Free Sample
The Complete Guide to DJing
What it really costs, what gear you truly need, and how to know if mixing music is worth your time, money, and space
by Alumigogo Books
Chapter 1: What Is DJing and Why People Love It
Imagine standing in a room with a couple of hundred people who are all moving to the sound you are shaping. That is the image most people have when they think about DJing - the flashing lights, the packed dancefloor, the enormous speaker stacks. But the truth is, ninety percent of DJing happens in a bedroom or a small apartment, with one person hunched over a laptop and a controller the size of a small suitcase. And that ninety percent is where the love for it actually lives.
Before we go any further, let me demystify what DJing actually is on a technical level. A DJ's core job is to play music, sure, but more specifically, you are creating a continuous flow of music. You are taking two or more songs and stitching them together so that the transition between them feels natural, even seamless. You are matching the tempos - how fast each song plays, measured in beats per minute, or BPM - so that the transition doesn't jerk the listener out of the groove. You are choosing moments in one song to start the next one, and you are doing this over and over for the length of your set, which could be anywhere from an hour to four hours.
That's the basic mechanics. The thing that keeps people doing it, though, is not the mechanics. It's the feeling you get when you are in the middle of