Cue Points That DJs Should Set On Every Track: DJ Fundamentals

What prep tool can every DJ do on their tracks before they play them? Cue points! They’re a powerful tool for both planned mixes and on-the-fly routines. In this DJ Fundamentals video, Ean shares the cue points that he thinks every DJ should be setting on tracks. Watch and enjoy!

Critical Cue Points to Set

As a quick summary of the core of the video – here’s the three types of cue points that Ean covers in the first part of the video. That said, be sure to watch past 11:30 to check out Ean breaking down his classic 2010 Crazy Train routine….complete with wild throwback Ean hair!

1. Downbeat load marker / load cue point – the point where your track loads to. This is the first cue point you set – even if your DJ setup doesn’t have a load marker cue point like Traktor does, it probably has a “load to first cue point” setting in it. These cue points are especially useful for making decisions around beat less intros and sections you want to skip
2. Cue Points For Mixing Out: Moments in the song where mixing out often works well (breakdowns, etc). Ean uses “Fade Out” cue points in Traktor, which are red – but you can use cue point colors in almost any DJ software
3. An Ending Loop: This is a loop somewhere at the end of the song/mix out point, that you save as a cue point. Saving loops like this can really make inconsistent tempo tracks a lot easier to mix with.

Have your own ideas for a future video you’d like Ean to make? Let him know with a comment below or on the YouTube page 🙂