Djing isn't Easy or for Everyone

DJing, remixing and/or producing isn’t for everyone. We’ve gone from a time when masters of the turntables like Chuck Davis of Shreveport, Rob Vaughan and DJ Red Eye of Dallas and other artists with fingertips and ears that seemingly possessed mutant powers are making way for more and more microwave DJs built upon flash and bullshit. Let’s be honest, most of these people suck. A programmed mixset is pretty lame; however, if you want to enjoy playing with the tunes you dig and getting your groove on, you might just discover some real talent, even if you need a Camelot wheel or automatic looper to get started.

You can have a blast playing “DJ” at home or at parties without insulting the true masters of the art that I grew up loving in the late 80s and early 90s. There’s only one Rob Vaughan, so play, have fun, and be thankful that you can get started with DJ dress-up games for under a few hundred dollars in an era where we can look back to all those truly talented people who came before us for ideas and inspiration. Take it from me, a guy with almost no talent when it comes to producing or mixing who has had more than a few remixes hit well over 100,000 downloads and one compilation (“It’s Britney, Mixed!”) came close to 2 million downloads, be humble and learn as much as you can. Remember, knowing what sounds good together and getting off on your own tunes isn’t the same as being a DJ. The greats (hell, even the really good DJs) are in a class on their own.

There are tons of great resources if you really want to learn to beat match.

This is a great book (free online) by the folks at Mixed In Key software (Wikipedia entry):

http://www.mixedinkey.com/Book/

They do a super job of explaining the structure of dance music. Obviously, if you are an intuitive mixer, much of this is material that you don’t need to read because you already feel the sounds. If on the other hand, you want to get into performing in clubs or even small parties, it is a great place to start to understand the mechanics behind proper mixing of tracks. It takes a lot more than just matching of the BPM and key to get a proper groove going.

Google can be your friend, just remember that all advice isn’t created equally.

Enjoy your mixing adventures!

E

PS - long since gone, “It’s Britney, Mixed!” was a ton of fun to be involved with way back in 2009. You can still find the RAR file floating around the torrents. The track listing is here. I organized it with World Famous Audio Hacker (who really did the bulk of the work from my initial ideas) and we were fortunate enough to be joined by some really talented people, BUT that still does-not-a-producer-or-remixer-make me.

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