How Do You Prepare Psychologically For Mixing ?

Emma Partnow, post: 2710 wrote: Whether you be a Working DJ with a Residency; a DJ with a Radio Show; a Mobile DJ; a Bedroom DJ; or Any Other DJ I have Forgotten to Mention 🙂

How Do ‘You’ Prepare Yourself Psychologically for Your DJ’ing ?
Does Your Gear have to be ‘Set Up’ in a Particular Manner;
Do You have ‘Equipment’ that has become your Tools and you ‘Must’ use;
Do You Take Some ‘Time’ to Relax Psychologically Before you ‘Perform’ and How Much;
Do You have a Ritual that you Follow Before you ‘Leave Home’; or Begin Mixing ‘At Home’;
How Much Time (if any) do You take to Practice Your ‘Art’;
Do You ever Read or Follow Tutorials to ‘Better Your Best Practice’

Any Further Preparations I have Not Mentioned are Very Welcome 😎

Good thread indeed Emma!
– My gear doesn’t have to be setup in a certain manner (surprisingly as i have OCD). But i do prefer Techs on the outside CDJs on the inside..
– Tools i must use is my Sennheiser HD25’s, i physically can’t use any other headphones now. Also i can’t use anything apart from CDJ1000 mk3’s no more when gigging.
– I do tend to relax and chill out a little, often by chilling having a pizza for an hour or sitting downloading new tracks.
– Ritual, yes indeed, i have a mix while im getting ready and burning my last few tracks then i follow certain steps packing my bags.
– Hard one to pinpoint. I practice a lot. Some weeks can be more than others.
– Erm not so much now, as i have a lot of well hooked up talented mates that i regularly play with so just watch them and practice new things.

Do you do any of this Emma?

– Also, do any of you guys have something that you must have with you while DJ’n but non related to your performance?

So… for live gigs, I usually have a beer, just one, to calm me down a bit. I don’t need my set up to be perfect and this is probably because I usually have to work around other DJs stuff or have no real DJ booth to speak of like a small bar table or a stool! I always bring my launchpad as my minimalist set up in case there’s no room for all my other gear.

At home I will play a drum track and drink a cup of coffee and feel the groove. Even if I don’t feel like it I will mix for at least half an hour a day – for me regularity is better than long bursts of creativity followed by a long draught, but that’s just my personality.

I usually either approach the booth all psyched up to play stuff, or worried to death about what I’ll play and if this crowd is cool or if I’ll be facing a handful of trixies begging me to stop playing music and play crap instead.

I’ll have a drink or two before I go on, but simply just go into it to get it going, and go from there.

Emma Partnow, post: 2710 wrote:

How Do ‘You’ Prepare Yourself Psychologically for Your DJ’ing ?
Does Your Gear have to be ‘Set Up’ in a Particular Manner;
Do You have ‘Equipment’ that has become your Tools and you ‘Must’ use;
Do You Take Some ‘Time’ to Relax Psychologically Before you ‘Perform’ and How Much;
Do You have a Ritual that you Follow Before you ‘Leave Home’; or Begin Mixing ‘At Home’;
How Much Time (if any) do You take to Practice Your ‘Art’;
Do You ever Read or Follow Tutorials to ‘Better Your Best Practice’

– Show up & smile. Sometimes, it’s a bit more of a work-up, but most of the time this is a great start to any show.
– Nah. I generally set up and break down in the same order, just so I keep up with everything.
– My personal rig has 2 CD players and a Numark DDS. I’m partial to it, but just as easily use Cue/Virtual DJ.
– Whenever I get in the car to drive, I start blanking out stupid real world shit that won’t matter for the next X hours. I don’t need to worry about whether or not we ordered some music for customers when I’m not at the store.
– Yeah, but it mostly involves checking equipment and cables. I’m terrible about forgetting shit that matters. Also PHONE/KEYS/INSULIN. When I’m driving to a show, I spend time flipping through the radio on a 2-3 minute/1-2 song rotation. When I’m at home practicing, I just plug in and go.
– I listen to music 90% of my day. Usually, I turn on the rig and fart around for an hour or two at least once every couple days.
– I listen to other people’s sets/mixes. And I listen to my own sorta obsessively, since that’s the easiest way to hear where I’m fucking up.

Listen my favourite music and get stoked. Watch videos of my favourite DJs perform. I like Paul Van Dyke’s performance at Sensation White 2005. Pretty cool

Ampero, post: 3366 wrote: Before I say anything.. effin’ props man! I so love that track. Nas’, ‘It Ain’t Hard To Tell’ Acapella goes so well with it 😀 cheers!

Any time mate! 😀