If there’s anything that gets your disco-fist pumping, it’s going to be Deep House. For people that don’t know, Deep House is a sub-genre of the House music genre. It can range from as high as 125 bpm to as slow as 110 bpm. Many DJs and fans alike prefer Deep House to traditional House music as it pulls from a wide variety of influences while still retaining many of the same aspects of House music that make it so compelling.
While many starting DJs may enjoy Deep House music, a lot less can adequately and effectively describe it. Luckily that’s where this guide comes in. Here, we’ll give you a complete overview of how to DJ deep House music and get down to the real basics. By the end, you’ll have a strong foundational understanding and should be able to put out stellar music as early as your next gig.
What Is Deep House Music?
First thing’s first, it’s a good idea to break down what Deep House is and how it compares to House music in general.
Deep House is regarded as a sub-genre of House music that is considered more vocal and flowing. It has a beats per minute range that generally goes from 110 at its slowest, to 125 at its fastest. Deep House often is noted for its many features and influences. These can include funk, soul, jazz, and several others. The sub-genre comes with a drumbeat that is the same as its big brother House music (4/4 time signature) while the majority of Deep House styles use the seventh and ninth chords, creating a more repetitive pattern that can be noticed throughout the sound’s track.
Bassline
In terms of bassline, Deep House has a bit of variety here. Many times, there can be some bassline sounds that are more prominent than others, while others can sit a bit in the background as a more subtle option. Because of this, you can expect bassline sounds to largely be synths, with some other times being vocal and vocal stabs, as well as a more chopping sound that moves throughout the mix.
On the other hand, there are other Deep House bassline tracks that have a more Funk & Soul bassline by way of using Bass Guitar sounds. In many instances, these sounds will either lead a track with a chord rhythm, or they’ll hold things together by way of a more underlying tone setup.
There are also times when a track featuring an older soul or funk sound can take the lead. In these instances, you’ll find that the bassline itself isn’t nearly as prominently on display, instead subtly acting as an underlying tone that keeps the music flowing correctly.
Prominent Sounds Included In Deep House
Some of the more prominently presented sounds for Deep House can include the following:
- Vocals
- FX
- Chord synths or Chord Samples
- Bass
- Drums (4×4 kick drums that have a more crisp snare-clap combo)
Building Your Deep House Music Collection
As we’ve now gone over what Deep House music is, and how it differs from standard House music, we’ll now get into the best way for you to build up your sound collection so that you’re ready to start mixing and performing for your next set.
Method #1. Music Downloading
The first way for you to get your Deep House music is pretty much the most straightforward. It can also be the most expensive, though that doesn’t necessarily make it a bad thing. Purchasing and downloading music is a great option for those that want to be able to refer to their music library at any time in any place, regardless of internet connection or whether a song is available on a certain platform at a certain time.
Beatport
If you aren’t able to find what you’re looking for with Traxsource, another ideal place to look is on Beatport (beatport.com). Beatport has an awesome collection of tracks with an impressive number of Deep House artists available. While Traxsource has a lot about it that I like, from a file format to overall music quality, Beatport is the best download website that there is.
Traxsource
One of the best areas where you can get your music is Traxsource (traxsource.com). They’re a great option for those that want to get as close to that old-school nostalgia of digging through crates for vinyl records. You’ll find certain tracks that are entirely Deep House rollers, while others will very much be that hidden gem that only shows up now and then.
Method #2. Using Streaming Platforms
The next way that you can get Deep House music is by using an online streaming platform like Spotify, SoundCloud, or Mixcloud. These are great options for those that don’t want to spend a ton of money on tracks while still having access to a large library of available tracks. Just keep in mind that, not only are you at the whim of whatever rules your platform wishes to impose at the time but (more often than not) DJ software, when used on streaming platforms, can be a bit difficult.
Beatport LINK & SoundCloud
Both Beatport LINK and SoundCloud are great platforms to use. They are both DJ-friendly while also having HUGELY extensive music libraries. You’ll need to pay a monthly fee, but it’s going to be cheaper per month than even 10 potential tracks purchased from the other methods.
I recommend Beatport LINK simply because, you’re getting much of the same benefit as you’d have with the platform’s purchased option. That said, SoundCloud is well known as a platform that is very favorable to DJs on the whole.
Is Beatport LINK Just Another Library?
Spotify
Spotify is another excellent way to find tracks that you can add to your Deep House playlist. You can’t use the platform the same way as either Beatport LINK or SoundCloud, but you can certainly use it in terms of seeing what tracks you can add to your playlist using the other methods listed.
If you are interested in using Spotify’s library for DJing, we have a guide for how to do that available, as the process is a bit more involved compared to either SoundCloud or Beatport LINK.
25 Spotify Tips That Will Completely Enhance Your Streaming Experience
Learning To Beatmatch
By now, you should know what Deep House music is as well as the best way to add it to your DJ library. The next thing you’ll need to know about is how to beatmatch.
Beatmatching is essentially just the process of aligning two separate beats together so that they hit at the same time. This means that, as two beats are playing, through beatmatching, you can have them both moving at the same BPM at the same time. As both tracks are mixed, beatmatching ensures that you won’t be able to notice one song from the other. Beatmatching also ensures that the two tracks largely maintain the same rhythm.
