How to Become a Successful DJ
Being a DJ is a remarkable profession that brings pleasure to millions of people around the world.
The absolute feeling of euphoria you get when a set goes well and the crowd response is hard to match anywhere.
As someone with years of experience in the profession I am going to show you my very own formula of success.
If you are serious about making it you need to be sure and read every word of this article.
For me being a DJ was almost an inevitable outcome of my upbringing.
Surrounded by music especially reggae from an early age I always showed an interest and aptitude for collecting and playing music in a way that other people appreciated.
It was around the age of 18 that I began to explore the idea of becoming a professional a DJ.
After 20 years in the game I can tell you have loved every minute of my time and want to pass on the advice I would give to anyone wishing to get started.
Choosing The Music You Play - Musical tastes are so personal and choosing the styles of music you want to play at an early stage in your career is essential.
Really there are two factors to consider here; 1) Is there a viable market for your genre of choice? What I mean is this, there is no point choosing a style of music to play that pretty much everyone else hates or has never heard of.
Do not worry, you will not have to sell out, but you must incorporate a commercial element into your plans.
Otherwise you will never get any bookings or make any money.
Whilst I have my own personal musical preferences I do carry collections that reflect my style but mean I can play at certain commercial events in order to keep the money rolling in.
2) Now I am almost about to contradict myself are you ready? Whatever genres you select you must become a specialist.
Learn about the labels, artists, distributors and so on.
Become extremely knowledgeable and make sure you develop a reputation as a DJ in your genre.
I am a very well known around the world as a DJ the styles that I play.
As a result I get flown out to play at international venues everywhere.
Developing Your Skills - Being a capable DJ with good mixing skills is going to a vital component of your plans.
If you can afford it you should purchase some decks and mixer as a minimum as you will need to practice a lot.
When I started I practiced for many hours everyday and quickly became highly competent at mixing my music.
If you are going to buy equipment wait until you can afford decent stuff.
Personally I use Pioneer CDJ 800 decks and a Numark 3 channel mixer.
My whole package cost me about $1800 dollars but has paid for itself over and over.
If you need some tutorial try your local music college or even online.
There are some fantastic video tutorials online that you can watch for free to get you started.
If you search the main video websites such as YouTube you will even find whole teaching series about DJ equipment, mixing and much more.
Be Professional - No matter how skilful you are if you lack professionalism and let people down your reputation will be damaged and you will struggle.
That is why I want to stress to you the need for absolute professionalism in everything you do.
Interestingly I have discovered that the more professional I am the more seriously my clients take me.
Which is great as it actually improves the amount I can charge by quite a considerable amount as people are happy to pay for quality.
Some essential tools you will need include a diary to manage your bookings.
A booking form (you easily create this using a word processor), make sure you use these for every single booking you take and request a deposit.
Get some business cards printed and it is also a good idea to put some of your mixes online so people can hear you prior to booking.
Doing this is simply a case of opening a MySpace Music account.
That's it for now (I may write some more about this topic as I love it so much).
Everything I have written about in this feature is actually based on my own personal career and is tried and tested.
Therefore I hope you take time to apply what you have read and go on to be a successful DJ.
The absolute feeling of euphoria you get when a set goes well and the crowd response is hard to match anywhere.
As someone with years of experience in the profession I am going to show you my very own formula of success.
If you are serious about making it you need to be sure and read every word of this article.
For me being a DJ was almost an inevitable outcome of my upbringing.
Surrounded by music especially reggae from an early age I always showed an interest and aptitude for collecting and playing music in a way that other people appreciated.
It was around the age of 18 that I began to explore the idea of becoming a professional a DJ.
After 20 years in the game I can tell you have loved every minute of my time and want to pass on the advice I would give to anyone wishing to get started.
Choosing The Music You Play - Musical tastes are so personal and choosing the styles of music you want to play at an early stage in your career is essential.
Really there are two factors to consider here; 1) Is there a viable market for your genre of choice? What I mean is this, there is no point choosing a style of music to play that pretty much everyone else hates or has never heard of.
Do not worry, you will not have to sell out, but you must incorporate a commercial element into your plans.
Otherwise you will never get any bookings or make any money.
Whilst I have my own personal musical preferences I do carry collections that reflect my style but mean I can play at certain commercial events in order to keep the money rolling in.
2) Now I am almost about to contradict myself are you ready? Whatever genres you select you must become a specialist.
Learn about the labels, artists, distributors and so on.
Become extremely knowledgeable and make sure you develop a reputation as a DJ in your genre.
I am a very well known around the world as a DJ the styles that I play.
As a result I get flown out to play at international venues everywhere.
Developing Your Skills - Being a capable DJ with good mixing skills is going to a vital component of your plans.
If you can afford it you should purchase some decks and mixer as a minimum as you will need to practice a lot.
When I started I practiced for many hours everyday and quickly became highly competent at mixing my music.
If you are going to buy equipment wait until you can afford decent stuff.
Personally I use Pioneer CDJ 800 decks and a Numark 3 channel mixer.
My whole package cost me about $1800 dollars but has paid for itself over and over.
If you need some tutorial try your local music college or even online.
There are some fantastic video tutorials online that you can watch for free to get you started.
If you search the main video websites such as YouTube you will even find whole teaching series about DJ equipment, mixing and much more.
Be Professional - No matter how skilful you are if you lack professionalism and let people down your reputation will be damaged and you will struggle.
That is why I want to stress to you the need for absolute professionalism in everything you do.
Interestingly I have discovered that the more professional I am the more seriously my clients take me.
Which is great as it actually improves the amount I can charge by quite a considerable amount as people are happy to pay for quality.
Some essential tools you will need include a diary to manage your bookings.
A booking form (you easily create this using a word processor), make sure you use these for every single booking you take and request a deposit.
Get some business cards printed and it is also a good idea to put some of your mixes online so people can hear you prior to booking.
Doing this is simply a case of opening a MySpace Music account.
That's it for now (I may write some more about this topic as I love it so much).
Everything I have written about in this feature is actually based on my own personal career and is tried and tested.
Therefore I hope you take time to apply what you have read and go on to be a successful DJ.
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