D-Jam

Kent Sandvik, post: 32054, member: 3967 wrote: I would not be surprise if we see a split between commercial DJs who just do it for a living (top-40) and innovative DJs/producers who love music and take less lucrative gigs just because that’s what they want to do.

Again…it always happens.

You see some guys who make the career out of DJing. They play the bars, mainstream clubs, weddings, etc. They may or may not like the mainstream music…but they see it all as a paycheck.

And the rest? Many end up falling into a hobby mode or just plain quitting in some way, shape, or form. They grow so disgruntled that the “dream” of playing the “cool music” to a large, receptive crowd never happened. Some quit completely and sell it all, others find the love again in other areas.

A few stick with it…push, produce, network, promote, build a brand…and they find success in some way.

My point to this and to all the DJs is to find what you LOVE about DJing…and stay with it. If what you love won’t make you money, then find a normal career to pay the bills and stay with what you love…or fight/push to make it lucrative.

I keep it as a hobby now. Web design keeps me too busy now, and it’s too lucrative for me to fathom DJing as an income.

djdoinbad, post: 31798, member: 182 wrote: ive heard about this book a few times i guess i should stop bullshitting and READ IT! hahaha

In my opinion, it not only tells of how DJing evolved, but opened me up to many scenes I never knew existed. I never knew of Larry Levan’s career or what Frankie Knuckles did before Chicago until I read that book. I never knew about Northern Soul until that book. I never knew of David Mancuso or Francis Grasso until that book.

It was also cool to see how the Reggae scene grew in Jamaica and then spread to NYC as the rap/hip-hop scene.

Some are on video…others are online.

I like to suggest Groove to show how putting a little extra effort into an event with decor and music will do wonders over the basics in a room.

Maestro is a great documentary on the NYC scene of the 70s and 80s. It’ll give you perspective on where we came from.

Pump Up The Volume is a must to see. Not the Christian Slater movie. Google it online and watch it.

Scratch is nice if you’re into vinyl and turntablism.

Other than that…do some searching in YouTube. Loads of recorded exposes and clips from news reports about things that happened in the past. Saw a good one on the Madchester scene.

Lukynumba7, post: 31685, member: 1744 wrote: but then life got in the way and I got distracted from DJing.

That will hurt many efforts.

I’ve tried several times in life to do online shows, but they never took off because I would do them for a few weeks, then stop, then come back a long time later.

Consistency is how you grow a following in a place like that.

I wrote this August of 2011…it’s still relevant now…
http://d-jam.com/twr6yLl

Ohmygawd, it’s time for the DJ Mag Top 100 again?

I first saw it mentioned on Facebook, then Twitter, then an email in my inbox, now on message boards. It’s that time of the year again. DJ Magazine is polling and gathering votes for their annual Top 100 DJs list, and I can already foresee the drama.

This entry today is a bit of a rant, a rant not on the list or the results that usually occur, but of the rampant childish stupidity I see every year when it comes to this list. Let’s have a look at what’s been happening year after year.

1. The polls start. Emails and social media postings go all over the place pushing everyone to vote for their favorite DJs. Some of the guys who usually make the Top 100 send out emails asking for support.
2. Some “smaller names” that are popular in their local areas all start on heavy pushes in an attempt to just to make the Top 100. They put out loads of promotion still not “getting it” that just because they can pack a club in their town and played a few out-of-town gigs, they’re not up at the level of the guys who usually make the Top 100.
3. We’re all annoyed to death with the constant annoyance of “vote for me!” from both big and small names. Like somehow we’re all just going to readily give out our email and personal information.
4. The Top 100 comes out…and by no surprise it’s practically the same as it’s been for the last ten years. The same ten names all find their way into the top fifteen.
5. Suddenly, the internet is awash in angst from loads of music nerds and snobs who endlessly complain for a week straight on how the list is so biased and always ends up with popular guys and trance DJs in most of the top twenty.
6. Resident Advisor then comes up with their own Top DJ list comprised of many underground names most people (except for them) have never heard of. Even then, people still complain how their favorite guy didn’t make any list, but soooooo deserves to.

Every year this happens. At what point are DJs and music enthusiasts going to write off all these “Top DJ Charts” as total bollocks? Remember TheDJList.com? Remember how many DJs were feverously working to get into the top 10 there? They posted banners, spammed people, annoyed others, played the system, etc. Did that get them gigs? Did they suddenly get booked to play Global Gathering, Ibiza, or the Ultra Music Fest? Did anyone in the industry really care?

