Politics in DJing

[Guest pontifex]

Pod-

I'll thank you not to knock podunk pennsylvania, its a great city. Just Kidding. But living in Pittsburgh I can tell you that even if you could open a club for a quarter mil, this is not the place to try to make it as a dj. Only people who play the most mainstream of records are booked in the big clubs. House, breaks, undergound hip hop djs are almost non-existant, and most of the so-called djs here spin cds. I'm sure its the same way in a lot of other small cities In short, to make it as a dj in pittsburgh you must have large talons, errr.. I mean a lot of talent

[Guest pod]

You can cut your teeth in this town, you just gotta hustle a little harder.

Not to drag a "name" out, but our own Diaga is a good example of this. This kid didn't know anyone aside from some jerk with a camera when he started, and 3 years down the line he has won a major DJ competiton (which helped a lot, actually), played at crobar, Space, Nikki Beach, Opium, to name a few, and currently holds down residencies at crobar and Cafeteria. Not to mention star DJs here in town and globally have mentioned him as an example of a rising talent. How he got there? Promoted his ass off and didn't stop to smell the roses. Even now that he has steady work, he still promotes his ass off.

[Guest ramon]

if you don't promote yourself .. please hire someone who will. you never know who he or she might know.

[Guest rhythmburn]

if you don't promote yourself .. please hire someone who will. you never know who he or she might know.

who are some reputable promotional agencies in the area?

[Guest ramon]

if you don't promote yourself .. please hire someone who will. you never know who he or she might know.

who are some reputable promotional agencies in the area?

not sure about agencies, but im really thinking about getting my 'group' together back again .. we'll see .. i've learned much since my last excursion. i'll keep you posted.

[Guest biznation00]

makin' it in any business requires you to be a well rounded person. Sometimes you're lucky and you get your break because someone believes in you. If you are lucky enough to get noticed & get that break, make sure you cover every aspect of it & make it happen...

When someone noticed me as a promoter over 5 years ago I made sure I made the best of it. Shortly after that someone else noticed & believed in me & I worked harder than I ever did to grow. I networked & tried to make the best of every relationship I made. The same thing applies to djs!

Those of you who have the love, drive, talent, attitude, maturity & understanding will hopefully get your chance & some of you will make it.

having the right attitude takes you very far with alot of work & determination. Being marketable helps the equation. Talent, well it's not just mixing 2 records, using fx machines, scratchin' & hot doggin' it... If you practice long and hard enough you can be Deion Sanders on the decks too! Talent is the smaller portion of that i think. Having a natural sense of how to move a crowd thru programming & track selection (not just playin' the top 25 hot records)... that's raw talent!

then experience rounds it all off...

[Guest web_norah]

that's why we love you Biz.

[Guest xmuzik]

Why do you ask questions that you already know the answers to?

DJ's down here grow on palm trees. In fact according to Greenpeace, there are more DJ's in the world now then there are trees...LOL

thats the best shit i've ever read on this forum........classic

[Guest DJ Oslo]

I thought I'd jump on this thread and give my 02 cents. This is a very intersting topic and it has many different points of views that have their merits.

macillus, you wrote:

As far as others getting more hype - if you don't like the way someone plays - simply do not support their night. A lot of clubs hire out talent nowadays based on who they can bring in. I think this is where marketablility comes into play. I could be the most talented person in the biz and the guy next to me is not - but he can bring in 50 -100 people where as I can only bring in 10... It's a no brainer.

I agree with that. In the end, club managers/owners/promoters are looking at numbers and dollars. Even if the DJ is a lemmon, if they are popular and can bring in a crowd, they will have the gig. It may be a short-sighted view on part of the club, because eventually a DJ that can't keep a dancefloor packed can help ruin a night in the long-term, but for the time being the club is getting paid and they will keep that DJ.

I was somewhat surprised reading this thread, because I was under the impression that there was a higher standard in a city like Miami, where a club would audition a DJ, test them on a night and see how they were able to handle the crowd, mix the songs, keep a flow in their sets, and have the dancefloor busy throughout the night. Do clubs still audition DJs for spots?

