Recommendations/advice for a new DJ

akautonomics

akautonomics

Bluelighter
Joined
Nov 16, 2012
Messages
91
Location
T mothafuckin dot
So I had some lessons from my boy DJ Res1stance on how to spin house, and have recently started spinning at friends' parties. I use a software called Mixxx and also know how to use CDJ and Traktor and am planning to get a USB controller of some sort soon. So I have the technical part covered well enough, and I do have a lot of music. What I'm wondering though, is, are the genres I spin appropriate for certain situations? I really like to spin dubstep, trap, moombahton, glitch, chip, weird electro, some house (dark house, moombah house), hip hop/rap, happy hardcore, twerk. But I don't particularly get much enjoyment from spinning tech house, minimal, basic electro, drum n bass... the kind of genres that I always hear at parties and shows. Unless it's a specific act like Diplo, nobody plays moombahton and people made fun of me on 4chan for liking it. I'm in Toronto, by the way, if that makes any difference. Drum n bass seems to be the big thing right now, there are legit 3 dNb nights a week in this city. Probably more that I haven't heard about.

Anyway do you guys have any feedback about my choice of genres, and what kind of events they would be appropriate for? What about spinning a set of entirely mashups? would that be wack?

Any song suggestions (club bangers, dance worthy stuff, or chill EDM) that would appeal to the typical drug using, after-hours party scene people would be appreciated as well. Or general characteristics of music that you would like to hear at an afterhours, tracks that will make a crowd want to dance and/or vibe.

Also, for any DJs out there: do any of you use a compact USB controller, inexpensive ideally, that you would recommend? The scene is overrun with people spinning on vinyls but I don't play that shit. I care more about the quality of the mix than an obscure hipster aesthetic. I don't really need too many fancy FX, to be honest, because I don't really know how to do that stuff yet.

:3
 
In my opinion, you should focus on one genre first, create your own style. I think DJs who want to play every style they like will never master any of them.

I cannot comment on your question about equipment, because I spin Vinyl only (and quite frankly I'd recommend everyone who wants to become a DJ to start out with Vinyl, because that way you learn the basics from scratch).
 
Start with vinyl and don't use those goddamn beat matchers. And you'll need a few FX. Aeroplane mixes.

Oh and play as many styles as you like, but sooner or later you will play just 2-3 max imho.
 
lolin at vinyl.

Telling someone to start on vinyl seems about the same as telling someone who wants to learn computer programming to start on an IBM 709 flipping shit in using the switches on the front panel and watching the register lights instead of busting out Visual Studio on a Core i7 with 12gb of RAM. Or telling someone who wants to learn to drive to hop into a Model A instead of a 2010 Honda Civic.

Vinyl's are the trademark of hipster DJs imo, and pretty fuckin WACK and limiting compared to spinning using modern technology.
 
lolin at vinyl.
Click to expand...

Think of it as a user-interface rather than a medium. Just as the human nose can function as a very sensitive chemo-detector for some compounds, intuitive, real-time manipulation of playback can be quite useful. I will agree, however, that contemporary tools allow for new possibilities in live mixing (blurring the very line between mixing and production). The problem is that most DJs are using new technology to automate old techniques instead.

ebola
 
Well then go for a CD/Vinyl set-up, CD's have all the technology, chuck in a mixer with effects and you have more than enough. because before you know it. Robots will be DJ-ing if people start using programmes/pre-played sets. That'll be next, say in 10 years, DJ turns up turns his cpu on and then does sod all for 2 hours.
Anyone who uses beat-matching programmes needs shooting.

At least learn the basics `!
 
my advice would be to look inwards for answers to these questions. who are you? what kind of dj do you want to be?

alasdair
 
yea im with the few that are sayin start with vinyl. it gives you the power of touching the music and actually feeling how beatmatching (mixing) works. plus if you are rythmically challenged it makes you get better because you dont have a display to look at and check bpm. i guess its hipster today but i love vinyl, the sound, the history...but one thing that sucks is the size. if you are spinning for a 2 hour period and want to do an intense mix say on like 3 tables or something you need a lot of wax. and it aint light when you talking a hundred 12" in a metal road case. where with cds you can walk into the gig with a tiny book of cd's...plus cd's dont skip much. if you are really slammig the place with bass then anything can skip, but cd skip is far less didasterous than vinyl.

and do what you like. obviously if you love spinning house and hard dnb its not like you are going to be switching from 120bpm tunes to 180. you can do 90 to 180 for intrevals like with a lot of dubstep/dnb stuff. but if you have a certain style in mind listen to as much as possible and hear how each artist does things.

but make your own style, still to this day dieselboy is one of my fav dj's. i know he is pretty mainstream at this point but his mixing is just so technically great. the live at beta mix is 3 cdj's and mixer, thats it. no traktor, no laptop. and besides a few others its one of the most technically impressive mixes ive heard. imo.
 