Method #1. Using SYNC
This is often debated amongst DJs and there is a fair amount of snobbery around the sync button. However, the first and easiest method of beatmatching is by using the “SYNC” button on your DJ controller. As DJ software uses the grids snapped to the beats, this process automatically matches the beats without much work from you.
Because the SYNC option isn’t perfect and pretty much takes all the beatmatching power away from the DJs themselves, it is much more commonly used in non-professional settings as more of a hobby, or as a way of practicing.
Method #2. Mixing By Ear (The king of DJ skills)
The second method is to beatmatch by ear using the “pitch shifter” and DJ headphones. The pitch shifter is located on the turntable and is the primary method that a professional DJ uses to beatmatch, the other being with the jogwheel, which works to slightly align beats so that they perfectly match one another.
While it is called “mix by ear”, the reality is that much of modern DJ software and equipment is used to the DJ’s advantage so that they can see the track’s tempo and at what BPM it is set. This process makes it much easier to move the pitch shifters so that they better match the BPM that is showing on the screen.
Understanding The Different Mixing Terms
When mixing Deep House tracks (along with any music tracks) there are several terms you’ll want to keep in mind throughout the process.
#1. Looping
Looping is one of the better tools available in a DJ’s arsenal. It’s one of those things that every DJ will find themselves using, whether they’re just getting started or have been performing at gigs as a seasoned veteran. Just a few areas of control include:
Track Looping
Track looping works by looping a track at both its beginning and end. This gives you more time to either beatmatch or pause in case you need more time for blending a track.
Build-Up Effects Looping
Looping to build up effects before performing a transition drop can be incredibly effective when making an 8-bar loop increasingly shorter. This ever-increasing sound shortening can keep going until it comes across like the track is its sound effect. By adding in an echo or reverb feature, you can greatly complement the transition’s looping to create a much more professional transition mix.
#2. EQ Filters & Frequency Controls
EQ Controls
The EQ controls to deal with the high, mid, and low-end frequencies and is featured on either channel of your mixer. These controls allow you to blend in and out of each frequency, helping grant you a much greater sense of control, especially when compared to just switching the crossfader on the controller.
Frequency Control Options
Both the LPF and the HPF controls are fairly common add-on features to the DJ mixers and controllers. These features allow you to manipulate and control the sound frequencies that are being heard through your speakers simply with one switch.
The LPF control plays all of the bass frequencies up until they are virtually inaudible. Meanwhile, the HPF controls allow you to play all of the higher-end frequencies.
#3. Harmonic Mixing (Mixed-In-Key)
In addition to acapella mixing, there is also harmonic mixing. Harmonic mixing works by mixing tracks that are harmonically aligned, making a DJ set come across as much smoother and much more seamless as a result. Different DJ software, like Serato, Traktor, and Rekordbox all are fairly effective at highlighting the different tracks in your playlist that are more harmonically compatible than others.
Mixed-In-Key is a DJ tool that acts as an external piece of software that, when used, allows you to upload your entire music collection to your DJ software. From that point, the Key and Energy of a track are added to the rest of its information, which can then be added to the DJ software. This allows you to quickly and easily identify a music track that is compatible via its key.
#4. Acapella Mixing
Acapella mixing works by taking tracks that, otherwise, don’t have much of a vocal section and mixing in acapella sounds. As an example, if you have an instrumental track, mixing a classic-sounding acapella track can quickly grab the attention of both crowds.
Building Playlists & Recording Your DJ Set
To best build out either a manual or automatic playlist, your best bet is going to be to do it through your respective DJ software. If you’re a beginner DJ, you’ll be better off making a fairly simple playlist of roughly around between 25 and 50 different Deep House tracks. This will allow you enough practice to put together a DJ set of between 30 minutes up to an hour, but that can vary
Recording Your DJ Sets
After building out and putting together your playlist, your next step is to start the recording process. You’ll want to stick with DJ mixes that are around 30 minutes to start. Then, after you’ve gotten used to Deep House tracks, you can extend out further and longer.
The recording process is relatively simple, generally only requiring the press of the “record” button on your respective DJ software.
And there you have it! As a general, basic rundown, you have now completely put together and recorded your Deep House DJing mix! This is just the start.
Keep practicing and you’ll soon have complete mastery over the DJing process and be able to perform Deep House music like one of the pros.
Additional Deep House Mixing Tips
- Network: Get out there and make your face known at your local deep house nights. Be a regular at the coolest nights and get to know the people inside the scene. You will soon begin to pick up new gigs and make new friends. Music is very much a “who you know” business so get out there and network, network, network!
- Use Social Media To Promote Yourself: A great supplement to the live streaming tip, if you are willing to record your sets, you can then use those as promotional pieces along other avenues of social media. This could be your own YouTube or Twitch channel, snippets of Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, as well as on your website if you have one.
- Livestreaming Your Sets: It may seem a bit intimidating at first, but that’s the point. Livestreaming your DJ sets allows you to get immediate feedback from viewers without worrying about ruining your prospective business chances. Not only that, but each Livestream offers you a ton of experience as well as potential exposure. Mixcloud is a great live streaming platform as there aren’t a ton of copyright issues you’ll have to deal with when putting your set together.
How to DJ Deep House: Summary
So that is a very basic outline around how to DJ deep house properly. Deep House music is a great sub-genre of House music that more and more people are involved with and loving! By learning about it now, understanding how to capitalize on its growing interest, and putting yourself out there (especially if you’re a new DJ), you can make a space of your own and develop a strong following in this genre.
