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Working on a practice schedule

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  • November 21, 2013 at 10:06 am #1016878
    Terry_42
    Keymaster

    Here is a tip:

    Do an alteration of:

    The Mix Day:

    Here you try to make a mix anywhere from 30min to however long you want and apply all the mixing skills you have to make it as perfect as you can. Follow a pattern or theme in your music selection and try to raise energy throughout the mix.

    The Fun Day:

    Here you do not do a continuos mix. This is your day of fun and experimenting. Try new things, new songs, mashing things up, crazy stuff, weird effects, things nobody heard about. You can do that any length from 10min to hours. (I sometimes have so much fun I go on for hours…)

    The Break Day:

    Take a break from your DJ software completely. Let things sink in. Relax. Listen to some music on your iPod or whatever, but do not mix.

     

    This is how I still do it after tens of years (sadly literal) and it still keeps me motivated to practice and have fun.

    November 22, 2013 at 7:38 pm #1016958
    Michael Lawrence
    Participant

    # PRACTICE (3 HOURS PER DAY DURING THE WEEK) FREQUENCY
    1 Timing (Ean Golden) 15 mins. Warm up! Every day
    2 Beat Matching 30 mins Every day
    3 Scratching (20 mins) Every other day
    4 Use Renegade Mapping as an Instrument (20 mins) Every day
    5 Working with the F1 (30 mins) Every other day
    6 Working with Maschine (1hr 30 mins) Every day
    7 Sample/Chopping Practice (20 mins) Every other day
    8 Finger Drumming with Maschine to beats (15 mins) Every day
    9 Sound Design with Plugins (20 mins) Every other day
    10 Sound Design/Music Creation w/ Ipad (20 mins) Every day
    11 Piano /Scales/Melodies/Chords (30 mins) Every day
    12 Music Theory (15 mins) Every day
    13 Video Tutorials/Online Articles Every day/Anytime
    TOTAL TIME: 5 HOURS 25 MINUTES

    November 22, 2013 at 7:41 pm #1016959
    Michael Lawrence
    Participant

    The above scheudle is actually something I put together last night as I realized how muh time I was wasting udring the week going back and forth trying to do things. I made alist of thigns that I want to work on and how much time I think would be good for me to focus on.

    I find I get bored easily and have a shorter attention span so the fact that I can pick and choose somethign to do and set a time to get it done is probably better for the way I work.

    Fridays are my break days where I plan to just chill. Watch some documentaries, listen to other poples mixes and Sundays will be my “Fun day” like Terry said where I can do whatever I choose.

    Hoping to put all this in affect Monday. I set it up in a chart in excel and kind of put it in to a calender format so I can track week by week what I did and at the end of the month hopefully see noticeable gains and get back more time into my day. I work about 40-45 hours a week full time so its pretty important for me to make sure the time I do have free is used as effectively as possible! Hope this gives you some ideas.

    November 23, 2013 at 5:55 am #1016977
    Branden
    Participant

    I try and practice every day. Some days I will challenge myself to see how long I can go without screwing up. Or I’ll place an imaginary crowd in my room and act as if I’m DJ’ing at the greatest club in Las Vegas.

    I also have my days where I like to just screw around, like what Terry said.

    November 23, 2013 at 10:37 am #1016980
    Silvercue Master
    Participant

    Make sure it is is fun, not a chore.  Otherwise the magic will fade.

     

     

    November 25, 2013 at 11:47 pm #1017094
    Isaiah Furrow
    Participant

    I am working on a “schedule” for practicing this winter… I have decided that I want to do something with music every day.. am hoping to spend at least 2 hours each day … thinking something like this..

    Monday, just listening to tunes, looking for new stuff in my collection to add to my Serato Crates, and working with organizing what I have… also, listening to new music, as when I get to buy a new album or CD it’s usually over the weekend…

    Tuesday morning I plan to spend about an hour with my controller, working with a certain type of music, be it hip/hop and rap, classic rock, or dance music and Skrillex…LOL  just looking for things that fit together and such, and practicing all skills I’m hoping to be building… as well as setting cue points in the songs I’ve crated up…  In the afternoon I hope to just have some time listening to tunes while doing housework and dealing with kids…

    I plan to basically repeat Tuesday for Wed. and Thurs….   Friday I hope to try and do some “sets”, actually putting it together as I would at a gig, maybe in morning do a “set” or more classic rock and such, for an older or mixed crowd type situation… then Friday eve do it again, with more hip/hop, rap, EDM stuff….

    Weekends it’s just what I can when I can, as family takes priority, and weekends are when we usually go to town for shopping, visit people, have folks over, etc… I may start doing some small parties to “gig” for friends and try and get input…  I will be hoping to have some production gear soon too, and that will work into weekend time and maybe a little during the week too.  Also, I have time every day to read forums, and DJ sites, watch videos, and absorb input, ideas, and new music….

    I am a stay at home parent at the moment, with a baby, 3yr old, and a first grader, so time is a little here and a little there, but I’m working on it, and can usually get an hour or so to myself at night if I’m not too tired…LOL  I plan to really put some time into practice and music this winter, as I am buying lights and PA and such and hope to start a mobile entertainment business in spring… just thought I’d throw this out there, as I have been working on this lately, might help give you another angle to look at, and also, folks might have input for me too….   thanks to all who make this site so AWESOME!   Isaiah

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