How to learn to DJ

By The Cue Club. rekordbox controls checked 3 November 2026 against the 7.1.4 manual.

You can learn the basic moves of DJing with rekordbox, headphones and a small crate of music you are allowed to play. You will not be a working DJ after a weekend. Fast, in any honest sense, means a short session most days on one skill at a time: locking two tracks, mixing on the phrase, and swapping the bass without a clash.

You do not have to cue the crate before the first blend. A set from The Cue Club arrives with the music and the hot cues, ready to import into rekordbox. Practise on a library that already feels like it came straight off another DJ's USB.

How The Cue Club works

Our software puts a full set in one download: the tracks and the hot cue points. Import it and rekordbox treats it the way it treats a USB another DJ had already prepared. The pads are filled. You can spend the session mixing, not tagging.

The download also includes a file of mixing codes, written as the handoff. A typical line: bring the new track in on its A cue when deck 1 hits its D cue. That is the move to practise. Play it until your hands know it, then try the same shape with the codes covered.

When you have a set of your own that you are allowed to sell, upload it from the sell page. To grab one to practise on, browse the sets.

What fast can mean

A clean 30-second blend of two tracks is a beginner's win. A three-hour room, with requests and a USB that does not fall over, is a different job. No course, pack or sync button removes the hours of listening. Use the steps below as a practice order, not a promise.

Gear that is enough to start

Buy the least gear that lets you hear two tracks at once. Add the rest when you know you are still doing this next month.

1. rekordbox on a Mac or Windows computer. Download it from rekordbox.com. Which buttons you get depends on the plan and on any hardware you connect. The comparison is at rekordbox.com/en/plan. Do not assume every screenshot you see is on the free plan.
2. Headphones. You need to hear the next track before the room does. A controller with a cue button makes that easier. You can still learn a lot in headphones only.
3. One way to hear the mix. A speaker, a monitor, or the controller's master output. Bedroom volume is fine.
4. A few tracks in one style. Ten to twenty songs you know well, bought or otherwise ones you are allowed to keep. Where to get them, including the Australian licensing pages, is in where DJs get their music.
5. A controller, later if you need it. AlphaTheta lists mouse and keyboard control on the plan comparison. A two-channel controller is the usual next purchase. CDJs and a club mixer are for when you are practising the setup you will actually play on. They are not week-one equipment.

A practice order

Do these in order. Stay on a step until it is boring. Boring means your hands know it.

1. Import, and check the grid

Put the tracks somewhere you will not move, then import them into rekordbox and let it analyse them. Look at the beat grid. If the downbeat marker is sitting between kicks, sync will lock you to the wrong place. Correct the grid before you practise blends. The rekordbox manual covers beat-grid editing. Trust the kick in your ear over a neat-looking waveform.

2. Hear a locked mix, then do it yourself

The manual's BEAT SYNC matches the tempo and the beat position of the second player to the player that started first. Turn it on, mix two tracks, and listen to what "in time" sounds like. Then turn BEAT SYNC off and use pitch bend, which the same chapter describes as slowing or speeding the playing track, until you can hold the kicks together for 16 bars. Click RST if you need the original tempo back.

Sync is a tool for hearing the target. It is not cheating, and it is not a substitute for noticing when a track drifts. Grids on older recordings and live drums are often wrong. If sync sounds terrible, fix the grid.

3. Mix on the phrase

A phrase is a musical sentence, often 8, 16 or 32 bars. Mixing in the middle of a vocal, or halfway through a bar, is what makes a blend feel accidental. rekordbox can draw phrase types on the waveform. The manual lists that under the phrase display settings. Use the colours as a hint. Your ear still picks the moment.

A useful first blend: start the incoming track at its first beat while the outgoing track is in its last phrase. Let them run together for 16 bars. Then take the outgoing track out. Do not add effects until that plain version is steady.

