The cutting itself is covered in how to clip a DJ set. This guide is about the footage you start with.
Portrait or landscape?
Portrait fits Instagram and TikTok with no cropping. One DJ-content guide from Crossfader says cropping landscape footage to portrait afterwards can produce awkward framing and lower quality, so it advises choosing before you record. The cost is a single tall angle. It is no use for a YouTube upload, and you cannot get the sides back.
Landscape gives you one file for YouTube, a full set post and your clips. The cost is that a 9:16 crop taken from a 16:9 frame keeps a little under a third of the width. If the DJ drifts to one side of the booth, a fixed crop loses them.
We do not have data on which format performs better for DJ content, and we would not trust anyone who says they do. If you record whole sets to clip later, landscape with the DJ well centred is the safer choice. If you film short moments for posting that day, portrait saves work.
Where to put the camera
- In front, slightly above the decks, tilted down a little. Crossfader calls this the safest angle. You see your hands, the decks and your face.
- Far enough back that you and the gear both fit. If they do not, move the camera back, not closer. Digital DJ Tips gives the same advice for phone filming.
- Keep the DJ in the middle third if you will crop later. Leave empty space either side. Do not park logos or graphics in the corners, because a vertical crop will cut them.
- Light your hands and mixer first. A common mistake is lighting the face while the decks fall into shadow. Record a few seconds and check it on your phone.
- Record sound from the mixer or your DJ software, not the camera microphone. Both Digital DJ Tips and Internet Tattoo advise this. If you record audio separately, join it to the video before uploading anywhere. CueCut needs video with sound, and audio-only files are refused.
What cutting between cameras does to a vertical crop
A crop is a decision about one shot. Multi-camera footage changes shot all the time: a wide, then a close-up of the hands, then the crowd. A crop set for the wide shot can miss the DJ completely in the next one.
You have three options:
- Use one camera. Simplest, and nothing to fix.
- Reframe each shot by hand. Works, but slow on a two-hour set.
- Use a tool that follows the DJ across the cuts.
If you shoot with two cameras yourself, one on the decks and one on you is a common set-up. Keep the DJ at a similar size and position in both, so one crop works for both.
How CueCut handles it
CueCut films each chosen moment again as a 9:16 clip. The camera follows the DJ through camera cuts, trims burned-in channel logos off the edge, and adds natural motion blur when the frame moves. It keeps the set's own sound.
It has limits. If nobody can be followed in a clip, such as a crowd shot, artwork or a visualiser, that clip uses a steady, centred crop. It needs video with sound. And it does not post anywhere for you.
Only clip footage you have the right to use. If a venue or promoter filmed the night, ask them first.