How did you get into DJing?
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- This topic has 12 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 10 years, 12 months ago by
Maximlee.
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April 2, 2015 at 1:25 am #2167321
Daniel I
ParticipantHey, buddy!
I’ve started less than a month ago, but I have quite a solid musical background, anyway take everything I say with a grind of salt.
First of all I think you need some idea of what you are doing. I would recommend (and Digital DJ Tips also recommends) the “DJing for Dummies” book. “How to DJ properly” is another good book which I purchased but haven’t started yet, but it seems a bit less extensive. The DJing for dummies covers everything you need to know and it’s a bit longer. It covers how to transition from bedroom to professional DJ as well. Still haven’t read that part though, because I don’t need it yet. It’s written by John Stevenson (another DJ) and has been recently published in it’s third edition, which also covers Digital DJing. It has the CDJ and Vinyl djing as well, even what needles you need etc. Don’t be afraid from the For Dummies in the title – it’s part of a series of books called for dummies. It covers everything beside the practical experience you will need – that being particular setups, software specifics, effects, and the actual skill to DJ good. It’s definitely a good start. The book has pictures and stuff so it’s quite useful. I believe it is a must have. Small tip – always buy the latest editions of books, especially when for constantly evolving fields such as DJing!
Second – In my opinion, you really need some Hardware. Let’s put it that way – it doesn’t matter how much you read about how you should drive a car, until you actually start driving it – you wont know. Don’t rush it in anyway if you don’t feel confident! Start by playing around with Virtual DJ 8 as it’s free to use unless you use a controller, so you can have some dry practice before buying anything.
Personally I’ve started by messing around with Audacity (a free DAW program), making nightcored songs and than a bit of Virtual DJ 8. Note – nightcored songs are songs wtih increased tempo and pitch to make them sound more energetic and in some way, cooler than the original. Example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUbFzEMQ2Fs
I’ve started messing with Audacity in January this year, and I ordered my controller on 8th of March. As I said I’ve played two instruments, I’ve studied musical theory for about an year, singed in an amateur choir for 5 years, danced my whole life (unprofessionally), I’ve listened and I enjoy tons of different musical genres through the years, and on top of that my Uncle is actually a DJ so I knew I had some head start, and in the worst case scenario it came from ebay it will go there as well, so I ordered my controller without that much of a thinking. As I spend a lot of time in front of my laptop, and I needed a new hobby anyway, so I guess it was a fair deal for me. I’m saying all that just to explain why I rushed that much and not to provoke you of doing so.
About the transition between bedroom and professional, I don’t know that much, but it would be a fair assumption if I say that you can’t really skip the bedroom step. You need experience. My personal advice is just practice up until the points you feel confident about your DJing skills, you’ve found your most preferred style, and when you and your friends listen to your mixes you are all satisfied with the quality. I guess that you have to feel confident about DJing hardware as well – about your own, and if you have to use different.
Sorry if I’m not answering your questions directly, but I can’t be really sure what you’ve meant by relatively inexperienced DJ. Do you have equipment, have you made and put online any mixes and what are the responses of the others?
BTW – if you need an advice about a first controller (if you are going for digital DJing) – Try to buy some cheap one but from a reputable brand. I’m using Pioneer DDJ-SB and I’m quite satisfied. Read reviews of the controllers before buying. Don;t go for an expensive one for a start – it’s a common truth that good DJs can pull off an amazing performance on any Controller and Software. You might not be able to handle the functionality of an advanced controller, and on top of that it might confuse you, and slow down your learning process. For the DDJ-SB I will say that the only things it lacks are separate knobs for the effects, gain knobs (not really needed for your bed room anyway), the need to use the shift button to access some it’s core functionality, and I personally feel that the channel faders are a bit not balanced, resulting in a bit unwanted change of the volume levels so you have to be a more careful when using them. I think it’s great controller overall and would recommend it, considering it’s low price. Awesome jog wheels as well, imo. I got it from ebay for 130 GBP so it was quite a bargain as well 😉
Sorry for the long post, and I hope I helped! 🙂
Daniel
April 2, 2015 at 8:30 am #2167741Lamid45G
ParticipantIf you still young @ 18, thats even greater, be more great if you planning to go to the university, now thats where you should take your first baby step, frat party, spring break party, or heck even do a prom party of your old school, be like a homecoming =p
Thing about it is, dont be shy about it, gets to now folks, meet new people, if you just sitting in the dark corner of your bedroom, well that as far as you can go bedroom dj, but like you said you want to progressed, go out there, make the connection
If you do go to the university/college, be on the look out of the bulletin board, sometimes they posted a DJ Competition that they not heavily advertised, if one of my mate didnt tell me i prolly misssed it lol
Go to the Spring break party, hi five the DJ (of course when hes not busy =p) heck bring him/her a doughnuts, booze or something, be friendly but not too pushy lol
April 2, 2015 at 8:48 am #2167771Terry_42
KeymasterA priest told me over 20 years ago… (no kidding)
April 2, 2015 at 11:11 am #2167891DJ Vintage
ModeratorDid we not already have a long-standing post on this topic? Or is it just deja-vu?
