3 Mistakes To AVOID On CDJs and Club Setups (Easy Fix!)

These are some of the most common issues DJs run into when using CDJs. In this video, Jamie shows you how to avoid them.
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Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
00:19 FX Channel Fix
04:45 Crossfader Settings
07:01 CDJ Masterclass
07:43 Quantize
#pioneerdj #beginnerdj #cdjs
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[@Crossfader]

Ready to master CDJs? Check out the course: bit.ly/3bUBQGn

[@djvetex7303]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/ep3HpmSqesZgd6c check this artist out!

[@octavianm9366]

This is so scary because we can't aford one to practice at home, but in the club you have one try so no room for mistakes :(

[@janscreativespace7055]

I feel this one so badly.

[@LloydSpinz]

Depending on where your at in the world you can hit up a pirate studio. They have rental rooms with lighting and CDJs. They're building one out by me in Chicago but it's taking forever lol.

[@LifeWithLyvonne]

You can test things in your headphones! As long as you have CUE on and the volume down on that channel, so you're a bit less nervous - this has helped me a lot

[@Peter-mo3pr]

Practice rooms mate, book a day in one, they're all over 👍

[@Project5.]

Maybe you can rent a dj studio - I live in London and we have here Pirate Studios - but try to find any dj studio for rent in your place. I can’t buy this gear, but I keep practice once a week in studio.

[@mo7903]

I’m going to be playing on CDJS for the first time next month and this is exactly what i needed! 😊

[@Thegoat-pn5oy]

Good luck bro, for sure you will pull it off, just try and practice at pirate studios if u can. 👏👏🙌🙌

[@bassfixproductions6143]

@@Thegoat-pn5oy that's great advice. Also go through your music to organize everything from making a playlist and making sure you got all the cues you need set up.

[@Thegoat-pn5oy]

@@bassfixproductions6143 and smile dance and have fun, the people will catch your vibes.. it helps

[@maaddman2444]

Good luck !!!!! 🤘🏽👍🏽

[@lclennert]

Goodluck my man!

[@madmike3052]

Played on cdjs lastnight for the 1st time and wow do I wish I saw these video yesterday lol

[@eskei83]

Pioneer DJ really needs to fix their effect section on the DJM. It was good 10 years ago but it’s 2022 and it’s still so complicated and easy to mess up simple things like on beat effects like echo. and don’t let me start with the quantize function 😂 this is so buggy and they don’t fix it. Try cut a loop in half with quantize off and you’ll notice that it starts the loop from the top each time pressing the 1/2 button. your mix will get out of phase and train wreck.

[@Denis-cb2yr]

My first time I messed up the channels 😅 i was blending EQ of 1 into 3 and CDJs were connected to 3 and 4 😂

[@houstoner]

I'm surprised you didn't emphasize probably the most important thing, have your music prepared ahead of time, especially beat grids. You may have to manually go through library and fix them one by one, but it will pay off when it comes to performance time. Especially if being your first time. Also setting a couple cues in the first 16/32 bars of a song because cues aren't gated like on a controller. These tips were useful, but can't stress enough how much a noob needs to have their USB prepared. Jumping right in with simple .mp3 files like you would plug into your car or something will work, but you will drive yourself mad trying not to train wreck. Not even the sync can save you lol. Having things prepared will give you some breathing room to get into the mix, not be stressing. I see this all too often at open deck nights. Even if you use Serato, VDJ or something else, get Rekordbox and use that for prepping USB. I would safely say 4/5 venues use a Pioneer setup if you aren't taking your own.

[@peacepuffz]

if you can mix by ear like old school DJ's you don't need any of that stuff.

[@gekhond]

@@peacepuffz I gave your comment a thumbs up, because I agree, but preparing your USB is also very important in terms of making sure your tracks are available and can be found where they should be.

[@peacepuffz]

@@gekhond for sure I used to organise my vinyl creates all week long before the week end. I was open format so had stuff from 75 BPM to 185 BPM's in a box that needed to be slightly programmed.

[@gekhond]

same! I am always organizing my crates, adding labels, making "mini sets" with 4-5 records, etc. Organization is really key, and that's also true when you play with thumb drives.@@peacepuffz

[@rassm3229]

being prepared is useful to an extent for sure. Especially if you can't beat match by ear. I can't help feeling though that it can become somewhat of a crutch and can lead to less spontaniety and artificially pre-prepared sets from some DJ's. I find it far too much effort (almost a full time job) to go through each track and set the beat grid, particularly as someone who will play anything from rock and soul, to funk or techno. So many songs where you have to go through and set beat markers throughout the song every 8 bars. I ended up just giving up and relying on my experience as a vinyl DJ since the mid 90's to beat match by ear and transition in more traditional ways.

