Hot Cue
A stored jump point in a track.
Detailed explanation
A hot cue is a permanently stored position marker in a track. Press the matching performance pad and the track jumps straight to that position. Hot cues are stored in rekordbox and travel with you on a USB stick to the club. A system worth adopting: pad 1 = first downbeat, pad 2 = drop, pad 3 = second drop or breakdown, pad 4 = start of the outro. It lets you navigate fast and precisely without searching.
In practice
You do not want to hunt for where the drop starts at every gig. So during preparation you set fixed points: one on the start of the intro, one on the downbeat before the drop, one on the outro. In the club you then press a button instead of scrolling. The real gain is not time, it is calm — knowing you can jump to a known point at any moment makes you play bolder.
Assessment by the DJLearn editorial team — experience, not a sourced factual claim.
Related terms
Where to learn this
Hot cues & loops
The guide that covers this topic in depth.
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Phase 8: Hot Cues & Loops
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