June 11th, 2011
DJ Culture
Sometimes it makes sense to put your headphones down and consider if you're going about things the right way.
Reader DJ Possess writes: “I started teaching myself to DJ in Feb. I ‘acquired’ 1.5 terabytes of music added to the 20k+ songs I already own. I use Ableton Live, Traktor Duo 2, Akai APC40, Akai MPD32, Audio Kontrol 1, and Traktor X1. I made a website – www.djpossess.com, Facebook fan page, Yahoo! account, business cards and Lightscribe CD mixes.”
“I know how to beatmatch and mix with the software but I’m still learning Traktor because I just got it. I’ve only done one 15-minute minute guest spot gig but all this has been in four months. I may be impatient but also very unsure and at the “Now what?” stage.
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20 Comments »
June 10th, 2011
DJ Culture
by DJ Stone Crazy
A band would never play from behind a bar, so why should a DJ?
I’m not going to front. I’m a newbie to the DJ game, a newbie in his early forties. But I want to tell you what I already know: that if you get a gig in a bar, you should do everything you can to avoid being made to play from behind the bar itself. Here’s why:
A year ago, my first gigs involved me plugging my laptop into the bar’s stereo system, a system located behind the bar counter. At first, I just worked for booze. As time passed, I began receiving a percentage of bar sales. Plus I kept tips and still received free booze.
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11 Comments »
June 10th, 2011
DJ Culture
You'll be able to work happily in DJ booths alongside CDJs and record decks if you follow this commandment...
So we reach the halfway stage in our definitive 10 Commandments of Digital DJing, with a commandment that will help digital DJs to earn the respect of vinyl DJs, CD DJs and venue owners.
Today’s commandment should help to ensure that when you’re DJing in pro DJ booths, you can play your part and join in fully, and feel more confident that you can handle any situation that might get thrown at you.
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16 Comments »
June 9th, 2011
DJ Culture
A typical DJ website: DJ Nova.
Last week I dove into the world of online promotion of your brand as a DJ, but I only covered social media and email. While those mediums are handy tools, a website is an essential if you want to go further as a DJ.
You look at any serious DJ, and they have a website. Even I just finished a redesign and revision of my own website, which I’ve had for the last 11 years. You need a central point around which all your other online efforts revolve.
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11 Comments »
June 9th, 2011
DJ Culture
Does the music you play at your gigs sometimes make you want to hide out of shame? Then commandment four is for you...
If you’ve just joined us, we’re in the middle of ten days of extra posts on top of all the usual blog content, as part of our Campaign for Better Digital DJing.
We’ve distilled all our advice on how to DJ properly with digital gear into ten “commandments”, which we’re publishing over this ten days along with worksheets, web resources and videos explaining the “commandments” and showing digital DJs some things they can do to better themselves in each area.
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10 Comments »
June 8th, 2011
DJ Culture
DJing in your bedroom is only going to get you so far. Pic: Pulsar
Did you know that according to our reader survey, more than half of you classify yourselves as “bedroom DJs”? That’s great (we’ve all got to practise somewhere), as long as all that practice leads to playing real DJ sets in front of an audience. And that’s what today’s rule is all about.
As usual, we’ve got a video explaining the rule in more detail, a list of resources (both on this site and elsewhere), and today as an added bonus, we’ve got a completely free, instantly downloadable PDF worksheet to let you put what this rule is all about into action for your own DJing immediately.
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16 Comments »
June 8th, 2011
DJ Culture
iCloud: what does this mean for the way we'll DJ in the future?
Apple’s new iCloud service, which as part of its offering provides music storage in the cloud and auto-sync across all iTunes-enabled devices, looks set to revolutionise the way consumers access their music – while of course tying them in ever more to Apple.
But what will this mean for DJs? Is it likely to change the way we access, store and play our music?Does it mean that the days of having a huge hard drive, backing it up religiously, and collecting vast gigabytes of music on our home PCs and laptops will be a thing of the past? We take a look into what could be a very different future for DJs…
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40 Comments »
June 7th, 2011
DJ Culture
DJing has a long and rich history, and the smart digital DJ owes it to him or herself to learn something about it. Pic: DJ's Portal
Hundreds of you read and watch our first commandment yesterday, and your comments together with our guidelines are, we hope, going to build into the definitive manifesto for how to “do” digital DJing. By the end of this ten days, together we will have built a great knowledge base for all digital DJs to learn from, so please continue to help us by Liking each rule (if you agree with it, of course).
On that point, of course we realise that not all of these guidelines could possibly apply to all DJs in all eventualities, but we’re pretty sure the vast majority of them apply to the vast majority of our type of DJ – people just like you, digital DJs who are in it for the music and who care deeply about their craft.
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36 Comments »
June 6th, 2011
DJ Culture
Today's commandment is probably the most important rule of DJing, digital or otherwise... Pic: Dan Gines
Over the past 15 months (yes, that’s all it’s been), Digital DJ Tips has been visited by over half a million DJs! In that time you’ve left literally thousands and thousands of thoughtful comments, both on the blog and on our Twitter, Facebook and YouTube channels, and also in response to our Access All Areas club newsletters – all of which have helped us to understand exactly who you are and what you need from us.
We started Digital DJ Tips in order to help you to DJ properly with digital DJ gear (it’s at the top of every page), and thanks to all your feedback, we’ve managed to distill the most important skills needed to DJ successfully in the post-vinyl age into these “ten commandments”.
