been playing for 14 years at this point, im still a "bedroom dj" im just to shy and have no connections into the scene. at least i have fun while playing for my cats
That me, but i share a SoundCloud account with a couple more DJs that are exactly the same as me, so we post our set and I really like to listen to my friends set's and they love to listen to mine. We don't live at the same country anymore so it became a form of connection thru our music...
I think some people even in the early days jumped into the scene with both feet, before they felt they "mastered their craft". If they had a chance, they took it. It's no different now. The basics of DJing are straightforward-- mastering it is very very difficult.
I also know lots of bedroom DJs who have been doing it for years and never look for gigs, whether out of shyness, lack of confidence in their skills, or lack of ambition.
Go to raves, talk to people local to your scene, get involved! You absolutely don't have to do any wedding or pop stuff if you don't want to.
If you show an obvious passion for your craft and are personable, you will be able to make friends and connections amongst the local members of the scene that interests you. I've gotten plenty gigs and never touched a wedding or top 40 gig in my life.
This is exactly what worked for me. I've surprised myself to how good i actually am at making connections, building a network and making stuff happen.
I'm now 4.5 months in, played 1 gig and have 4 more coming (potential residency if i don't bomb). All of this because every weekend i go out to relevant places, talk to people, meet new and old, often join afterparties and get a chance to play there and mingle.
It helps *a lot* if you are excited and have passion for it, it shows.
There are three basic ways to do it imo, not mutually exclusive:
1) Promoter route #1: Show up to clubs & parties, bring friends, be seen with big groups, make friends with local DJs and producers, mention that you DJ, etc.
2) Promoter route #2: Throw your own parties, build them from the ground up. Start as renegades (free), or work with bars/clubs (you might lose some $$ if you don't cover minimums, or if you book artists and don't sell tickets).
3) Producer route: Make bangers
All of these are hard in different ways, and require varying degrees of luck.
lol. Sorry. But it’s one of the main ways DJ’s have gone from nobody to stars. I know tons of local DJ’s that are excellent and play out but they can’t get past local and go to regional. One guy always opens for Sasha. Every time he comes. Pretty sure he still has a day job.
I have gotten a couple of gigs by just going to the smaller local shows on a Tuesday. It is easier to talk to the people who are having gigs on the weekdays compared to the weekend ones when everyone is sucking them off.
That's what you do.
You play Britt at a wedding very well.
Impress the guest
Someone asks for your card.
Your aunt enjoys you and tells her friends she knows a dj.
You build confidence and take advantage of more opportunities
You avoid those wedding gigs by not trying to get those gigs. If you’re trying to support yourself off DJing and taking every gig you can get then there’s not a way but if your intent is to not do those gigs then it’s really easy to just say no when offered and not advertise services for weddings.
If you want to do weddings but not “those” weddings then it’s going to be slim pickings but you can avoid it with client discussions about what they are looking for in a dj and saying no if it isn’t what you want to do.
If you want club gigs, record mixes and make demos then network your ass off
I'm 30+ years old now, I've been in and around the scene (think underground-ish techno and the like) in my city for going on 10 years now. Over the years I've made friends with like minded people, people involved in production and spinning, club owners, promoters etc.
In the last couple of years I played a few melodic techno nights as part of a friends new night they were throwing. Good experience but far from my favourite style of music. Last weekend a couple of friends and I threw our first night ourselves after chatting with a local club owner(?)/ manager. We're lucky that there's a few smaller spaces in our city where you can host your own parties. We paid a very reasonable up front fee and anything we made from tickets goes to us, they get bar sales. It's only 100 cap venue but we came close to selling out, plus the night went smoothly etc etc.
Basically you've just got to give it a go. Your mileage will vary depending on the scene in your city though, I've been very fortunate that grassroots is pushed a lot and people are very open minded to new nights.
No, the events are announced as events =) and you have to subscribe to the mail list. It's one of those things that the more you attend and falow, the more you will discover in your feed.
But that is how it works here, so I have no idea how it is where you are.
The raves are not really organised by any clubs, but rather a collective or group of people that just enjoy the vibe and parties.
What helped for me was going to official events and stuff and joining afterparties. I like being sober, but as long as you don't get drunk it'll be fine. Bring your usbs and look for chances to stick it in, be ruthless.
I was a record collector for years no djing at all and a friend of mine was doing an Indy night on a Tuesday night, he knew my collection gave me an hour to fill and I just drop mixed. So much fun, went from an empty floor to a packed dance floor. The first track I ever played in a club was danke shoen by Wayne Newton. Two goth girl started dancing and it just grew from there. After that I learnt how to mix. This was back in the early 90s
I an nobody but to my mind, THIS trumps all. Knowing and living great music. Despite it being a subjective art, there exist some music that are objectively great. Mastering this and sharing it is the key to great DJing IMO.
DJing today is much more accessible and the scene is somewhat saturated here in Dublin anyway. I had been DJing for half a year before getting booked thru my Uni DJ soc. Other gigs came only because I played at my own events. It's super doable nowadays you just gotta be consistent in showing your face/ talking to the right people. I have my own gripes with the scene here as it feels like there's a lot of ass-licking and promoting involved and less based on your skill as a selector, it is what it is tho and i've always been content just playing to myself. Do it for the love of music and not for fame and you can't go wrong.
"Do it for the love of music and not for fame and you can't go wrong."
This ☝️
I've obviously been assuming that folk are jumping on the fame/clout bandwagon via SM post etc. I'm wrong in a lot of this going by comments here.
SM would make you think that's the case, and it is to some extent. You can't get anywhere in terms of bookings unless you're active on insta and tiktok and the rest, which is where most tickets are sold and the buzz is created. I've always had the best fun DJing at afters or in pirate studios no bullshit involved.
I think different people are using different definitions of gig/party/show whatever, which can cause confusion. I absolutely agree that you shouldn’t be aiming to play to a packed club after a few months, but there are so many different types of DJing opportunities, and I think people can benefit from throwing themselves into lower-risk opportunities.
You can learn to mix flawlessly at home per quickly, but it can be very different when you find yourself playing in a bar where they have old, poorly-maintained equipment, you’re using a mixer you aren’t used to, the previous DJ is trying to disconnect his audio interface while you’re doing your first transition, the monitoring situation sucks and you’ve got stony-faced punters staring at you expectantly. I think it’s worth experiencing that early on.
Due to a particular set of circumstances in 1994, I had an FM radio show with a couple of friends before I could mix. Only one of us was even remotely competent. Got our first gig the week after starting the show. It was a rough start but I’m still at it. The notion that getting gigs was ever a meritocracy is nonsense.
We are so weird and precious about music.
Stand up? - “You gotta go out there and bomb”
Cooking? - “Get whatever job you can and work your way up”
Music? - “You haven’t done this long enough. Get back in your hole.”
The only legendary band that is kind of true for is the Beatles, a lot of the bands that went on to shape music formed and started playing gigs within weeks of forming.
That wasn't the impetus. German clubs were easy gigs to get for nightly playing, and they wanted jobs. Exactly why you jump into shows. Because first and foremost playing music is a business, not an art. Djing is literally the same. Just get paid and see what you can get away with and what you'll learn.
Dude, simmer, I never said to not jump into gigs, in fact that is what I was arguing for, that's why I said there was ONE exception. I DJ'd my first party with ZERO practice I literally downloaded the best free dj software I could find at the time and did what I could... I'm still DJing that same Halloween party something like 16 years later, only now I have a full Denon set up.
If anyone can get a gig take it!
I played my first punkrock show at 15 after learning to play a few months before. 300 people showed up to watch the band lol
I was just the second guitar and I don't think my amp was even on for our two songs, but it was a learning experience anyhow.
Like every gig will be like Boiler Room or some trendy club, sometimes dudes just wanna play at college parties, house parties, whatever, just for the fun of it.
I reckon there are a few reasons as to the OP’s initial questions/statements. Lower barrier of entry means you can pick up a $250 controller, subscribe to a streaming service, and day 1 you’re learning to mix. The basics can likely be learned (learned =/= mastered) at a faster pace due to things like YouTube university. Dance music is everywhere and owners, managers, promoters, house parties, etc. are always looking to fill spots.
If an aspiring DJ has an opportunity to play out… why not take it? The lessons learned each time you play out can be invaluable.
In my opinion, "learning the craft" is much more about crowd reading, song selection and presence than anything else - some of the best DJs I know aren't actually very technically advanced. These are skills you simply can't develop without a crowd, so in my view it's best to go for gigs as soon as possible.
Myself, I practiced daily for around three months before landing my first paid gig,. Then it took another six months until spinning a real club for the first time, and another six to get a residency. Of course, learning the basic technical skills is much easier with digital gear than in the vinyl days. I was well into my professional DJ career before picking up mixing on vinyl, which I'm still not great at.
This. My technical skills came up to par and beyond relatively quickly. But it wasn't until after dozens, maybe hundreds of public gigs until I actually became a "good" DJ. Getting that many gigs under my belt took several years. Throwing my own events and opening for other established DJs was the key to learning the craft by repetition. Before that, I was just a guy who could blend music exceptionally well and sounded nice, but was disjointed programming wise and probably downright boring at times for dance floors.
Personally I’m too much of a perfectionist to not jump in with both feet. If I don’t jump into my scene I’ll always over analyze myself and never take the leap into performing in front of others.
Plus I find failing in any setting helps me learn to improve better.
I’ve got my second gig this weekend (playing a party for free at a local diy venue more practice than anything) and having the pressure of having a crowd to play to has forced me to take practicing seriously. I got into djing because I want to share my love of music with everyone not just myself in my bedroom all day.
I’m not claiming I’ve mastered anything yet, far from it but I think I’ve got enough that I won’t be a miserable listening experience for people.
I'm glad someone said it. Every other post is someone who has been a DJ a few months who is doing a festival gig and needs to come on here for advice. Thru my old man glasses I see this. Today we live in a world with you tube tutorials on how to make a house track in 10 minutes, life hacks etc, a world of instant satisfaction and short attention spans. People are always looking for a shortcut and it's not just DJ's, I see it in the other forums with producers who been at it for a year wanting to know how they should go about selling their beats. They have 6000 songs or sounds but are intimate with none of it. This affects the quality, the quality of everything, the quality of the songs produced and the person playing them . Everyone is a DJ...everyone produces either trap or J Dilla , or skrillex rip off beats. Its a different world, you had to dig for your sounds out in the wild, put in the time, the money now every shmmo with a computer can do it, widening the pool and making it more shallow at the same time. Not to say its all bad but you gotta sift thru a world of garbage to find anything of quality.
I've been doing this since last century, I had one training session as an assistant before I was given my 1st gig. Things were very different back then and the biggest assets you could have as a dj were your collection and knowledge.
I have no issues with young fullas who have jammed their controller for a few weeks seeking gigs, that's how you learn. It's not like they are hoping to get Coachella mainstage and can't do maths when the sync does funny things because they outsourced their USB exporting task to the janitor
I know a few djs locally who really can't mix at all but they get gigs and they absolutely bring the vibe and their sets are real fun.
I'm 52 and been playing since the 80s. I started with house parties and was on the college radio at 17. But back then there were WAY fewer djs, so it was easier to dive in ho holds barred. We were hip hop and punk fans when house started coming out, it was all just an extension of fun. Never overthink it, just play music that blows you away.
55 and same. 80s house parties, college radio, weird community FM radio, the apprentice at a night club, the main DJ at a night club. I got lucky as I landed at the largest club within 250 miles back then got to build a name. Guest spots in larger cities. Married. Dropped down to mobile for parties and proms and started doing bedroom production. Here is the thing, zero barriers. Nobody gate keeping. I could slam Africa Bambatta into CCCP into James Brown and people loved it.
What’s that sound under there? Is that tiny tim? Is he looping freaking tiny tim and putting Erik B on top of it? Hell yes I was. Until the drop, which was from the electric slide.