April 2, 2015 at 12:20 pm #2167941Brassman
ParticipantWow, thank you for that Daniel!
I will really take on board what you’ve said – I agree that actually sitting down with some hardware is the best way to advance so I’m looking into that currently. I understand that taking yourself to a professional standard takes a long time and a lot of practice, but I think I have the patience and a musical knowledge good enough to make quick progress. As for ‘relatively inexperienced’, I mean that I’ve been learning the basics by playing around with mixing on a laptop for a while (not the same I know) and researching DJ techniques without finding the time to invest in it properly (although this shouldn’t be a problem when I finish school). I also think a book would really help point me in the right direction by teaching one step at a time so thanks for your suggestions – your post helped immensely.
I am going to university next year, Arnaldi, and given that I’ve been wanting to get into music mixing/production for a while now I thought the holiday I have coming up would be the best time to tackle it.
Apologies if there was already a thread on this subject – I haven’t found it, but I also thought it was worth asking myself. If anyone could post a link to it I would be grateful.
April 2, 2015 at 1:24 pm #2167961ModeratorWhile the technical skills can be learned relatively quickly and, when pushed, you can achieve a workable level of fluency, that is only a small part (and the less important one) of DJ-ing. The real skill involved is, to paraphrase Terry “knowing what comes next”. The only place to learn that is playing out in front of a crowd, and lots of times at that. Getting burned, getting up and trying again. No book, course, youtube video or amount of visiting clubs/parties/festivals can prepare you for that, let alone substitute hours of practice.
So, regardless of your background, to become a good DJ, you will have to do the grind behind the booth in a real audience setting.
While books are fine, we can’t but plug Digital DJ Tips’ “How To Digital DJ Fast” course. It’s a great way to learn what to do and (as important what not to do) and will prevent you from putting hours and hours in trial and error or relearning skills you started practicing the wrong way.
April 2, 2015 at 6:12 pm #2168071Akash
BlockedHi,
I am a Bass Guitar player. I used to play with passion and love. But unfortunately I got Slipped Disk due to long hours of Office sitting work and it is very painful to hold guitar and perform now…
I cant leave that Stage Performance Feeling…I am thinking to enter DJ world..
My age is 30 and I dont have much money to afford the best of gadgets or Macbooks…
I got a Numark Mixtrack Quad and practicing on it on PC…I am planning for a Laptop within Rs. 36,000/- which is around $600.
Could anyone suggest me if it would help me to do atleast some small parties for some time…
April 2, 2015 at 6:42 pm #2168151WJW
ParticipantHey Brassman !
I’m 18 years old as well and I started DJ’ing Summer 2013. At first I started with just software, trying things out and just fiddling around with buttons, I never had any musical education so it was a whole new world for me. I got used to the software and probably a month or 5 afterwords I decided to buy a controller (DDJ WeGo). I made some first mixtapes and tried things out and decided I really liked it. But I got to a point where I thought that it was a bit boring to keep being a bedroom DJ. I started with playing at some small parties that friends threw. With small I really mean small, my first real ‘gig’/live performance was a pool party with 7 people. But gradually people knew that I was into DJ’ing and that’s the best advertisement you can have. Just let everynoe know that you’re interested in that sort of stuff and that you put a lot of time in it. When friends start throwing parties, that’s when they’ll think of you! The first REAL party I played at (50+ people) was October last year. It was a birthdayparty and since then, several bithdayparties have followed. Birthdayparties and house parties are the first kinds of parties that you’ll be asked for, if people really like you and you put some time in advertising and spreading your music (soundcloud, mixcloud, facebook,…) then bigger gigs will follow.
