Short and regular beats long and rare
Mixing is a physical skill as much as a musical one. Your hands and ears learn through repetition, and they learn best in short, frequent sessions. Twenty to thirty minutes on most days will usually do more than a three-hour session at the weekend.
A simple practice routine
- Warm up (5 minutes): load two tracks you know well and beatmatch them, just to get your ear in.
- One focus (15 minutes): pick one skill and stick to it. For example, bringing tracks in at the start of a phrase, or swapping the bass between two tracks.
- Record a short mix (5 to 10 minutes): put two or three transitions together and record them.
- Listen back later: note one thing that went well and one thing to work on next time.
Record yourself
When you are mixing, you are concentrating on your hands. It is hard to hear the result properly at the same time. Recording yourself and listening back an hour or a day later shows you what the listener hears: rough transitions, levels jumping around, or mixes that went on too long.
Most DJ software, including Rekordbox and Serato, has a record button built in. You don't need anything extra.
Practise with music you know
It is tempting to keep downloading new tracks, but you learn faster with music you know inside out. When you know where the intro, the breakdown and the drop are, you can focus on the mix itself. Add new music gradually.
Volume and neighbours
- Use headphones for most of your practice, especially late in the day.
- Keep speakers low. You need to hear the mix, not fill the street.
- Mind the bass. Low frequencies travel through walls and floors more than you might think. Turning the bass down on your speakers helps.
- Pick sensible times. Practise with speakers at reasonable hours.
- Look after your ears. Take breaks and avoid long sessions at high volume, in headphones or out loud.
Common practice mistakes
| Instead of this | Try this |
|---|---|
| Playing random tracks for fun every session | Have one clear focus each time |
| Always using sync | Practise beatmatching by ear some of the time |
| Never listening back | Record a short mix every few sessions |
| Practising only when you feel like it | Set a few regular times in the week |
Keep a simple practice log
A note on your phone is enough: the date, what you practised and one thing to try next time. Over a few weeks, it shows you how far you have come, which is a great motivator.
Practise with a plan
Practice works best when you know what to work on. On our courses, your mentor sets you something to practise after each of the eight one-to-one sessions, so the time between lessons counts. Beginners start with the Starter course, and you can find your level here.