If that is not happening for the most part, then I see an opportunity. If a DJ believes they are better than their "competition", they should be able to do something about it, even if they are an unknown. Seek an audition. Talk with the promoters at the club or the manager.

If your mixing is top notch, consider getting a popular radio station to agree to let you do a mix-show. This would definetely give a DJ more exposure.

[Guest swirlundergrounder]

I thought I'd jump on this thread and give my 02 cents. This is a very intersting topic and it has many different points of views that have their merits.

macillus, you wrote:

As far as others getting more hype - if you don't like the way someone plays - simply do not support their night. A lot of clubs hire out talent nowadays based on who they can bring in. I think this is where marketablility comes into play. I could be the most talented person in the biz and the guy next to me is not - but he can bring in 50 -100 people where as I can only bring in 10... It's a no brainer.

I agree with that. In the end, club managers/owners/promoters are looking at numbers and dollars. Even if the DJ is a lemmon, if they are popular and can bring in a crowd, they will have the gig. It may be a short-sighted view on part of the club, because eventually a DJ that can't keep a dancefloor packed can help ruin a night in the long-term, but for the time being the club is getting paid and they will keep that DJ.

I was somewhat surprised reading this thread, because I was under the impression that there was a higher standard in a city like Miami, where a club would audition a DJ, test them on a night and see how they were able to handle the crowd, mix the songs, keep a flow in their sets, and have the dancefloor busy throughout the night. Do clubs still audition DJs for spots?

If that is not happening for the most part, then I see an opportunity. If a DJ believes they are better than their "competition", they should be able to do something about it, even if they are an unknown. Seek an audition. Talk with the promoters at the club or the manager.

If your mixing is top notch, consider getting a popular radio station to agree to let you do a mix-show. This would definetely give a DJ more exposure.

You can do all of that but it still would not matter unfortunatley. Miami is just like every other city in the country besides SF that will take a chance on an unknown DJ. Maybe it changed in SF since. But now a days there are so many DJ's out there and DJing has become easier to do that nearly anyone and everyone can do it. You don't even have to be much of a programmer anymore because the songs and their composition do so much for themselves that they make it sound as if a DJ is programming well when it's just the song doing its thing.

I remember back in the day when records weren't quantitized in time and the songs were not as well constructed. You had to make the best of what you had in each track. And that made DJing more of an effort than it is today. Hell why use turntables when you can use a MP3 player whose timing doesn't stray and/or a software program that will keep everything in sync for you. DJING IS NOT WHAT IT USED TO BE. The novelty has worn out. That's why you just can't walk into a club and say that you're the shit...

Hell I've went to an audition for an opening for a club down here. I had 3 demo CD's, all live CD's. I dumped a huge box full of flyers on the club managers desk that I've been on. I have a bio 5 pages long of clubs I've played at all aorund the West Coast. I've played with Deep Dish, Mark Farina, Doc Martin etc.....every big DJ from every big genre and then some. But that doesn't matter. If you can't at least bring in half the clubs capacity on your own then forget about it..

Oh BTW I got that gig...Then the club (Pure) went belly up for a while after that grand opening so it never materialized into anything regular...

But the bottom line is...If you don't have any politics to play, if you don't have something that a promoter wants or another DJ wants from you 9like a gig you can book them at) then you won't get no play!!!

DJing is a dead end!! For 99.9% of us...So take your skills as a DJ and do something else with them....Unless you have a manager getting gigs for you then DIY aint going to happen unless you get lucky.....Or you know the right person....nothing will ever change that!! Until DJing becomes something that not everyone can do like it used to be 9which it won't)... DJing used to be like flying a jet plane..Now it's like driving a car..everyone can do it....

[Guest DJ Oslo]

You can do all of that but it still would not matter unfortunatley. Miami is just like every other city in the country besides SF that will take a chance on an unknown DJ. Maybe it changed in SF since. But now a days there are so many DJ's out there and DJing has become easier to do that nearly anyone and everyone can do it. You don't even have to be much of a programmer anymore because the songs and their composition do so much for themselves that they make it sound as if a DJ is programming well when it's just the song doing its thing.

