Let me start with some questions. Do you want to know how to create better, more powerful, more effective mashups? Do you want to give your audience more creative, memorable moments? Do you want to stand out from other DJs, become more versatile, and maximise your potential to get more gigs? If you’re reading this, then the answer is probably yes.

Mashups are a great tool not only for enhancing your DJ sets, but also for teaching you about music and making you think about what makes an audience respond.

Since you are reading this, you’re most likely in one of two groups. Either you’re just starting out with mashups, you can see the great potential of them, but you just don’t know how to make them as professional or effective as the ones that the big DJs play. Or you already create your own mashups—but you are hungry for more techniques, shortcuts and tools that will take yours to the next level.

Fortunately, this book is designed to help both. Whether you are just getting started or you are an experienced DJ, this book will help you get the best out of your mashups, and take them from simply being functional to being an entire art-form in themselves.

After reading this book you should better understand the purpose of mashups and the decisions behind what music you choose to pair together. You’ll understand the roles of the different elements used in mashups, the musical and emotional connections between different songs, and why certain things work on the dance floor. We’ll also go into specifically using the best software for the job—Ableton Live. We’ll explore the software and techniques used, and how to keep things organised to give you the best chance of finding killer ideas and turning them into reality, fast.

So why listen to me? Good question. At the time of writing this book I’ve been writing and producing dance music for over ten years, as well as touring as a DJ around my home country of Australia most weekends, sometimes internationally. Mashups play a huge part for me as a DJ, and I love making them. I have been fortunate enough to count some of Australia’s most talented dance music producers and mashup creators as my friends, many of whom have kindly shared their ideas and lessons, which I have included in the book.

I initially got into writing mashups so that I could give commercial club audiences a taste of great club music, while giving them elements of commercial tracks they felt safe with, so that it wouldn’t scare them off the dance floor. If I could convince an inner city top-40 nightclub to stay on the dance floor while playing two hours of cutting-edge club music by making it feel as one with their favourite songs, that was a win for me. But there’s so much more you can do. As time has gone on, dance music has become intertwined with mashup culture to the point where the dance floor now expects to be taken on a journey of collaged music.

I’ve spent a lot of my time creating mashups (some might say too much time) and seeing their reactions on a dance floor. After initially making my fair share of messy, badly executed ideas, I found that a lot of the important lessons I learned about mashups actually came from learning how to produce dance music. While out at gigs, I used to hear a lot of mashups by DJs who had brilliant ideas, but couldn’t quite make them work. Coming from a musical background, it took me some time to realise that many of the musical concepts required to make mashups were difficult for DJs to learn or find information on. After studying mashups more I discovered that many didn’t yet know how to account for concepts such as key-matching and energy-matching, or they experienced arrangement problems and mixing issues. They obviously knew what they wanted to hear, they just didn’t know how to make it reality yet. On the other end of the scale, I’ve heard electronic music acts that transform mashups from a simple tool to appease commercial crowds to a new form of DJ set completely, weaving one piece over another and creating a mind-blowing musical patchwork.

After years of having DJs ask me about mashups, I decided it was time to put everything that I’ve learned over the years into this book. I want to give you the keys to help you turn your greatest ideas into even greater dance floor moments.

Anyway, thank you for your time and attention, and I hope this book can help and motivate you to Make Great Music Mashups.