[@Macarite]

first tip was genius; never knew u could manually set bpm like that

[@StatikTronik]

i'm going to be playing on CDJs (2000) next month and i am absolutely terrified

[@EricBishard]

I think the best tip going back to posting clubs after years of only playing on controller's it's the quantizing and effects tips. Love this channel, lots of good alpha! I knew about quantizing, but it's a good reminder, as from coming from using the XDJ-XZ o didn't know about the tap tips and getting the BPM set correctly but I do now and I'm playing four sets this month on CDJs with DJM rather than my standalone controller. The only real difference for me is the fx on the mixer, but after a few shows, i can play on both.

[@BartKrap]

One thing that I, as an engineer, want to add is: KEEP THE CHANNELS OUT OF THE RED. Understanding gain is very important and lots of DJ's just push everything to the max. The mixer will clip and that takes out all dynamics out of your music. When there is an audio engineer or a limiter installed, your maximum output will be set. There is no point trying to push past, you'll just ruin the sound.

[@user-pn7nz4uu3o]

great work Jamie, huge fan! I move from Los Angeles & now I`m living in oldest city in Europe Plovdiv/Bulgaria.

[@TheLarryWilson]

This video helped tremendously hopping on my first set for CDJ 3000s a few months ago. Your content has helped me tremendously for my professional DJ career! I've done some pretty epic things this summer! Keep it up Crossfader!

[@flowsy5294]

How did it go? Were you nervous?

[@TheLarryWilson]

@@flowsy5294 it worked out very well, since then I've worked several gigs with CDJs and standalone Pioneer setups. But yes I was extremely nervous lol

[@Soulauric]

I didn't know about holding the tap button & turning the time knob to change bpm manually. Thanks!

[@antoniov1546]

Great tips, in particular the first one, beat FX area is super tricky.

[@HonneyAllStar]

You guys are doing such a great work

[@TyCruzCast]

I didnt know *any* of these features! This is very helpful to know.

[@SantiagoG37]

I was not aware of the fact that you had to turn off quantize in order to do some pad work properly. Good video mate👍🏽

[@jayadams3124]

Playing support for some artists tn. First time on cdjs. Wish me luck

[@melkroll6962]

Hope it went well 👍

[@egetoman4179]

how did it go brother, any tips ?

[@vivianahernandez3169]

Thank you! Very informative.

[@DJDickens]

Thankfully i learned/still learning on CDJS and havent really used controllers apart from the odd house party, i can see how confusing switching from a controller to CDJS would be... but i still took a lot from this video especially about quantizing loops, thanks for that ✌️

[@Carlos-zn6zd]

A Very Informative Video!! Thanks Crossfader!

[@Crossfader]

No worries!

[@DJLachsnacken]

Another fantastic tipps to maybe play one day on a Pioneer, the day will come and i will be prepared✨

[@joeytupaea6266]

great work Jamie, huge fan!

[@Crossfader]

Nice one, Joey!

[@kaik_music]

Great video Jamie!!! I didn´t know that Hot Cues doesn´t work properly when Quantize is activated. I´ll take note of it because it´s very important if you want to do some quick tricks with the hot cues 👌🏼😁

[@str0kedj]

me either great tip

[@gaddaitherage8204]

Super helpful!

[@leonvic]

great tips, thank you so much

[@Crossfader]

Glad it was helpful!

[@haydenfraser3035]

One thing I haven't heard anyone ever talk about when it comes to the echo effect is the phasing that occurs when the timing is perfect. Before I turn the echo effect on i always nudge the time knob a little bit so phasing doesnt occur, yes its out of time, but to me it sounds so much better than perfectly timed echo that causes phasing to happen

[@elissitdesign]

I'm surprised Pioneer hasn't addressed the issue of Phase Cancelation which is the simple to fix issue.

[@BrooksEE]

Brilliant ! Perfect timing got a gig on Saturday never played on CDJs

[@Thegoat-pn5oy]

Good luck bro, for sure you will pull it off, just try and practice at pirate studios if u can. 👏👏🙌🙌

[@Crossfader]

Lets goooooo 🔥🔥🔥

[@BrooksEE]

@@Thegoat-pn5oy cheers pal I’ve got XDJ-XZ there apparently feel exactly the same just need to sort out the settings (got the course booked)👍🏻

[@joonyz]

The fx tutorial was verry good - Thanks

[@Crossfader]

Pleasure

[@gekhond]

that crossfader mistake is not an imaginary problem. It happened to me in the first 15 minutes of a mix. I thought it was an error/defect in the mixer and kept adjusting the gain on the "low" volume channel to make up for the difference in volume. Sure enough I had knocked the crossfader to one side with the headphone cord during my set up. 🤣

[@Henrydejong1234]

Making sure auto cue is on is also another Major, had a more experienced DJ turn it off at the end of his set just to mess with me and it threw me off so hard.

