Beginner to Pro Solo
DJ Courses London

A comprehensive 8-week DJ course helping you build the foundation of skills needed to become a pro DJ.

SPECIALISED DJ COURSES TO GET YOU CLUB-READY

Our beginner to pro solo DJ course is designed for individuals at the early stages of their DJ journey that are keen to pursue a career in DJing, or looking to develop the skills to be able to play in a club.

Our 8-week solo DJ courses are ideal for:

Beginner DJs seeking ongoing support and guidance with a clear path to develop fundamental DJ skills
Bedroom DJs ready to progress to club setups and build the confidence to play their first gigs
Emerging DJs looking to master professional set preparation and expand their knowledge in all aspects of DJing

Key Benefits

DEDICATED ATTENTION
With solo courses, 100% of our time and focus is committed to helping you learn new skills and perfect your technique.

BUILD CONFIDENCE
Strengthen your knowledge and skills across the spectrum of DJing and build the confidence to perform in front of a crowd.

PRO-LEVEL DJ MIX
Receive expert guidance to curate and record a professional-sounding DJ mix to start building your personal brand

PRACTICAL DJ SKILLS
With more hands-on time, you can dive deeper into core DJ concepts and reinforce DJ skills that you can apply in any environment, every time you mix.

MASTER PRO DJ SETUPS
Gain an in-depth understanding of the Pioneer DJ kit found in all major clubs, ensuring you're comfortable handling any situation on the decks.

ACCOUNTABILITY
It can be hard to stay motivated when things are challenging, our tutors are with you every step of the way to help you stay on track and hit your goals.

Build a Foundation
Your Path to Pro

The aim of the course is for you to leave with a professional-sounding DJ mix that you can use for promotion to showcase all the progress you've made and skills you've learnt. You'll receive comprehensive tuition from experienced DJs, with detailed feedback and tips about the nuances of various techniques, how small adjustments can make big differences, and why certain techniques will give you better results.

Weeks 1-2

Lay the Foundation

WHERE TO DOWNLOAD MUSIC
Discover free and paid options for downloading music such as Beatport, Bandcamp, Juno Download, Soundcloud, or Hypeddit

DJ SOFTWARE
Get familiar with Rekordbox, with tips on all the most important features and settings, as well as learning how to export your playlists to a USB to use on CDJs

EQUIPMENT
Get to know the core features of an industry-standard Pioneer DJ setup

BEATMATCHING
Learn how to beat match with headphones using the tempo fader and pitch bending technique

MIXING
Get started with basic transitions using the channel faders and EQs to smoothly blend tracks together

Weeks 3-4

Unlock New Skills

TRACK STRUCTURE
Learn about the different types of sections in electronic music so you can easily identify what's going to happen at certain points in a track

PHRASING
Learn the most important concept in DJing that will take your mixes from 0 to 100 and allow you to create seamless transitions

CUE POINTS
Learn how to set hot cues, memory cues, and loop cues to create perfectly phrased mixes every time

HARMONIC MIXING
Learn to mix in key so you can create flawless blends where songs gel together perfectly

LOOPING
Learn how to set loops to buy yourself time, extend track sections and keep steady mix levels

Weeks 5-6

Gain New Insights

MIXING
Start to refine your mixing technique and develop a deeper understanding with tips on timing your mixes and using the EQs and filters to achieve smoother transitions

CREATIVE MIXING
Experiment with different types of transitions and learn techniques to create more impact with your mixes

FX
Learn when and how to use effects such as filters, echo, and reverb to assist with transitions

DJ SET PREPARATION
Start to plan out the set you'll record at the end of the course, with advice on track selection, how to quickly test tracks out and save combos in Rekordbox, and the various things to look out for to find tracks that work well together

Weeks 7-8

Perform and Record

POLISH YOUR DJ SET
Review the set you've been working on with your tutor and add any final touches if necessary

RECORDING DJ MIXES
Learn how to record mixes and how to upload them to Soundcloud, Mixcloud, or YouTube, as well as how you can use your mixes to help identify areas to improve your skills

DJ PERFORMANCE
Perform and record your DJ set, implementing all the skills and techniques you've learnt throughout the course. You'll have at least 2 chances to record your mix so there's no pressure to get everything right the first time.

FEEDBACK
Receive detailed feedback on your performance including what you did well and any areas you can work on to take your mixes to the next level

Course Details

NUMBER OF STUDENTS
Only one. Our solo Beginner to Pro DJ course is just for you, so we can dedicate our time and attention to helping you progress and achieve your goals.

COURSE DURATION
Our 8-week Beginner to Pro course consists of 8 sessions of 2 hours each. Sessions can be taken weekly, or whenever it suits you if you'd like a bit more time between sessions.

DJ EQUIPMENT
You'll be using a club-standard Pioneer DJ setup consisting of 2 CDJ-2000 NXS2 decks and a DJM-900 NXS2 mixer. For any students wanting to use the 3-deck rooms, you'll have access to the latest CDJ-3000s and a DJM-900 NXS2 mixer.

