You can't beatmatch what you can't hear. If the next track won't play in your cans while the current one's out loud, it's one of five switches — and they're all on this page.
Every channel strip has a small headphone/CUE button. It must be lit on the deck you're preparing — and usually OFF on the one that's playing out, or they'll pile on top of each other.
Near the headphone jack there's a knob (or fader) blending CUE against MASTER. Turned fully to MASTER, your cue selection does nothing. Set it to the middle — both worlds — or fully CUE while learning.
The headphones have a dedicated LEVEL control, separate from everything else. It starts at zero more often than you'd think.
If your headphones are plugged into the laptop, you'll never hear cue — the split needs the controller's own sound card. Headphones go in the controller's jack, and in your software's audio settings the output device must be the controller, not 'MacBook Speakers'.
Some mixers have MONO SPLIT — cue in the left ear, master in the right. Great feature, confusing if it's on and you don't know. If one ear sounds wrong, look for that switch.
Cueing is a second, private mix running alongside the main one — its own source selector, its own blend, its own volume, through the DJ hardware's own sound card. Five separate controls means five places for silence to hide, but always the same five.
Fixed it? The manual this came from covers the DJ controller / mixer the same way — every control, every failure mode, in plain English with diagrams. The Complete Rig — all four guides — £39, instant PDF.
Get the manual → £39 Or keep using the free stuff →