I'm also with everyone suggesting vinyl. I have noticed personally that using controllers, etc I get lost in the visual aspect of things and don't listen the way I should. The alternative that I would recommend is Serato Scratch on 1200's. I say this due to its simplicity. No sync button, etc. I recommend as old a version as you can find, and keep the laptop off to the side as opposed to in front of you. Keep it really simple and that's how you become a solid dj. You need a good foundation before you build any kind of crazy technical stuff on top of it.

:D
 
^ your hard on for me is cute but i mean what i say.

if the op wants to become a middle-of-the-road, unremarkable clone of every other bedroom dj out there, he should make these kinds of decisions based on the advice of strangers and try to make everybody happy by pandering to the suggestions of a bunch of internet strangers (suggestions which, as with everything, say so much more about the subject than the object).

what kind of dj needs help choosing a genre? that question is rhetorical.

alasdair
 
Last edited:
vinyl is great and all but it's not necessary to learn the basics of mixing. learning to mix with vinyl makes you pay close attention to the music so it can help you in that regard. record your mixes as often as you can and listen to them. if you're a lover of edm, you should be your own critic. play what you love. and above all, practice practice practice.
 
Memorize your music collection inside and out. A good DJ can time everything in the tracks they play.

Having a basic understanding of music theory is important if you want to mix in key, something that sets a good DJ apart from a great DJ.

You aren't a DJ until you can mix with your eyes closed.
 
Last edited:
I feel whats most important is finding your own preferences on mixing/mashing/layering or whatever techniques you decide to use, and perfecting them. I've seen killer sets done on vinyl where i've seen sets just as good, if not better, when done on ableton (no beatmatching, just sound layering and such), or on CDs. If you want to be successful, it's more about showmanship than pure "beatmatching" ability and skill. In my opinion, it's about how your "live experience" separates yourself from everyone else. Are you simply just transitioning from A to B and playing what has been played a million times before, or are you taking what has been played and making it into your own unique "one-of-a-kind" experience that is only heard at your live shows?

Take a guy like a local bar DJ beatmatching from track A into track B. While many of the songs he plays may be absolute bangers, it gets uninteresting real fast as they are simply transitioning from one song to another without any variation and it gets predictable and just boring. Then you have a guy like Bassnectar who is running a couple Midi Controllers through Ableton, he does little to no beatmatching and takes a hundred or so samples and loops and throws them all together to seamlessly fit into one unique experience during his live shows, making many of the songs you previously heard and turning them into his own unique edit or creation. Sure you here a lot of these over and over at his shows, but they are his songs and few times you will here some other artist play that same version. Probably why the guy sells more tickets than any other electronic artist out there.

Basically, try out a bunch of methods on your own and figure out what you like and what you don't. Learning many different methods can make you really flexible and can give you the ability to infuse elements from all these styles of performing into your own mold. Learn to make your set unique and something other than just pressing play and letting a track run for 2 or so minutes before mixing into another one. do this by setting up your own sample/beat loop libraries and editing/remixing your tracks into something that is your own. Try producing your own tracks even (you will have to do so if you ever want to become top of the world status). Learn how your tracks work with one another. And, if you have to, make your own transitions to be able to have smoother transitions through tracks with different keys or BPMs (Nothing sounds worse than a poorly executed transition IMO). As far as genre goes, don't lock yourself into one specific genre because you want to be flexible. By appropriately changing styles and BPMs, it keeps the crowd on edge. When done properly, the crowd will go absolutely ape shit when you perfectly set up a transition into something completely unexpected. Finally, have fun and just feel what you are doing. I personally love watching a guy lose his mind over his sets as it shows that he is enjoying what he is doing. Even if I don't like the style of music that much, the energy that person brings can be the difference over whether or not I rage for 90 minutes or just chill out and focus on other things. Energy is contageous. Nothing is worse than watching a guy glued into his laptop screen showing no emotion to his sets.

Overall, just practice and have fun. Don't be discouraged if you are a little off at first. Practice hours and hours each day, and just keep your head up. What you get out of something depends on what you put into it. Also, record and post some stuff up on something like soundcloud so we can hear it. I am always down to listen to something new and see what other people are doing.
 
Last edited:
The scene is overrun with people spinning on vinyls but I don't play that shit. I care more about the quality of the mix than an obscure hipster aesthetic.
Click to expand...