4. Use the EQ for one job

rekordbox and most mixers give you a 3-band EQ: high, mid and low. One common approach, not a rule of the software:

• Low. Keep one kick and one bass in the mix. Bring the incoming low down while the outgoing kick is still playing, then swap. Two full kicks on top of each other is the usual muddy moment.
• Mid. This is where vocals and a lot of the melody sit. Two singers at full mid will fight. Pick one.
• High. Hats and brightness. A small cut on the outgoing track makes room. You rarely need to zero it.

Practise the bass swap on its own for a week. Leave filters and echo until the EQ swap is dull.

5. Mark three hot cues before you mark eight

A hot cue jumps the track to a saved point and plays it. In PERFORMANCE mode the rekordbox 7.1.4 manual allows up to 16 per track, on pads A to P. A CDJ-3000X has eight buttons, A to H. For learning, three points are enough: the first beat you want to start from, the drop or main section, and a mix-out point near the end. Right-click a pad in rekordbox to add a short comment. A fuller A-to-H map, labelled as one common approach rather than an official preset, is in template DJ set with hot cues.

6. A week you can repeat

Four sessions, about 25 minutes each. Stop while you still want to continue.

1. Beatmatch. One pair of tracks. Sync off. Hold 16 bars.
2. Phrase. Intro of the new track over the last phrase of the old one. No EQ tricks.
3. Bass swap. Same pair. Only the low EQ moves.
4. Record. Three tracks in a row. Do not stop to fix the take. Listen the next day and write down one thing to change.

A month of that will make your blends cleaner. It will not book you a room. Playing a full hour without staring at the screen the whole time, with music you are allowed to play, is the point at which a small gig starts to make sense.

7. Record the mix and listen back

In PERFORMANCE mode, rekordbox can record the master output. The 7.1.4 manual says: open the recording panel from the global section, choose a source, set the level, then record. To record the internal mixer, select Master Out. The file is saved as a WAV under Recordings. The manual also says recording may be unavailable on your plan or with your hardware. Check the plan page.

Set the level so the meter is not sitting in the red. Listen once, on headphones, the next day. Pick a single fault: a clash, a vocal on a vocal, or a mix that started late. Fix that fault in the next session.

Where a prepared set fits

Building the crate is the slow part. A Cue Club set skips it: music, cues and a file of mixing codes, imported like a USB that was already done. It does not mix for you. The import steps are in how to download another DJ's USB.

FAQ

How long does it take to learn to DJ?

You can learn a basic blend in a few short sessions. Playing a full night comfortably takes much longer, and it depends on how often you practise. A weekend course does not make you a working DJ.

Do I need CDJs to start?

No. Headphones, a computer running rekordbox, and a few tracks you are allowed to play are enough to start. A controller helps. CDJs can wait until you are practising for rooms that use them.

Should I learn with sync on?

Use BEAT SYNC to hear what a locked mix sounds like. Then practise with it off, using pitch bend, so you notice when a mix drifts. Sync follows the beat grid, so a wrong grid locks you to the wrong place.

What should I practise each week?

Four short sessions: one pair beatmatched with sync off, one phrase mix, one bass swap on the low EQ, and one recorded run of three tracks that you listen back to the next day.

Will a set pack teach me to DJ?

No. A pack skips building and cueing that crate, so you can practise on tracks that already have hot cues and a written handoff. The mixing is still yours to learn.

How do I record a mix in rekordbox?

In PERFORMANCE mode, open the recording panel, choose Master Out if you are using the internal mixer, keep the level out of the red, and record. The file is a WAV under Recordings. Recording can depend on your plan and your hardware.

Does a set pack include the music?

Yes. You get the tracks and the hot cues, plus a file of mixing codes that names the handoff. One code is as direct as: bring the new track in on its A cue when deck 1 hits its D cue.

Can I sell my own DJ sets?

Yes. DJs upload their own sets and sell them on The Cue Club. Open the sell page to list one. Sellers may only list original music and licensed tracks.

Practise on a prepared set

When you want tracks that are already gridded and cued, browse sets or pick a genre. When the set is yours, sell it. Sellers may only list original music and licensed tracks. That rule is in the Terms of Service.

All guides

rekordbox behaviour cited from the 7.1.4 instruction manual and the plan comparison, checked 3 November 2026. Plans and menu names change.