As for a very important tip that I want to give you:
Don’t DJ with the sync-button, it’s easy to use but it’ll ruin a lot of performance opportunities for you later! If you learn to mix by beatmatching from the start, you’ll be able to perform anywhere and you won’t have to carry all your equipment with you every time. Because when you get to play at bigger parties there will most likely be a setup with CDJ’s, and almost none of them have a sync button, which would mean that you can’t play on them because of your lack of skills and you’ll have to say no to the gig.That’s my story, I get about 2 gig’s a month now, sometimes more, hope this helps you and if you have questions you can definately ask them !
Greetings
April 2, 2015 at 8:08 pm #2168261ModeratorWhile I wholeheartedly agree that learning how to beatmatch manually is an essential part of becoming a DJ, once you have that mastered, there is nothing wrong with using the sync button, imho. It’s there to provide a valuable service and can help free up time in the booth to spend on more creative tasks.
As for running into non-controller gear, yes, you will find CDJ-based setups in clubs, but it is rapidly becoming more accepted and even expected that you bring your own controller. So, while by no means trying to say you shouldn’t learn manual beatmatching, YOU SHOULD!, losing gigs because you don’t play on CDJs is becoming less of an issue.
I know Terry is already charging EXTRA if he is expected to play on CDJs and I make a point of including in my contracts that they accommodate me bringing my own gear, or face extra costs if that’s not possible (effectively making them pay too for using their gear).
We’ll be seeing more and more of that. Controllers offer so much extra functionality, that playing with CDJs means your sets are gonna be less than they would be when you use your controller. And we all want to be able to give it all we’ve got, right? And since controller/laptop/software setups are highly personal (and highly customized) as opposed to generic CDJ setups, clubs can’t put in a computer and generic controller. Ergo, you see more and more places ready to welcome DJs bringing their own gear, with room to drop the controller, easy hookups to the house PA, plenty of power outlets to plug everything into mains and often they will have some USB and other computer cables (like network) in spare as well.
April 2, 2015 at 8:13 pm #2168271BlockedSOunds positive and motivational for beginners …. 🙂
WHy dont CDJ think of including that small feature in their COSTLY equipments…
BTW how to get music files for programms…Is 320 kbps music files necessary to perform or other formats are ok too
April 2, 2015 at 8:22 pm #2168321ModeratorActually there is sync on the nexus models.
April 9, 2015 at 3:18 am #2172721Maximlee
BlockedHi.. First well done Daniel… Epic post
Firstly listen to all your music and how it’s structured… Get a feel for were you might take a track it… Knowing your tracks is vitally important. Personal I would get a simply mixer of eBay etc with just eq.. Levels and crossfader and some buttons and knobs that are midi mappable I started with a m-audio (link below) But some evolution stuff might do…. and mess around with one of the free programs like virtual dj and see if it’s something you want to do…. It’s a steep learning curve at start and a lot of people give up…. It’s better to have spent $60 rather than $ 400-500 plus from experience it’s better starting to learn with minimum controls and learn the basics like eg levels pitch. I’ve seen a lot of DJs go straight for a controller that has four channels and get so losed because there is to many button faders in front of them so give up.
If you are serious about beening pro then take it in stages start of simply and build up. Another valuable lesson is listen to dj mixes… If your into hardwell aoki etc then you can forget all I’ve said. If you want to be a real dj then listening will help you build and construct sets… I personal love Sasha Digweed hawtin Seth troxler and listening to there sets I have learnt so much…. People have got lost so much in technology that they forgot that all you need two records and a crossfader or volume faders ( depending on your style of mixing )to rock a crowd..it all about the musicHappy mixing
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