Introduction
In our last lesson, we learned how to listen to music like a DJ, identifying the key characteristics of a "DJ-friendly" track: a clear 4/4 time signature and the all-important instrumental intros and outros that give you space to mix. Your hardware and software are ready, and now you have the knowledge to select the right kind of music.
Today, we move from theory to practice by building the foundation of your music library. This lesson is all about getting the raw materials for your DJ journey. We will find, download, and organize a free pack of practice tracks specifically designed for beginner DJs. By the end of this session, you'll have a folder of high-quality, perfectly structured music on your computer, ready to be brought into Rekordbox.
Why House Music is a Great Place to Start
As you begin, you want to work with music that makes practicing as easy as possible. The characteristics we discussed in the last lesson—a steady beat, predictable structure, and long, sparse intros/outros—are most commonly found in house music and its subgenres. This makes it the ideal training ground.
Let's watch a quick tip from DJ Phil Harris, who reinforces this exact point.
6 TIPS TO START DJING FOR COMPLETE BEGINNERS
This clip gives a practical recommendation for the type of music to use when you're just starting to learn beatmatching and mixing.
Watch the section from this point. He specifically recommends using house music with a steady beat and long intros and outros. This is precisely the kind of track we're going to download today.
Your First DJ Music Pack
To get you started without you having to spend hours searching for the right kind of tracks, we're going to use a free, curated music pack from the DJ education team at Crossfader. This pack contains a variety of DJ-friendly tracks across different genres like house, tech house, and more. Because they are designed for teaching, they are perfect for practicing the fundamentals.
First, you'll need to go to the download page.
The Complete DJ Course (FREE!) - We Are Crossfader
This webpage contains the link to the free music pack we'll be using.
On this page, find the section titled Lesson 1. Inside this section, you will see a link that says "Download the music pack here". Click this link to open a Dropbox page with the files. Don't worry about downloading them just yet; we'll walk through that in the next step.
Downloading and Extracting the Tracks
Now that you have the Dropbox link open, let's watch a video that walks you through the exact process of downloading the files and, most importantly, "unzipping" or extracting them. The files are compressed into a single ".zip" file to make the download smaller and faster. Your computer needs to extract them into a regular folder before Rekordbox can use them.
How To DJ With A Laptop For FREE (+ DJ MUSIC INCLUDED)
This video from Crossfader will show you precisely how to download and extract the music pack you just found.
Watch the segment from this part. The presenter shows you how to click the download button on Dropbox and what to do with the .zip file once it's on your computer. On a Mac, it often unzips automatically. On Windows, you may need to right-click the file and choose "Extract All..." to get the folder of music. Make sure you can see a normal folder with the music files inside before moving on.
The Golden Rule of Organizing Your DJ Music
This next step is perhaps the most important piece of advice for any new digital DJ. Your DJ software, Rekordbox, does not make a copy of your music files. It simply creates a reference or a shortcut to wherever you saved the file on your computer.
If you download your music today and then move that folder somewhere else tomorrow, Rekordbox will lose the connection and show a "missing file" error. To prevent this, you must create a permanent home for all your DJ music before you import anything.
Let's create that permanent home now.
- Go to your main documents folder or your computer's hard drive.
- Create a new folder and name it something simple and clear, like
DJ Music. - Find the music pack folder you just downloaded and extracted (it's likely called something like "Crossfader Music Pack").
- Move that folder into your new
DJ Musicfolder.
From now on, any music you get for DJing should live inside this DJ Music folder. This simple habit will save you countless headaches in the future.
The following video clip explains this exact concept visually. Watching it will solidify why this is so critical.
How To DJ With A Laptop For FREE (+ DJ MUSIC INCLUDED)
This clip explains the crucial concept of file paths and why you should never move your music files after you've organized them.
Watch from this segment. The presenter explains that the software is only "reading the file path location" and demonstrates the error that occurs when a file is moved or renamed. This is the exact problem our new DJ Music folder is designed to prevent.
Conclusion
Fantastic work. You've successfully moved from theory to practice by acquiring your first set of tools—the tracks themselves. You have now found, downloaded, extracted, and properly organized a collection of DJ-friendly practice tracks into a dedicated folder on your computer. This well-organized folder is the seed from which your entire DJ library will grow.
In our next lesson, we'll complete the setup process. We will take these new files from your DJ Music folder and import them directly into Rekordbox, create your first official 'Practice' playlist, and see them appear on the software's virtual decks for the very first time.