I don't buy that. I believe the competition is fiercer, but I wouldn't say that DJing has become easier to do and that everyone can do it. So do you say that it's easier to mix Hip-Hop and R&B? Is it easier to mix Reggaeton? What about Dancehall? House music and other electronica are designed for mixing, with their long intros and outros, but what about the other genres?

What genres of music do you mix, out of curiosity? There are so many genres of music that are popular now, that if you can adapt your skills to those genres, you could broaden your scope when looking for gigs.

I remember back in the day when records weren't quantitized in time and the songs were not as well constructed. You had to make the best of what you had in each track. And that made DJing more of an effort than it is today. Hell why use turntables when you can use a MP3 player whose timing doesn't stray and/or a software program that will keep everything in sync for you. DJING IS NOT WHAT IT USED TO BE. The novelty has worn out. That's why you just can't walk into a club and say that you're the shit...

Technology is always progressing. DJing is also progressing and there are more tools at the disposal of the DJ. And what Mp3 player that keeps the songs in time are you talking about? The DJ that can take new technology and master it will have an advantage over another DJ who has not mastered their own tools, whatever they may be. Don't you agree?

Hell I've went to an audition for an opening for a club down here. I had 3 demo CD's, all live CD's. I dumped a huge box full of flyers on the club managers desk that I've been on. I have a bio 5 pages long of clubs I've played at all aorund the West Coast. I've played with Deep Dish, Mark Farina, Doc Martin etc.....every big DJ from every big genre and then some. But that doesn't matter. If you can't at least bring in half the clubs capacity on your own then forget about it..

Let's listen to one of these demo CDS. Could you rip it into an audio format like .mp3 and post it in the forum. Let us listen to the mix and give our feedback/critique on it?

Oh BTW I got that gig...

Congratulations

Then the club (Pure) went belly up for a while after that grand opening so it never materialized into anything regular...

That stinks.

But the bottom line is...If you don't have any politics to play, if you don't have something that a promoter wants or another DJ wants from you 9like a gig you can book them at) then you won't get no play!!!

I agree partly. If it's House music or other electronica styles, it may be difficult to sell to the club manager/promoter that you're better than that DJ. How? Their DJ can mix, and some of those tracks are probably his own remixes/creations, etc.

If it's urban music like Hip-Hop and R&B, well, if that DJ is not mixing or remixing, or blending, or keeping a flow on the dancefloor because he is slam mixing the tracks or scratching or doing other things to stop the crowd from dancing, then that is an observation worth noting to the club.

DJing is a dead end!! For 99.9% of us...So take your skills as a DJ and do something else with them....Unless you have a manager getting gigs for you then DIY aint going to happen unless you get lucky.....Or you know the right person....nothing will ever change that!! Until DJing becomes something that not everyone can do like it used to be 9which it won't)... DJing used to be like flying a jet plane..Now it's like driving a car..everyone can do it....

LOL. let me ask you. You know how good you are you know what your limitations are. Do you see the competition in the clubs doing what you can do at home? Do you see yourself doing things that they can't do? This may be the question that will drive you to go after those gigs.

[Guest swirlundergrounder]

Bro I'll just give you a response to all your responses to my statements. First off I'm talking about the house music/edm scene. A very different scene than the hip hop scene.

When I say that everyone can DJ, I'm saying that DJing has become more inexpensive, more available and techologically easier to to do. The advent of DLing music online has destroyed the mystic of undergorund music for the simple fact that independent music is not on a limited press basis anymore. The days of a song only being pressed several thousand times if that are done. Now a song is available for unlimited amounts of downloads via the internet. Meaning that the days of going to your favorite record shop and digging through the bins in hopes of finding that track that you trainspotted the night b4 will be there. Now there's a good chance that you can just DL the song..Good for the artist of course but bad for the art of DJing..bad for the fact that it's easier to take a digital song on your computer that's an MP3 file for granted. Vinyl you treat and cherish like gold. Especially a track that you have that you know that no one else can have. A track that is unique and can help you define your own sound that you alone are known for. What good is hunting for tracks that define your sound when your music collection is available to DL online so that someone else can duplicate your sound?

