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The DJ School of Hard Beats
Learning to Play the Instruments of the New Dance Genre
 Listen to Neda Ulaby's report.
Juliette Siegfried (right), also known as DJ Zelda, teaches a Metatrack student how to mix beats.
Photo: Neda Ulaby, NPR News
Tracks from DJ Zelda's mix CD Reckoning:
Mix 1
Mix 2
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Metatrack Studio, once the site of an illegal massage parlor.
Photo: Neda Ulaby, NPR News |
Dance beat definitions
Acid -- Usually around 130 beats per minute (bpm), with high-pitched melodies. The beat is traditionally generated by a Roland TB-303 synthesizer.
Ambient -- No defined beat, with spacey, soothing sounds.
Drum-and-Bass -- Characterized by a deep bass line and a well-pronounced break beat, played at a quicker 160 bpm.
Garage -- A 4/4 "house" beat with pronounced singing and a high-hat drum rhythm.
Hip Hop -- A fusion of rap-style lyrics and a loping, dance-ready beat.
House -- Originally derived from disco music, house is characterized by 4/4 beats with emotive, synthesized melodies to locked rhythms.
Trance -- Combines synthesized melodies, with time kept by a clap (or similar sound) on the odd beat, played at about 140 bpm.
Trip Hop/Downtempo -- Similar to Hip Hop, but with less rap lyrics and a slower (120 bpm), more laid-back feel and electronic samples usually taking the place of traditional funk samples.
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May 7, 2002 -- Juliette Siegfried -- AKA DJ Zelda -- learned how to be a DJ the old-fashioned way. It started when she went to a house party.
"Then I burst into tears because I was 30 and I was at this party and everyone there was probably 18," she told NPR's Neda Ulaby. "And I ran out of there... and I just cried. And I was talking to my friend and I said 'I missed it, it's too late, it's over, what have I done?'"
At the time, Siegfried was a teacher at an exclusive Washington private school. After the party, she joined a support group called Ravers Geriatric. She found friends and mentors -- and she also found a new market.
Siegfried went to house parties, danced, made friends with DJs playing there, and found mentors to help her learn to use the tools of the trade -- the turntables, mixing boards and drum machines used to create "electronica" music. She started spinning records at clubs on Monday nights, developing her style and building a fan base.
More often than not, pop stars don't become pop stars through formal study. They immerse themselves in the music scene. Some of the biggest names in DJ culture -- DJ Spooky, or Sasha and Digweed -- are self-taught superstars.
Schools for aspiring DJs have popped up in Europe, Australia and Japan. Siegfried founded her own DJ school, studio and rental shop in the Washington, D.C. area, called Metatrack. She tells Ulaby her goal is to help others get a head start on their way to becoming a DJ.
"People are really interested in learning how to mix records," she says, "and people want to try it -- but they don't know where to go or how to do it, or where to start."
But some critics say the established method of becoming a DJ -- learning from a mentor, and gradually building your skills by playing and watching others -- is still the best way.
"I don't think it's something that can be taught (from a) textbook," says Frankie Knuckles, a house music pioneer and something of a club culture elder statesman. "The only real benefit I think anyone could get from a school like that is the benefit of the knowledge of whoever's teaching."
Knuckles thinks DJ schools are a great idea, in theory. But he says that intuition and hard-earned experience are the necessary elements to making a crowd move. "Unless... these schools have ready-made dance floors -- almost like a barber college, you know what I mean?"
But for $35 dollars an hour, students can learn the tricks of the trade at Metatrack from about 20 professional DJs, without the commitment of finding a long-term mentor. "It's a high, I guess, for the two seconds I can get it going while I'm practicing," one of the students tells Ulaby.
Other Resources
• Ravers Geriatric.
• A brief history of Frankie Knuckles and the origin of "house" music. Knuckles tour information is available on Defmix.com.
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