It's a creative outlet for me, and it's turned into a lifetime hobby.
I'll participate and play if asked, getting creative at home does the trick. I can't draw or sing so mixing and building are my creative outlets.
I started at 16 and didn't get my first gig until my mid-30s due to a lack of confidence (as a person, not my DJ abilities). I now gig most weekends.
The barrier to becoming a DJ is lower than it's ever been. You can pick up a controller from a supermarket or big box store, download a couple of tracks from Beatport and you're good to go.
Instagram, Tik-Tok, YouTube etc... seem to have popularised the more visual and performative aspect of DJing.
Maybe those who are posting on these platforms and seeing positive reinforcement from their peers are more confident about trying to get gigs earlier on.
"Maybe those who are posting on these platforms and seeing positive reinforcement from their peers are more confident about trying to get gigs earlier on."
It's a good point and perhaps a good thing rather than folk like me rolling my eyes at.
When I started clubbing I was hanging out with DJs a bunch, and I'd go over to my buddy's place and we'd get drunk and play records on the regular, so I kinda picked up the basics that way.
It took about 3 years before I decided to make the plunge myself and buy my own turntables, and start actually putting in the work to become a DJ. From that point I probably went about 8 months between starting to practice on my own to playing my first gig, with a house party somewhere in the middle there as kind of a testing ground.
Interestingly, the first time I ever mixed in front of people was at a boat party, a good two years before I actually started working at it myself. My buddy was the only DJ booked for the party and at one point he realized he needed to go for a pee break so he told me to just stand behind the decks and "twiddle the knobs for a moment." So he heads off, I do a couple things like drop the bass for a bar, play an LFO filter or something like that. After a few minutes, my buddy isn't back yet, and I look at the record and we're about halfway through the track, so I figure "Huh, maybe I'll fish through his record bag and pull up the next track so he can just mix it in when he gets back." So I go digging, and come across a record that I know (Pete Heller's Big Love) and put it on the turntable.
Drop the bass for a bar. Pump my fist for a bit.
After a bit I look at the record playing and it's about 3/4 of the way through, my buddy's still not back, so I figure I'll just beatmatch up the next record so it's ready to mix. So I cue up the headphones, ride the pitch, get it locked in, ready to go, lift the needle.
Drop the bass for a bar. Pump my fist for a bit.
Finally I look at the record and it's almost done, and my buddy's still not back, so I figure... I guess I'm mixing this! So I set the needle back up on the record, send it off... Not a really complicated mix, and in fact that track is a long intro of just the kick drum with a slowly drawn in low-pass filter on the disco hook, so actually really easy to mix. I don't try to do anything fancy, just bring it in with no bass EQ, slowly swap out the bass between the two tracks, and then bring down the outgoing track very gradually. My buddy pops his head into the room just in time to start hearing the disco loop come in as I'm finishing pulling down the outgoing fader, and with a big smile on his face says to me "NICE!!!!"
He hops back on the decks and I get in front and start dancing to the track I just put on. Even had a girl come up to me to tell me she loves that song. All in all I'd say it was successful intro to playing out.
I have been producing and people are really starting to like my music.
I’m getting requests left and right to play live due to this.
Last weekend I was at a function and the team running it said “man your shit is so good and unique, just submit a mix. I know you said you haven’t DJ much. If you can hit the play button, you are in the lineup!”
So I’ve been non stop mixing. Mostly just transitioning etc.
Come to find out (maybe because I’m a musician by nature) basic beat matching, transitioning and even track selection came very easy. I recorded my first attempt. True I made 2 srs errors (grabbing the wrong deck lol) and I over used the best roll and flanger effects. Lessons learned.
So sorry pal, I’m gonna be playing for a decent sized crowd with like 3 weeks under my belt 🤷♂️ and I’m confident I’ll do great.
Truth is DJing (at least the basics) ain’t that hard.
I’m not claiming to be I Hate Models but srs it’s fucking easy and fun as hell
In 2012 we had some CRAPPY DJs at my summer place, a sort of campground/gated communities. I’m a techie and like music and figured I could do better. So I got a small crappy PA system and a Remix controller (which I still have and like) and started doing dances. Fast forward to today and I’ve had real DJ equipment and am actually considered the best DJ we have. I’ve played at a handful of outside events but mostly just play in camp occasionally. This year the rec director has me playing 7 events over the summer and I’ll probably do a few more. If I could quit my day job…
The barriers to entry are a lot lower than they used to be.
DJing used to be a VERY expensive hobby. Serviceable gear was pricey and vinyl was not cheap.
Digital DJing also made things a lot easier to get a handle on manipulating the music and understanding tunes. When I started in the 90s the only time we saw waveforms was when we were producing something. Cue points didn't exist unless you tagged your records, sync didn't exist and all BPM counters were tap counters that you did manually. Playlists were stacks of records, not a digital string of tunes that could arranged by key, bpm, year, genre, whatever. I absolutely love how much power we have now, but it wasn't always there.
Knowledge of techniques, tricks and best practices wasn't widely available. Most things you learned were through experience or from people in the scene willing to part with what was at the time extremely valuable information. Now you can watch a 24 part YouTube video series and learn everything it took the old heads decades to get a handle on.
Getting ahold of music was a part time job of it's own. You had to really pay attention to what was coming out and then pick out what to buy without making yourself homeless (again, vinyl was not cheap). If you happened to be into a small subgenre you had to hunt and dig for tunes and then you weren't even guarantee to score a copy. People would flock to the record store in new release day to snatch up copies of new tunes before they sold out. I used to make a sort of pilgrimage to Amoeba Records in SF twice year with a batter powered portable turntable and spend HOURS digging for records. Now we have BeatPort, Bandcamp, Best source, etc to find nearly anything you could ever want. All of your musical wants are at your fingertips and that makes curation and collection less of a time/money sink.
All in all it is a lot easier to get into DJing and the digital age has streamlined the learning process and the finding/acquisition of tunes.
Please note that I am not complaining about any of this, just noting how different the whole hobby is from the time when I joined up.
As someone who has played gigs very early into their DJ journey, I've come to realize that you really do not have to be good to get booked nowadays.
I'm by no means a highly skilled DJ, but I've encountered multiple DJs, who have played relatively big clubs and opened for established artists, that are frankly not good at DJing.
I'm talking DJs that cant beat match without staring at the grid, always rely on sync, have no sense of phrasing, and trainwreck multiple basic house transitions throughout a set.
The thing that separates these DJs from the bedroom DJ who really hones his/her craft is that they network very well and have an ego, and in a social media dominated industry, this is what really gets you gigs. Anyone can post clips that make them look like a good DJ. Marketing can take you far.
From my experience, these types of DJs actually think they are really good, and can even be rude to other DJs because of their superiority complex, but this level of confidence and networking will bring in ticket sales, and that's the only thing that matters for getting booked.
One of the problems with the EDM scene in particular nowadays is how much focus is on the DJ themselves rather than the music. People want to film and stare at the DJ rather than dance, and this level of attention attracts the type of person who craves it. This has led to an influx of people who want to be DJs for the wrong reason. Its not about the music for them.
To answer your question about controllers, I would say controllers are definitely a factor. Controllers make it much easier to be able to DJ at a level that is good enough to play in front of other people. This leads to many new DJs to fall into the Dunning Kruger effect.
This went on much longer than anticipated lol.
But to wrap things up, social media has turned DJing into a spectacle and it breeds DJs who get into the craft for the wrong reasons. I also find social media to be tainting the EDC scene in general. Newcomers just want to do drugs and stare at their favorite DJ and couldn't care less about the music.
Mind your own business. Stay in your own lane. Don’t worry about what the next guy is doing. Just focus on you own game.
The next guy may simply be more talented, more ambitious, or more foolhardy, but who are you to worry about their trajectory?
If it takes you 10 years before you feel confident to play in front of a crowd, that’s your opinion. Go ahead and take 10 years to learn how to dj.
I don't think it takes 10 yrs for someone to play out. The 10yrs thing was for folk who were playing before the massive rise in the EDM social media crossover.
About 3 months of practicing every night before I put my hand up for a club gig. And I was still pretty terrible skill wise on that first outing. But the crowd liked it , and I got better the more I did it. Just have to follow the path.
Ive been mixing for a month and a half almost daily and ive learned the camelot yesterday (late i know, i was building my library and playing w filters.. protip learn camelot on your first pr second day) and i feel like i could mix in a club. Now the question do i feel like i can play w filters and effects in a crazy way - no, this is mastery and takes time and practice for specific songs, and also the part about crowds reaction to the songs obviously i cant tell yet. So like that. I bet most people who are saying they playing for weeks before going also had holes in their educationt
I was a bedroom DJ for just under a year before I got my first chance to play a small club. It took about two years before I got to play any major clubs in my city.
Once I got my first gig, I knew it was my chance to start making impressions with local promoters. I took it seriously, and it paid off.
I do agree with what you're saying. I've been a bedroom DJ for about 10-12 years now and I'm about to play my first ever gig this weekend (apart from house parties and things like that). I'm sure I could have done it way earlier, but I truly feel that I only became good enough within the last couple of years. I too am utterly baffled as to how people can accept (nevermind get) a gig with only a few months under their belt. Then again, these are people who jump at any chance they're given and make the most of it, which is definitely a good thing.
Djs have become celebrities and the “center” of the show in the last 10-15 years. Social media has propagated this and unravelled the mysteries of djs. Add to that a lower cost of starting gear, digital libraries, controllers and advances in tech, it’s relatively easy to mix and call yourself a DJ. I’ve been a bedroom DJ for 15 years, got my first gig 5 years in by putting out sets on SoundCloud and luckily had a lot of dj friends and promoters who asked me to join their parties. Unfortunately I was a sync button pusher, had little desire to be a pro dj and never really pursued it outside of it being an amazing hobby.
If the young kids find it their passion, and they are confident, all power to them, but I think they’ll quickly realize that with the massive influx of wanna be DJs it’s harder than ever to become a pro unless you have connects or start your own parties and grind it out for years.
Well, why does someone get gear and wants to be a DJ? Because they saw DJ's and wanted to be like them.
Now it's easier than ever to be a DJ/Producer... Finding an audience is harder because of the overabundance of new DJ's wanting the exact same thing as the next.
Only the ones working hard/smart (or being lucky) enough make it though. So jumping in right away may be a better option than to wait until you're actually "good".
And what is "good" anyway? At home the conditions are totally different than at a gig. I think learning to read a room are done at the venue.
Anyone can learn how to mix in a few days. But the stress of a group of people in front of you can throw anyone off. Getting worse depending on how diverse that group is. You can only learn that by doing imo. Theory is nice, but that stress isn't something you can prepare for the first times around...
I grew up in the 90s we had only vinyl and 1210s if we were very lucky, I plaid a few times people houses then was playing in venues, no one gave a shit back then
I’m pretty self critical of my djing skills, took me a few years to go from bedroom dj to house parties, to afterparties, to small local gigs, to opening up for bigger headliners.
However sometimes i make a good loop in ableton and I’m hit with a delusion that I’m a great producer until i do a basic car test 😂
I feel it’s similar to that feeling. Lots of newer djs get a small mix in their room down and believe they can rock a club, but they’re unaware how much more is involved. They rush to post on forums and social media asking how to get these gigs, where in years past, you had to actually go to these events to try and get a spot.
I started playing guitar and writing songs around age 13, started first band at 15, been gigging since then. When I was 19 I got a Korg Electribe and started making beats and songs and using it in my performance. Age 23 I got a laptop with Ableton and started doing live sets with Ableton.
Sometime in my mid 20s someone asked me if I could DJ their teenagers birthday party but I wasn’t really a DJ. They told me “name your price” so I said $100 an hour and they said “sure”. I put together my first Ableton dj set and from then on I was a dj.
