Estimated reading time 4 minutes
Table of Contents
Introduction
Do you want to be a disc jockey? Do you need to know how to get a professional sound? The term disc jockey comes from the early days of radio when on air personalities used to play disc-shaped records. However, it’s come to mean a whole lot more. If you want to be a DJ, you’ll need a pro sound, and to get that you’ll need the right gear. Keep reading to learn how to sound like a pro disc jockey.
This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission from purchases made through the links. I’ll only recommend products I use, use in lessons, or ones my students or colleagues have recommended.
How to Sound Like a Pro Disc Jockey: What Is a DJ?
What’s a Disc Jockey?
- It can mean many things. For example, the term can apply to radio personalities.
- It can apply to the people who work nightclub sound boards to create mixes for the club patrons to dance to.
- Some DJs have equipment that they own and bring to parties, such as weddings. They don’t usually create dance mixes. Instead, they work from playlists.
- Also, you have people who create hip hop beats that MCs rap over, which basically makes the DJ a collage artist whose medium is sound.
- All these DJs, except for radio personalities, must understand how to use pro audio gear.
How to Sound Like a Pro Disc Jockey: What Gear Do I Need?
What gear you need, or need to be familiar with, depends on the type of DJ you are.
Nightclubs
- You need to be familiar with how a mixing board works. (This digital audio workstation link leads to a post that gives you the basics of your main mixer controls and how to use them.)
- You’ll need to know how proper gain staging works and how EQ and compression work. (See the pro audio links below.)
- Plus, you’ll need pro-quality headphones so you can have seamless beatmatching and cueing.
Headphones
Weddings and Parties
Hip Hop
- If you create Hip Hop mixes, you’ll need the skills and gear of the first two categories as you’ll often play at clubs and parties.
- However, you’ll also be creating original mixes that you can record and sell.
- This means that you need to understand live mixing: where you’ll be doing a mono mix and use little to no reverb. However, you’ll still have to effectively use EQ and compression. You’ll also need to understand how a DJ player and software works.
- In addition, you’ll need to know how to mix studio tracks, where you’ll now pan instruments and apply reverb. (See the pro audio links below.)
- For studio mixes a DAW is a must.
Digital audio workstation
This post specifically focuses on how to create hip hop beats.
These posts will give you tips on how to effectively use pro audio gear.
- How to Mix Using a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW)
- What Exactly Is Attenuation for Home Recording Studios
- What’s Dynamic Range Compression and How to Use It
- How to Record Vocals for a Professional Sound
- How to Master Reverb (3 Tips to Tweak Your Mix)
- How to Inject the Power of Distortion into Music
- How to Employ Effective Equalization
Mobile users: for best results viewing the videos, rotate your screen 90o to the right.
Video: Using Pro Tools (DAW)
Video: How to Create Hip Hop Beats with Drum Loops and Samples
How to Sound Like a Pro Disc Jockey: Your Auditory Health
DJs at night clubs and parties often have the volume cranked up.
- In fact, it’s not uncommon to have the sound hit 110 to 120 decibels.
- Volumes ranging from 90 to 110 dB are dangerous if you’re exposed to it for longer than 30 minutes.
- 120 dB is immediately damaging.
To protect your (and your audience’s) hearing health, keep the volume around 70 dB.
For more information:
Recommended reading
Final Thoughts
Takeaway points:
- You need to know what type of DJ you want to be so you can know what kind of gear you need to have.
- Make sure all your gear is pro quality.
- Learn how to use your gear for the best possible sound. The links to the pro audio posts will help.
Have fun!
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