[@martynhixon]

loving the Tips and Tricks etc, can i ask tho does the Tap technuiqe work the same on the XDJ XZ? Thanks again for all the tips.

[@flouts69]

Well don't forget, once you have set-up the BPM on the build in effects unit, you turn on Quantize on the mixer effect unit to keep the effects in sync.

[@btka909]

Even better option with loops - use that Beat Loop function!

[@alessiosmith123]

I did my first club gig last night and i when I plugged my USBs in all my files were collapsed which scared the hell out of me so I had to quickly ask the manager to copy my files onto his USBs and the fully they worked😂😂. They don’t tell you this at a DJ school or how to properly format your USBs for a set.

[@jay.s5608]

This video is funny 😁 it tells people who are not djs how to dj basically what happen to learning first then setting up to the plate with the big dogs lol 😆😂.

[@johnfrancis2258]

Kool tips🙂

[@selenegajraj8663]

Great video as always,can you please make a video on how to overcome stage fright as a dj..It would be very helpful!!

[@delvallo9652]

for starters , DJs shouldn't be fixtures on a stage to begin with. The modern adaptation of what a "dj" is and does has become ridiculous, DJs should be out of sight out of mind, people should not be lined up like robots facing a DJ and taking photos. They should be dancing and interacting with EACH OTHER, and anyone who has been around the heyday of clubbing and raving knows exactly what I am talking about.

[@alexmason7103]

@@delvallo9652 things evolve. DJing is a performer’s game - if there’s a DJ that can hype up the crowd vs a DJ hidden away in the corner playing the same music, I think we all know which show would be more popular.

[@selenegajraj8663]

@Delvallo96 Thank You for answering my question!!

[@grooves3073]

@@alexmason7103 that’s not how it works at all…you don’t go to a place to watch the dude, you go there to listen to the music they’re playing, seeing them is just how it’s painted as essential nowadays, but as mentioned above, you’re there to dance with each other and not stare at the person playing the music. Watch any interview with Moodymann and he mentions it all the time

[@davey6024]

Hi love the video! What is the best type of cocaine to have when you are learning to DJ?

[@traviswelsh807]

Opened for bijou and marten hoger a couple weeks back one of the transitions required a loop but I did not use quantize and it was easy to tell haha this video would have helped

[@Crossfader]

Haha. Sounds like an awesome gig tho. 🔥

[@thetjdrummer789]

I really wish I saw this video before my first time playing on some CDJ2000 Nexus’ over the weekend…

[@christopherelson5119]

One more: Load times. Especially on 2000 series, the time it takes for a track to load is much longer than a controller. Caught me out the first time I played live.

[@Crossfader]

Yeh for sure. Way faster on the 3000s

[@DeejayWilly]

great vid as always. for me, i do always try to avoid cdjs as when i compare them to a controller the controller wins in price and usability

[@joonyz]

This is what i need

[@Crossfader]

Dope!

[@itskittens]

amazing

[@user-zc1oz5tv9o]

Hey Mr crossfader I have a query on the most common problem I face and the one I thought you would cover I once went to a club where by the cdj takes a very long time to find the songs bpm after loading it So basically on the bpm Screen it goes blank like really black no numbers at all I had to guess the bpm in order to mix which I basically flunked and ended up fucking up my whole set can you make a video on how to find the bpm if there is a Tempo problem on the cdj🙏🙏🙏

[@LifeWithLyvonne]

One time I was about to use the CDJs to do a live radio broadcast and someone left the "rewind" function on so all my music was playing backwards 😭😭😭. I literally had to look at and compare each button/knob on the deck on the left to figure it out which setting was incorrect in the 5 minutes before going live 😳

[@maus3454]

Nice Nanoleaf panels ar the back 👍

[@Crossfader]

Love them

[@djmattdodge]

is there a hack for the manual bpm on like a pioneer s11? I know there isn't a TIME knob but that's useful AF

[@leonzalirchirl2828]

Hey crossfader can you tell me what the new feature inside djay by algorithm on iPad called export as CSV file do

[@fredjoseph3151]

I am a new DJ and I want to use turntables for DJing, my question is, is it possible to use a rekordbox kit with serato software?

[@the.djewel]

what USB are you using? or which one you advice to get?

[@osh241]

Pioneer and their best tapping 🤣

[@POSITIVEVIBESTECHNO]

I will avoid the RED lights on your channels !!! 😜🤣🤣🤣😎✌️

[@slinkyralph]

Why did you not talk about the fx quantize button/function?

[@nathananthony2875]

Legend

[@dreammix9430]

SAWEEEEET!! ♥️🙂♥️🙂♥️

[@usuallyblockedforspeakingt2803]

I'm about to start producing very unique decksavers /dust covers for selected dj controllers such as ddj1000, ddj 400 etc . I wanted something other than the perspex covers which scratch and look tired over time. They are a high end product which look elegant and have the custom gargoyle image that I will be using for each deck cover, embedded in the resin. Could I send you a sample to review? . Also if anyone wants to see an image of one I will be happy to show you.

