Introductory Pilot Course
Number of Classes: 30
Time for Classes: 2 hours
Class Day: Tuesday
Week 1: Introduction: History and Art of DJ’ing
Equipment Overview and Setup
Week 2: Basic Song Structure, BPM, Time Signature
Review of Serato Software and Features
Week 3: Searching and Compiling Music and Song Selection
Different Music and Genres
Week 4: Dropping on the “1”, Beatmatching
Q/A Review of week 1 – 3
Week 5: Blending 2 Tracks
Harmonic Mixing, How to use the Camelot Chart
Week 6: Loops- How to Create them: Analog and Digital
Use of Cue Point
Equalization, Filters and Effects
Week 7: Transitions: 5 different approaches
Review of Previous Lessons
Week 8: Constructing and Rehearsing a Set
Mixing Using Different Setups and Components
Part 2
Building on the first 8 weeks, students will expand their knowledge of DJ practices and principles. By having the fundamentals of dj’ing and the historical context, students will learn more advanced ways in which to creatively use and combine various DJ techniques.
Week 9: Basic Scratches- Introduction
Basic Beat Juggling – Introduction
Week 10: Continue Basic Scratch Baby Scratch and Transformer
Beat Juggling 8 Bar, 4 Bar, 2 Bar, 1 Bar
Week 11: “Putting it all together,” Shaping the Set and Reading the Crowd
Review
Week 12: Practice
Week 13: Practice
Week 14: Marketing Techniques and Promotion, Branding and How to Use Social Media
Practice
Week 15: Performance by students
Spin Inc. (SI) is dedicated to students who are interested in learning the fundamentals of DJ’ing and Music Production. Our curriculum is designed to promote confidence building and teamwork for Detroit youth who are at risk and don’t have access to such programs. Since 2015, SI has hosted DJ/music production classes at the Detroit Institute of Music Education (DIME Detroit) featuring Juan Atkins (Techno Founder) and Stacey “Hotwaxx” Hale (International DJ/producer). SI provides free workshops and DJ classes, featuring Serato and Ableton.