The Complete Guide To Beginner DJ Mixing With A Serato DJ Controller

In this video course, world-renowned DJ Shortee teaches you the essential DJ skills that you need to beatmatch and mix your music using a Serato DJ controller. These skills include manual adjustments, tuning your ears, manual beatmatching, auto beatmatching using sync, and beginner mixing techniques. She breaks down the entire beatmatching and mixing process slowly and clearly, step by step and in multiple ways so that you can fully grasp the concepts, while also giving you specific exercises that you can practice repeatedly to hone your beatmatching skills. Every lesson is taught in a clear and concise way that is easy for anyone to understand.

Videos
Introduction (05:50) - DJ Shortee introduces the course in which she teaches manual adjustments, tuning your ears, beatmatching, and beginner mixing techniques using a Serato DJ controller such as the Numark NVII. She explains what beatmatching actually is and why it's important for DJs to learn to beatmatch manually. She also compares manual beatmatching versus relying on the automatic "Sync" features available in most DJ software, and lists the benefits of each.
Manual Speed-Up Method (07:53) - DJ Shortee shows you how to manually manipulate the jog wheels on the controller in order to temporarily speed up the tempo of your songs. She explains why manual adjustments are crucial to the manual beatmatching process and then demonstrates the manual speed-up method using both visual and audible techniques. She teaches you how to perform this technique without looking at the software so you can train your ears to hear the adjustments and then she shows you how to "read" the Serato DJ software as you manually adjust the jog wheels so you can actually see the adjustments affecting the sound waves in real time.
Songs:
Shortee & Step 1 'Wax that Booty' (Bikini Wax Album - 5 Star Records)--115 bpm
Fransis Derelle 'Rocca' (Heavy Artillery Recordings)--128 bpm
Manual Slow-Down Method (04:17) - DJ Shortee shows you how to manually manipulate your records in order to temporarily slow down the tempo of your songs. She demonstrates the manual slow-down method, using both visual and audible techniques. She teaches you how to perform this technique without looking at the software so you can train your ears to hear the adjustments and then she shows you how to "read" the Serato DJ software as you manually adjust the jog wheels so you can actually see the adjustments affecting the sound waves in real time.
Songs:
Shortee & Step 1 'Wax that Booty' (Bikini Wax Album—5 Star Records)--115 bpm
Fransis Derelle 'Rocca' (Heavy Artillery Recordings)--128 bpm
Using Manual Adjustments (14:31) - DJ Shortee teaches you how to use manual adjustments to adjust your songs while beatmatching. She explains why you should only adjust one song at a time and what sounds to listen for while you are beatmatching in order to tune your ears. She shows how to determine if a song is playing faster or slower using just your ears, as well as how to use your eyes to determine this visually in the Serato DJ software.
Songs:
Shortee & Step 1 'Wax that Booty' (Bikini Wax Album - 5 Star Records)--115 bpm
Scary Fox 'Subway' (Arkade Records)--128 bpm
Continuous Manual Speed-Up Method (06:01) - DJ Shortee shows you how to perform the continuous manual speed-up method, an exercise that will help you become proficient with your manual adjustments. She also explains how these continuous manual adjustment methods can be used when you are beatmatching live music with a beat played by a live drummer in real time, rather than beatmatching songs that are quantized during production.
Songs:
Scary Fox 'Subway' (Arkade Records)--128 bpm
Continuous Manual Slow-Down Method (04:18) - DJ Shortee shows you how to perform the continuous manual slow-down method, an exercise that will help you become proficient with your manual adjustments.
Songs:
Scary Fox 'Subway' (Arkade Records)--128 bpm
Beatmatching: Part 1 (11:33) - DJ Shortee teaches you how to combine manual speed adjustments with full pitch adjustments in order to beatmatch two of the same song using your ears only. She breaks down the entire process slowly, walking you through it step by step so that you can fully grasp the concept, while also teaching you a fundamental exercise that you can practice repeatedly to hone your beatmatching skills.
Songs:
Shortee & Step 1 'Wax that Booty' (Bikini Wax Album - 5 Star Records)--115 bpm
Scary Fox 'Subway' (Arkade Records)--128 bpm
Beatmatching: Part 2 (07:47) - DJ Shortee teaches you how to combine manual speed adjustments with full pitch adjustments in order to beatmatch two different songs with the same bpm using your ears only. She shows how you can combine the techniques more efficiently in order to beatmatch faster, while still breaking the process down step by step so you can follow along in real time.
Songs:
Fransis Derelle 'Rocca' (Heavy Artillery Recordings)--128 bpm
Minesweepa 'Later Gator' (Heavy Artillery Recordings)--128 bpm
Beatmatching: Part 3 (11:02) - DJ Shortee teaches you how to combine manual speed adjustments with full pitch adjustments in order to beatmatch two different songs with different bpm using your ears only. She explains what a "safe" bpm range is, why it's important, and how to determine the range on your Serato DJ controller. She also reviews the importance of the key lock function and how to use it.
