Levels: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced
Max. participants: 12
This course teaches the aesthetics and practical methods of DJing to expand your artistic and creative potential.
Renowned artists in the field (Marc Matter/Institut für Feinmotorik, Fallon MacWilliams aka Darwin, Florian Meyer aka Don’t DJ, Lena Willikens, Phillip Sollmann aka Efdemin, Eric D. Clark) will share their experience and knowledge:
- Learn about origins of DJing and its history
- Selection and Material: Music, Samples, Field-Recordings, and miscellaneous Sounds
- Mixing, beat-matching, BPM (beats per minute), and alternative ways of mixing
- Dramaturgy of a DJ set: Storytelling with Music and Sound
- Using Practical Tools, such as Rekordbox
- How to make the best use of a DJ set-up: explore synergies between CDJs/turntables and mixers
- Turntables/CDJs as Instrument and device for Composition
- Expanding the Deck: Experimental Turntablism and Instrument Building
- DJing and Clubbing: between Artistic Service and Authorship
- Building an Artist profile, promote yourself and get bookings
- Hands-On sessions at the Decks
- Listening Session on ‘openings’ of DJ sets
- Q&As with the instructors: get exclusive insights
- Create a mix for Colaboradio (Berlin)
Foto: Prepared Turntable by Institut für Feinmotorik
Did you ever wonder..
…how to get behind the decks and start DJing? …how to refine and enhance your skills of this craft? …how to expand your set-up and use it as a creative instrument? …about the approaches and concepts of renowned DJs?
DJing has become a valid art-form with specific aesthetics, methods, and artistic potential. It has not only changed the way of music production and reception in popular culture, but also instigated experimentation due to innovative approaches of (mis-)applying sound technologies. Cultural theory has described teh DJ as providing a new ideal of author who selects, mixes, and combines existing material in real time and, in doing so, introduces a new logic of creation. This course offers input to expand and enhance your artistic practice and provides a solid basis for a professional career.
It includes theoretical and methodical elements for a critical consciousness of the field and its various artistic processes. It will combine theory and practical, hands-on exercises to provide a broad range of skills that enables you to start professional work as a DJ in various contexts, or further refine your practice. Neighbouring fields, like remixing, producing, or curating will also be touched. While providing technical basics, this course focuses on artistic and aesthetic aspects. It aims to broaden the definition of DJing and to find and realize your individual and innovative approaches. You will also learn about the creation of an artistic profile, and how to communicate your individual artistic vision.
No matter if you are a beginner, or have already begun to create your own practice – our instructors will advise and inspire you to deepen and expand your practice, including overlaps into other fields like music production, remixing, curating, performance, or sound art.
Renowned artists and professionals will provide you a deep insight in their practice and assist you in starting or enhancing your artistic approach of DJing.
The modules of the course are designed to foster the artistic value of your DJing and to prepare you for a professional career based on profound understanding of the craft, its aesthetics, its technological aspects, and how to promote your work.
In the end you will create a mix to be aired on a Berlin based online radio.
July 3rd – July 24th 2025
Dates at ACUD CLUB, Berlin-Mitte (10am-5pm):
July 3rd / 4th / 8th / 9th / 10th / 15th / 16th / 24th
Artist Talk at THE LODGE, Berlin-Neukölln (5-7pm): July 3rd
Extended Practice Session at the Decks in a Club: July 23rd (tba)
ACUD CLUB
Veteranenstrasse 21, 10119 Berlin-Mitte
1180€ Registration Fee (whole course)
980€ Early bird (whole course)
Optional: Individual Tutoring with any of our Instructors upon request
100€ Additional fee (1 hr session)
Course Program:
SESSION 1: JULY 3rd, 10am-1pm | ACUD CLUB
Instructors: Marc Matter and Florian Meyer
Introduction and Basics of DJings
This first session introduces into the field, regarding its specifics and aesthetics. A brief historic overview provides an understanding of the origins of DJing and embeds it into a broader context of our post-digital media environment. The scope between an artistic service and audacious experimentation will be addressed and the various functions of mixes/sets in different contexts (clubbing; listening; DJ sets for online platforms; radio, etc.) will be introduced. Moreover, the range of possible sound material you can use for DJing will be discussed:
- The origins of DJing and how it became a genuine artistic practice
- Basic methods: selecting, mixing, dramaturgy
- Expanding the notion of DJing by playful and experimental approaches
- Introduction to the most relevant genres, up to ecclecticism, leftfield, and post-genre
- DJing as a way to explore music history
- Musical Material: the broad range of music and sounds to play
Florian Meyer (Don’t DJ), experimental composer, producer, remixer, label-owner, promoter, and DJ. A founding member of Institut für Feinmotorik, he was also part of The Durian Brothers and is active under the moniker Don’t DJ, producing polyrhythmic patterns and expanding notions of post-techno club music. He has released on labels such as Emotional Response, BAKK, Meakusma, Honest Jon’s, Berceuse Heroique, or EM, and runs the DISK label.
disk label at bandcamp
Instagram: @dont_dj
FIELD TRIP: JULY 3rd 2:30-3:30pm | Location t.b.a.
