DJ Tip #5: How To Put A Great DJ Set List Together

This is good for a platform starting point. I would say if you want to take it to the next level and advance yourself as a DJ you need to start mixing in KEY, it will allow your transitions from track to track to sound smoother if its in key and either the harmony or melodies go together. If you are purely a vinyl DJ this will be tough as you need to train your ears to have perfect pitch which takes YEARS to do and nearly impossible for absolute "Perfect" pitch.

However, using software such as Serato, Traktor, etc. makes it easier on the DJ. There is a software called "Mixed In Key" that allows you to scan your music and it will tell what key the songs are in, which then helps you see which songs will fit with others. This can help you put together a set you know will sound amazing. No crowd wants to hear a transition that clashes and sounds horrible unless they're drunk and don't care.

Here is an example of how it helps.



Using the camelot wheel we can see which Major Keys will go with which Major Keys AND Minor Key. To better explain this lets look at E Major (12 o'clock). We can see that a song that's in the key of E Major (12B) it will go well with D-Flat Minor(12A). BUT you should know that it is also possible to go from E Major (12B) to A Major (11B) or B Major (1B). This gives you four different directions you can take when mixing and still stay in KEY.

To make it easier on people who do not want to memorize which keys go together they added the numbers 1A - 12A and 1B - 12B , "A" being Minor keys and "B" being Major keys. So a song in 6A can go well with a song in 5A, 6A, 6B and 7A. Still with me here? You can go one key up or one key down and be in good hands. Don't try to mix a song that's in 6A with one that's in 9A because those keys are too far apart and the songs will clash. At the same time Don't go from 6A to 7B, instead you would go from 6A to 7A THEN to 7B or 6A to 6B THEN 7B. Make Sense?

I should note that Virtual DJ already has its own Key identifying system but I have found it to be inaccurate 40% of the time and does not use the number system to make things easier for you.

Once you have your tracks key'd out you can then go back to the "Seperate The Songs" step in this post and begin to create a set that will rock the crowd and be in Key.