DJ school (I wannabe a digital dj)

I DJed at college, and then ended up running club nights. That's it, really. If you want to do it, you just go out and do it. DJing isn't really very difficult.

unless you're scratching you never really need to touch the vinyl - even when beatmatching you can touch the spindle or platter edge of the turntable, or the record label. providing you keep your records clean and stylus in good shape you shouldn't wear out any records

i didn't mean touch in the literal sense. thanks though! i was rather too haughtily implying that i'm just not interested in using vinyl records. this might be the place for a fite over the lack of intuitive feedback when DJ-ing with digital music. in all i think i'm a bit of a digital snob, sorry :-(

Say, "alright chumpy, can I play some records at your disco then"?

It worked for me! Sometimes people actually ask you to play too! Mad! Generally a case of punting yourself about - a lot of the people I know who DJ do it @ their own club nights, but our new flatmate I think is ackshirely employed as a DJ - don't know how he got that job as I have only spoken to him TWICE EVER!!!

You totally don't need a course though. Basics = flip across a mixer... put on a record... when one record ends, put on another one! Because I don't have DeXoR or MiXoRzzZ I've nevah indulged in super- fun mixing - but I see New Boy DJ Dan does. So when he goes out I am sooooo tempted to start mixing in the Basement Jaxx and the June Brides um, possibly.

can we have a big vinyl vs cd FITE then? (or, , djing with MP3s...)

― m jemmeson, Tuesday, 16 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

there was supposed to be a <shudder> in that last bit

If you get a good crowd at your nights, or a reputation for being good, then you will eventually get the occasional employment too. Which is always a great laugh!

But if you're not at all familiar with the equipment...? Which of these is the crossfader, which switches output to the aux thingy, etc. Just going in cold like that would be a nightmare without having some familiarity, surely?

someone came to me and said you look good come and dj

Honestly Alan, people can point that out to you in about 5 minutes before you're even suposed to go on - not difficult :) The only panic stations occasions I've ever had DJ-ing was when I was absoLUTELY wasted and forgot which cd player was currently playing and tried to swap songs. SILENCE! Arrghh! Oh help! I panicked and made my friend hastily MAKE IT ALL START again. Thing is, the amount that I was wasted was slightly less than the amount everyone else was wasted so not only did they keep going but I got more cheers afterwards. People like comedy DJ moments!

Were you wearing your pink tights at the time, Ed?

Can any of the indie DJs here cut beats together like techno or house DJs? And have you tried blending bits of indie tracks as if they were club vinyl?

Man, if I were a DJ...I'd clear the floor in seconds. I'd start with Supernova, then Bon Jovi and then Sum 41. Yeah!

James, like Robbie, you are a Rock DJ.

to answer t'other Chris, no, but I do have a dream of scaring all the little indie kids one day with a lovely cut up between vastly differing songs:

KILLING IN THE NAME OF........mary jo etc etc

Any fule can DJ. Even me. Not that anyone wants me to anymore. I think it was that time I played Love Me For A Reason by Oizone. Like dancefloor anthrax. I like 'touching vinyl'. You should find a DJ, copy their look, kill them off and then take over. Preferably noone I know.

I attempted to mix Daft Punk's 'One More Time' with Belle and Sebastian's 'Electronic Renaissance' with worryingly limited results. However, I can match beats and scratch if necessary, but when you're an indie DJ there's never really much point. Instead you have to leave respectful Radio 2 pauses between records.

Dancefloor anthrax in that my crazed dancing certainly made me look like I was thrashing out my last few seconds remaining of life... I do like the "breather and pause" between some records - you can choose to storm off as SOON as Spearmint are played for example, but yr DJs @ Trash manage to have a full on non-stop indie punXoR thing going all night - which is ace. Except for when they TEASE with the start of "Temptation" but instead of playing the record just use the beats to intro and then play something ELSE, curses!! However, Eye of the Tiger mixed with Skee-Lo was the best thing I've EVAH heard and if anyone could source me a copy I'd WUV EM 4evah and evah and never to part, hem hem.

