A brief intro to DJ skills, terms, and techniques

Welcome to

DJ Club

ABOUT ME – NOTABLE VENUES & SPONSORS

Me – Tropicana

2012

WHAT IS A

“DJ”?

WHAT IS A DJ?

• A disc jockey (abbreviated D.J. or DJ) is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" (sometimes spelled "disk", although this is now uncommon) referred to phonograph records, not the later compact discs.

• Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.• Most DJ play using MP3 or WAV digital

audio files. (Don’t worry, we’ll get more into these file types later!)

Apps such as Pandora, Spotify, Grooveshark, and iTunes

allow most users to unlimited music fi les.

Advantages of using a DJ:

DJs allow music to be played seamlessly (no pause or

break between songs) to keep the dance floor flow

DJs must have sense of what songs are appropriate

for audience, and which songs are working well.

A DJ is trained on how to get the crowd pumped up,

and what eff ects and transitions work best between

each song.

WHY USE A DJ AT ALL?

WHAT IS A “WAVEFORM”

?

WHAT IS A WAVEFORM?

• A waveform is the shape and form of a signal such as a wave moving in a physical medium or an abstract representation.

A waveform allows you to see what parts are loud, and which are silent (or quiet)

LOUD

QUIETER

DIFFERENT TYPES OF

GEAR

DIFFERENT TYPES OF GEAR

VINYL (Records) Requires: Records, 2 turntables (record players), mixer How it works: A needle (like a sewing needle) vibrates from

the grooves in the record surface, causing the transistor and speaker to play the sound.

CDJ’s (Compact Discs Decks by Pioneer) Requires: CD or USB with music (mp3 or WAV), 2 CDJ players, 1

mixer. How it works: Each CDJ reads the music fi le on the disc, and

saves it to temporary memory. The song and waveform are displayed on the CDJ display, and the song is played out through audio ports on the CDJ (usually to a mixer or amplifier).

DIFFERENT TYPES OF GEAR

Controller & Laptop Requires: A powerful laptop, USB-based controller, copy of

software (specific to controller usually). How it works: USB cable connects laptop to controller, and

controller and DJ software on the laptop interact directly. Audio is sent from controller to mixer or amplifier.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF GEAR

CABLE CONNECTIONS

The connectors are c i rcu lar in des ign and have between 3 and 7 p ins. They are most commonly assoc iated wi th balanced audio in terconnect ion

XLR – XLR

This inc ludes the or ig ina l 6.35mm (quar ter inch) jack and the more recent 3.5mm (min iature or 1/8  inch)

PHONO CABLES(TRS CABLES)

1/8” Cable (Headphone)

¼” and 1/8” comparison

¼” cable (Mono)

TRS Stands for: • TIP (+)• RING (--)• SLEEVE

(GND)These 3 parts al low audio signal to travel through the cable’s copper wire.

TRS CABLE

Typical ly a white and red cable with male ends. Each cable carries stereo L or stereo R audio independently.

RCA (RED/WHITE)

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE

BETWEEN .MP3 AND .WAV?

.mp3 is considered LOSSY compression—meaning the smaller fi le size, lower the quality of the sound of the audio

.wav is a lossless audio format—audio is as close to original producers intended sound and clarity as possible.

BEST FORMAT FOR DJING: Most music you purchase from a reputable source (iTunes,

BeatPort) will be either .wav (uncompressed) or 320kbps .mp3 files (near loss-less compression) Both are high quality and acceptable for playing live.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WAV & MP3

Here we see severe audio compression which cuts out the dynamic range and clarity of the waveform (decreasing perceived clarity of the sound).

MP3 VS WAV

Dynamic range “squished”

VIDEO: Example of bad compression

We wil l now l isten to an example of poorly compressed audio. Keep in mind the compression gets worst sounding the louder you play the song.

TIME TO LISTEN

INTRO TO COLLIER’S

EQUIPMENT

We will be using Serato DJ software Serato is the industry standard software in most clubs and

major event venues

INTRO TO OUR EQUIPMENT

We will be using a Pioneer DDJ-SX USB controller This is extremely similar to Pioneer CDJ and mixer combo

found in majority of clubs

INTRO TO OUR EQUIPMENT

DDJ-SX PARTS (SYMMETRICAL)

Jog Wheel

EQ Knobs

Tempo Adjustment

Channel Volume

CrossfaderPlay/Pause

Cue

QUESTIONS?