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How to DJ Your Own Music

The role of the disc jokey, or "DJ" has evolved. Where once the term described a radio broadcaster who played music, it is now typically used to describe a live entertainer. Live DJs use a blend of mixing and "scratching" in their performances. In Hip-Hop music, the DJ has a prominent musical role, scratching records in a percussive fashion as an accompaniment to the MC. In dance, techno and house music the DJ has a less musical role, instead she is in charge of selecting songs and mixing them seamlessly to keep the party rolling. You can DJ your own music.

Things You'll Need

  • Turntables
  • Mixer
  • Blank CDs or vinyl
  • CD burner
  • Headphones
  • Computer with CD drive
  • CD burning software
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Instructions

    • 1
      Burn your music to a blank CD.

      Create your source material. If you have vinyl copies of your music, use that. But printing vinyl is expensive, especially if you are not printing it for sale. It's smart to use CDs as your source material because they are cheap to make and do not require professional pressing. Burn your music onto CD using your preferred software. iTunes has a built in CD burner, for example. Import your song files into iTunes, create a "playlist" and select "burn to CD." Burn two discs with a different running order.

    • 2
      CD turntables eliminate the need for vinyl.

      Plug your CD turntables into your mixer using an RCA cable or quarter-inch instrument cable. Plug the mixer into the amplifier and plug your headphones into the mixer.

    • 3
      Adjust the faders to mix the turntable output levels up and down.

      Route the headphones so that you can hear the output from both CD players, but route the amplifier so only the output from the mixer is audible. This enables you to hear the disc that is being played as well as the disc that you are setting up to mix in. Most mixers are configured so that the amplifier out sends the main mix and the headphone out sends both the main mix and the output from the second disc. Load a CD into each disc drive on the CD turn table.

    • 4

      Set your cross-fade sliders. There are typically three. Two govern the output of each turn table and one to govern the headphone mix. Put the headphone cross-fade in the center to get an equal mix of both turntables and adjust it right or left to increase the volume of each turntable. Set one output cross-fade dial to zero and the other to max. Zero mutes the turntable.

    • 5
      Slow the turntable manually. Rapid slowing and releasing is called "scratching".

      Match the tempo of both songs. Listen to the beat of the song in the muted turntable and compare it to the beat in the turntable that is currently playing through the amp. If the muted turntable is faster, slow it down by very gently pressing on the turntable top. This simulates the effect of manually slowing down vinyl. Keep pressing until it slows down to the same tempo as the other disc.

    • 6

      Fade the second turntable in. Gradually move the muted cross-fade slider up so the volume of the turntable increases. At the same time gradually decrease the volume of the other turntable. This mixes the second song with the first. Drop the first song out when the second song is in.

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