Beginner DJ looking for advice!

Hey guys, I'm just starting to dabble in this DJ stuff, my friend wants me to DJ for his party, mostly because I'm the EDM guy among my friends. Just looking for some general advice for a beginner.

First off, I don't think the people there are too into heavy stuff, would a mix of prog house, electro, and some dubstep be better? Just trying to see what would get people on their feet really .

Secondly, I'm not going to be using any equipment (besides speakers), so what would you guys recommend for software?

Thanks in advance, any general tips or advice will be greatly appreciated as well!

Well if you're just starting out, get Virtual DJ. Theres loads of cracked versions up on the internet and it takes nothing to learn. You can easily do great mixes without too much hassle. I use it in clubs because it compliments my set-up and is easy to handle so you can stick with it too or upgrade to something more heavy-weight if you get into it.

Basically, everything works in 32 beat phrases. Listen to any pop song and after 32 beats there'll be a change. This is the same for electro, house and most EDM.

Learn to count in your head, and feel when you can introduce a new song. Some people have this ability to just know when, others need to find it through counting it/ visual cues/cueing.

Try figure out how you can do smooth transitions (as you're a starting DJ and its a relative small party it seems, this wont matter too much, but helps keep the atmosphere alive). Usually there is a small intro to all songs, also divided into 32 bar sections, try and sync one song ending with another beginning (or the chorus ending and the next songs' verse beginning - whatever really sounds good).

Beat matching is essential but Virtual DJ will let you do that in an instant (as will any other digital dj program) by simply pressing sync. It can fuck up sometimes when matching dubstep/dnb (reading it as 70 instead of 140 etc), and can take time to figure out. So if you're going to drop a dubstep song i'd advice waiting until one of the 128bpm's has played out fully.

When you transition remember to cut out bass and some mid and then gradually introduce them, as your simultaneously cut out the song you dont want on anymore, again, it just makes everything smoother. This can easily be done with a key board mouse if practiced.

In Virtual DJ, the live stream of the audio, is divided into 4's with a larger square as you can see in the top of this picture

try see if you can get the two larger squares to sync up - thats the down beat of every 4/4 bar which means that usually its going to sound good (theres exceptions for each style - like dubstep for example), and more in time, it also works great as a sign post where to sync-play a new song.

Practice at home and you should be able to do an alright mix by the end of the week!

This is just the beginning though, theres a lot to learn for everyone, but this should kick you off.

Peace, if theres anything else you need give a shout

(I cbf to proof read this haha sorry bro)

Thanks a ton, lots of good info for me to soak up. I've been playing with Virtual DJ so far, and a lot of the transition stuff you said made sense to me, I've already figured out some of it. This is great.

Wow I had to learn all that myself through messing around in vurtual dj and traktor

bro just get a cracked version of traktor and hit that shit up. if you got an iphone then use it as a midi controller if you got wifi.

ok im late on this thread but as far as euipment goes virtual dj is ok if just wanna know if tunes will work together , but ive been been spinnin for 15 years started with vynal , and went digital , i use serato and a pair of technics 1200 turntables , and a laptop , all together , about 1200 bucks , cdj's are a good choice as well preferably pioneer cdj 850's also compatable with serato , also there is cheaper program by traktor , that does all the same things as serato , now when grabbin your tunes (format ) i prefer 320 bit rate mp3's or flac , good broseph and start simple , learn to beat match and hold the count of the tunes first , then work on levels such as bass , treble, mid's , after that it all comes together , then scratchin lol,