TIMES AVAILABLE
We have evening and weekend DJ courses available with flexible booking to suit your schedule.

Mon-Fri | 6pm-11pm
Sat-Sun | 10am-11pm

COURSE LOCATION
We run our 8-week DJ courses at various locations across London using the fully-equipped studios at Pirate studios in Earlsfield, Notting Hill, Camden, Dalston, Hackney, and Greenwich.

WHAT TO BRING
Most of the equipment is already sorted at the studio, so all you need to bring is headphones and a USB with some tunes if you’d like to use your own music. We'll have spare headphones and tunes if needed, so don't worry if you haven't got any yet.

Pricing

8-Week
Solo
DJ Courses

from

£684

PIRATE STUDIOS DISCOUNTS
£20 free studio credit *

Book Now

Student Reviews

“I had a fantastic experience working with Alec. His knowledge spans equipment, setup, music theory, and mixing, making him an exceptional resource. As a tutor, he’s structured, well-prepared, and uses great materials to enhance the learning process. Thanks, Alec - much appreciated!”
Danny Spears
“Alec has created a very organised tutoring planning and is extremely knowledgeable. He not only takes the time to help you understand what you should be doing yet also why - this really helped me internalise all the main concepts and components of DJing. I will continue to have classes with Alec during the coming weeks and definitely look forward to it!”
Julia P
“Alec is a very helpful and knowledgeable teacher. He creates a relaxed and informative environment for his session and ensures he explains new concepts thoroughly. As beginners going into the session we learned a lot about track structuring, DJing equipment and got a good initial feel for DJing on the whole which we are going to continue pursuing in the future. Thanks again for the lesson!”
Malcolm W
“Had an amazing class, learned a lot about track structure and how to structure sets. Also went over some music theory and figured out dj software settings. Thank you, looking forward to future classes!”
Arturs
“Alec is a great instructor, knows his stuff, very professional, and would highly recommend him 👍🏻 if you are just starting up or have some knowledge, he can help. It's a great studio, thank you”
Terry aka Orange Terry
“Skilled DJ and awesome teacher, Alec tailors my lessons to fit my needs, thoughtfully knowing what will make a difference. He makes learning fun, and I’m enjoying seeing myself improve. I couldn’t recommend Alec highly enough.”
Ed Weston
“Alec is patient and genuinely invested in your learning. He gives all his time and energy to explain concepts that can be particularly confusing to someone completely new to Djing. He is highly knowledgable and you can see his love and passion for music within his lessons. I felt like he met me where I was (a complete beginner) and helped me to build my confidence to start mixing songs together. I highly recommend Alec as a tutor, you will not be disappointed.”
Danielle
“Alec is an amazing tutor.
He took on a challenge to teach my 6-year-old daughter!
He succeeded!
We thank you for making us such proud parents!!!!”
Florin

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes! No prior experience is required to get started. In fact, this is often the best way to start as complete beginners won’t have potentially learnt incorrect habits.
I primarily work with beginner or intermediate DJs as these people stand to benefit the most from lessons and have a lot to learn when starting out. I feel as though a lot of your growth once you pass these levels will come from experience, experimentation, and developing your own sound and style of mixing. While you can receive some guidance for this, it is quite personal and not necessarily something that can be taught, but rather discovered by the individual.
Having your own DJ equipment helps, but is not essential to get started. You can start learning the basic concepts of DJing with online lessons, or get hands-on with the club-standard equipment at Pirate Studios if you don’t have your own yet.
Please note: You will need your own DJ equipment for home lessons as we do not bring our equipment to lessons.
I primarily work with Pioneer DJ controllers, or Pioneer CDJs and DJM mixers at Pirate Studios. However, if you have your own equipment at home, we can work with all the major brands, including Pioneer DJ, Denon DJ, Native Instruments, Numark and Hercules DJ.
I primarily work with Rekordbox. However, we can also work with the other major brands, including Virtual DJ, Traktor and Serato if you’re using one of these.
I specialise in mixing Drum & Bass and generally work with electronic music genres, including House, Techno, Trance, Garage and Dubstep.
While I can still teach the basic concepts of DJing for more commercial genres such as Hip-Hop and Pop, these aren’t genres I regularly work with or mix myself. Depending on your needs, you may wish to find someone else specialising in these genres if they are what you’d like to mix.
* The pirate studios referral code is currently only available to new students who haven’t previously created an account and booked a session at pirate studios.
Use referral code ‘ALEC256563’ when creating an account at Pirate.com to receive £20 of free studio credit. You’ll receive the credit in your account after booking and attending your first session.
Students must create an account and book the studio themselves to use the referral code.
You can find a video on how to create an account and book a studio here.
You’re free to purchase lessons with whichever tutor you like, based on who you feel aligns with your needs. Feel free to check out each tutor’s profile for more info.
Please note: Our course option is currently only available with Alec. However, all tutors should be able to cover the same or similar areas over multiple lessons.