DJ's How Did Y'all Learn To Spin?

[Dad]

put a brotha up on game.

Is there a tutorial, app, etc

How do you choose which track to lead off with?
How do you keep the momentum mid way through .

I'm interested in making my own mix kinda on the tempo of "Lockjaw"

 

[Bugsmoran]

I used to mess around back in the day. I learned from watching Jam Master Jay and Jazzy Jeff

 

[Dad]

I used to mess around back in the day. I learned from watching Jam Master Jay and Jazzy Jeff

I think I'm gonna take the YouTube approach. What type of equipment you using?

 

[Bugsmoran]

I think I'm gonna take the YouTube approach. What type of equipment you using?

I can't remember what I had im talking the 80's when I was kid

 

[lowkey0z]

started off scratching with a controller on serato watching tutorials on youtube and transitioned to vinyl's

 

[feelosofer]

My brother was a local DJ and he actually managed to get some turntables that I think came from from Germany or something like that, I watched him as a kid and then he taught once I turned 12 and he figured I wouldn't ruin his collection of rare and vintage funk trying to be Terminator X.

 

[Double Burger With Cheese]

I'm not a DJ, but I make beats. I've always wanted to learn how to DJ for the sole purpose of scratching hooks in my beats ala DJ Premier I took an Uber Pool a few months ago and the guy in the Uber got dropped off at this place called Scratch Academy. I look in the window and see mad people spinning and shyt. I ask him if it was a DJ school and he told me yeah and gave me a flyer. He was an instructor. I was like damn, that's some cool ass shyt. I'm in Atlanta, but I think the info he gave me said the school was in other cities. It didn't have prices listed, so that shyt may be kind of high

 

[Unknown Poster]

I got into it from seeing DJ Spooky live in 1999.
I asked my mom to buy me a radio shack basic mixer with 2 channels and a crossfader and hooked up two of my dad's belt drive turntables to it and started to learn the concepts of beat matching and how to use the headphones to mix.

I then saved money from my first job working at Burger King to get a gemini DJ set with two Gemini turntables and a mixer. Then I upgraded to two American DJ turntables. They were still belt drive.

Then i actually took the plunge and bought a pair of two stanton St8-80 direct drive tables with high torque and actually taught myself the proper methods of beatmatching including using the pitch controls to sync bpms on the records and using the monitor feature in the mixer with the headphones to cue up records without it bleeding into the main mix. I was mixing mostly tribal house, UK hard house, techno, and breaks records around that time (this was 2002). But i started with breaks, scracthing, turntablism and stuff when it came to how I actually got started. I was listening to alot of hip hop but alot of techno two.

Its all about counting time signatures in music. If you can count to 4 8 16 you can mix. So after one 4 note bar passes mixing the other record after that into it. Then you hear if its too fast or two slow and adjist accordingly.

 

[Bugsmoran]

 

[mortuus est]

started dj'ing years ago was doing little mixes here n there then stopped but was always discovering new tracks so jumped back on it in 2014

Is there a tutorials?
loads of tutorials online but id suggest you actually invest in some equipment or go somewhere and practice, mixing on decks or controllers is a whole different vibe, pioneers>>>

How do you choose which track to lead off with?
depends what you have in mind, you can freestyle mix and just dip in the bag or plan one. most djs that do club sets normally plan out their sets, and depends what type of music and of course, your mood.

How do you keep the momentum mid way through?
the thirst to play around with the tracks tbh

 

[<<TheStandard>>]

I taught myself.

There was no youtube tutorials, I had no mentors......I listened to the radio and copied what I heard.

I started going to the record stores and bought vinyl and I worked myself up to a level where I could get club gigs.

 

[BantuKnotz99]

just copped a numark ns7. I would've copped tha ns7ii but it was too much money, I'm learning how to be a dj as we speak, I got that controller because it resembles the vinyl feel and scratching is a element of hip hop that I love...I also love sound effects too, only thing I hate about the controller is there is no dedicated tap pad for your samples,drops,and effects, so you have to use your computer to load up your drops and hit a dedicated key on the keyboard to play it. maybe when I make my money back from the ns7 I'll upgrade.

I heard pioneers are dope too

 

[stealthbomber]

practice nikka

you think a video is gonna teach you how to dj

but if you have trash taste in music it won't matter how "good" you are

 

[Theo Penn]

Took a beginner course at Scratch DJ Academy 5 years ago. After that, I just dedicated weekly time to practicing. There's a certain "ear" that you'll develop over time if you do it enough. It just clicks one day. You'll be able two hear two beats at once and know how to manipulate the music.

Here's a good book

 

[Dad]

I got into it from seeing DJ Spooky live in 1999.
I asked my mom to buy me a radio shack basic mixer with 2 channels and a crossfader and hooked up two of my dad's belt drive turntables to it and started to learn the concepts of beat matching and how to use the headphones to mix.

I then saved money from my first job working at Burger King to get a gemini DJ set with two Gemini turntables and a mixer. Then I upgraded to two American DJ turntables. They were still belt drive.

Then i actually took the plunge and bought a pair of two stanton St8-80 direct drive tables with high torque and actually taught myself the proper methods of beatmatching including using the pitch controls to sync bpms on the records and using the monitor feature in the mixer with the headphones to cue up records without it bleeding into the main mix. I was mixing mostly tribal house, UK hard house, techno, and breaks records around that time (this was 2002). But i started with breaks, scracthing, turntablism and stuff when it came to how I actually got started. I was listening to alot of hip hop but alot of techno two.

Its all about counting time signatures in music. If you can count to 4 8 16 you can mix. So after one 4 note bar passes mixing the other record after that into it. Then you hear if its too fast or two slow and adjist accordingly.