DJs play a very important role in any party or event. Many times, how well they perform can determine the impression of the event that guests leave with. They determine whether the party is fun, lovely or outright dry and boring. If you are a DJ or aspiring to become one, here are a few tips that will help you with an ace outing.
- Be sure to set all your songs to the same level of gain, mid, and bass when making mixtapes, you don’t want listeners turning up the volume to hear one song and then suddenly rushing for the volume knob when the next song plays.
- When playing at events or parties, gain your listeners respect by playing your best songs, preferably most trending songs first. Don’t save your best songs for last.
- Select only songs appropriate for the occasion. Certain songs will be better accepted in clubs but may get a frown when played at wedding receptions.
- Serve a cocktail of music genres. Don’t stick to a single genre; a little old school, a little new school, hip-hop, highlife, afro-pop, afrobeat to spice things up. You will be surprised at the cheer and excitement that will greet an old-school track when you play it.
- A little rehearsal will help before an event or occasion. You will get more conversant with the song’s flow and know which ones go with which. This is especially important if you’re a newbie or have a very important event.
- People are likely to request particular songs. Try as much as possible to play them if they go well with the string of songs you are playing. Otherwise very politely decline the request or ask them to choose a song similar to what you already have playing.
- To maintain your tempo while playing at a party, make sure to pay attention to the BPM (beats per minute). You can find it at the bottom right of the DJ software interface.
- Synchronize songs before you mix them. This ensures that they are of the same BPM. This can be done by either clicking on the sync tab on the DJ software interface or using the sync button on your turntable. There is a sync button for each deck on the DJ interface on your computer.
- Even after synchronizing the songs, don’t fail to check that the pitch bar of your current song is at the same level as the one you are about to crossfade into. You can also achieve this by disabling the pitch reset option in the configuration.
- You can always adjust a song’s BPM with a few clicks. Right click on the song, select the option that allows you to manually change the BPM. It is however important to first understand how the BPM works it will help you execute this perfectly. Plenty of practice will help.
- Don’t get carried away with excitement and tune up your BPM to neck-breaking speed. It may be too fast for anyone to dance reasonably. Anything around 137 is considered safe (but then again that may depend on the tempo of the original song). Most popular songs, especially in Nigeria, already have BPMs within this range. Averagely, most other songs are within 131 and 132 BPM.
Let us know what you think, and if you consider these tips helpful.
(Referenced from ‘Tips For DJs’ on Nairaland by DJoshea)
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