Songs:
WiseLabs 'Family Values' 1nvader Remix (Heavy Artillery Recordings)--124 bpm
Minesweepa 'Later Gator' (Heavy Artillery Recordings)--128 bpm
Beatmatching: Part 4 - Sync Intro (01:45) - DJ Shortee introduces the Sync functions and teaches you how to use the Numark NVII's hardware Sync controls.
Songs:
WiseLabs 'Family Values' 1nvader Remix (Heavy Artillery Recordings)--124 bpm
Minesweepa 'Later Gator' (Heavy Artillery Recordings)--128 bpm
Beatgrid Part 1: Overview & Transition bpm (12:09) - DJ Shortee shows you hot to set and adjust your beatgrids in Serato DJ. She gives an overview of the controls and then demonstrates how to manually adjust a beatgrid for a song that transitions from one tempo to another.
Songs:
The Damn Bell Doors ft. A Girl & A Gun 'Stun Gun' Urban Assault Remix (Heavy Artillery Recordings)--142 bpm > 172 bpm
Beatgrid Part 2: Constant bpm (05:40) - DJ Shortee shows you how to set a manual beatgrid in Serato DJ for a track that stays the same tempo the entire time.
Songs:
Fransis Derelle 'Rocca' (Heavy Artillery Recordings)--128 bpm
Simple Sync (04:42) - This is the first of two lessons in which DJ Shortee shows you how to use the Sync features in Serato DJ. This video is all about Simple Sync.
Songs:
Digital Fracture 'Inflexible' (Heavy Artillery Recordings)--130 bpm
BSSFST 'Superalligator' (Heavy Artillery Recordings)--128 bpm
Smart Sync & Tempo Sync (04:54) - This is the second of two lessons in which DJ Shortee shows you how to use the Sync features in Serato DJ. This video is all about Smart Sync and Tempo Sync.
Songs:
Digital Fracture 'Inflexible' (Heavy Artillery Recordings)--130 bpm
BSSFST 'Superalligator' (Heavy Artillery Recordings)--128 bpm
Simple Blend Mix (11:07) - DJ Shortee teaches you how to perform a simple blend mix using the volume faders on the DJ mixer to transition the songs from one to the other. She quickly walks you through the process of beatmatching two different songs manually, and then shows you how to begin mixing the second song in at a mix point and how to use the volume faders to seamlessly mix the two songs together.
Songs:
Fransis Derelle 'Rocca' (Heavy Artillery Recordings)--128 bpm
Pawax 'Shaolin' (Arkade Records)--128 bpm
Basic EQ Mix (05:22) - DJ Shortee shows you how to begin incorporating the EQ into your mixing by transitioning the bass frequencies of your songs. She explains why this basic EQ mix is the most important EQ mix you will ever learn as a DJ and why you should use it, or a variation of it, most often.
Songs:
Fransis Derelle 'Rocca' (Heavy Artillery Recordings)--128 bpm
Pawax 'Shaolin' (Arkade Records)--128 bpm
Longer EQ Mix (05:54) - DJ Shortee shows you how to perform a more elaborate EQ mix by mixing each of the three frequencies separately, creating a longer EQ mix together with the volume faders.
Songs:
Fransis Derelle 'Rocca' (Heavy Artillery Recordings)--128 bpm
Pawax 'Shaolin' (Arkade Records)--128 bpm
High/Low Pass Filter Mix (05:12) - DJ Shortee teaches you how to use the high/low pass filter to isolate certain frequencies of your songs while mixing between them using the volume faders.
Songs:
Fransis Derelle 'Rocca' (Heavy Artillery Recordings)--128 bpm
Pawax 'Shaolin' (Arkade Records)--128 bpm
Drop Mix (06:48) - DJ Shortee shows you how to perform a drop mix using the crossfader in conjunction with the volume faders for use with quicker mixes, trick mixing, and songs with shorter phrasing. She also demonstrates this technique using the controller's Play/Pause button with the crossfader, as well as the Fader Start feature.
Songs:
D.E.P 'Bikini Girls' (Heavy Artillery Recordings)--110 bpm
Sharxpowa 'Storm' (Heavy Artillery Recordings)--110 bpm
Drop Mix with EQ & Filter (06:59) - DJ Shortee teaches you how to perform the drop mix technique in various ways by incorporating the EQ and/or the high/low pass filter so that you can blend the frequencies between songs in a more efficient way for smoother transitions during quick mixes.
Songs:
D.E.P 'Bikini Girls' (Heavy Artillery Recordings)--110 bpm
Sharxpowa 'Storm' (Heavy Artillery Recordings)--110 bpm