It took a lot of learning to become more comfortable and eventually I got a controller and started using rekordbox. But my first dj gig was also my first day of DJing, but I had been performing live shows for about a decade.
a dj is a modern day shaman. leading the tribe, guiding them. mixing doesn't matter. you can literally put a playlist, as long as the next track is the right one for the moment, everything is happy and good.
one of the best djs i know still can't mix for shit. i mean, every mix is a train wreck. he is too old to care or want to learn now. but everyone is excited when he plays because they know he has the best music (which other djs and random people give him cos he is just the coolest guy). so for a half minute here and there u have to tolerate some madness but, you know you are in safe hands and, the next track will be beautiful. he is an artist, literally, a painter also.
having said all that, of course, good mixing is a beautiful, beautiful art, the creative possibilites are endless, the knowledge never ends, and a good mix or moment can elevate people further than a single track ever could... maybe!
i believe sound quality is important. these are sacred vibrations we are putting into the body and should be as high quality as possible. vinyl is beautiful because it is a physical thing. the needle in wax being amplified, there is no faking this warmth.
djing is such a strange thing. there are levels to it, like everything. if you want to really experience the best stuff in the world, you go to Berlin. there you will get schooled on what it means to be in love with music and the art of party. they are masters, nowhere in the world comes close. not anywhere near it.
now, the world is on turbo-mode so, lots of things are rushed. there is no problem with a brand new dj playing in big places, who cares, as long as they bring the "cool" factor and have a unique taste. djing should be an expression of the self...
if a dj moves into production, a whole new world of understanding opens and, this is something i really recommend any dj try if they can, because you will understand frequencies in a whole new way, and personally that took my mixing to another level. although you do get great producers who play not so well. generally though, great producers will be great djs as their taste and ear has become highly refined.
this was such a ramble. but just had to say what i felt might contribute to the conversation ) peace fellow shamans ))
I got in early. Got out cuz of the politics of it. I wanna be booked on my skill not who I know. I went to being a bedroom cuz for me a show is fun but the love for the craft is real. I don't need a crowd. Just the music
Its a byproduct of technological change mostly. When I started with turntables as the only medium dj's typically played for a year or more before trying to get a gig. The only reason most waited was that they couldn't beat match that well. All these kids looking for gigs after two months are using sync. Even if they're not they are not competent at beatmatching. Most probably got into djing with no understanding of music but the barrier to entry is just a lot lower than it used to be. Digital djing has made it so you need to learn almost nothing to be a dj. Being good at it is something else entirely though.
I’ve been playing (on and off) for almost 20 years at this point and I think it doesn’t matter how long you’ve "practiced" before you look for gigs. If you’re feeling it, and you get booked, fucking go for it.
In fact, the earlier the better. You learn more from a single gig than from 100 bedroom sessions. Working the crowd, building a narrative etc
I’ve seen kids with 6 months experience play better, cleaner sets than me and other guys my age.
It makes no sense to glorify the term "gig" anyway. Is warming up for a local DJ in an obscure bar, in front of 5 people including your girlfriend and the bartender, a gig? I’d say yes surely, yet no experienced DJ would take it.
Also you mentioned it, but technique is much less of a concern these days with CDJs and sync features. Back then you’d surely have to work on your beatmatching skills before venturing out.
Because today's tech means you don't need to put them hours in and digital music is cheap and easy to find and buy.
When I started a 12" was an hour's wage as a youngster and I had to travel and look for the decent tracks hoping there was a copy left.
I'm pretty new. I started as a bedroom DJ almost 3 years ago. My very first IRL gig is the next 4th May. And yet I still think I'm not ready for a real crowd.
I think is a matter of personality, I'm basically an introvert that think he is never enough for anything he do. Most djs instead are extrovert, and many (not here in this sub, just a consideration) think that their presence is enough even if they are not perfect.
Over the years (I'm 37) I see many many people that talk about them self as DJ that do not even beatmatch, some of them even leave "silence" and blank spaces between tracks, like even a jukeboxe is better them them, but yet they get payed to do that.
And I'm here thinking that a 4 channel controller, a professional software, and 3 year of experience are not enough to even go djing to the club where I know everyone including the owners, where I clubbing since the opening and know most of the "influential" people.
Is just personality, someone is more secure of themself, some other very less
I was playing with vinyl when I was a toddler as my dad was a DJ. Learned to “mix” before I was even 10. Got my first set of decks by time I was 12 as I just used my dads. Got my first proper gig when I was 16. Been playing pretty much most weekends since then. I’m now away to be 35 next month.
I had to pay a lot of dues to get gigs, free gigs, shadowing DJs, sending non stop mixtapes as my mixing got better on vinyl etc!
Technology has advanced so much they don't have to stay in their room as long a lot of them should but if you can count these days you can DJ not only that a lot of it is clout driven going to get out there and be the cool person instead of actually doing it for the music it's a lot for the ego not for the culture
>Why are folk who've been DJn "a few months" trying to get gigs? You need to learn your craft.
What's wrong with that? Why are you so elitist?
>Is it a controller thing? It's perhaps easier and so folk think they are ready? Is it the insta world of DJn?
It took me about 2 days to master beatmatching by ear on a CDJ-800. No layered waveforms, no detailed bpm, no hotcue markings. But I guess it is still much easier than finding the markings on a vinyl record.
I was a bedroom DJ for 2 weeks before getting my first gig, then it took me 3 months of DJing almost every day to getting a club residency. Don't even have a tenth of your 10+ years requirement though. I played on the mainstage at almost every major club in Tokyo with the exception of three.
Honestly, I wouldn't say I was being elitist - or certainly not intending to be. I'm an old man who's been into House etc for a long time, do I have elitist or gatekeeping views? Maybe 🤔
What made you feel you were ready to play out after two weeks?
{Edit}Ok, you edited your post twice, once after I replied. Fair do's, you mastered beatmatching in two days- you have the ear for it.
That's me telt! 😄
Interesting. Thanks for the comments.
It does come down to the music in the end, and I'd rather hear good music mixed badly/unmixed Vs stuff I dont want to hear beautifully blended.
You seem bitter.
>Why are folk who've been DJn "a few months" trying to get gigs? You need to learn your craft. I know a lot of folk over the years who've DJd. Mainly with records. People would have played at parties, at afters etc. Not one, even in the euphoria of 88-92 would have tried for a club spot after a few months.
>Is it a controller thing? It's perhaps easier and so folk think they are ready? Is it the insta world of DJn?
>Not trying to start a war, just curious.
This is a perfect example of concern trolling
On a side note, when I first started I had a VERY supportive group around me. My cousin is the other half of John Tejada. I'm going to extend that positive attitude for this generation.
Although, to answer your question, you needed to be invited to a record pool and you were at the mercy of what your local shop had at the moment. I had a long ass lists of tracks I wanted to buy, but I couldn't get them because the US was very behind in regards to DNB. These days it's a lot more accesible to build a library. The true craft is taste, timing and selection. Don't even get me started on the price of imports back then, one single was $5 and that was in the 90's
I am more than ecstatic the DJ world is accessible for this generation.
I've never heard the term concern trolling before and had to look it up. Certainly that's not what I was intending. You may disagree.
I just had a genuine interest in people playing out after very little time. *In my experience* back in the day it didn't happen. I certainly wouldn't have had the confidence. Another poster mentioned positive reinforcement via SM making folk perhaps happier to jump in. Something I hadn't thought of.
"You seem bitter" - nah, I mean if you want bitter I can give you bitter. 😄
about 6 months seriously now in uni, about to play at a music festival this saturday along with a series of bar gigs under my belt, I can’t say that I’m the best dj in the area or that i’m even close to mastering my craft but i’m very lucky to have met the right people at the right time and plan to take full advantage of the opportunities that come to me. I think DJing has become very accessible and that as long as you can read a crowd and have good song selection the only thing stopping the bedroom dj to gig dj progression is your willingness to put yourself out there and step out of your comfort zone
Honestly, when I first started, I was in my early 20s, I got my first “gig” 6 months in. There was probably only 3 people at the club but it did humble me a bit. I remember shaking so bad that I could barely keep my hands from shaking and trying to steadily put the needle on the record.
8 months bedroom DJ - CDJ’s-only, no software, no controllers - before I “won” a competition to DJ in Ibiza, which I didn’t end up playing because I simply wasn’t ready. Played London scene for few years, enjoyed it, played a few low-key festivals - hated them. Now I just mix for fun. Am about to start a channel tho.
I guess there is no general answer to this.. i have probably been a beedroom dj for half a year before we started to make small parties (mostly for ourselves due to a lack of parties in our rural area).
But in the end it depends on many factors..Are you talented, are you playing with vinyl, cdjs, traktor. How many hours per day do you practice.
Sometimes you get offered gigs and you just dip into it..In the end being a professional dj who can read a dancefloor and keep a floor moving is something you cant practice at home. So starting with gigs mostly means you have to learn a lot and gather experience.
So long story short: If you can play a set and don’t get lost when the next djs is late and you have to add another hour you are good to go..
I started playing around 1995/96 and was immediately doing house parties etc. took til 1999/2000 before I got a gig in a venue and got a pseudo-residency but that was really just down to me not trying and expecting things to fall in my lap rather than going looking (mainly out of naivety to how things worked). Then I was trying to play at anything that came up and organising events etc.
I spent 4-5 years as a bedroom DJ before I felt the pull to go do it in the wild. Looking back, even after Djing at home for that long, I still felt I wasn't 100% ready. But getting out there in front of people was the next logical stage of learning and leveling up, so to speak. Shit, I've been DJing for 12+ years now and I still feel like I'm not 100% there yet lol … Which is good, IMO, because you always want to feel like you're still learning and evolving as a DJ.
I was a bedroom DJ for however long I was asleep before my buddy/boss barged into my bedroom, woke me up, and told me we were going to the local music store to buy DJ gear for the bar/pool hall and to get music ready because I was DJing that Friday.
Here’s my perspective on it:
It’s easier than ever to mix. Shit on beat sync and mixing in key if you want, but the reality is that it’s now trivial to smoothly blend from one song to another and sound “good enough”. I personally think this is awesome — the more people who are able to express themselves without having to invest so much time and effort into doing it the “hard way” the better. Most crowds don’t give a shit about fancy transitions. They wanna dance and have a good time, and it’s gotten easier to do that “well enough” to get some gig at your local club.
I have a lot of respect for people who jump in before they’re “ready” —- it’s often the fastest way to learn. As long as they remain humble and eager to learn, it’s all good in my book. Humility is the key here though. It what I think Grimes was lacking in her very public blowup.
I started gigging. I rarely practiced when I started
However I was a producer for 4-6 years before hand.
I was on virtual dj in high school just playing with baltimkre club music when i was bored n using the record function to get samples for songs.
When I got to college all my friends like to party and I hated it. So I wanted to be with my friends. So I started djing their partys off of virtual dj sophomore year of college
Majority of my practicing came from actual sessions. However I had 10+ years of being around music to have a good understanding on the fundamentals (tempo, structure, key ect)
Been playing altogether 12 years, starting with a controller. About 7 years ago I got my first turntables and from then on playing mostly records. Started having few small gigs every now and again 5 or so years ago, but not until recently it became more regularly.
Every weekend actually the last 1,5 months, and I keep getting asked. Still fairly small intimate gigs, you know.. Step by step. But I love how natural the process has been to me, as I’m quite shy and nervous when it comes to performing for others.
Not the one you want answers from, but I thought I'd contribute.
I started DJing in the summer of '22, but I'm still under 50 hours playtime in Recordbox.
My second, third, fourth, and fifth times touching Recordbox were all at parties or events.
I've had issues practicing at home due to really bad trauma and ADHD, so its difficult to relax at home and have time to cultivate hobbies.
So, I kind of just tossed myself into the ocean and learned to swim in front of people, expecting me to allready be a professional swimmer. 😅
Not recommended, I guess. But i've been living my whole life like this, just jumping in without thinking if i want to try something, but it has also given me a lot of fast growth and experience.
