If tonight is the night for you to finally get behind the decks of your favorite club, this is a big moment in your career and you want to make sure that the night is smooth sailing from start to finish. Chances are that the club has a pair of CDJs which means all the tracks are coming in on a flash drive. Don’t be the DJ to make the mistake of just downloading tracks to his/her digital crate. Utilize Pioneer’s free music management software and maximize each track's potential with rekordbox. This guide will teach the basics and by the end, any DJ will be able to prepare for a gig that houses a pair of CDJs.

What is

Any DJ who has used software will know the benefits that come with a digital interface. With Pioneer’s rekordbox, a DJ can beat grid tracks, embed hot cues, and save loops. The rekordbox software serves as a way for the DJ to have the tracks ready to play right after plugging in their flash drive.

Another great feature of rekordbox is the file management system, behind the scenes. Using the software with tracks beforehand allows the DJ to create numerous playlists, edit metadata, and even create notes about the tracks to glance at later during a gig. In short, rekordbox is the ultimate tool to prepare tracks for the CDJs and the best quality of the software is that it is totally free.

Beat Gridding with rekordbox

If digital DJ software seems foreign, then a DJ probably won’t be familiar with the process of beat gridding tracks. Beat grids outline a track and put markers on every beat in bar increments (4 beats to a bar). Beat gridding allows tracks to be easily synced up with other tracks that are playing. This isn’t a sync function but rather a digital blueprint. If a track has an improper beat grid, cue points would be off and a DJ will have a very hard time cueing up a track. By setting a beat grid in rekordbox before a gig, all the tracks that will be played can be easily cued and beat matched.

To beat grid with rekordbox, start by loading a track to the deck at the top of the screen. Below is a library where tracks can be grabbed from anywhere on the computer and includes a direct link to iTunes. (I loaded “Far Away” above from an iTunes playlist) Once the track is loaded, click the “Grid” button at the bottom left corner of the top half of the screen to bring up your beat gridding controls.

Beat gridding is all about finding the 1st beat in a track and setting the grid to that beat. In the first picture you can see white lines that indicate the beat grid. Above is a guide that indicates the function of each tool that is used to set a perfect grid.

1. This is a metronome that can be used to hear if the beat grid is in sync.
2. Locking the beat grid will prevent from an accidental modifications, preserving the grid to be played live.
3. Undo button.
4. Shrinks the beat intervals for subtle changes.
5. Grows the beat intervals for large changes.
6. Shifts the whole grid to the left.
7. Sets the first beat of the bar to the current position of the play marker.
8. Shifts the whole grid to the right.
9. Doubles the BPM value.
10. Halves the BPM value.
11. Make an adjustment to the grid for the whole track.
12. Make an adjustment to the grid from the current position.
13. Set the BPM of the track.
14. Tap the BPM manually.

An important part of analyzing the BPM of the track is to use the zoom functions located at the center left-side of the deck (Magnifying Glass with "+" and "-" signs). These controls allow you to precisely set the grid to that first beat. Rekordbox does a good job of beat gridding tracks so most will only have to be edited slightly, if at all. Typically, I find remixes and genre shifting tracks to be the hardest to beat grid. Remember to always lock the grid once it is set to preserve the integrity of the track when transferring to a flash drive and then to a CDJ.

Hot Cues and Loops

Cueing and looping are two very useful functions to a DJ because they allow for a track to be cut up and mixed quickly, allowing the DJ to be more efficient. In rekordbox, the hot cues and loops of a track can be stored before a gig, giving the DJ more time to mix instead of finding places to lay down a cue marker.

Rekordbox gives the DJ three Hot Cues and a memory bank that can hold up to 10 combinations of cues and loops. Hot cues can be found in the tools under “Cue/Loop” and they are indicated by “A”, “B”, or “C”. To set a hot cue just find a spot in the track where you want to set a cue (usually the start of vocals or maybe right after a drop) and then press one of the hot cue letters. To set a loop, just use the loop controls to designate a loop length and then press a hot cue button. Now hot cues will set to the nearest beat grid marker and hence, the reason we must beatgrid out tracks properly. Hot cues are made to be the top three places in a track that the DJ can jump to easily using the hot cue buttons on the CDJ.

The memory bank serves as a place that can be used to retrieve additional loops and cues. These aren’t accessible via designated buttons but can be accessed using the controls of a CDJ. The same principle of storing hot cues applies to the memory bank. The only difference is that to store a cue or loop, first press the orange “Cue” button and then “Memory”. This will store it into the memory bank located to the right of the deck.

Playlist Management and Syncing

Managing a playlist is vital for a DJ to be organized. It is much better to play a gig with an idea of where each track is rather than trying to sift through hundreds of tracks during a performance. Rekordbox allows the DJ to create playlists and edit the meta-data of the tracks as well.

First, create a playlist to add a track to by clicking on Playlists on the left, then the "+" sign. Once you name the playlist, right click a track to add it to a playlist. Playlists are stored within the rekordbox software and are made to be synced with flash drives that will be used in the CDJs. To the right is a pane that gives all the meta-data of a selected track. Here, a DJ can edit any data to make a track more accessible, which proves to be beneficial when searching through hundreds of tracks for one specific track.

To sync a playlist to a flash drive, start by inserting a flash drive or SD card into the computer. The rekordbox software will automatically detect it and begin formatting it to be used with the CDJ software. Although it won’t write over any information on the drive, it is recommended that the flash drive should be used solely for music. Then, press the Sync Manager button (bottom left corner) to open the sync window.

Here is where tracks and playlists can be selected to be synced. Under the “Device” tab, select the location of the flash drive or SD card. Click the check box “Synchronize playlists with a device” and then select the playlists that will go on to the flash drive. Finally, press the top grey arrow that sits between the rekordbox window and the device window, and voila! The tracks are now syncing to the device. The progress can be watched using progress bar located at the bottom left hand corner of the screen.

Why Use rekordbox?

Rekordbox is a great tool for DJs because it allows the DJ to prepare all aspects for a gig. If you are DJing in a club or bar, you will most likely run into a pair of CDJs. If you use Serato or Traktor, it can be a hassle to unload a laptop, external soundcard, and anything else a DJ might need. With rekordbox, all a DJ has to bring is his/her flash drive, headphones, and maybe a back up SD card. Also, track preparation allows for the DJ to concern themselves with being more creative instead of setting up the next track because it is already ready to go! Rekordbox shows the DJ the waveform and plays the track back just how it was prepared in the studio. This allows the DJ to become well acquainted with the music and may even help the DJ learn more about song arrangement as they go through the track, setting up cue points.

Download the free software today and start playing around with your own tracks. Even if you don’t use CDJs, it doesn’t hurt to learn more about the tracks you are playing.

Dean William will field any questions that you have about rekordbox. He's on Twitter: @deanithon.