I don’t want to be the guy who crushes the dreams of local DJs who hope one day to be a big headliner like Armin Van Buuren, Carl Cox, Deadmau5, or Paul Van Dyk. However, I think one really needs to look at all the guys in the Top 100 and really ask themselves if they are truly “up there” with those men and women before they try to push to somehow get into the list. I mean, those guys are constantly traveling and playing in front of thousands. They are repeatedly booked for the biggest events and clubs on the planet. They run labels and release music all over the world. Some have regular shows on Satellite Radio.

So how does some local who maybe plays in a club that holds 500-2000 people honestly believe he/she can compete with that? There are guys who travel and play to smaller numbers as well as release loads music who can’t even get into that list.

Taking a step back

Let’s step away from the idea of local guys trying to get into this list and more address why it seems the same people get into the list year after year, especially the big trance headliners. The reality is while many DJs can name a dozen guys they think are talented that never get into the Top 100, most of the people voting (in my opinion) are NOT DJs.

They are clubbers and average people who perhaps aren’t as passionate about all this the way DJs and enthusiasts are. They might be the ones regularly hitting up the bottle service glam clubs and can’t remember who was playing, or they buy tickets to the big show when it’s packed with the popular headliners, because it’s guaranteed to be a wild party.

They are not the types who know of some small-name hipster coming up with brilliant sounds in his bedroom and worshipped on the underground music boards. This is the harsh reality many have to accept before they get all steamed about the DJ Magazine Top 100. This is the same logic as to why I barely know any of the names that end up on Resident Advisor’s list. Only that niche mainly knows those names, and the DJ Magazine list is known by the larger numbers of folks who simply go out for those names.

Why you should dismiss it all

So the usual anger I see all over the internet (and will see soon on the internet again) is how the “truly talented guys” never get into the list while the Top 100 are just the “popular guys”. Um, yeah…that’s kind of what this list is all about. This isn’t about if Deadmau5 is possibly “more talented” than DJ Mazi or if David Guetta is possibly a “better DJ” than Kid Capri. This is about who’s popular. Who packs stadiums as opposed to clubs. Who gets written up in magazines and even gets mentions outside of the DJ world.

To me, judge talent as you see it. If you really believe in someone, then post their name on social media and tell others to check this person out. Take your friends to their shows and see if they get into it. In the past that’s how this was done. The word was spread.

Who cares if your favorite DJ didn’t get into a big popularity contest? Will he/she suddenly stop producing or DJing? Will they quit, go to their home, and cry?

BIGGER QUESTION: Would you still love this person if they did get into the Top 100? Or the Top Ten?

Look how many people immediately dismiss talented acts as “sellouts” the minute they see the office receptionist switch from Justin Bieber to the DJ you liked.

So spare me, spare the scene, and spare everyone. You all know how the DJ Magazine Top 100 is going to turn out. Don’t act surprised and offended. Move on and stop thinking somehow these lists mean anything, or one day you’ll see a list made up only of people you like.

Even “talent” is subjective. You can’t measure it. You simply like something or you don’t. Praise and support the people you like, and stop thinking they have to make the list in order to “be someone”.

B-H-Y, post: 31541, member: 4231 wrote: Hi D-Jam. That’s making good use of looping and effects, and comes with experience. Some types of music don’t suit lots of effects added, and as you say, are best played the way they were intended. Other tracks suit effects. It’s deciding which is which, that some inexperienced DJs get confused about.

Trance IMHO is a genre you can’t mess with too much. Most of the time added effects will mess up the synths or overdo things that it ruins the original sound.

Personally, I think both the DJs and crowds need to stop thinking the DJ should be “constantly doing stuff”. I’ve gone to play and had a few criticize me that while my set sounded solid and great, I spent too much time going through and finding what I wanted to play next.

It’s ironic that those who first say I sounded great will then believe if I had spent more time FXing or doing Jesus poses, I would have been even “better”…yet much of the time I see DJs doing the same 2-8 FX/loop tricks…and it gets old very fast.

“Oh wow…you flanged things…again”

“Gee whillickers, that loop/reverb thing was great the first time…but now you doing it for the 8th time in your set has more or less killed the coolness of it.”