Being a parent and Bedroom DJ – Finding time and space

I have a 6 month boy. I have learned to prep my mixes and then switch between cue and master cue so I can do everything in headphones. Its the price we pay for doing what we love. The late nights of being out and not having chance/time to have a little lie in also kill me when I have gigs. Gutted but my son is more than worth it.

The struggle is real. I have an 8 year old daughter. I did the single parent thing for 6 years along with a full time day job and a twice weekly gig running sound for local cover bands.

I chose Traktor due to its iOS implementation, so I could practice mixes on the go during spare moments, and have a similar software/hardware experience when using the S2 with the iPad/iPhone/PC. My home DJ/production rig fits in the corner of the living room.

The real challenge is making the time to devote to DJing. I DJ for my daughter sometimes, and if she ever wants to learn how, I’ll be more than happy to teach her.

Congrats! As a father to a four and two year old I can relate to your struggles to find quality time for practice. Never forgot that kids are only young once and they grow so fast so enjoy the time that you have. Make it quality time because the music will still be there even if you have to step away for a while. Don’t forget your better half either and make sure to set aside time for them or they’ll resent you for having your face glued to your computer for the hour before you go to bed but yet can’t find 10 minutes to talk to them.

As far suggestions:

1. Remove all distractions when practicing and have a plan going in what you want to do. You’ll get more out of focused 30 min then a 90 min session floating around.

2. If at all possible curate and organize your music everywhere but home so that your not doing tedious tasks like this or similar when you have some time to yourself and are able to actually hit the decks.

3. This might be harder with twins but if both kids are doing tummy time do quick sessions of mixing where you can monitor them. The music will be good for them and you’ll get a little bit of practice that will whet your appetite before they go down for bed.

I can relate… I am a single father of 3 children. My oldest is 9, then the next will be 6 in March, and my youngest will be 3 in June. I find that the only way I get much ME time is to sacrifice sleep. I do get a bit of time for my music every other weekend when they go see their mom. I also have plenty to do when I’m not parenting, bathing, cooking, cleaning, washing laundry… and DJing isn’t my only passion, so making time for practicing has been very limited lately. There is only a certain amount of time in a day, and always more that you need/want to do than you have time for… it’s a balancing act for sure. I find that most of my mixing time comes late at night, when volumes need watched closely so kiddos can sleep… for this reason I’m looking into getting a better, more comfortable set of headphones. I also have a little time once in a while in the day, while the older two are at school, but that isn’t a regular thing. Best of luck to all the other DJ parents out there! I found a great T-shirt on FB the other day, it says “some people call me a DJ, the most important ones call me DAD” ….