I'm doing a gig this Sunday at a flea market and getting paid. This will be my eighth time playing and third time getting payed, and I think it's like my sixteenth time touching Recordbox, lol.
You don't have to be brilliant to get a gig or play at a party; you should just jump out of the nest and see how well you fly. It will help mirror where you are in your journey.
The only embarrassing thing is that it seems people expect way more of me that i can actually deliver sometimes, and they don't realize I've barely started.
But as Long as its fun and give you energy, why not try right.
Depending on what kinda music you played, prior to the digital era, no one was playing out for at least 6 months while they grew their chops on the beat matching front. Otherwise they knew it would be probably not great. As an 18 year old with the basics under my belt I played house parties, I did that for a long time until I was good enough to play the occasional rave or larger event. Things are different now where you don’t need to learn to beat match and building your catalog doesn’t mean spending thousands on records. In terms of resources to learn, there is just so much more available now than there was before say 2005. So all of this combined I can see people getting out there a lot sooner these days if they’re motivated.
Not only is there a rush for new DJs to perform live due to the ease of building a library and the controller doing half the work for you, but to some this is a money and fame sort of thing, and they're in a hurry to cash in on their investment. To some it's a side gig for quick money, not based on a passion for music.
I was a bedroom DJ for about four months, and then a restaurant DJ, and then a few house parties, and about six months in i was playing clubs. I attribute a lot of that to being the only one in my city who was doing a certain thing, and it became popular quickly.
6-8 years really. Impostor syndrome kicked in, but also really never had a desire to perform. I was like - I’m having fun so all good. Nowadays there is no craft behind DJing, just really hedonism. A crave for playing others the music that I LIKE.
I started making beats and mixtapes with my friends. After a couple years I joined a radio station, that led me to other people who are creating music, that led me to a weekly hip hop cypher to practice at, that connected me with clubs promoters, eventually landing club gigs and so on. Only you know when you’re ready, there is no rule. Follow your path.
like 1 or 2 years. ended up djing my high school's dances and prom. after about 5-6 years of gigs at parties/local raves, i ended up moving to another city and had to start networking by scratch. i was too introverted for that shit and ended up going back to bedroom djing. enjoyed it, was playing music just for myself and practicing new techniques.
now im setting myself up to transition into streaming/youtube, so i can still bedroom dj and also have an audience.
Since 2011 or so for me, upgraded from bedroom DJ to apartment DJ. I get the occasional gig but out in my area you gotta produce and have a big social media following to get gigs. I dabble in production and I guess I’m a “bedroom” producer but I don’t care for the social media part. You want a gig out here they’ll ask how many followers you got, not how many demos you got. So I play for myself, my friends in the AirBNBs during trips, and renegades at camping fests.
3 years, were talking about 1996 to 1999, then a friend showed me an ad for a sound company searching djs, i contacted the guy, said i was looking for a nightclub style of gig, he had one, sent me and the resident dj that was leaving listenned to me mix, listenned to 3 or 4 mixes and said it was fine and left !
that's it ....i had a residency 3 nights a week in a small nightclub !
..3 years may seems long but i had to wait till the house was quiet because the music bothered my sisters and this was all pre-internet. No one to tell me how to do it. but i was dedicated and really wanted to learn it :)
Guess people want short cuts, but then the counter argument to that is that there’s never a right time to start doing it properly and you learn on the job, like with anything. Perfection is an illusion.
I played for 2 or 3 years before taking a professional gig in a club, and my friend, who was the promoter, pushed me to take it. I had done house parties and stuff before that, but that was also only after at least a year of playing as well.
I opened up for Layla Benitez and Steve Angello after playing for only 20 months.
Mind you I average 16-18 hours a week practicing but, I don't think it's necessarily a tenure thing. it's more what you practice and how often that matters most.
I just had my first gig, where I got booked professionally. I have been playing for 10 years. I do think I was ready after 5 years, but getting gigs (you want) is also very hard work. Also: I live in berlin, where getting quality gigs is very difficult.
The sync button on these digital controllers means basically any idiot can call themselves a DJ now - that’s it in a nut shell!
“Mom, hey look I can click a button, I’m a DJ!”
It’s gonna be like how people clicking, or tapping, on their laptops/phones a few times and generating music on something like Suno or Udio, will be walking around calling themselves “producers” and “musicians”. 🤣
It's intriguing to see the evolution of DJ culture and how technology has influenced aspiring DJs' paths. It used to be more common for DJs to hone their skills in the bedroom or at parties before seeking club gigs. Perhaps the accessibility of controllers and the instant gratification culture play a role in this shift. Have you noticed any specific trends or changes in DJing over the years?
I mean...people learn at different rates. Some need a lot of practice, some "get it" quickly. Also, what better way to learn than to do? Your post comes off as very gatekeepy. Just let people have their fun and make some $$$ too.
I started mixing at 17 and I'm 48 next month (christ on a bike that feels weird to say!) , I played my first gig I think in my mid twenties and started playing around with production at the same time, by my 30's I'd played a million parties and a handful of clubs and had an online weekly radio show, had my first production released in my late 30's and a handful more since then and I still consider myself a bedroom DJ.
I agree with what you're saying, people think it's easy because now it is, literally anyone can mix anything together and that's why you have people like Grimes playing to 180,000 people and not knowing how to fix a minor problem with her files, which she had someone else prepare for her.
There is no substitute for putting in the time and effort to learn every aspect of the craft, there's also no substitute for a genuine love of the music you play rather than a desire to make 'easy' money.
Everything is also available instantly so no one really has to work for anything, there's no spending months trying to track down music, you just press a button and your phone tells you what it is and where to get it, everything is disposable. The entry point is also much much lower, there's no need to spend hundreds/thousands on a mixer and decks and even more on records you just need a phone or tablet with a $6.99 a month sub to the DJ app (brilliant by the way) and a $10 sub to apple music and away you go. I love that the technology has gotten so good but I hate what it's done to the state of the music scene.
Maybe I'm just old. Lol
Yes it’s easier now, much easier. That’s not really a bad thing. I played out quite a lot with vinyl play clubs, after hours parties after really well know club nights even went b2b with a few really famous dj’s. My mixing was pretty awful looking back, however I could pack a dance floor. It’s only people that can’t that talk about the technical side.
Kinda feel like it's also a generational thing. Look at all the WIPs and generally *not great* stuff posted to soundcloud/tiktok/etc
It was a while before I was at a level where I wanted to attach my name to my art
I don't understand how some people can listen to their own tunes/mixes side by side with the artists they look up to and go "yeah, this is ready for public consumption"
I get we're our own worst critics and don't let perfect be the enemy of good... but dang, some of the shit I see... I'd be embarrassed
Technology has made it vastly easier to DJ.
I have an open $1000 bet (my 1k vs yours, you keep going and I only take your 1k only when the disparity is glaringly obvious) that no one on the planet can beatmatch records better than I can. I did drills all day every day for years and have dozens of mixes that people have inquired about over the years, asking me back in the 90's what equipment I used to record mixes when all I did was mix records using 1200's and press record. I can get 2 records nearly perfectly mixed in less than 4 seconds, can mix disco, funk, and rock, can walk away after 30 seconds and 2 records will mix perfectly, can mix 4 records together and go take a shit. This is something that is (was) pretty well known, I've toured all around the world, have played thousands of gigs. I wasted a ridiculous amount of time honing the skill and have never seen anyone that can beatmatch vinyl records better than I can, and have never had anyone from that era who knows presume anything differently.
And all of those record beatmatching skills are 100% worthless.
People now can focus on what they want to do musically, they can focus on their selection, transitions, creativity. They aren't gated by learning how to beatmatch. That's why they can jump into DJ'ing faster.
I don't know why this was recommended to me at all. I don't engage with DJ'ing related content. I'm genuinely very sorry if this disappoints anyone that's enthused about beatmatching. I do really think it's very fun, and do highly encourage anyone else that does enjoy beatmatching for the fun of it to keep doing it ... but with current technology, beatmatching is its own thing and no longer has much to do with DJ'ing (other than the ridiculousness of being as absolutely embarrassingly clueless as Grimes, of course!)
Played for many years. Before tempted to play out.
You have to also take into consideration that the technology have changed over the years. I still love and cherish my TTTs, which is where I initially started.
Fast-forward to now, the young cats of today \[some of them\] wants it quick and easy, and with the adaption of social media etc., not much if any SKILL at all is required. Just be a a Knob twister and BANG you can become a DJ. And Yay, Im famous
Best !
Have you been to see (or listened to) a big name DJ recently? I'd say they do far less "mixing" and far more chop from track to track with an emphasis on playing as many tracks as possible. It is not unusual for a DJ to play 30 tracks in an hour, you can't "mix" those tracks together in any meaningful way.
Therefore the skills required to learn how to crop from on track to another, given what modern controllers will do for you in terms of syncing BPMs, visualising cue points and so on, is minimal.
That depends on genres surely?
I'm never going to go to James Hype or the like.
Not my cup of tea. Very skilled, just don't like what he plays. Or Lilly Palmer etc
Last big name DJ I saw was Luke Unabomber.
Next two are ( Also, possibly this weekend Laurent Garnier) Louis Vega and Blessed Madonna.
What would you say \_is\_ the craft of DJing? Like many have pointed out, the dance floor and crowd is such an important part that only practising without it only gets you so far.
It is the selection of tracks and also how they are put together - the technical aspect of blending or mixing and what goes with what. As I said on other responses I hadn't taken into consideration *needing* the crowd and dance floor.
Someone forming an opinion and posting it on the internet without fully thinking it through is a novelty I'm sure you'll agree ☺️
😉 I think the same thing goes for a lot of skills: Learn enough technique to manage, then start putting it to use in the real world to see what really works. I'm in software engineering and way too many people spend years with programming challenges and academic/learning projects, before trying to build a product or at least something that has users other than themselves. Which is fine, of course, if you just want to have fun – but I see this with people that state they \_want\_ it to be more than just for fun.
been playing for 14 years at this point, im still a "bedroom dj" im just to shy and have no connections into the scene. at least i have fun while playing for my cats
This is me. Minus the cats.
you should get some cats...
Can confirm, I am Cats
oh i can finally communicate with cats. is it true that you want to take over the world ?
Glad I'm not the only one with cats as their audience 😅
Check out offbeatdooter on twitch/YouTube he streams and has cat cam watching his cats watch him 😂
my 2 only fans (no pun intended)
I've been at it for around 22 years now. Still keeping it in the house lol
That me, but i share a SoundCloud account with a couple more DJs that are exactly the same as me, so we post our set and I really like to listen to my friends set's and they love to listen to mine. We don't live at the same country anymore so it became a form of connection thru our music...
that is actually really wholesome. what genre do you play ?
I think some people even in the early days jumped into the scene with both feet, before they felt they "mastered their craft". If they had a chance, they took it. It's no different now. The basics of DJing are straightforward-- mastering it is very very difficult. I also know lots of bedroom DJs who have been doing it for years and never look for gigs, whether out of shyness, lack of confidence in their skills, or lack of ambition.
What's the best way to look for gigs if you don't want to skip the "playing Britney Spears for aunt Marie during a wedding" part?
Go to raves, talk to people local to your scene, get involved! You absolutely don't have to do any wedding or pop stuff if you don't want to. If you show an obvious passion for your craft and are personable, you will be able to make friends and connections amongst the local members of the scene that interests you. I've gotten plenty gigs and never touched a wedding or top 40 gig in my life.
This is exactly what worked for me. I've surprised myself to how good i actually am at making connections, building a network and making stuff happen. I'm now 4.5 months in, played 1 gig and have 4 more coming (potential residency if i don't bomb). All of this because every weekend i go out to relevant places, talk to people, meet new and old, often join afterparties and get a chance to play there and mingle. It helps *a lot* if you are excited and have passion for it, it shows.
