Gone are the days when pursuing musical talent in the DJ industry was considered unusual. With the advent of new techniques that force the audience to rock the dance floor, the DJ industry has taken the world by storm.
The essential skills for being a DJ requires break beating, scratching, and punch phrasing. And if you want to be a part of this booming culture, this is the right place for you. We are here to fill you with the actionable tricks and hacks to make you a better DJ. Keep reading to know more.
Fuel your passion seriously – It is high time to get really serious with the passion of DJing. Hence, to begin with, you can find a corner at your home that you can permanently call yours and set up your equipment there. In this way, you don’t have to plug everything every time when you start practicing.
How can you enhance your DJing? Get to know the other DJs and watch videos and YouTube. The key part here is to practice over and over to record your sessions and also listen to them back to back so you could find out where you are lagging. It is important to create your art and look for improvement in it.
Make yourself comfortable with the DJ hardware – It is easy to just hit the buttons and dials of the hardware all at once. But it takes time to understand each little tool of the mixer and deck. Thus take a deep breath, and choose a track that you can loop for 20 minutes. Select any 1 or 2 control and check what their function is, and how they are putting the variations to the track. Once you become a pro at these 1-2 tools, learn the other ones.
Let us tell you here that there isn’t a single piece of DJ hardware that we can call perfect, so try to learn the shortfalls of your system or what shortcomings you can face while using it. In this way, you can learn about the areas of improvement and make yourself better.
Learn how to mix in keys – If you are reading this, we are sure that you must be having at least basic knowledge of the musical keys. If you don’t know, there is no running from it. This is something that you will definitely have to learn sooner or later. To make things more clear here, let us tell you that each song comes with a specific key. It means it has a root note, namely A, B, C, D, and there are many more. Each song is made on a specific scale (it can be major or minor).
The point to remember here is to mix the songs having the same note and chords. Why? Because it will sound much better. If you end up mixing the songs that have different keys or notes, you will be out-of-tune. Disk jockeys make use of the key notation systems using software that let them identify the tracks having the same or compatible keys. Hence, get along with learning how to mix in keys.
Work on edits and making the mashups – Attaining mastery over the edits and making mashups is one of the important tasks of any reputed Disk Jockey. You can take the help of various software to work on your editing skills.
Do you know that nowadays, there are many DJs who have cleared a certain level and are producers? Sometimes you get to know a famous disk jockey through their releases instead of watching them perform on DJ sets. Therefore all it requires is commitment, and the results will surely be rewarding.
Keep on top of trends – No matter if you are a wedding DJ or a nightclub DJ, you should keep on top of your trends. Well, there is no particular rule here, but try to have at least 8-10 tracks in every set.
Technology has advanced in such a way that you can get the playlists on different apps to get into some new and exciting music. There are various mixtapes uploaded daily on different platforms. By listening to different genres, you can casually land up in finding the new stuff.
Thoroughly analyze the tracks – Do you know that professional DJs can make you know the nitty-gritty of a single track? Ranging from the tempo, keys, and the bass-line drops out, they will tell you the best place to create a loop. This is the reason professional disk jockeys sound so creative and energetic.
Therefore, take out some time to listen to your tracks and properly analyze them. If you still have time, try to go through their wave-forms on the laptop. Set the cue points and the loops. Keep their structure in mind and look for the other tracks that go well with them.
Promotion is also essential – Not to mention that Djing is a freelance business, which means you will be self-employed. And it isn’t easy. You need to learn a lot of promotion hacks to get the best gigs at the best price.
There are plenty of websites out there that take a plunge to promote your mixtapes and music. Try and make the best use of them and let your music reach a wider audience.
To sum it all up
Now you are all set to take your skills to the next level. But let us tell you here that if you want to do it just for the sake of earning money or fame, stop right now. And if you are playing only one musical genre repeatedly, having the mind that you will get more gigs, then don’t go any further.
Djing is not an easy task. It demands hard work and determination. So, do it just for the love of music and let the hidden melomaniac come out from you.
Lastly, Chelsea Leyland can’t be more right when she said –