I djed last night here in college for the first time ever. It was good fun and pretty easy cos I had my friend Stephen with me, soon surely to have a role in ILE supporting cast. We mixed Primal Scream Loaded with Chemical Brothers Let Forever Be, which was cool, and David Holmes 69 Police with Mos Def and Talib Kweli. It all went really well, except for Lift to Experience which seemed to annoy people. Leftfield Afrika Shox also mixed very well with something but I forget what. I was a bit drunk see.

A friend of mine DJd at the club where I wanted to do it, and he let me know when there was an opening. I made the owners a demo tape, but I later heard they didn't even listen to it, they just hired me on my friend's recomendation.

Just get 3 record players and play a different record on each deck. Walk off. None of that mixing stuff! I have a secret desire to be avant garde.

I had a bad dream last night that I was djing for the first time ever at someone's birthday party and had no idea how the equipment worked, so I asked my friend Gavin who djs every week but he didn't seem too interested.

I also realised that I had no good records with me, and then the girl whose birthday it was told me to 'play some FUCKING records'. I was not a happy bunny.

If anyone ever does ask me to dj, I hope that the results will be better. In most people's opinion I will still have no good records with me.

I started DJing when I was around 2 years old. I was late in developing walking skills and potty training, but I had no problem stumbling over to the record player and putting the needle on a song I liked.

I can't beatmatch to save my life (not that I've tried seriously, but based on my brief experimentation it'd take a miracle to make me anything less than abysmal at it), but djing without beatmatching is easy, like everyone else says. If you're only using cds and no vinyl, it's even easier, because you don't have to worry about switching between line and phono or cuing vinyl and you won't really have to worry about volume levels varying because cds should be normalised, you just have to push pause/play and move the crossfader and that's it.

If you know someone who runs a club night, beg them for an early slot before there are many paying customers there, get them to spend thirty seconds before the set telling you what's what and the first ten minutes of your set watching you in case you need more instructions.

Though I'm not exactly k-rad elite superstar dj myself or anything, heh. I get scared I'll screw up even though it'd be quite difficult (although playing Aphex Twin when v pissed was a bad idea: it sounded like it was playing at about 3000 times the normal speed even though it wasn't, and I got really confused), plus I have no knack for selecting appropriate records and nobody else in the world wants to hear any records I own, let alone dance to them. But the actual working-the-equipment bit is fine as long as nobody expects fancy turntablism or beatmatching.

dude you gotta scracth!

Bit late, but this thread has convinced me to open a club night of my own. I have been umming and ahhing about it for a few weeks, but now my decision has been made.

Thank you for asking the question Alan, and thanks to all those who replied.

Be sure and post the details here!!

me and ed set up our own night. that is the best way to ensure you play whenever you want!

the first step: buy some decks and soemthing to mix them with the second: buy some music

maybe you need to think about what you perceive as djing? what IS djing? if you want to beatmatch, then i cant imagine doing that digitally, although if its got a steady 4/4 then apparently its easier.

dont do a 'course'. just for your credibility. this is your most useful skill, to be credible. DON'T say 'i learnt at dj school'. DO say 'i was there in '72/'86'/'93/'01 (delete as appropriate).i've got x (classic tune) on promo on x recordings(label with cool logo), from x (who produced it) when he was selling it out the back of his vw camper van. i learned to mix on record players i found in a skip, one of which i push the record round with my hand. i mixed them using tape loops and bits of wire and(here go on in technical confusion style). that'll be 10000 pounds"

do try and learn to beat,match.its terribly frustrating. im sure it must be worth it in the end, but in the meantime.....aaaaaaaaarrgghh if only i had some hair to pull out.

ronan that's a great fuckin playlist. afrika shox!

Should I buy these?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3773215378&fromMakeTrack=true

not from a seller with only two feedbacks.

feedback's for suckas

go tell sonic youth.

*rimshot*

Ross DM-100 mixer: decent or shitty?