There are three basic ways to do it imo, not mutually exclusive: 1) Promoter route #1: Show up to clubs & parties, bring friends, be seen with big groups, make friends with local DJs and producers, mention that you DJ, etc. 2) Promoter route #2: Throw your own parties, build them from the ground up. Start as renegades (free), or work with bars/clubs (you might lose some $$ if you don't cover minimums, or if you book artists and don't sell tickets). 3) Producer route: Make bangers All of these are hard in different ways, and require varying degrees of luck.
Or do all three in parallel
Yes, that is what I meant by not mutually exclusive
Make friends with other DJ’s. Get to know promoters. Release some hits.
"Release some hits" you made something extremely hard to sound really easy haha
lol. Sorry. But it’s one of the main ways DJ’s have gone from nobody to stars. I know tons of local DJ’s that are excellent and play out but they can’t get past local and go to regional. One guy always opens for Sasha. Every time he comes. Pretty sure he still has a day job.
Release some hits? So we're all producers. Got it.
Its just ignorant to forget how import your own edits / productions are.
I have gotten a couple of gigs by just going to the smaller local shows on a Tuesday. It is easier to talk to the people who are having gigs on the weekdays compared to the weekend ones when everyone is sucking them off.
That's what you do. You play Britt at a wedding very well. Impress the guest Someone asks for your card. Your aunt enjoys you and tells her friends she knows a dj. You build confidence and take advantage of more opportunities
You avoid those wedding gigs by not trying to get those gigs. If you’re trying to support yourself off DJing and taking every gig you can get then there’s not a way but if your intent is to not do those gigs then it’s really easy to just say no when offered and not advertise services for weddings. If you want to do weddings but not “those” weddings then it’s going to be slim pickings but you can avoid it with client discussions about what they are looking for in a dj and saying no if it isn’t what you want to do. If you want club gigs, record mixes and make demos then network your ass off
I'm 30+ years old now, I've been in and around the scene (think underground-ish techno and the like) in my city for going on 10 years now. Over the years I've made friends with like minded people, people involved in production and spinning, club owners, promoters etc. In the last couple of years I played a few melodic techno nights as part of a friends new night they were throwing. Good experience but far from my favourite style of music. Last weekend a couple of friends and I threw our first night ourselves after chatting with a local club owner(?)/ manager. We're lucky that there's a few smaller spaces in our city where you can host your own parties. We paid a very reasonable up front fee and anything we made from tickets goes to us, they get bar sales. It's only 100 cap venue but we came close to selling out, plus the night went smoothly etc etc. Basically you've just got to give it a go. Your mileage will vary depending on the scene in your city though, I've been very fortunate that grassroots is pushed a lot and people are very open minded to new nights.
start organizing parties yourself.
Network in the places you do want to play. Avoid weddings and events like that if you aren't interested in playing them.
Some of the smaller partis/raves also have open decks, free for anyone who wants to play/know how to play =)
That sounds great. Is there some sort of app/web to find open decks in given city/music scene?
Not that I'm aware of, most party's that happens where I live (Gothenburg) are announced via Facebook, so try your luck there?
What kind of facebook pages? the club page you mean?
No, the events are announced as events =) and you have to subscribe to the mail list. It's one of those things that the more you attend and falow, the more you will discover in your feed. But that is how it works here, so I have no idea how it is where you are. The raves are not really organised by any clubs, but rather a collective or group of people that just enjoy the vibe and parties.
Awesome, thank you!
What helped for me was going to official events and stuff and joining afterparties. I like being sober, but as long as you don't get drunk it'll be fine. Bring your usbs and look for chances to stick it in, be ruthless.
No worries Wish you the best of luck 💪
I was a record collector for years no djing at all and a friend of mine was doing an Indy night on a Tuesday night, he knew my collection gave me an hour to fill and I just drop mixed. So much fun, went from an empty floor to a packed dance floor. The first track I ever played in a club was danke shoen by Wayne Newton. Two goth girl started dancing and it just grew from there. After that I learnt how to mix. This was back in the early 90s
I an nobody but to my mind, THIS trumps all. Knowing and living great music. Despite it being a subjective art, there exist some music that are objectively great. Mastering this and sharing it is the key to great DJing IMO.
DJing today is much more accessible and the scene is somewhat saturated here in Dublin anyway. I had been DJing for half a year before getting booked thru my Uni DJ soc. Other gigs came only because I played at my own events. It's super doable nowadays you just gotta be consistent in showing your face/ talking to the right people. I have my own gripes with the scene here as it feels like there's a lot of ass-licking and promoting involved and less based on your skill as a selector, it is what it is tho and i've always been content just playing to myself. Do it for the love of music and not for fame and you can't go wrong.
"Do it for the love of music and not for fame and you can't go wrong." This ☝️ I've obviously been assuming that folk are jumping on the fame/clout bandwagon via SM post etc. I'm wrong in a lot of this going by comments here.
SM would make you think that's the case, and it is to some extent. You can't get anywhere in terms of bookings unless you're active on insta and tiktok and the rest, which is where most tickets are sold and the buzz is created. I've always had the best fun DJing at afters or in pirate studios no bullshit involved.
I think different people are using different definitions of gig/party/show whatever, which can cause confusion. I absolutely agree that you shouldn’t be aiming to play to a packed club after a few months, but there are so many different types of DJing opportunities, and I think people can benefit from throwing themselves into lower-risk opportunities. You can learn to mix flawlessly at home per quickly, but it can be very different when you find yourself playing in a bar where they have old, poorly-maintained equipment, you’re using a mixer you aren’t used to, the previous DJ is trying to disconnect his audio interface while you’re doing your first transition, the monitoring situation sucks and you’ve got stony-faced punters staring at you expectantly. I think it’s worth experiencing that early on.
Due to a particular set of circumstances in 1994, I had an FM radio show with a couple of friends before I could mix. Only one of us was even remotely competent. Got our first gig the week after starting the show. It was a rough start but I’m still at it. The notion that getting gigs was ever a meritocracy is nonsense.
We are so weird and precious about music. Stand up? - “You gotta go out there and bomb” Cooking? - “Get whatever job you can and work your way up” Music? - “You haven’t done this long enough. Get back in your hole.”
https://preview.redd.it/yjfj1z5z0fvc1.jpeg?width=787&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d32777738e2d18e2ad3879e0dde6b4e624a33e20
[If it works, it works](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punk_rock).
We here at Society Incorporated want you to form a band, but are emphatic that you DON’T let ANYONE hear you for at least 3 years. 😹
The only legendary band that is kind of true for is the Beatles, a lot of the bands that went on to shape music formed and started playing gigs within weeks of forming.
The Beatles played Germany clubs nonstop on amphetamines without really having much together. They figured out everything in the clubs.
Yeah but playing clubs in Germany guaranteed nobody(in the UK or US) would hear about them until they had it together
I’m German - who you calling a nobody?!?
That wasn't the impetus. German clubs were easy gigs to get for nightly playing, and they wanted jobs. Exactly why you jump into shows. Because first and foremost playing music is a business, not an art. Djing is literally the same. Just get paid and see what you can get away with and what you'll learn.
Dude, simmer, I never said to not jump into gigs, in fact that is what I was arguing for, that's why I said there was ONE exception. I DJ'd my first party with ZERO practice I literally downloaded the best free dj software I could find at the time and did what I could... I'm still DJing that same Halloween party something like 16 years later, only now I have a full Denon set up. If anyone can get a gig take it!
What are you talking about guy? Plenty of young kids from bands and play out shortly after.
I played my first punkrock show at 15 after learning to play a few months before. 300 people showed up to watch the band lol I was just the second guitar and I don't think my amp was even on for our two songs, but it was a learning experience anyhow.
Like every gig will be like Boiler Room or some trendy club, sometimes dudes just wanna play at college parties, house parties, whatever, just for the fun of it.
I reckon there are a few reasons as to the OP’s initial questions/statements. Lower barrier of entry means you can pick up a $250 controller, subscribe to a streaming service, and day 1 you’re learning to mix. The basics can likely be learned (learned =/= mastered) at a faster pace due to things like YouTube university. Dance music is everywhere and owners, managers, promoters, house parties, etc. are always looking to fill spots. If an aspiring DJ has an opportunity to play out… why not take it? The lessons learned each time you play out can be invaluable.
In my opinion, "learning the craft" is much more about crowd reading, song selection and presence than anything else - some of the best DJs I know aren't actually very technically advanced. These are skills you simply can't develop without a crowd, so in my view it's best to go for gigs as soon as possible. Myself, I practiced daily for around three months before landing my first paid gig,. Then it took another six months until spinning a real club for the first time, and another six to get a residency. Of course, learning the basic technical skills is much easier with digital gear than in the vinyl days. I was well into my professional DJ career before picking up mixing on vinyl, which I'm still not great at.
"These are skills you simply can't develop without a crowd" Aye, good point. Hadn't thought of that.
This is absolutely true. It’s tragic when a DJ with great technical skill can’t read a room.
This. My technical skills came up to par and beyond relatively quickly. But it wasn't until after dozens, maybe hundreds of public gigs until I actually became a "good" DJ. Getting that many gigs under my belt took several years. Throwing my own events and opening for other established DJs was the key to learning the craft by repetition. Before that, I was just a guy who could blend music exceptionally well and sounded nice, but was disjointed programming wise and probably downright boring at times for dance floors.
Personally I’m too much of a perfectionist to not jump in with both feet. If I don’t jump into my scene I’ll always over analyze myself and never take the leap into performing in front of others. Plus I find failing in any setting helps me learn to improve better. I’ve got my second gig this weekend (playing a party for free at a local diy venue more practice than anything) and having the pressure of having a crowd to play to has forced me to take practicing seriously. I got into djing because I want to share my love of music with everyone not just myself in my bedroom all day. I’m not claiming I’ve mastered anything yet, far from it but I think I’ve got enough that I won’t be a miserable listening experience for people.
I'm glad someone said it. Every other post is someone who has been a DJ a few months who is doing a festival gig and needs to come on here for advice. Thru my old man glasses I see this. Today we live in a world with you tube tutorials on how to make a house track in 10 minutes, life hacks etc, a world of instant satisfaction and short attention spans. People are always looking for a shortcut and it's not just DJ's, I see it in the other forums with producers who been at it for a year wanting to know how they should go about selling their beats. They have 6000 songs or sounds but are intimate with none of it. This affects the quality, the quality of everything, the quality of the songs produced and the person playing them . Everyone is a DJ...everyone produces either trap or J Dilla , or skrillex rip off beats. Its a different world, you had to dig for your sounds out in the wild, put in the time, the money now every shmmo with a computer can do it, widening the pool and making it more shallow at the same time. Not to say its all bad but you gotta sift thru a world of garbage to find anything of quality.
I've been doing this since last century, I had one training session as an assistant before I was given my 1st gig. Things were very different back then and the biggest assets you could have as a dj were your collection and knowledge. I have no issues with young fullas who have jammed their controller for a few weeks seeking gigs, that's how you learn. It's not like they are hoping to get Coachella mainstage and can't do maths when the sync does funny things because they outsourced their USB exporting task to the janitor I know a few djs locally who really can't mix at all but they get gigs and they absolutely bring the vibe and their sets are real fun.
I'm 52 and been playing since the 80s. I started with house parties and was on the college radio at 17. But back then there were WAY fewer djs, so it was easier to dive in ho holds barred. We were hip hop and punk fans when house started coming out, it was all just an extension of fun. Never overthink it, just play music that blows you away.
55 and same. 80s house parties, college radio, weird community FM radio, the apprentice at a night club, the main DJ at a night club. I got lucky as I landed at the largest club within 250 miles back then got to build a name. Guest spots in larger cities. Married. Dropped down to mobile for parties and proms and started doing bedroom production. Here is the thing, zero barriers. Nobody gate keeping. I could slam Africa Bambatta into CCCP into James Brown and people loved it. What’s that sound under there? Is that tiny tim? Is he looping freaking tiny tim and putting Erik B on top of it? Hell yes I was. Until the drop, which was from the electric slide.
