Using DJ Equipment

Series Summary

Have you ever found yourself in the club—moving to the music, making eye contact with other young, hip people around you—and wondered how the DJ does it night after night? Entertaining a crowd of music-conscious party animals is not an easy thing to do; just a few false moves and you’re out of favor…and out of a job.

Hip hop music has a unique ability to get people bobbing their heads, feeling the groove, dancing to the beat. A DJ’s job is to keep that beat seamless and uninterrupted all night long. You can tell a master turntable artist not by his highly technical scratching skills, but rather by how well he mixes beats and songs together, creating the perfect playlist for a night out on the town.

In this free hip hop DJ music video series, learn some of the fundamental mixing and turntable skills necessary to play a night club or party. DJ Shy shows you how to use the various components of your DJ set up, including equalizers, headphones, cross fader, mixing effects and more. Then, discover the basic techniques for mixing two songs together, including beat per minute counting, beat matching, and transitions with the crossfader. Put it all together, practice, and go out and get a DJ gig!

Video Transcript

"Hey, everybody what's going on. I am DJ Shy, here with Expert Village and I would like to speak to you on how to mix. Personally, I have been mixing for over 6 years all over, mostly here in Los Angeles. I spin for 102.7 KISS FM, which features Ryan Seacrest as the morning host. I have also spun at various nightclubs, throughout Hollywood, a lot of red carpet premiers, events. Actually, we are at an event right now. So, mixing entails a lot about listening and there is a couple different ways you can mix, and I will show you all those ways. I will go into further detail about how to mix, so just stick with us and hopefully you will be able to pick this up as easy as I did."