Using Rekordbox tin be an excellent style to improve your workflow, adjust your sets, analyze your music, and sync all of that up with Pioneer'southward manufacture-standard media players: the CDJ and XDJ.

Here, we desire to show off some more advanced features and functions, then you tin really take advantage of this incredible software and elevate your DJ sets above and beyond (no pun intended)! This commodity will showcase several tips and tricks that'll let you to step upwards your game.

1. Using the Sort Role and Viewing Columns

Screenshot-of-Custom-Columns-Rekordbox-2

Rekordbox has a suite of different methods to organize and display the information that is most important to you and your DJ sets. Calculation or removing different information columns can be a really expert way to personalize your library, and have all the important stuff—genre, BPM, creative person, even star ratings—on hand whenever you need them.

By simply correct-clicking on the cavalcade headers, yous tin customize each column and how it is displayed. You can choose from 39 different fields made upwards of metadata and history within Rekordbox.

Going a step further, you tin can then sort by each custom column, giving you precise control over your tracks and their data. This tin also work wonders for helping you select the adjacent runway, as you might be searching for a specific artist, BPM range, or key.

2. Setting Hot Cues

Looking at the hot cues function in Rekordbox

From the Pioneer Rekordbox transmission: "Hot cues are used to mark dissimilar points in the rails from which you wish to start playback. Each bespeak can be called out, and the track starts playing instantly from at that place." Basically, this function enables you lot to trigger a song at a certain point in time and set upward to 8 trigger points per song.

This will hateful you tin can play them with surgical timing and precision in the booth. Information technology tin be crawly to set up hot cues at the showtime of a breakdown, during a heavy section of a vocal, over a vocal or drum section, or even in the midst of a especially lovely role of a track.

These cues are marked past letters A through H in Rekordbox vi and are just a button click away. Simply navigate to the part of the song y'all desire to use, and then press one of the hot cue buttons to gear up it. This trigger will then exist remembered by Pioneer and loaded into your CDJ or XDJ for performances in the futurity.

iii. Binder Structures

An example of a Rekordbox Folder Structure that suits DJs

At present, this is a bit more of a personal recommendation, but as a DJ of over 10 years, having pedantically organized folders has been my saving grace many times. Sure, you can sort all your tracks on the fly when yous're performing, merely having all the key factors laid out before the gig—BPM, genre, feeling, timing, anything you value as a DJ—is incredible.

Fortunately, Rekordbox's folders and playlists support any form of system yous want to take. All you need to do is have a skillful think about how yous want to lay information technology out, and Rekordbox will provide the tools to do it. I similar to organize my folders in terms of atmosphere, and then past speed, so again by genre, then I can select the perfect melody at the perfect fourth dimension.

4. Using Waveform View

An example of the use of Rekordbox's waveform preview function

You've probably already noticed this, but yous can really preview the waveform of your tracks in Rekordbox, and drag them into view to take a more detailed look at what will happen in that rails. Ideally, you're going to want to preview a track in your headphones earlier playing it to the crowd. But having a visual representation of that waveform can give you lot added insight.

Not only can you examine the waveform, but you tin also ask Rekordbox to colour-coordinate it, and then you can programme for the peaks and troughs of a track earlier they come. Simply head to Rekordbox'southward Preferences, go to View, and head to the Waveform section. From there, change it from Bluish to RGB.

There is also a neat function tucked away in at that place that allows you to analyze waveforms by their frequency bands. This is perfect to look for big drops, gentle sections, and the ideal place to mix out of a song.

5. iTunes Integration and Loading

Rekordbox iTunes integration

This one is probably one of the simplest of our recommendations, but it's too ane of the most important. Rekordbox has a built-in iTunes integration, compatible with all file types and songs. This allows you to acquit over playlists you've created, or even drag and drop from iTunes straight into folders you've made.

In Consign or Operation mode, simply navigate to the bottom left-hand role of the screen, click on the iTunes dropdown menu, and the program will automatically sync upwards your songs and playlists. Now, you can seamlessly go betwixt Rekordbox and iTunes to have total control over your library. How cool is that?

six. My Tag

Rekordbox My Tag feature

Whether you're an avid collector or someone who is new to getting organized with Rekordbox, yous'll often discover yourself losing tracks inside your music library. This is particularly true if you don't ever end upward playing new music you've collected straight away.

The My Tag system attempts to rectify this issue past giving users a way to categorize tracks into custom fields that can be filtered out down the line. But open the My Tag window on the right-hand side of the library, and you'll initially come across the default tags that come up with the programme.

Within the three preset groups of Genre, Components, and Situation, you lot can add more fields or change the contents of all these groups. You can even add your own group with nevertheless you want to classify tracks. With My Tag, Rekordbox proves itself once again in terms of being the ultimate custom solution for DJ organization.

A display of Rekordbox's related tracks function

Perhaps one of Rekordbox'due south most intelligent features, the related tracks section is an incredible tool for finding songs that mix well together. Establish inside the tree view of Export or Performance mode on the left side, you'll be presented with track suggestions based on key factors like Era, Mood, Association, BPM and Key, Genre, and Artist.

Information technology's basically a list of songs that Rekordbox has analyzed, and determined to fit well with your currently playing song. Most of these criteria are once more customizable, allowing you to set the parameters—however tight or loose—that can dictate what the plan volition come upwards with.

If you consistently relish its suggestions, you can correct-click on the tab and turn the suggested songs into an independent playlist. You can and then feed this through the tips above in terms of organization and structure. This is another fantastic trick for saving time and making playlists that are full of the right songs at the right time.

8. Intelligent Playlists

Intelligent playlists Rekordbox

Finally, and similarly to the previous signal, Rekordbox's intelligent playlists are populated with tracks in your library that fit in with rules that yous input. Basically, if you want to lay out a house music set between 124 and 128BPM, you could enquire Rekordbox to create an intelligent playlist based on these rules, all of which also fit in with the My Tag function every bit we discussed above.

Rekordbox is dynamic in the sense of automatically updating whenever you launch the plan or upload new music. This can be some other great time-saving tip if y'all're looking to curate a set up or playlist speedily and effectively.

As we've seen, Rekordbox is an elite program when it comes to organizing your music for performances or abode listening.

These tips and tricks are intended to requite yous a much more advanced understanding of all the features that can aid you select, mix, and play to the best of your ability. Now become out in that location and perform for the people!

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