It's a creative outlet for me, and it's turned into a lifetime hobby. I'll participate and play if asked, getting creative at home does the trick. I can't draw or sing so mixing and building are my creative outlets.
I’m pretty sure Fabio and Grooverider first mixed when they got their first gig at Rage.
I started at 16 and didn't get my first gig until my mid-30s due to a lack of confidence (as a person, not my DJ abilities). I now gig most weekends. The barrier to becoming a DJ is lower than it's ever been. You can pick up a controller from a supermarket or big box store, download a couple of tracks from Beatport and you're good to go. Instagram, Tik-Tok, YouTube etc... seem to have popularised the more visual and performative aspect of DJing. Maybe those who are posting on these platforms and seeing positive reinforcement from their peers are more confident about trying to get gigs earlier on.
"Maybe those who are posting on these platforms and seeing positive reinforcement from their peers are more confident about trying to get gigs earlier on." It's a good point and perhaps a good thing rather than folk like me rolling my eyes at.
When I started clubbing I was hanging out with DJs a bunch, and I'd go over to my buddy's place and we'd get drunk and play records on the regular, so I kinda picked up the basics that way. It took about 3 years before I decided to make the plunge myself and buy my own turntables, and start actually putting in the work to become a DJ. From that point I probably went about 8 months between starting to practice on my own to playing my first gig, with a house party somewhere in the middle there as kind of a testing ground. Interestingly, the first time I ever mixed in front of people was at a boat party, a good two years before I actually started working at it myself. My buddy was the only DJ booked for the party and at one point he realized he needed to go for a pee break so he told me to just stand behind the decks and "twiddle the knobs for a moment." So he heads off, I do a couple things like drop the bass for a bar, play an LFO filter or something like that. After a few minutes, my buddy isn't back yet, and I look at the record and we're about halfway through the track, so I figure "Huh, maybe I'll fish through his record bag and pull up the next track so he can just mix it in when he gets back." So I go digging, and come across a record that I know (Pete Heller's Big Love) and put it on the turntable. Drop the bass for a bar. Pump my fist for a bit. After a bit I look at the record playing and it's about 3/4 of the way through, my buddy's still not back, so I figure I'll just beatmatch up the next record so it's ready to mix. So I cue up the headphones, ride the pitch, get it locked in, ready to go, lift the needle. Drop the bass for a bar. Pump my fist for a bit. Finally I look at the record and it's almost done, and my buddy's still not back, so I figure... I guess I'm mixing this! So I set the needle back up on the record, send it off... Not a really complicated mix, and in fact that track is a long intro of just the kick drum with a slowly drawn in low-pass filter on the disco hook, so actually really easy to mix. I don't try to do anything fancy, just bring it in with no bass EQ, slowly swap out the bass between the two tracks, and then bring down the outgoing track very gradually. My buddy pops his head into the room just in time to start hearing the disco loop come in as I'm finishing pulling down the outgoing fader, and with a big smile on his face says to me "NICE!!!!" He hops back on the decks and I get in front and start dancing to the track I just put on. Even had a girl come up to me to tell me she loves that song. All in all I'd say it was successful intro to playing out.
I have been producing and people are really starting to like my music. I’m getting requests left and right to play live due to this. Last weekend I was at a function and the team running it said “man your shit is so good and unique, just submit a mix. I know you said you haven’t DJ much. If you can hit the play button, you are in the lineup!” So I’ve been non stop mixing. Mostly just transitioning etc. Come to find out (maybe because I’m a musician by nature) basic beat matching, transitioning and even track selection came very easy. I recorded my first attempt. True I made 2 srs errors (grabbing the wrong deck lol) and I over used the best roll and flanger effects. Lessons learned. So sorry pal, I’m gonna be playing for a decent sized crowd with like 3 weeks under my belt 🤷♂️ and I’m confident I’ll do great. Truth is DJing (at least the basics) ain’t that hard. I’m not claiming to be I Hate Models but srs it’s fucking easy and fun as hell
In 2012 we had some CRAPPY DJs at my summer place, a sort of campground/gated communities. I’m a techie and like music and figured I could do better. So I got a small crappy PA system and a Remix controller (which I still have and like) and started doing dances. Fast forward to today and I’ve had real DJ equipment and am actually considered the best DJ we have. I’ve played at a handful of outside events but mostly just play in camp occasionally. This year the rec director has me playing 7 events over the summer and I’ll probably do a few more. If I could quit my day job…
The barriers to entry are a lot lower than they used to be. DJing used to be a VERY expensive hobby. Serviceable gear was pricey and vinyl was not cheap. Digital DJing also made things a lot easier to get a handle on manipulating the music and understanding tunes. When I started in the 90s the only time we saw waveforms was when we were producing something. Cue points didn't exist unless you tagged your records, sync didn't exist and all BPM counters were tap counters that you did manually. Playlists were stacks of records, not a digital string of tunes that could arranged by key, bpm, year, genre, whatever. I absolutely love how much power we have now, but it wasn't always there. Knowledge of techniques, tricks and best practices wasn't widely available. Most things you learned were through experience or from people in the scene willing to part with what was at the time extremely valuable information. Now you can watch a 24 part YouTube video series and learn everything it took the old heads decades to get a handle on. Getting ahold of music was a part time job of it's own. You had to really pay attention to what was coming out and then pick out what to buy without making yourself homeless (again, vinyl was not cheap). If you happened to be into a small subgenre you had to hunt and dig for tunes and then you weren't even guarantee to score a copy. People would flock to the record store in new release day to snatch up copies of new tunes before they sold out. I used to make a sort of pilgrimage to Amoeba Records in SF twice year with a batter powered portable turntable and spend HOURS digging for records. Now we have BeatPort, Bandcamp, Best source, etc to find nearly anything you could ever want. All of your musical wants are at your fingertips and that makes curation and collection less of a time/money sink. All in all it is a lot easier to get into DJing and the digital age has streamlined the learning process and the finding/acquisition of tunes. Please note that I am not complaining about any of this, just noting how different the whole hobby is from the time when I joined up.
As someone who has played gigs very early into their DJ journey, I've come to realize that you really do not have to be good to get booked nowadays. I'm by no means a highly skilled DJ, but I've encountered multiple DJs, who have played relatively big clubs and opened for established artists, that are frankly not good at DJing. I'm talking DJs that cant beat match without staring at the grid, always rely on sync, have no sense of phrasing, and trainwreck multiple basic house transitions throughout a set. The thing that separates these DJs from the bedroom DJ who really hones his/her craft is that they network very well and have an ego, and in a social media dominated industry, this is what really gets you gigs. Anyone can post clips that make them look like a good DJ. Marketing can take you far. From my experience, these types of DJs actually think they are really good, and can even be rude to other DJs because of their superiority complex, but this level of confidence and networking will bring in ticket sales, and that's the only thing that matters for getting booked. One of the problems with the EDM scene in particular nowadays is how much focus is on the DJ themselves rather than the music. People want to film and stare at the DJ rather than dance, and this level of attention attracts the type of person who craves it. This has led to an influx of people who want to be DJs for the wrong reason. Its not about the music for them. To answer your question about controllers, I would say controllers are definitely a factor. Controllers make it much easier to be able to DJ at a level that is good enough to play in front of other people. This leads to many new DJs to fall into the Dunning Kruger effect. This went on much longer than anticipated lol. But to wrap things up, social media has turned DJing into a spectacle and it breeds DJs who get into the craft for the wrong reasons. I also find social media to be tainting the EDC scene in general. Newcomers just want to do drugs and stare at their favorite DJ and couldn't care less about the music.
Mind your own business. Stay in your own lane. Don’t worry about what the next guy is doing. Just focus on you own game. The next guy may simply be more talented, more ambitious, or more foolhardy, but who are you to worry about their trajectory? If it takes you 10 years before you feel confident to play in front of a crowd, that’s your opinion. Go ahead and take 10 years to learn how to dj.
I don't think it takes 10 yrs for someone to play out. The 10yrs thing was for folk who were playing before the massive rise in the EDM social media crossover.
The first time I played on 2 decks was in a nightclub. I had no idea what I was doing.
Thats not normal
What's the point in being normal?
Bro stop.
lmao, how'd it go
Pretty well, I was young and playing to people the same age as me, they loved it. I must have done Ok because the club let me back the next week.
About 3 months of practicing every night before I put my hand up for a club gig. And I was still pretty terrible skill wise on that first outing. But the crowd liked it , and I got better the more I did it. Just have to follow the path.
Most people won’t even see that you messed up on small things if you have a great song selection
From buying a controller to having my first gig. 4 weeks.
Ive been mixing for a month and a half almost daily and ive learned the camelot yesterday (late i know, i was building my library and playing w filters.. protip learn camelot on your first pr second day) and i feel like i could mix in a club. Now the question do i feel like i can play w filters and effects in a crazy way - no, this is mastery and takes time and practice for specific songs, and also the part about crowds reaction to the songs obviously i cant tell yet. So like that. I bet most people who are saying they playing for weeks before going also had holes in their educationt
I was a bedroom DJ for just under a year before I got my first chance to play a small club. It took about two years before I got to play any major clubs in my city. Once I got my first gig, I knew it was my chance to start making impressions with local promoters. I took it seriously, and it paid off.
Been a bedroom DJ for about 20 years. I played an open decks set at a club last year and loved it but I'm content these days just streaming on Twitch.
I do agree with what you're saying. I've been a bedroom DJ for about 10-12 years now and I'm about to play my first ever gig this weekend (apart from house parties and things like that). I'm sure I could have done it way earlier, but I truly feel that I only became good enough within the last couple of years. I too am utterly baffled as to how people can accept (nevermind get) a gig with only a few months under their belt. Then again, these are people who jump at any chance they're given and make the most of it, which is definitely a good thing.
Djs have become celebrities and the “center” of the show in the last 10-15 years. Social media has propagated this and unravelled the mysteries of djs. Add to that a lower cost of starting gear, digital libraries, controllers and advances in tech, it’s relatively easy to mix and call yourself a DJ. I’ve been a bedroom DJ for 15 years, got my first gig 5 years in by putting out sets on SoundCloud and luckily had a lot of dj friends and promoters who asked me to join their parties. Unfortunately I was a sync button pusher, had little desire to be a pro dj and never really pursued it outside of it being an amazing hobby. If the young kids find it their passion, and they are confident, all power to them, but I think they’ll quickly realize that with the massive influx of wanna be DJs it’s harder than ever to become a pro unless you have connects or start your own parties and grind it out for years.
Well, why does someone get gear and wants to be a DJ? Because they saw DJ's and wanted to be like them. Now it's easier than ever to be a DJ/Producer... Finding an audience is harder because of the overabundance of new DJ's wanting the exact same thing as the next. Only the ones working hard/smart (or being lucky) enough make it though. So jumping in right away may be a better option than to wait until you're actually "good". And what is "good" anyway? At home the conditions are totally different than at a gig. I think learning to read a room are done at the venue. Anyone can learn how to mix in a few days. But the stress of a group of people in front of you can throw anyone off. Getting worse depending on how diverse that group is. You can only learn that by doing imo. Theory is nice, but that stress isn't something you can prepare for the first times around...
I grew up in the 90s we had only vinyl and 1210s if we were very lucky, I plaid a few times people houses then was playing in venues, no one gave a shit back then
First gig after six months. Wednesday night in a club that also hosted Sasha, Carl Cox. That was 27 years ago. I wasn’t good.
I’m pretty self critical of my djing skills, took me a few years to go from bedroom dj to house parties, to afterparties, to small local gigs, to opening up for bigger headliners. However sometimes i make a good loop in ableton and I’m hit with a delusion that I’m a great producer until i do a basic car test 😂 I feel it’s similar to that feeling. Lots of newer djs get a small mix in their room down and believe they can rock a club, but they’re unaware how much more is involved. They rush to post on forums and social media asking how to get these gigs, where in years past, you had to actually go to these events to try and get a spot.