As far as technology go's in DJing? What's more exciting for you to watch? A DJ balancing on a tight rope mixing vinyl or a DJ playing tunes on a CD player or better yet a computer? What has more mystic an intrigue? A box of vinyl? Or a bocklet of CD? Or a file folder in your computer full of MP3s?

For the longest time the Technics 1200's where and still are one of the most physically perfect mechanisms ever devised to tranduce a music signal. For nearly 30 years that was the standard. Not very many people had access to such equiptment.

DJs used to be really rare. Now the market is saturated with DJ's and it's fast becoming more of a fading fad then a growing way of life because of the advent of technology which has made it more accessable to the public and easier to do.

Not everyone could mix well on turntables. You had to use your ears. Now with programs like Ableton Live, Traktor DJ etc...you can visually see whats going to on your computer screen. When I mention mp3 files I'm tlaking about the fules that computer DJs use to mix. Those pitch of these files in these programs never stray when you are mxing them. Nor do the speed of CD's stray when your mixing them.. When you mix 2 records together on turntables you have to constantly maintain control of the pitch other wise your records will not stay matched.

Look I'm obvioulsy a traditionalst. I've been a DJ for more than 11 years and I've seen where it's been and were it's going. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm pesimistic! Maybe I'm just bitter at the whole thing.. I've had my time in the sun with it and have chosen to move onto other things with it. So now I'm in school studying audio engineering...

BTW if you want to critique one of my sets, you can tune into XM Satellite Radio channel 80 'The Move' this Sunday August 21st from 5pm-7pm Eastern Standard Time.

[Guest Pablo F]

While reading all of your post's I was happy that this was even addressed but I was also saddened by th ereality of the topic. As someone who Loves this music and loves this culture it is tough to hear someone say "funny you dont look like a House DJ" ..lol I remember when I fist moved here I took an entire weekend and did nothing but walk up and down to the beach hitting every single club and lounge. All I wanted, all I want is a chance. Of course I got chance from the manager of a certain lounge (I would not even call it a lounge being that it is the entrance of a F-in Hotel) on the beach which I will keep to myself....lol. This guy looked at me and sayed I like your style why dont you play here tonight? But, he said.. I am not paying you and you need to bring your own equiptment.... And you know what?? I DID IT... and Im not ashamed of it. I'm not saying im the best but I know I am a lot better than a lot of the people I have heard.

I think you all have great points.. And, I am sorry if this is long but I guess the most important part of this is that we stay hungry and we stay focused... Even If I dont make it to the level I want, I do know one thing,,, those nights when I was absolutley in a zone and had the crowd going nuts,, thats somehting that I will take to the grave. Im glad I have had a couple of those nights....

P

[Guest DJ Oslo]

When I say that everyone can DJ, I'm saying that DJing has become more inexpensive, more available and techologically easier to to do. The advent of DLing music online has destroyed the mystic of undergorund music for the simple fact that independent music is not on a limited press basis anymore. The days of a song only being pressed several thousand times if that are done. Now a song is available for unlimited amounts of downloads via the internet. Meaning that the days of going to your favorite record shop and digging through the bins in hopes of finding that track that you trainspotted the night b4 will be there.

That is very true. Music is more accessable. Everybody with an internet connection can pretty much get the same material a DJ gets. However, I don't fancy spending hours in a record shop digging through crates to find that one song, but some do.

Vinyl you treat and cherish like gold. Especially a track that you have that you know that no one else can have. A track that is unique and can help you define your own sound that you alone are known for. What good is hunting for tracks that define your sound when your music collection is available to DL online so that someone else can duplicate your sound?

