How do I know I am club ready and if so what are the best ways to get a spot?

Graham,

1) There’s no real way. This is all internal. Even after two years, every time I get behind the decks at a big event, I get those butterflies and have to say “I can do this. Absolutely. Let’s have some fun” (and then have two shots). Usually about 30 minutes in, I find my groove and make the magic.

You might try posting some, say, 30-45 minute mixes to your FB and get some friends to weigh in. If you have any other DJ friends, get them to critique. That’s what caused me to re-think/re-work some of my transition methods and really improved the final products.

2) I started my DJ journey when someone said “Hey, Neon. You love music and you have a lot of it, come spin this party…last year all we had was an iPod and a speaker, you gotta be better than that” 🙂 I taught myself some basic mixing in 3 months (practiced every day) and NAILED that party (a definite lucky break for me, trust). I then got a job as a summer DJ on the decks of restaurants, built up some reputation there, I consistently showed that I knew how to promote my event, get people to attend, and then (having had previous good relations with the dance club owners) put my “resume” and online “audition” streams on MixCloud so they could check out my playstyle. They gave me a Friday night (usually not their busiest, especially in the winter months) and showed I could (again) promote the event, get people in attendance, and keep an audience at the bar all the way until 3AM (closing). I was already working in bars as a “emcee/entertainer” in my home city so it was probably an easier transition for me (and for those opportunities I am grateful) from emcee/entertainer to DJ.

It’s a little bit of luck and a whole lot of promotion and learning how to focus in on your markets and gain appeal to them. Some people poo-poo the power of social media, but for me, my employers notice how I use it effectively and that I actually interact with people when they comment on my event, ask questions, and when you go out, you are NEVER “off the clock”. My social media advisor tells me (and this is the whole truth) that once you become a “public figure” you can never have a bad opionin, can never be a butthead, and you even have to be careful with the things you “like” as people are watching. I try to point people away from my personal page and I’ve set up a business page that I direct people who are interested in following my career and my spins. I do always share my events on my personal page after they have been posted to my Entertainer page.

Yep, in essence you are never “ready” as long as you stay in your bedroom. Clearly there are some technical skills you’ll want to master before playing out and knowing your collection inside out and having it prepped properly is also pretty much a must, imho.

But that is where it ends. As Terry has so eloquently stated in his article over on the blog “Real DJ-ing is knowing what comes next”. And KNOWING that comes from practice, not the bedroom variety, but the real, out there, live experience in front of actual people. This is something that you can’t learn from a book, a video or even one of Phil’s great courses.

The only road to that kind of readiness is putting yourself out there and doing it. If you have a safe environment to begin with (friend’s party’s and such) that is great. By the same token, the forgiveness you get from people that know you and are already grateful that you even dragged yourself and your gear out to play in the first place, is different from playing a crowd of strangers at a paid gig. Less forgiving and as such a better learning environment.

It’s the part of DJ-ing that is the scariest and most rewarding, the one that takes the most practice, falling and getting up again. It’s also the part that makes you feel the true vibe that comes with DJ-ing a live gig.

Go for it!