Genrealogy: Benefits and Limits of Musical Genres for DJing
Music can be divided into genres and new genres and subgenres evolve all the time. In electronic music alone, there are myriads of sub-genres impossible to oversee, some featuring names close to avantgarde poetry while still being descriptive to a certain extent (e.g. Chemical Breaks, Vaporwave, or Progpsy, see Ishkur’s Guide to Electronic Music). However, some DJs overcome genres and follow a post-genre approach. We will check the Genre descriptions and tagging system in one of techno’s most prolific recordshops and discuss the benefits and limitations of genres.
SESSION 2: July 3rd 5pm-7pm | THE LODGE (Berlin-Neukölln)
Artist Talk with Eric D. Clark
Days before heading off to perform at the Montreux Jazz Festival (!), Eric will talk about his idiosyncratic approach to music and DJing, as well as his general work as artist, producer and musician. A Q&A will round up this artist talk with one of the most original and prolific musical artists around.
Foto: Michael Mann
Eric D. Clark is a versatile artist active as musician, composer, producer and DJ known for a highly individual and eclectic style that transcends musical genre boundaries. He already had a chart hit in the 1990s with the group Whirlpool Productions (From: Disco to: Disco) and has spinned records in many contexts ever since, including a residency at the infamous Funky Chicken Club (Cologne).
Instagram: @eric_d_clark
SESSION 3: JULY 4th, 12-4pm | ACUD
Instructor: Marc Matter
Listening Session on ‘Openings’:
How to Start a Set/Mix
The beginning of a mix or set can be crucial for its perception by listeners and therefore its success. Some start right into it with a track as is, others create long and elaborated intros or provide a prologue to what follows. We will listen to selected beginnings of mixes and discuss the possibilities of how to open your mix/set.
SESSION 4: JULY 8th, 10am-1pm | ACUD CLUB
Instructor: Phillip Sollmann (Efdemin)
Mixing and Mixes
Mixing is a central element of DJing, a concept and craft that weaves together the music and sounds you selected for your mix/set. It includes practical and methodical aspects, as well as aesthetic and artistic ones. The art of DJing is to combine them to an entity. This can include mixing across styles, genres, BPMs. In addition to the functional aspects of mixing, there is also the level of a meta-narrative that can run through a respective set:
- Get to know the various ways of mixing and non-mixing
- From seamless mixes to disruptive fragmentation
- Mixing with and without beat matching
- Introduction of the concept of mixing and creating a mix
- Learn about the various differences of a set played live compared to a recorded mix
- Mixes as meta-narratives: How can different themes can be woven into the music?
Foto: Fabian Schubert
Phillip Sollmann (Efdemin) investigates multiple dimensions of sound: He studied Computer Music in Vienna. Working under his real name, he is a sound artist and experimental composer. Moreover, he has been producing electronic music under the project name Efdemin since the late 1990s. He holds a residency as a DJ at Berghain.
phillip-sollmann.de
Instagram: @efdemin
SESSION 5: JULY 8th, 2pm-5pm | ACUD CLUB
Instructor: Lena Willikens
Selecting and Curating
The creation of DJ mixes and sets start with a process of selection: of genres and artists you want to feature, specific tracks and parts of musical pieces, up to extra-musical sources, such as samples from movies, TV, radio, or internet sources, or field recordings. Learn about how you make these elements work together in the best possible way.
- How to select your material for a mix/set
- Selection for various forms of mixes/sets: club, online, radio, or special occasions
- Know your material, musical genres, and sound you want to feature
- From genre-specific DJing to ecclectic, post-genre approaches
- What does extra-musical material (samples from movies, field recordings etc.) add to a mix?
Lena Willikens is an artist, DJ, and music producer. Her revered ability to switch gears between upfront UK bass mutations, motorik offbeats, and European synth curios, her intuitive bias prizes sensuality as much as cohesion. Besides being active in the contemporary arts project Phantom Kino Ballett (with Sarah Szczesny), she is a resident at Salon des Amateurs (Düsseldorf) and RSO (Berlin) and DJs in clubs all around the world.
Instagram: @lena_willikens
SESSION 6: JULY 9th, 10am-1pm | ACUD CLUB
Instructor: Fallon MacWilliam (Darwin)
At the Decks I
Once DJs enter the booth, they need to handle their tools in functional, but also creative, ways. We will explore the potential (and limits) of the main instruments of DJs: CDJs/turntables, and mixers. Participants will learn how to use these technologies for their own, individual practice.
- Learn how to best use the possibilities of the DJ set-up
- Get inspired for original ways to interact with the set-up
- Introduction and specifics of digital CDJ tools (Rekordbox)
- The use of faders, EQs, filters for mixing and dramaturgy
Fallon MacWilliams (Darwin) Born in Canada, Fallon honed her craft in Berlin, bringing the bleeding edge of UK sound-system culture to the techno capital with REEF, a party that began in 2016 at Griessmuehle, and then ABYSS, a sound-system series that plunges further into the depths of mind-bending bass weight. Whether she’s mixing records, curating her label or dreaming up new bass raves, Darwin is dedicated to unlocking that energy.