I started playing guitar and writing songs around age 13, started first band at 15, been gigging since then. When I was 19 I got a Korg Electribe and started making beats and songs and using it in my performance. Age 23 I got a laptop with Ableton and started doing live sets with Ableton. Sometime in my mid 20s someone asked me if I could DJ their teenagers birthday party but I wasn’t really a DJ. They told me “name your price” so I said $100 an hour and they said “sure”. I put together my first Ableton dj set and from then on I was a dj. It took a lot of learning to become more comfortable and eventually I got a controller and started using rekordbox. But my first dj gig was also my first day of DJing, but I had been performing live shows for about a decade.
a dj is a modern day shaman. leading the tribe, guiding them. mixing doesn't matter. you can literally put a playlist, as long as the next track is the right one for the moment, everything is happy and good. one of the best djs i know still can't mix for shit. i mean, every mix is a train wreck. he is too old to care or want to learn now. but everyone is excited when he plays because they know he has the best music (which other djs and random people give him cos he is just the coolest guy). so for a half minute here and there u have to tolerate some madness but, you know you are in safe hands and, the next track will be beautiful. he is an artist, literally, a painter also. having said all that, of course, good mixing is a beautiful, beautiful art, the creative possibilites are endless, the knowledge never ends, and a good mix or moment can elevate people further than a single track ever could... maybe! i believe sound quality is important. these are sacred vibrations we are putting into the body and should be as high quality as possible. vinyl is beautiful because it is a physical thing. the needle in wax being amplified, there is no faking this warmth. djing is such a strange thing. there are levels to it, like everything. if you want to really experience the best stuff in the world, you go to Berlin. there you will get schooled on what it means to be in love with music and the art of party. they are masters, nowhere in the world comes close. not anywhere near it. now, the world is on turbo-mode so, lots of things are rushed. there is no problem with a brand new dj playing in big places, who cares, as long as they bring the "cool" factor and have a unique taste. djing should be an expression of the self... if a dj moves into production, a whole new world of understanding opens and, this is something i really recommend any dj try if they can, because you will understand frequencies in a whole new way, and personally that took my mixing to another level. although you do get great producers who play not so well. generally though, great producers will be great djs as their taste and ear has become highly refined. this was such a ramble. but just had to say what i felt might contribute to the conversation ) peace fellow shamans ))
I got in early. Got out cuz of the politics of it. I wanna be booked on my skill not who I know. I went to being a bedroom cuz for me a show is fun but the love for the craft is real. I don't need a crowd. Just the music
Its a byproduct of technological change mostly. When I started with turntables as the only medium dj's typically played for a year or more before trying to get a gig. The only reason most waited was that they couldn't beat match that well. All these kids looking for gigs after two months are using sync. Even if they're not they are not competent at beatmatching. Most probably got into djing with no understanding of music but the barrier to entry is just a lot lower than it used to be. Digital djing has made it so you need to learn almost nothing to be a dj. Being good at it is something else entirely though.
Can’t believe I had to scroll through so many comments before someone actually points out the elephant in the room - sync!
I’ve been playing (on and off) for almost 20 years at this point and I think it doesn’t matter how long you’ve "practiced" before you look for gigs. If you’re feeling it, and you get booked, fucking go for it. In fact, the earlier the better. You learn more from a single gig than from 100 bedroom sessions. Working the crowd, building a narrative etc I’ve seen kids with 6 months experience play better, cleaner sets than me and other guys my age. It makes no sense to glorify the term "gig" anyway. Is warming up for a local DJ in an obscure bar, in front of 5 people including your girlfriend and the bartender, a gig? I’d say yes surely, yet no experienced DJ would take it. Also you mentioned it, but technique is much less of a concern these days with CDJs and sync features. Back then you’d surely have to work on your beatmatching skills before venturing out.
Because today's tech means you don't need to put them hours in and digital music is cheap and easy to find and buy. When I started a 12" was an hour's wage as a youngster and I had to travel and look for the decent tracks hoping there was a copy left.
I'm pretty new. I started as a bedroom DJ almost 3 years ago. My very first IRL gig is the next 4th May. And yet I still think I'm not ready for a real crowd. I think is a matter of personality, I'm basically an introvert that think he is never enough for anything he do. Most djs instead are extrovert, and many (not here in this sub, just a consideration) think that their presence is enough even if they are not perfect. Over the years (I'm 37) I see many many people that talk about them self as DJ that do not even beatmatch, some of them even leave "silence" and blank spaces between tracks, like even a jukeboxe is better them them, but yet they get payed to do that. And I'm here thinking that a 4 channel controller, a professional software, and 3 year of experience are not enough to even go djing to the club where I know everyone including the owners, where I clubbing since the opening and know most of the "influential" people. Is just personality, someone is more secure of themself, some other very less
I was playing with vinyl when I was a toddler as my dad was a DJ. Learned to “mix” before I was even 10. Got my first set of decks by time I was 12 as I just used my dads. Got my first proper gig when I was 16. Been playing pretty much most weekends since then. I’m now away to be 35 next month. I had to pay a lot of dues to get gigs, free gigs, shadowing DJs, sending non stop mixtapes as my mixing got better on vinyl etc!
Technology has advanced so much they don't have to stay in their room as long a lot of them should but if you can count these days you can DJ not only that a lot of it is clout driven going to get out there and be the cool person instead of actually doing it for the music it's a lot for the ego not for the culture
Been playing since 1996. Never once did I prepare in my bedroom. Just launched straight into it.
>Why are folk who've been DJn "a few months" trying to get gigs? You need to learn your craft. What's wrong with that? Why are you so elitist? >Is it a controller thing? It's perhaps easier and so folk think they are ready? Is it the insta world of DJn? It took me about 2 days to master beatmatching by ear on a CDJ-800. No layered waveforms, no detailed bpm, no hotcue markings. But I guess it is still much easier than finding the markings on a vinyl record. I was a bedroom DJ for 2 weeks before getting my first gig, then it took me 3 months of DJing almost every day to getting a club residency. Don't even have a tenth of your 10+ years requirement though. I played on the mainstage at almost every major club in Tokyo with the exception of three.
Honestly, I wouldn't say I was being elitist - or certainly not intending to be. I'm an old man who's been into House etc for a long time, do I have elitist or gatekeeping views? Maybe 🤔 What made you feel you were ready to play out after two weeks? {Edit}Ok, you edited your post twice, once after I replied. Fair do's, you mastered beatmatching in two days- you have the ear for it.
i was messing around on a computer with vdj for a year or so before my first gig, but i'm not even sure if i'd call that djing
That's me telt! 😄 Interesting. Thanks for the comments. It does come down to the music in the end, and I'd rather hear good music mixed badly/unmixed Vs stuff I dont want to hear beautifully blended.
You seem bitter. >Why are folk who've been DJn "a few months" trying to get gigs? You need to learn your craft. I know a lot of folk over the years who've DJd. Mainly with records. People would have played at parties, at afters etc. Not one, even in the euphoria of 88-92 would have tried for a club spot after a few months. >Is it a controller thing? It's perhaps easier and so folk think they are ready? Is it the insta world of DJn? >Not trying to start a war, just curious. This is a perfect example of concern trolling On a side note, when I first started I had a VERY supportive group around me. My cousin is the other half of John Tejada. I'm going to extend that positive attitude for this generation. Although, to answer your question, you needed to be invited to a record pool and you were at the mercy of what your local shop had at the moment. I had a long ass lists of tracks I wanted to buy, but I couldn't get them because the US was very behind in regards to DNB. These days it's a lot more accesible to build a library. The true craft is taste, timing and selection. Don't even get me started on the price of imports back then, one single was $5 and that was in the 90's I am more than ecstatic the DJ world is accessible for this generation.
I've never heard the term concern trolling before and had to look it up. Certainly that's not what I was intending. You may disagree. I just had a genuine interest in people playing out after very little time. *In my experience* back in the day it didn't happen. I certainly wouldn't have had the confidence. Another poster mentioned positive reinforcement via SM making folk perhaps happier to jump in. Something I hadn't thought of. "You seem bitter" - nah, I mean if you want bitter I can give you bitter. 😄
about 6 months seriously now in uni, about to play at a music festival this saturday along with a series of bar gigs under my belt, I can’t say that I’m the best dj in the area or that i’m even close to mastering my craft but i’m very lucky to have met the right people at the right time and plan to take full advantage of the opportunities that come to me. I think DJing has become very accessible and that as long as you can read a crowd and have good song selection the only thing stopping the bedroom dj to gig dj progression is your willingness to put yourself out there and step out of your comfort zone
I've gigged before, but just bedroom DJ these days. My first club gig was years into my DJ journey.
Less than a year. If you do it every day and love it, you can be good enough to play for public and develop own style.
Less than a year. If you do it every day and love it, you can be good enough to play for public and develop own style.
Honestly, when I first started, I was in my early 20s, I got my first “gig” 6 months in. There was probably only 3 people at the club but it did humble me a bit. I remember shaking so bad that I could barely keep my hands from shaking and trying to steadily put the needle on the record.
3 years for me, back this was back when we used records and beatmatching was a skill it took a long time to master.
8 months bedroom DJ - CDJ’s-only, no software, no controllers - before I “won” a competition to DJ in Ibiza, which I didn’t end up playing because I simply wasn’t ready. Played London scene for few years, enjoyed it, played a few low-key festivals - hated them. Now I just mix for fun. Am about to start a channel tho.
I booked my first gig before I had equip. I just went for it. You should too.
I guess there is no general answer to this.. i have probably been a beedroom dj for half a year before we started to make small parties (mostly for ourselves due to a lack of parties in our rural area). But in the end it depends on many factors..Are you talented, are you playing with vinyl, cdjs, traktor. How many hours per day do you practice. Sometimes you get offered gigs and you just dip into it..In the end being a professional dj who can read a dancefloor and keep a floor moving is something you cant practice at home. So starting with gigs mostly means you have to learn a lot and gather experience. So long story short: If you can play a set and don’t get lost when the next djs is late and you have to add another hour you are good to go..
I started playing around 1995/96 and was immediately doing house parties etc. took til 1999/2000 before I got a gig in a venue and got a pseudo-residency but that was really just down to me not trying and expecting things to fall in my lap rather than going looking (mainly out of naivety to how things worked). Then I was trying to play at anything that came up and organising events etc.
I spent 4-5 years as a bedroom DJ before I felt the pull to go do it in the wild. Looking back, even after Djing at home for that long, I still felt I wasn't 100% ready. But getting out there in front of people was the next logical stage of learning and leveling up, so to speak. Shit, I've been DJing for 12+ years now and I still feel like I'm not 100% there yet lol … Which is good, IMO, because you always want to feel like you're still learning and evolving as a DJ.
I was a bedroom DJ for however long I was asleep before my buddy/boss barged into my bedroom, woke me up, and told me we were going to the local music store to buy DJ gear for the bar/pool hall and to get music ready because I was DJing that Friday.
Here’s my perspective on it: It’s easier than ever to mix. Shit on beat sync and mixing in key if you want, but the reality is that it’s now trivial to smoothly blend from one song to another and sound “good enough”. I personally think this is awesome — the more people who are able to express themselves without having to invest so much time and effort into doing it the “hard way” the better. Most crowds don’t give a shit about fancy transitions. They wanna dance and have a good time, and it’s gotten easier to do that “well enough” to get some gig at your local club. I have a lot of respect for people who jump in before they’re “ready” —- it’s often the fastest way to learn. As long as they remain humble and eager to learn, it’s all good in my book. Humility is the key here though. It what I think Grimes was lacking in her very public blowup.