Its amazing how things have changed (or haven't) in the last ten years. I guess there IS a disconnect between what was the roots of DJing and has now become a sort of backtreading fad amongst the recently 'cool.'

Either way vinyl is awesome, bulky, heavy, and expensive. That's why there was a move to ditch it.

...

Its more about the fact of beatmatching with vinyl is a skill than anything else. There is a sort of cultural background to the whole thing where a lot of people still think if you aren't mixing with vinyl it isn't DJing. That has a lot to do with House and having a big club mixer with Rotaries and the "quest for the perfect sound."

I suppose drum and bass still has a lot of roots in vinyl as well. Hip hop maybe.

I was watching some old videos of Sven Vath mixing with vinyl and really he's not doing a whole hell of a lot. But that's the genius of it really. I don't think I've seen anyone with better track selection, or the ability to work a booth like he does.
 
alasdairm said:
^ your hard on for me is cute but i mean what i say.

if the op wants to become a middle-of-the-road, unremarkable clone of every other bedroom dj out there, he should make these kinds of decisions based on the advice of strangers and try to make everybody happy by pandering to the suggestions of a bunch of internet strangers (suggestions which, as with everything, say so much more about the subject than the object).

what kind of dj needs help choosing a genre? that question is rhetorical.

alasdair
Click to expand...

OP has a vagoo, not a penis. (and a very delicious one I might add)

As for why she needs help with genres...well, the scene she (we...I'm her technical guy/sound guy/organizer/etc) likes is one that trends towards house, hardcore, dubstep, dnb, etc. But OP has a bit of a fixation on twerk, moombah, hip-hop, as well as hipster shit.

So OP gets mehr that a room full of hipster lesbians and MDMA munching raver kids don't take well to a raunchy rasta voice spewing misogynistic nonsense over a bunch of sirens and whistles. But she also dislikes the actual people and environment that take well to it.

Here are some of her sets.
Dubstep
http://www.mixcloud.com/vladmirlenin/swag/
House
http://www.mixcloud.com/vladmirlenin/any-house-dawgs-in-da-house/
Moombahton
http://www.mixcloud.com/vladmirlenin/moombahton-hart-house/
 
Do you guys only have 1 room parties or something? In a city like Toronto I would imagine there are raves with 3+ rooms that cater to all genre’s as there is in NYC.

OP, as long as you can mix them then play the tracks that you enjoy no matter what genre. Nothing sucks more than a DJ that half asses their set because they only half enjoy the music they are playing. Most importantly though is that you ultimately need to learn how to read your crowd and the only way you can learn that is to just start playing out. A lot of this depends on the DJ's that are playing before you also. If they were all playing hardcore and the crowd was into it then you come on playing some avicii shit then you might clear the floor and have an angry promoter. If you can't read a crowd then don't expect to get very far.

If you really want to learn i would advise befriending successful DJ's and spending as much time with them as possible when they play. That will give you a chance to learn the ins and outs and will also give you insight to the local scene politics, something that generally plays a huge role unfortunately.
 
Last edited:
I want to give a nod to dieselboy for sure, live at beta was dope, real old fashioned DJing. My boy Res1stance would be proud. And another thing I liked was the suggestion to memorize my music collection. I have been working on that, making notes for each song where the drops are and stuff.

Northern Lights: great advice. I have seen bassnectar live and he is hella dope. I tried doing a little remix yesterday (I was playing a dubstep remix of HellYeahFuckinRight by drake, and mixed in "I guess I got my swagga back" from Datsik & Excision's Swagga over the track. It sounded epic. It was my first try doing something like that and I felt really happy with it and want to do more. I got Ableton and am going to try producing something soon. I am also going to use intros from rap songs as little vocal samples over tracks, and the voice of Dr Julius (my immunology prof) from my recorded lectures saying stuff like "Are the T cells GOING to BLAST?" just before a drop. I think it will be unique and cool.

Thanks y'all for all the advice, if you have any specific recommendations for tracks, link me or send an mp3 to [email protected] <3 Peace
 
rangrz said:
lolin at vinyl.

Telling someone to start on vinyl seems about the same as telling someone who wants to learn computer programming to start on an IBM 709 flipping shit in using the switches on the front panel and watching the register lights instead of busting out Visual Studio on a Core i7 with 12gb of RAM. Or telling someone who wants to learn to drive to hop into a Model A instead of a 2010 Honda Civic.

Vinyl's are the trademark of hipster DJs imo, and pretty fuckin WACK and limiting compared to spinning using modern technology.
Click to expand...
you might be smart when it comes to science, but you obviously don't know shit about DJing. please gtfo.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top