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30 Comments »
June 6th, 2011
DJ Culture
All the latest DJ news, as it happens, appears on the Digital DJ Tips Newswire.
We get sent tons and tons of DJ industry news here at Digital DJ Tips, and even though nobody publishes more articles for the digital DJ than us, we still can’t feature all the latest and greatest new products, software, training videos, updates and so on here on the main blog immediately.
So if you’re addicted to being first when it comes to DJ news, and if you’re the kind of person who checks back here multiple times a day just in case there’s something new, you will definitely be interested in our latest service to the DJ industry and to keen DJs likewise – the Digital DJ Tips Newswire.
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5 Comments »
June 5th, 2011
DJ Culture
DJing on the beach: Sometimes there's no DJ booth and you have to find a way of setting up with what's available to you. Pic: GIANLUCADJ
Reader Will writes: “So I have a question: Where do you set up when you don’t have a booth? There is no shortage of places to DJ in my town, many of which don’t know that they probably need a DJ especially on weekends.
“Problem is that these places aren’t designed with DJs in mind, some places are so small that there isn’t enough room for live music like a band. That’s where being a mobile and fully digital DJ comes in handy, because I don’t have to lug turntables around in a giant coffin case.
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21 Comments »
June 4th, 2011
DJ Culture
Virtual DJ has an effects library where you can access a whole host of effects written by its users.
Reader Utsav Lama has not one but two questions. He writes: “I am a 19-year-old club DJ from Kathmandu, Nepal. I learned about DJing with a laptop with Virtual DJ 7 and now I am using a Traktor Kontrol S4 (my father who is working in Dubai bought it for me).
“I want to ask you whether the .dll effects from Virtual DJ can be put to use in Traktor Pro 2, because I miss some of them. Also, I currently produce music with Reason 5 but I want to change, so please can you tell me which is best production software for DJ/producers?
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10 Comments »
June 3rd, 2011
DJ Culture
Looping controls on the Vestax VCI-100 Mk2: Simplicity itself, but you've still got to know what you're doing to avoid sounding rubbish.
Loops were one of our seven dirty secrets of digital DJing. Thanks to digital DJ beatgridding and beat analysing, it is possible with practically all DJ controllers to easily get high quality, beat-perfect loops up and running.
Precisely because it is this easy, many DJs severely abuse the privilege, annoying their dancefloors and ultimately failing to use the function for anything useful. So today we look at looping, why it’s a great tool, and two ways you can use it properly.
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19 Comments »
June 2nd, 2011
DJ Culture
Nowadays you have a lot of choice for promoting yourself online.
Today’s topic is probably the biggest reason why I started writing this series. From the dawn of email right up to the current age of social media, online promotion has become the single most used and effective means for DJs, promoters, and artists to market their music, mixes, and events.
Unfortunately, the flood of amateur marketing “experts” has created many annoyances. Identifying best practice and learning to avoid the rookie mistakes that over-eager and under-experienced people often make means you’ll be able to rise about 90% of DJs who try their hand at online promotion.
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17 Comments »
May 31st, 2011
DJ Culture
by John Huang
Carrying spare cables is one of the secrets that time-hardened DJs know for dealing with emergencies in the DJ booth.
The situation is all too familiar. You look out from behind the booth; everyone is having a great time. The dancefloor is packed, the music is pounding, and you are absolutely rocking the party, but then… silence.
The crowd stops and stares back at you blankly for a few seconds. Insults quickly follow: “Booo! You suck! What happened to music?!” “This DJ is lame! Let’s get out of here.” Your mind is racing and fingers are fumbling about while the room gets increasingly hostile.
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41 Comments »
May 29th, 2011
DJ Culture
Do hip hop and digital DJ controllers mix?
DJ Eye Tommy from California, USA writes: “What is your take on DJing hip hop / top 40 without vinyl? I have been digitally DJing for about six months now and I have never had the opportunity to learn on vinyl for money reasons, and because of that I use the Traktor Kontrol S4 and Traktor Pro 2.
“So I guess my question is this: I want to start playing out, but I’m worried about whether I’ll be able to with the gear I’ve got. Will I be able to play in clubs and bars with the S4 or will I be expected to use 1200s or CDJs if they are provided?”
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23 Comments »
May 27th, 2011
DJ Culture
Using simple software and this clever little visual aid, any DJ can easily mix in key.
You may have heard “mixing in key”, or “harmonic mixing”, mentioned by DJs. You may even be dimly aware of what it means – that it’s about making sure tunes match musically in order to mix them more smoothly.
But if you’ve never done this before, you may think it’s hard to do, or that if you’re not able to play a musical instrument, you’ll not be able to work out all the stuff with scales and notes that’s necessary to achieve this type of mix. Luckily, nothing could be further from the truth, and today, we’ll show you how you too can use harmonic mixing in your sets.
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60 Comments »
May 26th, 2011
DJ Culture
Street promotion is still an important element of promoting yourself as a DJ, or promoting your events.
Whether you’re just being a DJ or taking on the role of a promoter, being able to properly promote an event (or even just yourself) outside of the internet is still a necessary skill when you’re more “unknown”.
So today we’re diving into the topic of street promotion, how you can best utilise it to gain exposure as a DJ and push events where you’re playing – and what you should avoid doing.
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9 Comments »