I understand about being unique. But you must remember you are playing other people's artistic creations. Here is a thought, why not remix those tracks. Create your own unique sound by editing and remixing songs so that you incorporate your unique sound and style, which will be difficult for the masses to access?

As far as technology go's in DJing? What's more exciting for you to watch? A DJ balancing on a tight rope mixing vinyl or a DJ playing tunes on a CD player or better yet a computer? What has more mystic an intrigue? A box of vinyl? Or a bocklet of CD? Or a file folder in your computer full of MP3s?

LOL. Personally, I don't go to a club to watch a DJ. I go there to dance with girls and listen to good music. If the DJ is programming a good set, mixing the tracks, even remixing the songs a bit to give them more excitement, I am very happy. Rarely will I go and watch a DJ moving the crossfader back and forth. That's boring, isn't it? Who cares if he's doing it with vinyl, CDs, or an Ipod. If the DJ is doing a great job, who cares about the tools he uses to get it done. Besides, vinyl is 40+ year old technology, and who loves lugging them around?

For the longest time the Technics 1200's where and still are one of the most physically perfect mechanisms ever devised to tranduce a music signal. For nearly 30 years that was the standard. Not very many people had access to such equiptment.

I agree, Technics 1200's are still one of the best turntables available. But they do have their own limitations. A DJ can only do so much on 1200's

DJs used to be really rare. Now the market is saturated with DJ's and it's fast becoming more of a fading fad then a growing way of life because of the advent of technology which has made it more accessable to the public and easier to do.

Okay, you're saying there there are many more DJs today. Well, out of those "many" how many of would you consider great? Sure, there are many DJs, but I still believe there are few that are great. Everybody can suddenly go out and buy a Ferrari, but few will be able to handle it like a Shumaker, no?

Not everyone could mix well on turntables. You had to use your ears. Now with programs like Ableton Live, Traktor DJ etc...you can visually see whats going to on your computer screen. When I mention mp3 files I'm tlaking about the fules that computer DJs use to mix. Those pitch of these files in these programs never stray when you are mxing them. Nor do the speed of CD's stray when your mixing them.. When you mix 2 records together on turntables you have to constantly maintain control of the pitch other wise your records will not stay matched.

Yes, technology like software has the ability to time stretch the songs to accurately beatmatch. However, the DJ still needs to know what he is doing. This is not some sort of panacea where the software suddenly makes the DJ. It's the DJ and his skill and knowledge as a DJ that makes the software work well.

Look I'm obvioulsy a traditionalst. I've been a DJ for more than 11 years and I've seen where it's been and were it's going. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm pesimistic! Maybe I'm just bitter at the whole thing.. I've had my time in the sun with it and have chosen to move onto other things with it. So now I'm in school studying audio engineering...

Yes, you sound like a traditionalist. But you also sound like you're throwing in the towel. Check out this cat. He has been DJing for a lot of years. Saw everything you just threw down here, but did something about it. Here is his article.

http://www.mixingonbeat.com/phpbb/download.php?id=79

[Guest swirlundergrounder]

^Bro I'm not throwing in the towel. I'm taking all of my skills I learned as a DJ and doing something else with them. I'd hardly call that throwing in the towel.

[Guest DJ Oslo]

Cool dude. Glad to hear that.

[Guest pod]

Meaning that the days of going to your favorite record shop and digging through the bins in hopes of finding that track that you trainspotted the night b4 will be there. Now there's a good chance that you can just DL the song..Good for the artist of course but bad for the art of DJing..

Terry:

Produce Produce Produce. I tell every DJ I know to produce. You're not gonna get anywhere in the club DJing world unless you have a few tracks under your belt.

Also, master the art of performance engineering. Going A > B and B > A and throwing in a sample from C isn't gonna cut the mustard in a few years. Club owners and promoters are gonna look for Sashas and Infusions and Underworlds. Our local DL boys (Herve and Rolando) are exploring that avenue. My friend DJFX on the Womb is doing it too. Right now performance engineering is an experimental art, but in a few years it will be the norm. You can play other people's material, sure, but I'm imagining it will be your own on-the-fly remix. The model will be that you'll release a track for the masses, then have a "producer" version which is broken down into the basic elements...

