nineeyes Posted October 4 Report Share Posted October 4 i'm interested to know how you picked up deejaying? how did you get your first gigs? do you do it on the side or full-time? and anything else you'd like to say...reason i ask is because i have a brother who is very serious about deejaying. he's self-taught. i'm sure alot of you guys are too. right now he's working as a first year analyst at a big name investment banking firm and not liking it at all. big surprise right. i hate to see him so miserable. i'm just thinking if he could balance his life with some deejaying on the side he's be alot happier. anyone got some advice? thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirdante Posted October 4 Report Share Posted October 4 practice, buy records, practice some more, go to satelliterecords.com & buy more records, practice some more, practice some more, make some mix tapes for the car, practice some more, buy more records, make a mix CD, practice some more, then suck it up and volunteer to make a friends party better by being the DJ. once he does parties for his friends he is on his way. he can just get bigger/better from there. he might even make some money, but since he has a good job, the money wont stress him out. i think every DJ starts out at parties or by helping his friend, a working DJ, do paid gigs.------------------i love music![This message has been edited by sirdante (edited 10-04-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nineeyes Posted October 4 Author Report Share Posted October 4 thanks for helping out guys.yeah, with his first few pay checks he went and replaced all his old equipment with some new ones. and he practices every chance he gets... until the neighbors start knocking down the door. lol. he's been playing at house parties too. but like back2basics said promoters don't really care about parties.winter music conference sounds like a step he must take. thanks for the advice, back2basics. where is there more info about that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firegirl Posted October 4 Report Share Posted October 4 oh, yeah, the winter music conference in miami...I forgot about that.. you HAVE to go to that...not only does it rock, but the djs there are incredible, absolutely everyone is there, including our own ny stars.here's the link from this past year: http://www.wintermusicconference.com/ FireGirl------------------no, I'M a fire-starter...see, it says so here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schwingep Posted October 4 Report Share Posted October 4 I used to work at an Ad agency, and my office was one of the recording studios, and look they even had a 1200 there swo Mac would bring one of his over, and I'd practice during the day, nobody would hear it blasting in the hallway...soundproof room Some of the IT guys were mad clubhead so they would come hang, and 2 suys used to DJ, one used to open at Paradise Garage, so he brought me his Urei mixer (what more could you ask for)Mac would come over and be my personal DJ while I was working so he could make some tapes. How awesome is that having your own personaly DJ during work hours pumpin.There was also a bar in the agency, so I asked if we could play on Thursday nights. THE FIRST PARTY HAHAHAHAHA happened to be the night that they were having a whole bunch of clients over from Warner Lambert, we were dropping crazy house tracks that these corporate people just didn't understand, and the rest of the agecny people were like play this song (anything off KTU or Z100) and we didn't have any...oh well. We did it for about 2 months and din't want to deal with the agravation of annoying people, but it was great practice.I went on to a bar that just opened around the corner from my apt for more practice, got fired (didn't care cause I wasnt allowed to put the volume above 3) and my friends werent really into coming and listeneing to music you could barely hear. Then another Lounge I happened to be at and while hanging with the owner she went up and fired the DJ on the spot, he was all cracked out and yelling at her.She goes, anyone know a DJ, my girlfriend at the time points to me, I started in two weeks and spent two years there playing whatever I wanted, great experience, fun time.Well the long-winded moral is, practice practice practice, buy plenty of records, practice some more, don't try looking for a club to start out at, find a small hole in the wall, use these places for experience, it's sounds a lot different out there than in your bedroom, and learn the equipment, like what mixers do what. If you learn on a mixer with eq's for each channel(and you learn to do that) and a beat counter, you probably see that most places won't have it, learn to mix with the bare minimum of effects, and also try not to learn by relying on the crossfader, you'll find mixers with knobs, and some without x-faders, so learn by using the channel faders.- Pete"imixbybruteforce,ifthebeatsdontlineupjustmakethenewtracklouderLOL" ------------------------------------------ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie_pep Posted October 4 Report Share Posted October 4 DJ 101Things you need - lots of $lots of timededication inspiration open mindgood ear pratice, pratice, pratice Oh! the most important part, (if you want to spin anywhere) is get in good with some big wig promoter/club owner & kiss his or hers ass ...Cause remember, it's not what you know it's who you know, in this business ...------------------This is just the beginning ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nineeyes Posted October 4 Author Report Share Posted October 4 awesome story schwingep. *sigh* kissing ass sucks, frankiepep. but that is the reality of it all. in any business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russ reign Posted October 4 Report Share Posted October 4 It's all about practice.... and realizing that no one gets good or gets good gigs overnight....So many young kids don't realize that all the big guys are at least 28 years old and have been in the industry for years.....I have been spinning in clubs for 7 years and am just starting to get major connections and real rooms over the last two......Never turn down work if you are a beginner.....especially cause the price is too low....it's still practice and someone else would be glad to scoop up taht gig in a second if you don't take it......DO AS MANY JOBS AS YOU CAN you're getting paid to learn and have fun.....------------------This week's gigs:Friday Oct 6th - "Secret Room" @ Exit 3-6amSaturday Oct 7th - Eldas Nightclub, Albany NYwww.djrussreign.comwww.extremegroove.comrussreign@yahoo.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nineeyes Posted October 4 Author Report Share Posted October 4 Originally posted by russ reign:So many young kids don't realize that all the big guys are at least 28 years old and have been in the industry for years.....Never turn down work if you are a beginner.....especially cause the price is too low....it's still practice and someone else would be glad to scoop up taht gig in a second if you don't take it......DO AS MANY JOBS AS YOU CAN you're getting paid to learn and have fun.....that's so true. good advice to always keep in mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firegirl Posted October 5 Report Share Posted October 5 I don't spin, but my squeeze got the dj bug, has always been into music. he just went out and bought 2 turntables and a mixer, and a mad amount of vinyl. and he just messes with it all at home. he's got some cheap vinyl he practices with for things like scratching. and basically just fools around and gets the flow with the equipment. the Promoters board always has people asking for djs for parties. I'm guessing the underground scene is easier to break into than something like twilo. but the politics can be fierce...I've known a lot of people who spin or used to spin, some of them pretty big, and they've said it's a lot of politics and schmoozing and promoting.FireGirl------------------no, I'M a fire-starter...see, it says so here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
back2basics Posted October 5 Report Share Posted October 5 This is the age old problem. It's not what you know it's who you know. He will need gigs under his belt.Tell him going to the Winter Music conference in Miami is a MUST. He will be able to meet contacts and smooze. There is no easy way, it's not a case of how good he is. And there is no overnight answer. He needs to get himself around on the scene and open his own doors.Most promoters don't want to know about parties. He needs to be doing bars or clubs.Get some good CD mixes done and send them round (although this almost never works).Once he is playing clubs he needs to contact all the labels he can think of and try to get on their mailing list (start with the smaller labels). That way he will be playing songs people havent herd, which again will help... learning to mix is just the start of a very long road.------------------I want to go out blazing not fade away.I can resist anything but temptation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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