[@feso85]

great tips but there is another one that happens all the time when you press que and the there is this soud like tttttttttttt like its locked on loop ! can you explain why and how to fix it? thanks !

[@djbeathound2989]

Put the CDJ’s in vinyl mode

[@waffeln-hu8cf]

that's called "stutter cue". put the CDJ in vinyl mode or press cue button to cue up.

[@paulschneider8634]

why cant i find the song thats playing on the left deck on spotify?

[@supersalad2189]

what about pressing the "quantize" button next to the bpm tap for FX?

[@adrock0801]

This will only work when the DJM is connected by "Pro DJ Link" (network cable) together with the players, so you have to put a network switch in between the CDJs and the mixer, connecting them all together. That maybe the reason why you often not find this connection in clubs.

[@supersalad2189]

@@adrock0801 thanks

[@chuck1880]

Can you please do one on ddj 400 since I've been loading my tracks and everytime It always crashes or freezes for me on windows 10!

[@Crossfader]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/j6WrmY2pg82phM0

[@djM.A.D]

My A9 has different sharp curve crossfader. Is it normal?

[@niels2135]

Watching this after i just got complete Error after playing on a cdj for the first time

[@bf2dabom]

How effectively do your skills on a controller transfer over to a CDJ , it looks like two different worlds.

[@d32d3n3y]

I use CDJs since 2018. Why did I watch this? :D

[@fzudemynn]

The first one is DONT CONNECT CDJs VIA LINE!

[@corywilliams458]

Great Advice!....now I wont look like DJ Duh! if I get on some CDJ's..👍

[@Crossfader]

We got you, Cory!

[@mygins5820]

I love you Jamie but we need holand back 😢

[@Deltamomusic]

song name???

[@xDJ_Luca]

Song name?

[@vasiliszaxaropoulos8726]

👍👍👍👍

[@tbone2646]

Honestly though, how are you playing in a club if you don't know how the crossfader works?

[@gaddaitherage8204]

About quantize, can you please tell me the reason why when it’s turned on, and I have it on a 1 beat loop, and when I try to half the loop (creating a buildup) and the halting will not take effect immediately and there is a delay? I find turning off quantize helps, but just want to know the reason why. Much appreciate it!

[@ramonrichie9683]

My guess is with quantize all, all actions are quantized... so if you half a loop it will wait for the full beat to finish then half it.

[@neurosick]

@@ramonrichie9683 here's the answer 🍻

[@gaddaitherage8204]

@@ramonrichie9683 thanks! Yeah that’s really annoying when it does that, but just as annoying when I forget to turn the quantize back on and it affects something down the line. I am trying to build the habit of turning the quantize back on whenever I finish an action. Sort of like taking the dishes back after I finished the food 😂

[@nikolajmakar625]

im not a DJ how does this affect me ?

[@jmrub06]

still wondering why you would pay so much more money for CDJs that have far less functionality, FXs, software bmp recognition. i'm happy with my RX3. Running my laptop to my RX3 makes it even more creative with FXs.

[@DanielEstrada-nr1pb]

I have one too but it's not the club standard.

[@haloKINGSstudios]

"Mistakes to avoid on CDJs" - proceeds to talk mostly about DJM

[@PRRazcle]

AND the CDJ of choice seen hear is Pioneers top of the line-CDJ 3000 👀😲$$.. interesting pro’s at that level should not be making those mistakes you think🤔

[@btka909]

I’m not a pro, but I have those decks (don’t make those mistakes either though!)

[@worldtruth2038]

You're a seer

[@nycvivation9787]

First and second part of the video was not even talking about the cdj but about a pioneer mixer effect settings or crossfader which I get that they have to do with djing but it has nothing to do with cdjs. Only time he talks about the cdj is at the end. Smh

[@Technics-zq4hf]

No using crossfader..no using vinyl No using spirit

[@zeenuf00]

Why don't the clubs just use a data cable?

[@Alton-x]

Whats all this tapping bpm? If you cannot mix by ear you have no right to be playing in a club

[@djsubculture2786]

You need the correct bpm for the effects.

[@RobErt-rs2vy]

First mistake to avoid: use cdjs or controllers! First thing to do: be a real dj buying playing and supporting vinyls

[@wolffdj2067]

How Do I can do fukin mistakes if I can't buy these CDJS [FUK THAT WORLD SITUATIONS] ??? xDDDDDDDDDDDD

[@joshuasteele8896]

Bro get a hair cut

[@Crossfader]

NEVER!!!!! 🤣

[@TheSirButthole]

What’s the difference between a cdj and a controller isn’t a cdj also a controller?

[@julzcez6669]

Wack!