Darwin on Berlin School of Sound faculty page
Instagram: @darwin_reef
Foto: Bex Griffith
SESSION 7: JULY 9th, 2pm-5pm | ACUD CLUB
Instructor: Lena Willikens
At the Decks II
Refinement and more practical input to provide the skills of playing, mixing, and creating a mix/set. How to use and expand the technological set-up of DJing.
- Specifics, possibilities, and limits of analog and digital
- CDJs vs. turntables, files vs. vinyl
- Additional ‘instruments’ of DJs: sound effects, external pedals, samplers etc.
SESSION 8: JULY 10th, 10am-1pm | ACUD CLUB
Instructor: Phillip Sollmann (Efdemin)
Neighboring Fields: Producing, Remixing, Edits
Especially remixing and producing electronic (dance) music are closely intertwined with DJing. You will be introduced to the basic methodology and practical approaches to remix existing music, to create edits, or produce your own tracks derived from DJing. This session will provide an overview of neighboring fields that have been established around DJing. Get inspired to think of new ways to combine DJing with other fields that are not yet part of the canon of DJ practices.
- Methods and aesthetics of remixes, edits, producing
- Learn about ways to expand your practice through diverse methods and practices
- Get inspired to create new ways of combining these approaches
SESSION 9: JULY 10th, 2-5pm | ACUD CLUB
Instructor: Fallon MacWilliams (Darwin)
Distributing and Sharing your Mixes
Introduction of online platforms to provide a broad range of options for publishing and distributing your work. Introduction to some relevant online radio stations and media platforms that feature DJ mixes. Moreover, alternative ways of community building and utopian concepts will be discussed, to show ways to subvert the limiting and mechanisms of the music industry.
- Learn to communicate, distribute, and promote your work as a DJ
- Alternative ways of distribution and community building
- How to subvert the limiting mechanisms of the party industry
SESSION 10: JULY 15th, 10am-1pm | ACUD CLUB
Instructor: Phillip Sollmann (Efdemin)
Dramaturgy I: DJ-Mixes as an organic Whole
Once you have meticulously selected your material and know how to combine it, you have to conceive and realize a dramaturgy. How can DJs create an arc of suspense? What can a DJ mix or set trigger in a listener or in a clubber?
- Analyze and discuss the dramaturgy of a DJ mix
- Playing whole tracks vs. layering, cut-up and collage
- How do you build up suspense through dramaturgy
- Additional sounds for expanding the material and complicating dramaturgy
- Intros and outros, the importance of beginning and end of mixes and sets
SESSION 11: JULY 15th, 2-5pm | ACUD CLUB
Instructor: Lena Willikens
Dramaturgy II: DJ-Mixes as Storytelling / Soundtrack without Images
Another approach to the dramaturgy of a set/mix is by constructing a movie without images, a journey through different sounds and moods? What does the dramaturgy of your mix/set gain by telling a story through the music and sounds you play?
- Metaphors like storytelling to support your dramaturgy
- Learn about creating a soundtrack without images
- U-Turns, change of directions, digressions, loopholes
- Get exclusive insights into the ideas and concepts behind a mix
SESSION 12: JULY 16th, 10am-1pm | ACUD CLUB
Instructor: Fallon MacWilliams (Darwin)
Workshop:
Create and Communicate your Artist Profiles
DJing has liberated and democratized artistic expression and the ways of production. It is especially important to learn how to communicate your individual approach and style and to create a detailed and distinctive artistic profile. You will get introduced into the basics of creating your artist profile and the ways of how to share your work to specific audiences.
- Basics of creating your artist profile
- Define and formulate your artistic vision as a DJ
- Various ways of sharing your work to specific audiences
SESSION 13: JULY 16th, 2pm-5pm | ACUD CLUB
Instructors: Marc Matter and Florian Meyer (Don’t DJ)
Experimental Approaches: Turntables / CDJs as instruments for Creation and Composing
In DJing, CDJs/turntables are more than mere playback devices, they become instruments. Some artists have expanded this concept to extremes, creating new kinds of instruments that can even become playable sound installations. Others have derived new ways of composing music via the technological set-up and artistic methods of Djing. We will explore selected examples, including practical hands-on exercises to the ‘prepared turntables’ of Institut für Feinmotorik and Don’t DJ.
- The DJ setup as instrument
- Creative expansion of the set-up and experimental approaches
- Get inspired by idiosyncratic and subversive methods
PRACTICE DAY: JULY 23rd, 12-6pm | Location (tba)
Guided Session at the Decks in a Club
In this extended session, you will have the possibility to get back at the decks and mixer – and present everything you have learned during the workshop. And if desired, our instructors will give an immediate and constructive feedback – to best prepare you for all upcoming challenges between club and dancefloor.
SESSION 14: JULY 24th, 10am-1pm | ACUD CLUB
Instructors: Marc Matter, Lena Willikens, Phillip Sollmann (Efdemin)
Basics of Recording your Mix / Discussion of your Ideas for a DJ mix
In this last session, you will briefly sketch out your idea for a mix. We will give profound and critical feedback. You will also get some basics on how to record your mix and do some post-production with a simple DAW (sound editing software) on your laptop or other recording device.