatures. Initially, DJ's had to do this by ear, but now technological advancements have provided us with a number of programs that can analyze a song's key signature. Thanks to this technology, harmonic mixing is easier than ever.
Know Your Equipment
Regardless of what gear you use, the most important thing is knowing how to use it properly. Even if you have top of the line equipment, it's useless if you don't know how to use it correctly. There's nothing wrong with using a cheap $300 DJ controller, as long as you know how to use it well. Although Virtual DJ is considered an amateur DJ software by some, many high level professional DJ's like DJ Muggs (Cypress Hill), Vice, and Lazy Rich use it.
Is learning how to DJ hard? Ultimately, the answer will vary from person to person. People with a musical background may have an easier time learning how to beatmatch or properly employ harmonic mixing. Aspiring DJ's who are skilled at using technology and computers may improve at using their equipment more quickly than others. When it comes down to it though, learning to DJ is only as hard as you make it. If you dedicate enough time to practicing and learn from the right resources, you too can easily become a DJ.
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