How did you learn how to DJ?

[eggssell]

hey...

ive always had a love for music and making unmixed mixtapes, always keeping in mind the feel of the mixxx and how the tracks go from one to the other. i then watched a lot of vids (ztrips how to party rock on the second disc of the scratch vid, roc raida's how to party rock, dj shortees dj 101, and a lot of the ellaskins stuff) even before i got my decks.

then i just jumped right in.

EDIT: stuff cut out

but i think after even all that, i learnt more tonight than i did in a month (i was never a good student). i had a mate come over today who spins and just the act of watching someone else, even better if you can listen in on a set of headphones, and the ultimate if they talk you thru it. he saw that i was actually quite good at getting the beats matched very quickly, but he pointed out that i was dropping it in at the wrong point. and its not dropping it on the 1, i had that covered i was just not paying attention to the song signature, i.e not just the four beats but the bars. so i'd drop on the 1, but might be doing at bar 2 or 3 or 4 (i guess 3 is do-able...) which meant unless i was gonna cut over after one bar it would eventually go out (yeah yeah basics for all you musos, im a newb and prob even getting terminology wrong....

so yeah seeing people up close really helps (so get those you tubes up pros!)

we were spinning a lot of house tracks tonight which i think helped too. by no means am i saying mixing house is easy, I mean just cuz you can beat match it don’t mean what your doing sounds good, but the ability to really play the pitch and the long intros made it easier to learn

[eggssell]

EDIT: edited both my last posts as i realised the topic was how did you learn not how do you dj. ha ha.

thanks god for these flameless forums, elsewhere id be charcoal chicken by now!

peace love and mung beans

(then again y'all prob asleep)

[Cupe]

we'll keep this place flameless as long as possible

[pill]

but i think after even all that, i learnt more tonight than i did in a month (i was never a good student). i had a mate come over today who spins and just the act of watching someone else, even better if you can listen in on a set of headphones, and the ultimate if they talk you thru it.

Alot of this stuff is hard to learn hey. I learnt the basics of mixing from some dudes at my uni called EMAS (electronic music appreciation society - quite original), who did dj lessons. After learning the theory of it, it became alot easier...

alot is theory, alot is practice, and that's where those DJ school things come along well because they cover most of it.

[DjDennis]

i started readin lots from recess.co.uk. same guy went on to write the dj'ing for dummies book, was a great website to start from.

then just reading forums and practicing at home

I have known John for years

he wrote the book Djing for Dummies

so if you need to buy a copy then get in before he makes #2 (out when hes done)

plus the book is more for Club Djs he also talks about mobile Djing

[SourceRaver]

I walked out of an expensive 12 week Dj course with a bit of paper saying I could Dj. It wasnt worth s__t! It took me another year to learn how to beat match and mix properly. I also learnt a heck of a lot from the above mentioned web site and think its a great resource for beginner Djs. I also think 'Ellaskins' on You Tube is providing a great service with all his Dj tutorials.

I think the best way to learn is to stock your fridge full of beer and invite an experienced Dj over to show you how to mix. Practise a lot and them invite him/her back over for a back to back session. Its amazing how a little bit of preassure can force you to improve your skills quickly. You can teach yourself to DJ but taking this approach makes the process a whole lot faster!

[DjDennis]

I think the best way to learn is to stock your fridge full of beer and invite an experienced Dj over to show you how to mix. Practise a lot and them invite him/her back over for a back to back session. Its amazing how a little bit of preassure can force you to improve your skills quickly. You can teach yourself to DJ but taking this approach makes the process a whole lot faster!

But you talking about Club djing ? or Mobile Djing

see there is a LOT of difference to do from doing clubs to working a engagement or wedding on the road

Clubs your always in the one place 99.999% of the time unless they move

but mobile djing is a whole new bag some club djs have no idea how to do a wedding and even a wedding dj has no idea how to work in a club

anyway as what you said practice , thats the best thing to do - learn till you think you cant learn anymore and then go back out and learn MORE!!

have a great 2010

[LabRat]

i started at 12 at my sisters Halloween party back in primary school. me and my mate at the time said we'd be the dj's. having NO idea what to do, i grabbed myself 2 mini HiFi systems and had them goin. one track just cued up with the pause button while the other was playing.

after that i decided i wanted to start mixing like the pro's lol

i managed to scam a copy of Virtual DJ off my mate in yr8 and started learning how to beat match. because i never had any money for decks and dad wasnt too thrilled of the idea (being a musician himself, he didnt understand why i wanted to go down this path... i was playing music at the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts and a few jazz bands at the time too).

so after on and off time playing around with Virtual DJ, i got my my first gig at 16 at my high school dinner dance (gotta start somewhere lol). i wasnt too thrilled with it at first because i didnt have any decks and i didnt feel like a dj using a computer... but none the less, i played it anyways.

had an AWESOME time and shortly after i got myself my first set up. 2x Denon Dn-s1000 Cd players and a Denon Dn-x100 Mixer. that came as a bundle with a UDG carry bag. after another year went by of learning the new ways of djing i got myself 2 more gigs. both at my high school still as i didnt think i was ready for the "big time". the first gig went past and that felt just as awesome as the last. so i went out and got myself 2x Stanton ST150's in some battle pack promotion that The DJ Factory had (perth peeps will know this one). learnt how to spin vinyl and went out and played the other gig and i was hooked from then on.

since high school (currently 19) i just been making mix tapes and sending them around on forums n stuff. nothing really serious as of yet. i tried when i was 17 but i had my age against me. went on a 2 year break after losing motivation but have bounced back!

thats my story. sorry for the D&M lol

[Buck_Choi]

haha good story spitfire ! i like haha im currently in yr 12 (16 year's of age) lets see where it takes me

[LabRat]

oh yeh tru. year 12 is a good schoo year lol

what sorta style yo play?