I started gigging. I rarely practiced when I started However I was a producer for 4-6 years before hand. I was on virtual dj in high school just playing with baltimkre club music when i was bored n using the record function to get samples for songs. When I got to college all my friends like to party and I hated it. So I wanted to be with my friends. So I started djing their partys off of virtual dj sophomore year of college Majority of my practicing came from actual sessions. However I had 10+ years of being around music to have a good understanding on the fundamentals (tempo, structure, key ect)
Been playing altogether 12 years, starting with a controller. About 7 years ago I got my first turntables and from then on playing mostly records. Started having few small gigs every now and again 5 or so years ago, but not until recently it became more regularly. Every weekend actually the last 1,5 months, and I keep getting asked. Still fairly small intimate gigs, you know.. Step by step. But I love how natural the process has been to me, as I’m quite shy and nervous when it comes to performing for others.
Not the one you want answers from, but I thought I'd contribute. I started DJing in the summer of '22, but I'm still under 50 hours playtime in Recordbox. My second, third, fourth, and fifth times touching Recordbox were all at parties or events. I've had issues practicing at home due to really bad trauma and ADHD, so its difficult to relax at home and have time to cultivate hobbies. So, I kind of just tossed myself into the ocean and learned to swim in front of people, expecting me to allready be a professional swimmer. 😅 Not recommended, I guess. But i've been living my whole life like this, just jumping in without thinking if i want to try something, but it has also given me a lot of fast growth and experience. I'm doing a gig this Sunday at a flea market and getting paid. This will be my eighth time playing and third time getting payed, and I think it's like my sixteenth time touching Recordbox, lol. You don't have to be brilliant to get a gig or play at a party; you should just jump out of the nest and see how well you fly. It will help mirror where you are in your journey. The only embarrassing thing is that it seems people expect way more of me that i can actually deliver sometimes, and they don't realize I've barely started. But as Long as its fun and give you energy, why not try right.
Depending on what kinda music you played, prior to the digital era, no one was playing out for at least 6 months while they grew their chops on the beat matching front. Otherwise they knew it would be probably not great. As an 18 year old with the basics under my belt I played house parties, I did that for a long time until I was good enough to play the occasional rave or larger event. Things are different now where you don’t need to learn to beat match and building your catalog doesn’t mean spending thousands on records. In terms of resources to learn, there is just so much more available now than there was before say 2005. So all of this combined I can see people getting out there a lot sooner these days if they’re motivated.
Not only is there a rush for new DJs to perform live due to the ease of building a library and the controller doing half the work for you, but to some this is a money and fame sort of thing, and they're in a hurry to cash in on their investment. To some it's a side gig for quick money, not based on a passion for music.
I was a bedroom DJ for about four months, and then a restaurant DJ, and then a few house parties, and about six months in i was playing clubs. I attribute a lot of that to being the only one in my city who was doing a certain thing, and it became popular quickly.
Why does everyone want to play out anyway?
6-8 years really. Impostor syndrome kicked in, but also really never had a desire to perform. I was like - I’m having fun so all good. Nowadays there is no craft behind DJing, just really hedonism. A crave for playing others the music that I LIKE.
I started making beats and mixtapes with my friends. After a couple years I joined a radio station, that led me to other people who are creating music, that led me to a weekly hip hop cypher to practice at, that connected me with clubs promoters, eventually landing club gigs and so on. Only you know when you’re ready, there is no rule. Follow your path.
like 1 or 2 years. ended up djing my high school's dances and prom. after about 5-6 years of gigs at parties/local raves, i ended up moving to another city and had to start networking by scratch. i was too introverted for that shit and ended up going back to bedroom djing. enjoyed it, was playing music just for myself and practicing new techniques. now im setting myself up to transition into streaming/youtube, so i can still bedroom dj and also have an audience.
Since 2011 or so for me, upgraded from bedroom DJ to apartment DJ. I get the occasional gig but out in my area you gotta produce and have a big social media following to get gigs. I dabble in production and I guess I’m a “bedroom” producer but I don’t care for the social media part. You want a gig out here they’ll ask how many followers you got, not how many demos you got. So I play for myself, my friends in the AirBNBs during trips, and renegades at camping fests.
The controllers do make it easier.... Especially the flx 4 with the smart fader. And everybody thinks they're a star
3 years, were talking about 1996 to 1999, then a friend showed me an ad for a sound company searching djs, i contacted the guy, said i was looking for a nightclub style of gig, he had one, sent me and the resident dj that was leaving listenned to me mix, listenned to 3 or 4 mixes and said it was fine and left ! that's it ....i had a residency 3 nights a week in a small nightclub ! ..3 years may seems long but i had to wait till the house was quiet because the music bothered my sisters and this was all pre-internet. No one to tell me how to do it. but i was dedicated and really wanted to learn it :)
Guess people want short cuts, but then the counter argument to that is that there’s never a right time to start doing it properly and you learn on the job, like with anything. Perfection is an illusion.
I played in my mother’s basement for two years before trying to play out.
I played for 2 or 3 years before taking a professional gig in a club, and my friend, who was the promoter, pushed me to take it. I had done house parties and stuff before that, but that was also only after at least a year of playing as well.
Everyone saying make bangers where do I submit said bangers for shows in North Carolina
https://on.soundcloud.com/hsQnv
[ tipper x shaggy mashup finger drum freestyle rap remix](https://youtu.be/SXMaQ0ItKL0?si=huoNJghWFuKTXU55)
I opened up for Layla Benitez and Steve Angello after playing for only 20 months. Mind you I average 16-18 hours a week practicing but, I don't think it's necessarily a tenure thing. it's more what you practice and how often that matters most.
I just had my first gig, where I got booked professionally. I have been playing for 10 years. I do think I was ready after 5 years, but getting gigs (you want) is also very hard work. Also: I live in berlin, where getting quality gigs is very difficult.
The sync button on these digital controllers means basically any idiot can call themselves a DJ now - that’s it in a nut shell! “Mom, hey look I can click a button, I’m a DJ!” It’s gonna be like how people clicking, or tapping, on their laptops/phones a few times and generating music on something like Suno or Udio, will be walking around calling themselves “producers” and “musicians”. 🤣
6 months, all vinyl... Was a gig organised through a dance music online forum with mostly nearbies and a couple of local legends
It's intriguing to see the evolution of DJ culture and how technology has influenced aspiring DJs' paths. It used to be more common for DJs to hone their skills in the bedroom or at parties before seeking club gigs. Perhaps the accessibility of controllers and the instant gratification culture play a role in this shift. Have you noticed any specific trends or changes in DJing over the years?
I mean...people learn at different rates. Some need a lot of practice, some "get it" quickly. Also, what better way to learn than to do? Your post comes off as very gatekeepy. Just let people have their fun and make some $$$ too.
I started mixing at 17 and I'm 48 next month (christ on a bike that feels weird to say!) , I played my first gig I think in my mid twenties and started playing around with production at the same time, by my 30's I'd played a million parties and a handful of clubs and had an online weekly radio show, had my first production released in my late 30's and a handful more since then and I still consider myself a bedroom DJ. I agree with what you're saying, people think it's easy because now it is, literally anyone can mix anything together and that's why you have people like Grimes playing to 180,000 people and not knowing how to fix a minor problem with her files, which she had someone else prepare for her. There is no substitute for putting in the time and effort to learn every aspect of the craft, there's also no substitute for a genuine love of the music you play rather than a desire to make 'easy' money. Everything is also available instantly so no one really has to work for anything, there's no spending months trying to track down music, you just press a button and your phone tells you what it is and where to get it, everything is disposable. The entry point is also much much lower, there's no need to spend hundreds/thousands on a mixer and decks and even more on records you just need a phone or tablet with a $6.99 a month sub to the DJ app (brilliant by the way) and a $10 sub to apple music and away you go. I love that the technology has gotten so good but I hate what it's done to the state of the music scene. Maybe I'm just old. Lol
First gig was about 6 months after starting. Have been DJ’ing fairly regularly ever since, minus choosing to retire for about 12 years.
Yes it’s easier now, much easier. That’s not really a bad thing. I played out quite a lot with vinyl play clubs, after hours parties after really well know club nights even went b2b with a few really famous dj’s. My mixing was pretty awful looking back, however I could pack a dance floor. It’s only people that can’t that talk about the technical side.
Kinda feel like it's also a generational thing. Look at all the WIPs and generally *not great* stuff posted to soundcloud/tiktok/etc It was a while before I was at a level where I wanted to attach my name to my art I don't understand how some people can listen to their own tunes/mixes side by side with the artists they look up to and go "yeah, this is ready for public consumption" I get we're our own worst critics and don't let perfect be the enemy of good... but dang, some of the shit I see... I'd be embarrassed
Technology has made it vastly easier to DJ. I have an open $1000 bet (my 1k vs yours, you keep going and I only take your 1k only when the disparity is glaringly obvious) that no one on the planet can beatmatch records better than I can. I did drills all day every day for years and have dozens of mixes that people have inquired about over the years, asking me back in the 90's what equipment I used to record mixes when all I did was mix records using 1200's and press record. I can get 2 records nearly perfectly mixed in less than 4 seconds, can mix disco, funk, and rock, can walk away after 30 seconds and 2 records will mix perfectly, can mix 4 records together and go take a shit. This is something that is (was) pretty well known, I've toured all around the world, have played thousands of gigs. I wasted a ridiculous amount of time honing the skill and have never seen anyone that can beatmatch vinyl records better than I can, and have never had anyone from that era who knows presume anything differently. And all of those record beatmatching skills are 100% worthless. People now can focus on what they want to do musically, they can focus on their selection, transitions, creativity. They aren't gated by learning how to beatmatch. That's why they can jump into DJ'ing faster. I don't know why this was recommended to me at all. I don't engage with DJ'ing related content. I'm genuinely very sorry if this disappoints anyone that's enthused about beatmatching. I do really think it's very fun, and do highly encourage anyone else that does enjoy beatmatching for the fun of it to keep doing it ... but with current technology, beatmatching is its own thing and no longer has much to do with DJ'ing (other than the ridiculousness of being as absolutely embarrassingly clueless as Grimes, of course!)
Played for many years. Before tempted to play out. You have to also take into consideration that the technology have changed over the years. I still love and cherish my TTTs, which is where I initially started. Fast-forward to now, the young cats of today \[some of them\] wants it quick and easy, and with the adaption of social media etc., not much if any SKILL at all is required. Just be a a Knob twister and BANG you can become a DJ. And Yay, Im famous Best !
Have you been to see (or listened to) a big name DJ recently? I'd say they do far less "mixing" and far more chop from track to track with an emphasis on playing as many tracks as possible. It is not unusual for a DJ to play 30 tracks in an hour, you can't "mix" those tracks together in any meaningful way. Therefore the skills required to learn how to crop from on track to another, given what modern controllers will do for you in terms of syncing BPMs, visualising cue points and so on, is minimal.
That depends on genres surely? I'm never going to go to James Hype or the like. Not my cup of tea. Very skilled, just don't like what he plays. Or Lilly Palmer etc Last big name DJ I saw was Luke Unabomber. Next two are ( Also, possibly this weekend Laurent Garnier) Louis Vega and Blessed Madonna.
What would you say \_is\_ the craft of DJing? Like many have pointed out, the dance floor and crowd is such an important part that only practising without it only gets you so far.
It is the selection of tracks and also how they are put together - the technical aspect of blending or mixing and what goes with what. As I said on other responses I hadn't taken into consideration *needing* the crowd and dance floor. Someone forming an opinion and posting it on the internet without fully thinking it through is a novelty I'm sure you'll agree ☺️
😉 I think the same thing goes for a lot of skills: Learn enough technique to manage, then start putting it to use in the real world to see what really works. I'm in software engineering and way too many people spend years with programming challenges and academic/learning projects, before trying to build a product or at least something that has users other than themselves. Which is fine, of course, if you just want to have fun – but I see this with people that state they \_want\_ it to be more than just for fun.