The DJ of 2010 will be a rockstar, and the title will be well-earned.

[Guest DJ Oslo]

Right now performance engineering is an experimental art, but in a few years it will be the norm. You can play other people's material, sure, but I'm imagining it will be your own on-the-fly remix. The model will be that you'll release a track for the masses, then have a "producer" version which is broken down into the basic elements..

Hi Pod. What did you mean by performance engineering? This is the first time I am hearing this term. Do you mean remixing? And could you explain more about what you meant about breaking it down to it's basic elements? I know this is getting off-topic but you made some interesting comments. Thanks.

[Guest swirlundergrounder]

Meaning that the days of going to your favorite record shop and digging through the bins in hopes of finding that track that you trainspotted the night b4 will be there. Now there's a good chance that you can just DL the song..Good for the artist of course but bad for the art of DJing..

Terry:

Produce Produce Produce. I tell every DJ I know to produce. You're not gonna get anywhere in the club DJing world unless you have a few tracks under your belt.

Also, master the art of performance engineering. Going A > B and B > A and throwing in a sample from C isn't gonna cut the mustard in a few years. Club owners and promoters are gonna look for Sashas and Infusions and Underworlds. Our local DL boys (Herve and Rolando) are exploring that avenue. My friend DJFX on the Womb is doing it too. Right now performance engineering is an experimental art, but in a few years it will be the norm. You can play other people's material, sure, but I'm imagining it will be your own on-the-fly remix. The model will be that you'll release a track for the masses, then have a "producer" version which is broken down into the basic elements...

The DJ of 2010 will be a rockstar, and the title will be well-earned.

Dan your point is right on. Herve and Roland are on the right track with what they are doing. Their sound has grown and continued to mature over the past 2 years. Those 2 guys have the right idea with performance engineering and live PA...

It's not enough just to be be a DJ alone these days. That's why I said that only DJing alone for 99.9% of us is a dead end. Someone like Donald Gluade gets away with just being a DJ alone. He hardly produces anything and can survive on Djing alone....

Producing your own shit is definetly where it's at. It's one thing to play and mix other peoples music. The real challange (something I'm facing right now) is producing your own music. It's takes a lot more time and disipline to make you own choons....

[Guest Vitaliy]

Meaning that the days of going to your favorite record shop and digging through the bins in hopes of finding that track that you trainspotted the night b4 will be there. Now there's a good chance that you can just DL the song..Good for the artist of course but bad for the art of DJing..

Produce Produce Produce. I tell every DJ I know to produce. You're not gonna get anywhere in the club DJing world unless you have a few tracks under your belt.

producing is important, but marketing yourself is the key to everything imo... i know guys who have 20+ releases (including hits and tracks featured on compilations like GU) and still don't get to spin even on monthly basis...

-commie

[Guest pod]

Hi Pod. What did you mean by performance engineering? This is the first time I am hearing this term. Do you mean remixing? And could you explain more about what you meant about breaking it down to it's basic elements? I know this is getting off-topic but you made some interesting comments. Thanks.

Performance engineering is a fancy term for live PA basically.

You're essentially taking your studio on the road and composing and remixing your tunes on the fly, and doing the occasional improvisational jam.

Upside? Very easy to morph your sound to what the crowd wants. They want hard and fast? No problem! Ambient? OK! It occurs to you to do a remix of "White Wedding"? Sure? Gimme the mic and I'll do vocals (owwww!) ..

Downside? Shit, that gear costs a lot of money. Yeah you can load up a laptop with every sample known to man and run it off of a mouse and keyboard, but that ain't ergonomic. Sasha's custom MAVEN controller is rumoured to be $30,000+. You can get off-the-shelf Oxygen 8 controllers for $100 on ebay, but there's limits to that sort of thing. Plus, from an audience perspective, a dude on a laptop is no fun. Gimme old-school BT with 20 synths surrounding him. A keytar too. Or a good local example, Stryke doing it too.

