Your Questions: Switching DJs Without A Break In The Music

Digital DJ Tips forum member Stafford writes: “I’m new to DJing, and one time I was at a club and saw two DJs switch sets without a break in the music. The first DJ exited the stage with his laptop, and the second DJ simply jumped onstage with his laptop without breaking the first DJ’s set, after which his set proceeded. There was no change in the DJ controller/CDJ set-up here, just a change in the respective DJs’ laptops. Has anyone seen or heard this before, and how could I replicate this technique?”

Digital DJ Tips says:

With digital DJing, the laptops actually contain the music, so no digital file could possibly have been playing in that period when both the laptops were unplugged. In this instance, what most likely happened was the outgoing DJ mixed into a CD inserted into one of the club’s CDJ players while the other DJ set his or her gear up.

High-end kit like the Rane Sixty-Four and Rane Sixty-Eight mixers for Serato have dual USB sockets so two DJs can switch laptops while using the same gear, and Pioneer has recently added the same thing to its top-of-the-line DDJ-SZ, also for Serato DJ. But as I say, if both laptops were unplugged, it would have to have been a “bridge” track off of a CD or USB stick or some other similar technique. Incidentally, this is one reason for learning to manually beatmatch, because no sync button will help you mix in a CD out of a digital DJ set, or vice versa!

Do you regularly switch to or from other digital DJs where you play? Got any hints or tips you’d like to share with us? Please feel free to comment below.