DJs use a mixer to blend beats and manipulate sounds.
A mixer is the device a DJ uses to blend beats together and to manipulate the overall sound to create new tracks, or mixes. DJ mixer effects include cuts, breaks, loops, samples as well as additional sound effects.
Cuts
Cutting is the omission of certain parts of a beat in favor of those in another. For example, when mixing two beats together, a DJ may cut the bass drum from beat A and the melody from beat B, resulting in a mixed track of beat A's melody and beat B's bass drum.
Breaks
A break is a sudden stop period in one or all of the beats in a mix where the beats drop out altogether. Breaks are performed in time with the music and may be used to emphasize a certain background beat, to transition into a new phase of the mix or to mix up the rhythm a bit.
Samples
A sample is a prerecorded piece of audio--be it a noise, a measure of a different song or an audio recording of someone's voice--that may be inserted into the mix as an additional effect.
Loops
A loop is a sample that is played in a repetitive and timed sequence over a beat. By looping together several samples, a DJ can quickly create a multi-layered mix of overlapping sequences, all synchronized to the same tempo.
Additional Sound Effects
Many mixers are attached to effects boards in order to control such sound effects as reverbs, delays, distortions, and grinds, all of which filter the track so the sound frequencies create echoes, delayed/distorted frequencies, or other phenomena that might add to the variety of a mix.
