How to use the Cue Button during Mixing? | ‘From 0 to DJ’ #7 ✅

In this chapter we are going to talk about the CUE button, what it is and what it is for. An extremely useful function when it comes to making your mixes like a professional DJ. 🙂

Pioneer player

When mixing, as we have already seen in previous chapters, our goal is to achieve a synchrony, a matching between the beats and between the phrases (blocks of 32 beats) of the tracks that are being played. We can use the CUE function to make these beat matching as perfect as possible.

Table of Contents

1. What is the CUE Point?

The CUE button starts reproduction from a specific point in the track and will only play for as long as the button is held down. This point from which it starts is called the CUE Point.

The moment we release it, the player returns exactly to that point where it started playing.

It is a tool that will help you to mix and now we will see how.

2. How to use the CUE for mixing: Tap, Internalize and Release

Let’s imagine it in an example: We have a track already playing, now we want to mix it with another track to make a transition.
When the track that is already playing is getting close to the beginning of the phrase where we plan to start the mix:

We repeatedly press the CUE button setting the rhythm: what would be each beat, each beat, each bass drum… until we feel that we have the rhythm.
When the beginning of the phrase arrives (already with the rhythm well set) once we press, instead of releasing the button, we hold it.
Without releasing CUE, we will press PLAY. And from that moment we can release CUE.
Pressing PLAY cancels the function of return to the CUE point. The track will continue playing normally.

This technique allows us to prepare to drop the track in a much more precise way than if we directly press PLAY, without previously having the rhythm set (it can be used in more ways, but this is the most basic).

If you do not have a controller or DJ equipment, to carry out this technique you will have to use the keyboard. You will not be able to do it only with the mouse.

For example in Virtual DJ:

You press the CUE with the ‘C’ key. And with the ‘space’ key you activate PLAY.

3. How to set the CUE point?

In some players the CUE point is located automatically, in others it is necessary to do it manually, as we will see now.

3.1 The AUTO CUE function

As the name itself indicates, in the Auto CUE function the system itself will analyze the position of the first sound of the track and will place the player on it.

Let’s emphasize that this function searches for the first sound. What we are interested in is the first kick drum or beat and not in all tracks this will happen, as there may be sounds before the kick drum or beat.

Automatic positioning of the CUE Point in Virtual DJ

It is a useful function because some tracks have at the beginning a few tenths of a second without sound, so it is quite common to have to make this correction in the initial positioning of the player. But you should know that not all players and not all DJ software have this automatic function, Virtual DJ does.

3.2 How to manually set the CUE point

To manually set the CUE point, we have to find in the partial timeline, the wave of the first kick drum and place the player just before, not in the middle, nor after it. In order to reproduce the whole first kick drum, not part of it.

Navigating in the partial timeline, placing the player and pressing the CUE button, you will set the CUE point.

You can position yourself at other points or phrase beginnings that interest you, but normally in a basic mix you will be interested in starting from the first beat, which will usually be the first kick drum.

Correct position to Set CUE point

Now it’s your turn 👇

In this chapter we have seen how to use the CUE button, what it does, what is the recommended CUE point to help us synchronize tracks, achieve a good beat matching and how to use it all in a mix.

We recommend you to practice a lot, you will see how useful it is, and you can find your own way to use CUE. For example I use it by setting bars instead of beats (I set and hold for 4 beats, release and repeat, until I get to the beginning of the phrase I want to mix in). Everyone can adapt it to their own style.

In the next chapter we will talk about what they are and how to use equalizers (EQ) during mixes.

How did it go? Did you know this was a use of the CUE button? It took me a while to find out, I learned by fiddling around. Let us know in the comments.
Regards and see you in the next one! 🙂

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