10 Commandments For Better Digital DJing, #7

Our seventh commandment is, maybe of all of them, the one that gets emotions up highest both among digital and vinyl/CD DJs, and also the one that has the steepest learning curve for digital DJs.

However, it’s something that most digital DJs will be called on to do at some point, and for that reason alone, it’s well worth putting the time in to teach yourself this particular skill.

Today’s commandment

Here it is, then:

Learn to beatmatch without your computer’s help.

It’s a biggie, definitely, for digital DJs used to hitting the “sync” button and letting the computer do the hard work, but as you’ll discover in today’s video, it’s well worth putting the effort in to learn it (plus we’ve got a simple low-tech trick to help you to do it…). Not to use all the time, you understand, but just to know for when it’s needed.

As this post is part of our Campaign For Better Digital DJing, where we’re trying to get word of our rules out as far and wide as we can, we are asking you to click the Facebook Like button at the end of the post – if you enjoy it, of course. You forwarding this to your friends on Facebook in this way will really help us to make this campaign a success.

Video

Resources

Beatmatching is hard to do, and harder to teach. I’ve actually found a really good paid course on beatmatching (and other DJ skills), aimed at absolute beginners, which I’m dying to share with you. However, I’m current talking with its publisher about relaunching this particular guide with some added Digital DJ Tips material, to make it more useful for digital DJs, so watch this space for that.

But meanwhile, I’ve found something else that many of you may find useful if you’ve never learned to beatmatch.

The following video calls for you to set up your computer speakers and your DJ gear in the same place, and may take some juggling (and even some borrowing of speakers!) but I reckon it could be worth it if you’re looking for something to help that penny to drop about how beatmatching is done.

Just remember what I said in my video about covering up your BPMs, and nudging and timing. So here’s the video: what veteran web DJ tutor Ellaskins calls “the web’s first interactive beatmatching tutorial”!

Useful links

Here’s some stuff from the blog to help you get a handle on the subject, and get you started on practising it for yourself:

• 5 Reasons Why All DJs Should Learn To Beatmatch By Ear develops on the themes from today’s video – and you’ll find a lot of passionate responses too from readers, as you will in the responses to Your Questions: Is Beatmatching By Ear Still Important?
• If you’re the kind of person who would prefer a written rather than a video guide to learning how to beatmatch, take a look at How To Earn Your DJ Stripes, Part 3: Learn To Beatmatch, which will talk you through the basics, and give you some tips from the pros to help you get it right faster
• If you’re still unsure about whether it’s worth learning to beatmatch at all, read What DJing With Just A Laptop Taught Me for one reader’s tale of when he was forced to do just that…
• Want some software that can let you learn about beatmatching while you build mixtapes up? Have a look at our review of Stanton Scratch DJ Academy MIX!, which teaches you the theory behind construction mixes and will help you to learn about the timing and phrasing aspects of beatmatching

I can’t reiterate enough: Persevere a bit at a time with this one and you’ll get it in the end – and I promise you’ll be glad when you do.

We hope this material has been useful to you, and thank you once again for Liking this post in order to help us spread our campaign for better digital DJing far and wide…

• Watch out tomorrow for the eighth of our ten “commandments”. And thanks again for your support – it’s truly appreciated.

Check out the other parts of this series:

• 10 Commandments For Better Digital DJing, #1
• 10 Commandments For Better Digital DJing, #2
• 10 Commandments For Better Digital DJing, #3
• 10 Commandments For Better Digital DJing, #4
• 10 Commandments For Better Digital DJing, #5
• 10 Commandments For Better Digital DJing, #6
• 10 Commandments For Better Digital DJing, #8
• 10 Commandments For Better Digital DJing, #9
• 10 Commandments For Better Digital DJing, #10

What are your views on our seventh commandment? Do you think it’s necessary for DJs to know how to beatmatch? Or are all the new tricks where DJing is really at nowadays? Please let us know your thoughts and experiences in the comments.