Any tips for an aspiring 14 year old DJ?

Have a look at Phils course on this website.

Looks like you have all the gear you need for now. The best thing to do is listen to a wide variety of music (edm and non-edm) and play an instrument (if you don’t already). All of this will broaden your musical skills which will help no matter what you are doing.

The next step is to find other DJ’s and musicians to talk to, share ideas, and play-out with.

Best of luck!

I am 14 and have been djing for about 8 months too. I started with the mixtrack pro and am upgrading to the twitch soon.

• I think a really cool controller you could consider is the Denon MC3000, never used it but heard it is great for vdj. Another thing to consider when buying a controller is consider what you will be using it for.
• Take the classes Mcnee said.
• If you’re considering an instrument like Daryl Northrop suggested consider percussion, in my opinion it really helps you learn song structure and counting, but any instrument will do.
• When you practice always record your mixes and listen over them the next day.
• If you want more guidance take the How to Digital DJ fast course, (the name of the course Ess Jay recommended) it really helps.
• Oh and I forgot, you should probably get to mowing lawns when you get the music buying bug haha

I’d suggest
1) Toy around with different DAWs, and start versing yourself in these. It seems these days DJ and producer go hand-in-hand, and once you familiarize yourself with djing, production is how you take it to the next level. Production also gives you a great understanding of effects such as delay and reverb, and makes you appreciate them that much more. Also, mixing is an essential skill in production, and you will grasp more ways to mash/transition songs when you are building from the ground-up.
2) Learning piano and studying music theory: Piano is the king of compositional instruments in my opinion, and piano is the best instrument to get you used to how bass and treble work together. In addition, skills in piano will also cross over into the realm of MPCs and maschines, and really allow you to add a live performance aspect to your djing (it will allow you to stand out from other djs).
3) watch other djs in action and learn from their sets. See how Ean Golden daisy-chains different effects and emulate at first in order to expand later. I’ve found (and came up with some of my own) ways to really emphasize bass-drops through fx and to utilize them in a way that doesn’t become super tedious (using fx chains as fills, creating different sounds while scratching through fx, transitioning in more interesting ways than just a filter-out or a low frequency kill). With technology these days, there are so many things you can do to truly make sets your own.

What you said about the hate thing, it bothered me at first but once you realize some of things that computer djing opens up you realize that it is usually just people who don’t like change. Digital is becoming more and more accepted too

NietzSKY, post: 37273, member: 4553 wrote: I’d suggest
1) Toy around with different DAWs, and start versing yourself in these. It seems these days DJ and producer go hand-in-hand, and once you familiarize yourself with djing, production is how you take it to the next level. Production also gives you a great understanding of effects such as delay and reverb, and makes you appreciate them that much more. Also, mixing is an essential skill in production, and you will grasp more ways to mash/transition songs when you are building from the ground-up.
2) Learning piano and studying music theory: Piano is the king of compositional instruments in my opinion, and piano is the best instrument to get you used to how bass and treble work together. In addition, skills in piano will also cross over into the realm of MPCs and maschines, and really allow you to add a live performance aspect to your djing (it will allow you to stand out from other djs).
3) watch other djs in action and learn from their sets. See how Ean Golden daisy-chains different effects and emulate at first in order to expand later. I’ve found (and came up with some of my own) ways to really emphasize bass-drops through fx and to utilize them in a way that doesn’t become super tedious (using fx chains as fills, creating different sounds while scratching through fx, transitioning in more interesting ways than just a filter-out or a low frequency kill). With technology these days, there are so many things you can do to truly make sets your own.

Totally agree. I played for 8 years, and as much as i didn’t like it, it has come in handy. Some of the things it taught me

1. Multitasking. Playing harmony with left hand, melody with your right transfers to mixing things into two decks simutaneously
2. Manual beatmatching. A piano hides no sounds. If one hand is off timing, its immediatly (and painfully) obvious
3. Reading music. Sheet music, with practice, will become basically a waveform in your mind. You can see the buildup and breakdown in songs more easily.
4. Production. If you notice, usually synths have the equivalent of a mini keyboard on it. Im actually about to start building a house song with a classical music twist. and rather than point and click, I can actually play the song. Now imagine the crowd reaction to seeing THAT live on stage

To summarize, piano is a good musical instrument to learn. You can usually pick up a used one in a thrift shop for like $20, so the cost isnt insane