Reason808

Hey Jahitty, I’m mid-forties and I’m getting back into it. I bought my turntables in 87 and never looked back. I thought by now I’d be listening to classical music in my smoking jacket, but I’m more of a beat junkie, than ever. Phil, I’d love to see a follow up article, and I’ll share my adventures of my “return” in this forum.

My biggest obstacles at this point are my crazy busy work schedule. I have little free time, and when I do, I like to spend it with my wonderful girlfriend chilling in my home. The club lifestyle starts to be less appealing as you mellow with age. Sometimes I worry about looking old, or coming off as an old guy in mid-life crisis, but I doubt that matters when you rock out an amazing set. I think good taste seasoned over decades is probably a big advantage.

Not all okay tracks, but some “friends” you don’t very often but you’re glad to visit them occasionally when you do.

Yeah, I have some amazing 80s records designed by Peter Saville & Neville Brody, Gatefold sleeves, Picture Discs, Marbled Vinyl, even a 5 inch cd-sized record. Plus stupid stuff like MC Hammer 12’s with goofy outdated fashions.

The artwork on old record covers was like a poster for the idea of the song. That’s the love drug sprayed on them. At least to me.

No way! My songs are my friends. And I think that attitude makes me a better DJ. I can see paring down a digital collection to a manageable amount, but I think a DJ’s music collection should be indispensable to his/her life.

When I moved to Hong Kong from the US, the hardest decision I had to make was about my 13 boxes of vinyl records. My furniture and equipment? Get me an ax. My records? My heart broke. I saved 3 boxes with the best artwork in the end.

Do iTunes radio stations count for this thread?
I like listening to iTunes online radio at work. I like the variety of DJ techniques and music, and the surprise factor of songs jumping out at me. Plus iTunes plays nice at work when I’m using my web browser for work tasks. Just hit play and go. Unfortunately most iTunes radio streams are garbage.

I highly recommend these. I’ve listened to them for years now:

KCRW Online/Eclectic 24: Excellent music indie selection with a strong artistic and creative bent. Unfortunately over the last year or two they’ve minimized their dance music, almost becoming a folk-rock station. But when they do have dance stuff, its amazing. Tracks show up in iTunes for trainspotting.
Ibiza Sonica: Like KCRW but focused on dance music. A constant stream of wonderful oddball dance tracks. Tracklists impossible to find unless you have Shazam.
SSR Radio: I love this for soulful and melodic house. The website has tracklists and streams for recent shows, generally the last 4 weeks. Sometimes the shows are too deep and minimal for my tastes.
Etn.FM: My favorite for the techy progressive side of house. 75% amazing. 15% Cheezy. 15% Boring and tweaky. Tracklists impossible to find unless you have Shazam.
Beat Blender / Soma FM: Good for downtempo and mellow tracks. Auto-programmed more than live DJ. Feels sterile after a few hours though. Tracks show up in iTunes for trainspotting.

I’m sure there’s others out there. I’d love to find a soul/funk/disco station to join this lineup, but most of them seem terrible.
I haven’t really tried the DJ mix approach, seems overwhelming. But with these tips I’ll check ’em out.

Okay, I thought I was old, but now I feel young! Can I assume that you’re a senior citizen DJing for fellow seniors?

What is it like DJing at a senior center? What music do they like? I’m curious, and I’m guessing a lot of other readers would be, too.

My DJing for seniors has mainly been at weddings. I remember a grandmother that danced with more energy than most teenagers.

With Media Monkey I could sort out music based on any field in the tag

I’m not familiar with Media Monkey, but it sounds like you’re trying to sort your library with metadata instead of HFS.
Any modern versions of the Mac OS allows you to put comments in a “spotlight comments” text field for any file. You can then use smart folders to dynamically sort the files based on these comments.

The technique is elaborated on here:
http://www.macworld.com/article/1058012/spotcomments.html

You can also utilize the same basic metadata technique within iTunes: each track has a comment text field and then you make smart playlists.

I’d say get away from the internet and hit the decks! Just lose yourself in the music. — and there’s no better way to do that than mixing.

I love how DJing turns music listening from a passive behavior to an active one. You can groove with it, really listen to its qualities and phrasing, and hear things come to life as it blends with other songs you love. The whole process of mashing things up is exciting.

Best of all, you can find all this excitement right in your bedroom. Here I will disagree (but only slightly) with others about getting a real gig. I think searching or waiting for a ‘real’ gig could turn into a great excuse not to mix – especially for begginers. If you really lose yourself in your bedroom mixes and develop your mixing chops that passion will come through on your mixes and your search for gigs.

However, I have to admit I’m being a bit of a hypocrite, as I’m sidetracked by the internet, too. Its easier to hit the QWERTY keys in a coffeeshop than hit the Cue Buttons on your DJ setup. That’s what I’m doing right now. :-/ I still haven’t posted any mixes from my new Traktor setup yet. I’m trying to avoid the DDT forums, and mix in my spare time outside my busy work schedule, but its hard.

Damn you Phil!!! How dare you make such a good DJ forum that I’m distracted from mixing on Tracktor!!! ;-P

Maybe I should update my original statement:

and there’s occasionally somebody HORRIBLY less talented who will get a better job or more money than you..

When I lived in LA 5yrs ago, I couldn’t believe how bad the DJs were. Auto-sync probably made their beats match, but the phrasing was horrible. They’d suddenly fade out of a power chorus to an intro, the energy was up and down all night. I was going crazy. Not as bad as the DJ you mention, but I saw this pattern at multiple places weekend nights in all the top LA hotspots – in a city full of the world’s top entertainment professionals. Did my co-workers mind? No their eyes lit up when they recognized every (predictably familiar hit) song. . . I’ve also seen jaw-dropping incompetence in the professional creative world, too.

However, this sounds like a good opportunity for you. I’d say you should guest DJ at this place, when the owner sees the huge improvement you’ve made, you’ll probably get a gig there. The owner is comparing you to Mr. Winamp not Tiesto. Who knows, the owner may not know a thing about the DJ scene, and found this guy because its a cousin or something like that. But be diplomatic — I got a lot of my first gigs replacing shit DJs by being nice. Sometimes the crappy DJs enjoyed working with me. They admired my mixing ability and the energy I brought into the place.