Other downside? Well, as one guy, you've only got so much material in you. Infusion's gone for 2 hours and they're spent material and energy-wise by then. Even they admit that anything beyond that is very hard.

It isn't like DJing where you can have shit for gear at home, and play on the hottest system known to man when you are on the road. Not to decry the art of DJing, but I see a lot of DJs right now pushing the limits of their gear. A lot of these guys have musical training and could easily jump to the next level.

Like anything though, the style will eventually sell. Most live PAs/performance engineering acts I've seen so far have been either techno, trance, or pop-dance like BT. I remember ages ago actually seeing a video by local production team Kluster, where they had a live performance of "My Love" at Nikki Beach, and it was straight-up live disco house. There's your Miami live PA, you'll have clubs booking disco-house producers to do live PAs.

In the end though I might be wrong and in 2010, clubs might still just have traditional DJs. Realistically, I see it kind of like rock-n-roll clubs are today, live band or two to open up, and then a DJ to finish the evening/morning.

[Guest swirlundergrounder]

Downside? Shit, that gear costs a lot of money. Yeah you can load up a laptop with every sample known to man and run it off of a mouse and keyboard, but that ain't ergonomic. Sasha's custom MAVEN controller is rumoured to be $30,000+. You can get off-the-shelf Oxygen 8 controllers for $100 on ebay, but there's limits to that sort of thing. Plus, from an audience perspective, a dude on a laptop is no fun. Gimme old-school BT with 20 synths surrounding him. A keytar too. Or a good local example, Stryke doing it too.

Me and Roland (of Digital Lifestyle) were having this conversation after their gig during the WMC. He was talking about loading up his new Mac with plugs ins, getting a smaller controller and leaving all the gear at home basically. They had set up a whole rack mount, a couple of keyborads and their desk top for a 45 minute jam and then break the whole thing down again. All that stuff took up the rear compartment of a Dodge Durango......Think about all the cables and shit they had to hook up etc..and their controller was the size of a Korg Trition alone...

[Guest dannydaze]

shit so to move up i need to become gay? wtf?

[Guest EddieAlexander]

Politics, Free Illegal Downloading of Music, Owners and Manageers who only care about #'s and have no sense of music, Radio Stations brainwashing the average ear, etc., etc. .....sad, but this will never end.

It is because of everything I mentioned above that the real Talented djs will never make the money they deserve and will not get the gigs they deserve.

I believe there should be a "Major League" of Djs or maybe a "Union" for djs led by today's top djs.

Whatever happened to starting off doing backyard parties, weddings, quinces and then venturing out to the clubs when you are ready? A baseball player is not going to play for the Marlins because he knows the owner and manager. He wont play until he's been scouted and labeled as prepared for the majors.

I believe the same should be applied to djs.

Today's "djs" have it easy - Free Music, cheap equipment, and club owners who dont care. They work for pennies and for the party. The CONSIDERATION for the true talented dj has gone down the toilet.

Current Dj cons:

1. Free Music

2. Bad Club Owners & Managers

3. Politics

4. Radio

5. Bedroom / Studio made Demo CD's

Overall: The true VALUE of the real dj has dropped dramatically, since music has been available the way it has. I bet everything we have mentioned in this thread would not be here today if we had to go and pay $9.99 for that hot house import record and $5.99 for that new Hip Hop record. Look at whats happened to the record stores, they are closing and no one cares.

To all hardworking djs: Just keep rocking it day in day out opportunities will arrise and i believe soon enough owners, promoters, etc. will realize who is real and who isnt. Till then lets hold off through this bad storm of politics and BS and keep doing what we do best.

[Guest coach]

Jeez, here we go again. Yeah, it IS all about who you know. So, if you are not getting the gigs you think you should, get out and meet people. It is just that simple. It ain't easy. It takes work and it takes lots of time. But that is true of any career.

Did you know that 75% of ALL jobs are gotten through networking NOT through your "resume" (whether that be a sheet of paper or a demo cd)?