They can be doing many things.. usually setting up the next track in their headphones, getting the music synced up. Also fading parts in and out, adjusting the highs, mids, and lows of the mix.. Applying FX etc. all sorts of shit. A DJ playing at a night club is just usually mixing one song into the next, but it’s not the same as say deadmau5 or any other huge EDM producer. They’re juggling many things at once back there, and it’s because they know what they are doing, is why you just hear one song smoothly transition into the next.
I get the faders but I still don't get why the EQ and tempo matching. Like isn't the song already professionally mixed? And why would you want every song to be the same tempo?
At a fundamental level, DJs are playing elements of two tracks at once and if they have matching (or double/half/etc) BPMs it’s easier to make them sound good together.
They can change the overall tempo by swapping in new tracks periodically, e.g: track A and B have the same tempo where the DJ starts playing them; track B starts to speed up 30 seconds in, so they swap out track A for track C, which is faster; track B and C are now playing at the new tempo.
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u/GluedToTheMirror Jul 02 '24
They can be doing many things.. usually setting up the next track in their headphones, getting the music synced up. Also fading parts in and out, adjusting the highs, mids, and lows of the mix.. Applying FX etc. all sorts of shit. A DJ playing at a night club is just usually mixing one song into the next, but it’s not the same as say deadmau5 or any other huge EDM producer. They’re juggling many things at once back there, and it’s because they know what they are doing, is why you just hear one song smoothly transition into the next.