How To DJ Your First Party Fast (Without Learning Everything)

Do you want to be a DJ, or do you just want to do some DJing?

There are two types of people who come to this. Some people happily DJ for fun. Others want to be DJs, mastering the whole craft so they can play anywhere, to anyone.

This article is for the first type of person. If that’s you, you’re about to save yourself a lot of time and money.

What you’d be skipping

It helps to know what being a DJ involves first.

• You need to understand all types of DJ gear, because one day you’ll turn up at a venue with nobody else there, and you’ll be the one who has to set it all up.
• You need to know where to get music other DJs haven’t got, and how to make versions of it that are yours alone. So that’s crate-digging skills and production skills.
• You need to be able to do things behind the decks that other DJs aren’t doing – the stuff that gets you noticed.
• You need to know how to chase the best gigs, which means social media and marketing skills alongside your DJing skills.
• And you need to understand the world you’re working in: corporate DJing, event DJing, residencies, guest slots, radio, livestreaming, podcasting, making mixtapes, and how to grab those opportunities when they come along.

We teach all of that here at Digital DJ Tips. We’ve made courses with some of the biggest DJs in the world, people like DJ Jazzy Jeff and James Hype, and I literally wrote the book on how to be a DJ, Rock The Dancefloor!

But not everybody wants all of that.

Just want to have a go?

Maybe you just want to play a DJ set. You want to know what it feels like. If that’s you, there’s a much faster route, and it’s every bit as valid.

1. Start with a basic DJ controller

Entry-level controllers do a lot nowadays, and you don’t need to spend any more than that. All three of these work with a laptop, and with a phone or tablet too, so you may already own the device you need:

• Numark Party Mix III – Numark’s latest beginner controller has a light show built in that pulses in time with the music, plus eight performance pads per deck. It works with Serato DJ Lite on a laptop, or djay on a phone or tablet.
• Pioneer DJ DDJ-FLX2 – The lightest, most compact model in the FLX range. It works with rekordbox, djay and Serato DJ Lite, and has a Smart Fader feature that takes care of volume, tempo and bass for you as you move the crossfader.
• Pioneer DJ DDJ-FLX4 – The one I teach on in our FLX4 course. It works with the same apps, has Smart Fader too, and adds a microphone input so you can talk over your music.

If you want the lights on the controller itself, go for the Party Mix III. If space is tight, the FLX2. If you want to learn alongside us, the FLX4.

2. Add a party speaker

Next, get yourself a party speaker – the kind that won’t break when you crank it up, and that often has lights built in too. Winner.

JBL’s PartyBox range is a good place to start, with sizes running from ones you can carry in one hand up to big units on wheels for a garden full of people. Just make sure the one you choose has a wired input, because that’s how your controller connects to it.

3. Add headphones and music

You don’t need expensive headphones. The Pioneer DJ HDJ-CUE1 is built for DJing, with cups that swivel so you can listen with one ear, at an entry-level price.

Then log in to your streaming service through your DJ app, and you’ve got all the music you could ever want, right there.

4. Learn five transitions

Now learn the five basic transitions. These are five ways of getting from one track to the next, and between them they’ll get you through any DJ gig: the fade, the end-to-end, the cut, the single phrase beatmix and the bassline swap beatmix.

I teach all five in my book, and you can get a free copy of Rock The Dancefloor here. Inside, there are links to videos showing you exactly how to do each one.

5. Use the helper tools

Use every tool your software gives you. Switch on auto gain, so you never have to worry about one track being louder than the next. Use sync. Use the transition effects. Use whatever makes everything you do sound good.

Playing the music you love to friends who want to hear it has never been easier than it is right now.

6. Then play a party

So do it. Once you’ve DJed a party, you can say you’ve done it, and at that point one of two things happens.

Either you move on to the next thing you fancy having a go at (bye-bye DJing), or something about it gets under your skin and you’re hooked.

Either way, you’ve achieved what you set out to do.

And if you’re hooked?

If you decide you want to learn everything about this amazing subject, it’s all here waiting for you, starting with our Pro DJ Course.

Just don’t let any of that hold you back from what you really want to do, which is play music to other people.

Because that’s where you learn. You don’t learn in your bedroom, and you don’t learn on your own. DJing is a team sport, and you need other people.

So don’t let the worry that you might not be a “proper” DJ stop you from DJing. In my view, if you’re doing it, that makes you right.

Grab the free book, learn those five transitions, and go and play that party.