Your 5 Proven Steps To DJing Like a Pro, Part 1: Gear [Summer School Podcast]

So you want to be able to DJ like a pro, but it’s hard to know where to start, it’s hard to know what to practise, and it’s hard to know if you’re getting better.

This proven five-step formula, first popularised in our book Rock The Dancefloor! (which has now reached its second edition and is a global bestseller), is your answer.

Video podcast

Prefer your podcasts a bit more visual? Watch the video version here, where you’ll learn more about gear, the first step in our proven formula for DJing success.

Here we’re going to look at step one, which is the gear, before moving on to look at the next four steps in order (the order is important).

You’ll find a YouTube video where I give you extra thoughts, and a podcast version as well, which you can subscribe to – do this now, so you don’t miss any of them.

You’ll learn plenty from the articles and accompanying video/audio to make solid improvements in your DJing, but if you want to learn more, we’ll direct you to a free online version of the book, and I’ll also explain what extra material is available in our course based on the book, The Complete DJ Course.

Why does this method work?

Each of the five steps in this teaching method identifies an area to work on. When you work in all areas, it has a “multiplier effect”. By approaching your DJing hobby this way, you’ll get noticeably better – fast – and you’ll have more fun doing so. You’ll find you’re never stuck for something to do, and your progress will be obvious, not least to you!

Step 1: Gear

This is the “geeky stuff”. It’s no surprise that DJing attracts its fair share of nerds, and I do mean that in a nice way. Here at the school, we have a disproportionately high number of IT workers and technology fans among our students.

However, this isn’t everyone. And the gear (which also includes the software nowadays) can be a very scary area if it’s not something you’re naturally drawn to or feel you easily understand. Especially nowadays, this can be a real obstacle. And yet without basic knowledge here, you’re in trouble before you’ve even begun, because basic competence, understanding and confidence in this area is necessary to progress as a DJ.

Read this next: 7 Myths About DJing That Hold People Back

You know you need to work on this step when:

• You dread using modern gear and software
• You’re scared of things going wrong when you’re DJing and wish it could be simpler
• You feel tied to one DJ system, brand, even controller, and know you would have no clue if you were ever asked to use any other kind of DJ set-up at all

Our biggest tip

DJing always was, is, and likely always will be something you can boil down to just four simple things. If any DJ set-up has these four things and you can identify them, you’re good to go.

Everything else is either genuinely put there to make your life easier once you’ve taken the time to understand it, or it’s the latest shiny thing, this year’s layer of marketing fluff designed to make you feel like it’s absolutely essential that you are doing it or you’ll be left behind. This of course is rubbish and you should recognise it as such.

So the four things that you need to DJ are:

• Two independent music sources so you can cut out the gaps between tracks
• A way of switching between these music sources so that they can use the same audio equipment (otherwise they’d all need their own loudspeakers and so on, which funnily enough is exactly how DJing began, with literally two record players and speakers sat next to each other, with no need for a mixer!)
• Some speakers so your audience can hear what you want them to hear
• Some headphones, which crucially you can switch to listen to the other music source that your audience is not hearing in order to prepare, audition, and successfully blend in the new song

Looked at this way, the fog clears no matter what DJ system is in front of you, because you know what to identify in order to start playing on it.

0:55 Why this step matters

3:11 Tip #1 – Read the manual

5:46 Tip #2 – DJ on something new

7:44 Tip #3 – Switch off DJing “aides”

9:30 Bonus tip – Move past the gear

Find Out More

The first section of our Rock the Dancefloor! book deals with this step, with chapters on understanding DJ gear, choosing a DJ laptop, choosing software, choosing gear, other items you need, and how to set everything up. Go here to access the book for free.

Ready to take the next step? With 11 video lessons dedicated to this step, you can join me as I teach you all of this and more inside our all-new Complete DJ course.