I wanted to write this fun article for those of you who are just starting out DJing, or may be friends with a DJ and need to learn the lingo.
DJ
What exactly does DJ mean? DJ is short for Disc Jockey. He is someone who plays records (vinyl records). There are different types of DJs, including Club DJs, Mobile DJs (private parties/weddings, etc.), and Radio DJs. Different DJs may use different techniques, but it’s usually someone who selects, plays, and mixes music for a crowd.
Beat Matching/Mixing/Spinning/DJing
This refers to the main essence of being a DJ: making the two songs have the same speed. This is so that when you play the two songs together, they are perfect. There are no stops or mixture of rhythms. Speaking of mish mash…
derailed train
This is when a DJ doesn’t get the right mix of beats. When the two songs are merged, the beats don’t match and it sounds horrible. It is also called shoes in the dryer because of the sound.
Rinse
When a DJ rinses it off, it means he did an amazing job. Everybody was dancing, their mixes were flawless, it was amazing! “Man, that DJ RINSED IT last night!” It actually originates from the Old English language, where they used to use the phrase “A good time to rinse!” Rinse is most often used in electronic music circles including Techno, House, and Drum and Bass.
BPM
This refers to beats per minute, or how fast the song is. Like heart rate, it is calculated by counting the number of beats per minute. This is very useful for determining if you can mix two songs, as they must have similar speeds to do so. For example, you can’t mix an 80 BPM song (“American Woman” by Lenny Kravitz) with a 150 BPM song (“brown eyed girl“ by Van Morrison).
scratch
We are not talking about an itchy back. This is a technical DJ that is used a lot in Hip Hop. It is the sound that is produced when a record moves from side to side and those sounds are cut into various patterns. It takes quite a different skill than beat matching. They are very much like mathematical patterns set to the beat of music.
Double
Doubles refers to when a DJ has two of the same records/songs and is using them at the same time. A DJ using doubles is often referred to as “Rocking Doubles”. You rock twice as much most of the time when you’re…
beat juggling
When a DJ has doubles of a disc and chooses a certain part of the disc to repeat it or place it on top of the other. It is used to create interesting patterns of the same time or phrase. This requires a very fast hand and a great degree of skill.
turntable
These are DJs who specialize in scratching and/or beat juggling.
battles
When the DJs battle, it’s like a kind of exhibition where each DJ has a certain amount of time to show the audience what their skills are. Turntablist battles are very popular.
Crush
This is a type of music made popular by DJ Z-Trip. It’s a layering of one song over another. It is usually the voice of one song over the rhythm of another. It is often a mix of genres like a rock beat with hip hop vocals or vice versa.
Now that you know the DJ lingo, you can better understand DJs and what they are talking about! I hope you enjoyed reading this article as much as I did writing it!