Five essential DJ tips by Point Blank

Ben Bristow and DJ Ravine give some advice to improve your DJ performance.

Following Point Blank’s video last month where they covered five common mistakes DJs make behind the decks, the music school has released another DJ-focused piece – this time looking at essential tips and techniques that you can easily drop into your workflow. From mastering mixer effects to creating tag lists with CDJs mid-set, Ben Bristow and DJ Ravine have some great advice for you, whatever level you are at.

Effects – Whatever your style is, many DJs don’t know the secret behind changing their effect’s tempos. Don’t be a stranger to changing your beat value.

The Roll Effect – This can get you out of a sticky situation if know how to use it right. If one of your decks decides to pack in mid-set and you need to restart it, the roll feature can be used as an independent looping tool.

Saving tag lists as new playlists – Got those track’s you have to drop? This feature helps you roll through your selection tagging your top crowd pleasers and saving them all into one easily accessible playlist.

Instant doubles – If scratching is your thing or you just want to create some delays and double ups of certain beats, Instant doubles is the trick for you. This technique lets you play the same track on both decks.

CDJ modes – Your CDJ’s have two handy modes you may not be aware of, singular and continuous mode. Whether you like to rock the beat before you let it go, these will help you manipulate the jog wheel to your heart’s desire.

If your thirst for DJ knowledge can’t be quenched by video tutorials alone Point Blank offers a number of comprehensive DJ instruction courses including a new  BA (Hons) in Music Production and DJ Practice (quality-assured by Middlesex University) taught by Ben Bristow himself.