Phase 12:
Pro Skills & Next Steps
The technique is there, the music knowledge is there — now you need real gigs. A house party, a small club, an open deck night. Anything in front of real people.
Everything you have learnt up to here is preparation. The real learning starts the first time you play in front of real people.
What you learn in this phase
Recording a mix in rekordbox
Using the record function — record every session and listen back
Analysing mixes systematically
A checklist: BPM clean? EQ right? Transitions on-phrase? FX in moderation? Energy curve?
Uploading a mix to Mixcloud or SoundCloud
Public feedback is the fastest engine for learning
Operating a CDJ-2000 or CDJ-3000
Export from rekordbox to USB, plug it into the CDJ, operate it much like the FLX2
Operating a Pioneer DJM mixer
3 EQ bands like the FLX2 — plus an isolator, more channels, more routing
Backline etiquette in the club
Before the gig: check the levels, set up the monitor, set up the booth monitor
Exporting a USB stick properly for a CDJ
Rekordbox export mode, formatting the stick, every track analysed and cued
Listening to and buying new music regularly
Beatport, Bandcamp, Resident Advisor — at least 1 hour of new music a week
Playing your first real gig
A house party, a birthday, an open deck night — anything in front of real people
Watching other DJs and analysing them
Going to a club gig to analyse it, not just to party
Building your own edits and bootlegs (optional)
Reworking tracks in Ableton or Logic — longer intros, different drops
Trying a second controller setup or a CDJ
Being flexible across different setups is a professional quality
What you can do after this phase
Every sentence is phrased so that you can check it yourself — on your own tracks, with a number rather than a feeling.
Has recorded at least one mix in each of 4 consecutive weeks and analyses it on all 5 levels.
Has uploaded a mix publicly.
Exports a USB stick with at least 20 prepared tracks and has tried it on unfamiliar gear.
Points to 5 places on a club mixer and names the equivalent on their own device; has a gig checklist with at least 8 points.
Spends an hour looking for new music in each of 4 consecutive weeks and finds at least 5 tracks in the process.
Has played a real gig, written an honest review of it, and brought back 5 observations from someone else's gig.
Has made their own edit and played it on at least one unfamiliar setup.
Practical assessment: out of the practice room
This is how you finish the phase on the gear — as a self-check with criteria you count off on your own material. The quiz tests what you know; this shows what you can do.
Take what you can do out into the world: a released mix, a club-ready stick, a plan for your first gig.
1 mix is uploaded publicly.
A USB stick with at least 20 prepared tracks is exported and tried on unfamiliar gear.
The gig checklist with at least 8 points is written.
XP reward
300 XP
after completing this phase + passing the quiz