DJ Dictionary - Popular Mixing Styles Terms

A DJ should have his own unique style, but all are just an offshoot of the following mixing styles terms. This is just the first installment of three.

Backspin

This is the act of spinning records backwards for a quick and short spurt. The DJ creates a sound effect, as well as gives more energy.

Bleeding

This happens when the crossfader breaks up after being used for long. When a crossfader is fully to one side, an opposing channel must not be heard, but since the crossfader is broken it allows a “bleeding” through of its opposing channel. It makes it hard to control the channel heard by the audience.

Break

Is a moment during play of a track where its main beat becomes a little more subtle. The music industry has ‘discovered’ breaks and made tracks that are a completely new electronic music genre that’s composed almost wholly of breaks. The break usually happens between downbeats and may last for greater than a loop.

Build

This is the moment in musical tracks that has a building sensation that’s strong and climaxes in an explosive sound and is followed by the main beat or a break. The build creates energy in the crowd.

Crossfader

Is the sliding device located on a mixing board that allows a DJ to move audio output smoothly from right to left or vice versa. The movement causes a decrease in volume and increase in the source. It’s also known as a fader and when its one side completely, only that audio source will be played.

Cueing

It’s finding the right opening point in a track. When using vinyl records, the DJ places the needle in a groove then moves it back and forth until it reaches the opening point. For CD players, one just selects the track and can scan through it to get the right point.

Downbeat 

It’s the loops first beat commonly indicated with an extra sound burst or accent from an instrument, say crash cymbals. For instance, if a track has sixteen beat loops then you should notice a downbeat after 16 beats each time.

Loop

Electronic dance tracks have sound loops. The loop is the sound played over and over again. The sequence is coherent. A track can have many loops, but they might not be played during the track. The most common loop has 16 beats.

Scratching

This is achieved by moving the record needle along the groove front and back to cause a sound. The record will be played backwards and forwards at varying speeds. As the Toronto DJ does this, he will have one of his hands on the fader and the other on the record. The fader should be used to vary volume to create unique sounds.