I’ve been DJing for a while now, just a little over eight years now. I have come a long way from where I first started. From being a bedroom DJ to now playing a bunch of different and unique venues and playing professionally. What determines if you are ready to play out in the public?
Getting Familiar With Your GearToday‘s age of DJing is more convenient for those barely starting off. You have a lot of choices for gear. You have turntables, CDJ’s, and a plethora of controllers ranging from real small to large. No matter what setup you decide to go with, they all pretty much carry the same characteristics in which will help you with all setups. You will always need a mixer in order to mix or switch between songs, this would be needed for your turntables setup or CDJ’s.Your controller comes with a mixer integrated in the controller. All mixers have the same basic functionality, you have the three band EQ, some have more or less than others. You have two or more channel faders in which controls the output of the song on that channel. You have the cross-fade that determines what side of the turntables is playing out either the left or the right. Your mixer/controller may also have built in cue points and some effects. Spend time messing with the effects, cue points, and all the faders functions and this will help you get the gist of any setup you play on.
Current setups I have are, Stanton Str8 turntables with a Pioneer DJM-S9 mixer, Pioneer CDJ 900’s using the same DJM-S9 mixer, a DDJ-SX 2 red limited edition controller, and a Pioneer DDJ- SR2 controller. I bought these in order for myself to get familiar with and feel well prepared for ANY gig I got myself into. I’m not saying you need to spend all this money and do what I did. Just do what you feel is necessary to practice the basics. The reasoning I did so was because the typical setup at a club are CDJ’s and a Pioneer DJM- 900NXS2 Mixer. Some other venues DJ’s still use turntables with time code vinyl, and other mobile gigs I take my controller for efficiency and less gear to pack. I do like to switch up each setup to make sure I can get through any gig.
PracticeWhat I find super helpful while practicing is dedicating my time to a certain “tool”. What I mean by this is practicing on: mixing, scratching, tone play, word play, creative routines, mic presence, etc. Till this very day I know I still need to practice on my scratching. This is an asset of DJing that is very touchy in the industry. Veteran DJ’s always seem to judge new DJ’s on their scratching when that is only one part of DJing. I see it more as a another tool that can help you creatively transition out of a song to another.
Mixing is very important in my eyes. This is a very valuable tool for DJ’s to use. This is essentially what a DJ is known for aside of scratching. To blend one song into another seamlessly is a craft that takes practice in order to perfect. Taking phrases of one song and transitioning to another from a specific phrase is what to practice on. This could mean mixing from chorus’ from one song to an intro to another.
Tone Play & Word Play
This is for the more advance DJ’s. Not saying you can’t give it a go, but it comes with time in order to make these routines.
Tone Play is literally taking a tone or tones of a song, this could be a few notes being played by the main synth, horn, or vocals in one song and using your cue points with those tones isolated to create a pattern while pressing those cue points in a certain arrangement to then transition into the next song that has similar tones that you recreate the melody with the first song. This is just another tool that allows you to transition into the next with the added WOW factor.
Word Play is essentially the same thing as tone play. The difference is you take a phrase of one song, just the vocals or this can be a single word said in the first song that you repeat or relate to the second songs phrasing that makes sense. For example: if you take the first song “Get Your Freak On - Missy Elliot” the phrase “Ya’ll can’t stop me now” and repeat this either by a loop or a continuous push of a cue button and bring in the next song “Can’t Stop - Red Hot Chilli Peppers” the phrase where it says “Can’t stop addicted to the shindig” that is considered a word play transition.
Mixing In Key
Here is another useful tool for DJ‘s to know. Mixing in key is a useful tool that allows you to get those seamless mixes. Mixing in key means that you take the first song on channel A of your mixer and mix the song on channel B of your mixer that is either in the same key or a relative key. Basically this means the overall production of the song has melodies and harmonies that are created with specific notes. Certain notes sound better together than others do. If they are not in the same key this can cause clashing of melodies. Most DJ softwares now a days have the key signature labeled on the song for you to reference either by the actual key signature or by Camelot Wheel. Although, this is not a requirement, it is just another useful tool to set you apart from others.
Mic Presence
Being on the mic is totally optional. This also depends on what type of gigs you are looking to get into as well. Corporate/weddings/ other mobile gigs might require more announcements than other gigs. Again, this is just another useful tool to have in your back pocket. You can learn to create more energetic moments by speaking on the mic. It might spark more crowd engagement, birthday shoutouts, shoutouts to the people buying bottle service to make them feel more important and want to buy more bottle service. But, don’t over do it with the talking. You can also ruin the overall experience as well. Remember people are there to dance and have a good time. They want to let loose and hear their favorite songs, they don’t need someone on the mic ruining it.
Music Catalog
Your music should be your primary focus when starting and all throughout your DJ career. Depending on what career path you want to go when it comes to DJing can also determine what type of music you download. If you only want to focus mainly on EDM, Hip-Hop, Moombahton, etc. then only download the music related to your liking. If you plan to be a mobile DJ or be considered an “Open Format” DJ then I suggest you get a little bit of every genre. The bigger catalog, the more variety you may have to mix and play around with. But, having a big catalog isn’t always necessary. It’s how you organize your music that is essential. Make crates within your software, Serato DJ, Rekordbo, Traktor, etc that makes sense for you. Whether this be creating crates based off of genre, eras, time of the night each song works best in, tempos, or whatever. Managing your crates means cleaning them out too. Getting rid of songs that you hardly ever use or for see youself using out on a gig.
From Bedroom to Dance Floor
The next best thing to do after practicing your craft is to market yourself. Post your mixes on MixCloud, let people know what you are capable of and then post to social media’s. Go out and network with bar owners, bartenders, event service people. Post on Instagram and Facebook that you are a DJ to let your friends and family know and you may land your first gig doing a wedding, birthday, graduation parties, etc. These are all small steps that will build your resume to get into the bars, clubs, and festivals. You build your following and your fans will come support your next big gig.
Repeat
Repeat these steps and you will find yourself in better situations than the week before, the month before, the year before when you initially started this journey.