[Buck_Choi]

havent really played much.. as much as i wanted too. because of school and all because i know if i started playing properly i would get hooked and im stuffed at school LOL i usually just play dance/hardstyle/trance all that type of music, its all good whatever with a good beat im down.

[RhemyD]

Spitfire your story sound almost word for word mine!

Started back in 2004 when I was in year 10. Had been doing music since forever, being a singer principally and a little bit of an all rounder with everything else. Met a guy who drummed in this jazz invitation choir I was in who wanted someone to cover a gig he was doing (we both had no idea). I went to this 50th and played music from 4 sources, his 2 CDJ100's my iPod and my laptop playing iTunes. Dodgiest shit I have ever done.

didnt really do much more from there untill end of 2006 when I got my hands on Virtual DJ but unfortunatly couldnt use it as I joined the Air Force and went to ADFA for 8 months a couple of months later. Quit defence and came back and worked for a local mobile company for a while untill i got sick of thier shit and went out on my own. All the way through this been learning from online videos, reading anything I could and just absorbing info from forums.

You continue to learn right the way through, I've just gained a mentor myself and am now learning all new advanced techniques from an ex Brisbane DJ with 20 years + behind him.

Best advice is to learn form everywhere you do/go. Best experience is always gained from actually performing although I do rate the idea of Fridge full of beer and a decent DJ to teach.

[LabRat]

RhemyD - yeh i found the best learning experience was playing live. its completely different to just spinning tunes at home. same thing but that atmosphere really takes over and takes the "technical-dj-within", away.

Buck_Choi - i started playing techno (like all that Skitzmix stuff) and then moved into hardstyle, which i played for a while. got into gabba and schranz (or hard techno / industrial techno... whatever people call it these days) but then figured i had to stop all that if i wanted to play out. so mixed trance and all the slower stuff. could never get into house tho. i find that annoying lol

[eggssell]

resurrection....

as i mentioned in the 1000 member thread me and my mates had a smash last night on the decks in celebration (well it may have been planned before that, but i tapped a bottle of CC in recognition)

anywhos, the reason for bringing back this old gem was +1 to my own post above, in that i think having an experienced dj to kick it around with can make you jump bigger steps in your learning. ive only touched the decks twice in the last two months, and while i think my beatmatching and phrase matching was getting better, last night i was hitting some good ones, including doing quick cut mixes.

its good from an affirmation point of view (feels awesome when the crew scream "miixxxx" when you get an awesome transition, or even better when you get the hands in the air "wooooooo" ); from a seeing something they do and you try to follow it; to straight out getting advice and tips on the spot.

we were all over the shop doing like 3 songs then swap, and spanned from house to booty tech to baile to electro staright up to vocal house. he even grabbed the short acapella rap spank rock mc does on the bangers & cash ep and scratched it up over this funk house track, in particular allowing the "balls" part to keep dropping.

anywho just saying again i think each of these seshs equals about 2 months of me on my own learning.

EIDT: while i was hitting some good ones i also had just as many train wrecks, stopping the turntable with the playing track! quick cut to a song without ensuring gains were right! and just straight out shit beatmatching

[lloydc]

^ sounds like you were having a crap load of fun with it, and thats what it's all about.

In answer to the OP, I'm pretty much self taught. I've never had lessons, i've basically just learnt from gathering information.

I've purchased books, which really just confirmed what I already knew. Tutorial videos had never really done much for me, so it was basically trial and error.

That said, watching live sets like on dance trippin helped me along a bit cause you can actually see what the pros are doing, and also how crowds react to certain songs.

Song selection is something I still struggle with

[Funky_Steve]

Track selection is probably one of the toughest skills to learn. I'd say it comes with experience and lots of trial and error.

Coming from a mobile DJ background it's ALL about song selection. You have to be able to read the crowd and know what will or won't work in so many different situations. And of course ever gig has it's own challenges.

Club work is very different. You usually have most of the same crowd each week, so you should have a good idea of what works and what doesn't.

[lloydc]

My trouble is, I only know what I like LOL

[DjDennis]

By the way when I started (learnt djing)

I ended up buying the company

[callmeyo]

did a complete skills course at dj warehouse. yes i did spend that ridiculous amount of cash. but i dont regret it. know my ins and outs. the rest im learning from you guys x

[DJ_Shiver]

youtube was the way for me, and ADJF, still a bit scratchy on some areas but getting there

[LabRat]

youtube was the way for me, and ADJF, still a bit scratchy on some areas but getting there

it takes time. commit and you'll be fine

[DJ_Shiver]

yea i am persisting. playing at a couple of house parties where there isn't so much pressure, and just having a good time. which is what DJing is all about \:D/.... and the free beer you get from playing in clubs

[ruggs]

ellaskins, hands on and just being in a club and staring at the dj watching him...funnily enough i dj with most of the guys i used to watch at the club and dj where i used to go and drink at lol..i usually try go to a club once a week (usually drive in) and just watch the dj and also listen to the songs they play and watch the crowd it works a treat

[J0rdz]

Purely self taught.

Good mate threw me his old setup - a really really bad American audio Mixer and turntable combo. I started to buy records and practiced my ass off. Few years later I purchased my own set-up and have never looked back

Basic beat mixing really isnt that hard to learn. Once you have that down everything else comes pretty easily.

[Danny-J]

old tape deck and one turntable!! use to mix in and out of the tape that was playing....oldskool huh??haha...but that was my first way of mixing with what i had