Rant: So You're A DJ, And...

So I was talking to a fellow DJ about how several of our other DJ friends are finding it increasingly more difficult to navigate through the current DJ climate. 10 years ago well before the saturation of laptop based DJing there was still an element of investment and experience intertwined in the whole DJ persona. You were buying vinyl and/or CDs, carting them around everywhere and you had to be more selective with your collection. You had to get paid to DJ because you had to turn around and invest money back into music.

Fast forward to more recent times. Most people have a laptop, most clubs have a Serato box or mixer or at least CDJs. A DJ basically needs to pack a laptop, headphones, needles, and control vinyl into their Headliner gig bag and they're ready for a gig. Notice I did not include experience, paying dues, technique or even their own gear sometimes.

Some of my DJ friends that have been kicking it for awhile (10-20 years) have started to come to certain realizations:

1) How long you have been spinning is in not a major factor in your value as a DJ now. I constantly get statements like "I've been spinning [insert genre] for 20 years so why am I not the go-to guy or bigger then these young cats just getting in the game". Well, if you've been at it for that long and you still haven't solidified your place and status then it's time to look at exactly what you've been doing for those 20 years. Longevity should give you confidence and experience but if you don't step your game up and follow what's currently happening in your market you become obsolete.

Nowadays with the ease of acquiring music and equipment anyone with the initial investment of a laptop can pretty much claim to be a DJ and start seeking gigs. As more clubs and bars close and new ones pop up with different owners who may not know a DJs past history or name the playing field has been somewhat leveled. I see more and more jocks making noise with only several years (if even that) under their belt getting shots at the top nightclubs becasue of their drive and affiliations. Remember the old saying "It's not WHAT you know but WHO you know".

2) Just being a DJ anymore doesn't cut it. More and more I see the frustration with veteran DJs feeling almost left behind. Back in the day all you needed was a reputation, but with the dawn of the Information Age it's easy to create an entire persona online that looks great to prospective clubs and bars even if you don't have a lot of realistic experience behind it. It leaves you battling with owners and managers saying "But I've been spinning for 12 years and I'm the best at this style" to which they counter "Yeah, but THIS guy has a slick website with cool photos and a podcast and sells swag so he must be a rockstar". Walking in with a mix CD as your demo anymore is so 2000 and late.

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of DJs that have gigs where they can just show up and do their thing and that's all good for them. Not every DJ wants to be a superstar but many also make a very simple mistake, forgetting they have a marketable product. Many of the DJs in my city including myself take advantage of every possible marketing avenue via social networking, websites, twitter, and so on. They make mass produced mix CD's (not homemade ones), they have podcasts, and have taken the steps to brand themselves as a marketable product. I have a website, Facebook, MySpace (remember that), Twitter, soundcloud and the list goes on, and I UPDATE them. Having a Facebook account you haven't updated in 3 months doesn't really help you. I do my own flyers, graphics and web development so I don't have to wait for anyone to update or facilitate my promoting.

3) I've done all I can with this DJ thing I think it's time to start making my own music. Slow down there Sparky. My usual reply to the above statement is either "Why did you wait until now" or Do you have any idea what that entails?" Anyone can buy a hammer but building something with it is a whole other story. Many of my DJ friends have gotten something like Abelton Live and have tinkered around with it, even making their own edits and mashups. Making your own edits is a definite first step towards production, and I usually do edits on 80% of the music I play either to make it more usable for my crowds or to take it up a notch and add my own production to it.

The good thing is currently, the investment financially is nothing compared to what it was when I started in the late 80's. Back then you had to buy a mixer, speakers, outboard gear for all the different types of effects and sound design, different drum machines, samplers, synthesizers and a sequencer or computer and most likely a DAT machine to bounce it down. You don't need ANY of that anymore. With the power of computers and plug-ins you can have a decent laptop replace (theoretically) all of the hardware.

But the step from edits to production is a big one. When you edit you're cutting, pasting and re-arranging a piece of audio that already exists. When you do production, you have a blank canvas. In theory, you can grab a sample or a sample CD and just take some loops and hits and call that a song, heck some of the best tracks have been a loop with some drums and a vocal (think Stardust "Music Sounds Better"). Depending on the genre of music you want to create, that may work for you. Hip hop is a very sample based genre, and some of the greatest hip hop tracks use nothing but. As a musician I find the ability to actually play opens up whole new worlds of possibilities. Again, thats not necessary, some of the biggest artists in electronic music aren't musicians (deadmau5) and plot notes on a grid or piano roll and collect checks. But even so, you need ideas, creativity, and some engineering skills. You need to know what sounds a genre uses, where to get those sounds, how to arrange the sounds from the drums to the bass and all the music. Learning automation is imperative for things like effects and filters to add some interest to even the simplest of arrangements.

I tell people one of the best ways to start producing is to grab an acapella of something they like or is popular, sync it up in their DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) and have at it. Even things like doing a mashup help you learn arranging and things like keys and harmony (something way too many mashups ignore). Production is a process that takes time and dedication. It's not a quick fix for a stale DJ career and waiting until you have a wife and kids is not the ideal time to start. That said better late then never.