What to mark first
A beginner does not need fifteen hot cues per song. Start with a few useful landmarks: first downbeat, good mix-in point, vocal start, breakdown, drop, and safe exit. The point is to reduce confusion, not decorate the waveform.
Loop basics
A loop repeats a section of music. Beginners can use loops to extend an intro or outro while learning. Keep loops musical: 4, 8, 16, or 32 beats usually feels more natural than odd lengths.
Common mistakes
- Setting cues without listening to whether they are actually useful.
- Looping a section with vocals that becomes annoying quickly.
- Relying on hot cues so much that you stop learning song structure.
Put It Into Practice
Assignment
Pick five tracks. Set no more than four cues per track: start, mix-in, breakdown or vocal, and exit. Then practice loading each track and saying out loud what each cue means.
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