Song Structure
Songs that DJ’s mix are usually patterned in a standard format that makes them easier to mix than the average song. Since most DJ’s are mixing for the main purpose of creating a non-stop dance mix (hip-hop or club music), we will give you a general idea of the patterns and breaks of the songs.

Depending on the type of music, songs have an intro anywhere between 8-24 bars. To understand music bars you should remember this count off:

“one, two, three, ONE, one, two, three, TWO,
one, two, three, THREE, one, two, three, FOUR,”
and so on.

Its basically the kick drum and the snare that represent the one, two, three, four counts. You can also try to use your body and see the way the beat makes you move and that will sort of help you catch the beat. You will learn more of this in the BPM Basic Lesson.

Look at the diagram below to see the basic song structure and the parts of a song. The usual parts most DJ’s try to mix are GREEN. These are called “intro”, “outro”, “break/chorus”. These parts usually do not have vocals or are actually designed by the producer for you to be able to mix into or out of. The parts you would usually just let play are colored in BLUE. You would not want to mix over a verse with another song because it would usually create a chaotic blend of noise that would not sound very good. There are times where this is an exception but that will be studied later on in the Intermediate lessons.

Typical Song Pattern