DJ advise/Tutorial, Video one, How to do a DJ mash up.

0:00 Very quickly, what is a mashup?

Alright folks, it's Jonathan here. This is your first lesson for the new DJ on how to do a mashup. Very quickly, what is a mashup? A mashup is a collaboration of two or more songs, you put them together and you end up having one completely new song, new entity. Now that's the very least you need, two new songs, okay, two different songs. 10 songs if you want to, it doesn't matter. But there is a difference between using 10 songs and making a mix as opposed to using 10 songs and making a mashup. If you have 10 tracks and make a mix, what you're doing is you're having track 1, you're letting that play and you're bringing track 2 in, and then you're finishing track 1, then while track 2 is playing you may bring track 3 in, when track 3 is playing you take track 2 away.

And likewise you continue all the way through to track 10. The difference being with a mashup is you could have track 1 and track 2 playing right from the start, and then you may incorporate track 7 and then take track 1 away. You may then incorporate track 5 and take track 7 away, then bring in track 10 and maybe bring in track 1 again. You're just throwing them all about and making a mashup. Now then, for the new DJ, this is what you need to do. First of all, number one, you need to find two songs that sound well together. That's very, very important. They have to sound well together. Number two is you have to make sure they're in beat. Now then, very quickly as well, this isn't for the newbies, this is for everybody, alright? Experiment. Don't just play two house tracks. Don't just play two soul tracks, two hip-hop, two funk, two rare groove. Why not play a house track with a techno track?

1:56 Why not try a mashup, a funk track with a soul track?

Why not try a mashup, a funk track with a soul track? Maybe a hip-hop track with an R&B track. Mash it up. That's what it's all about. Don't forget we have the mashup competition and that's what I want you to do. But with that one, two tracks, put them together to make one. Right, now then, what I'm going to be doing, I'm just going to give you a quick demo here. The two tracks we're going to be using is Armand Van Helgen, a track entitled Ultra Funkula. Bit of a nightmare there. And also Mr. On vs Jungle Brothers, a track entitled Breathe, Don't Stop. Now then, for the new DJ who wants to start doing a mashup, three pointers. Number one, find two tracks that work well together. Number two, make sure you get them in beat, okay? Number three, to begin with, just start them off at the beginning and let them blend continually to the end. That's all you've got to do initially.

A good way of practicing, but before you start them off and let them blend all the way through, just before that, make sure they're in beat. Get them in beat first, alright? Have a little mess around, use the jog wheel if you've got a CDJ, platter up and down if you want to or just the pitch control, your choice, okay? Get them in beat. When they're in beat then, you don't have to worry so much about using the pitch control and messing around because you know they're near enough in beat And then at that point, you can start messing around with the bass, mid and treble to get better sounds. Take vocals away, bring vocals in. If you're using maybe a house track and an acapella because you don't just have to have two tracks with beats, you can use acapellas as well. It doesn't matter. Also, if you have two pieces of vinyl or two CDs with different remixes of that particular track, you can use those as well. Remember, two tracks.

3:47 For your beginning, your initial sort of mashup

For your beginning, your initial sort of mashup. So what I'm going to do now, I'm going to play this one. I'm going to let that start for a while because the actual start is quite quiet and then I'm going to bring this one in and have a bit of a mess around. I'm not using headphones and the audio you're listening to is coming through that speaker so it won't be fantastic. Right, let's give it a go. And if I forget to say, practice and enjoy!

This transcript was produced automatically from the audio of the video and may contain mistakes.