Time To Quit :(

[crumarbit]

I have a dilemma and would really appreciate some feedback / advice. I have been DJ’ing since 1993 and switched to Digital around 2004 and at the same time, I stopped playing out. I have always had ideas of getting back into things however, I am now 34 with a Wife and Child and a very demanding job.

Where I have a problem is the compulsive sourcing and downloading of tracks. I must spend half my working day 5 days a week looking for tracks that I will never use!

I guess where I am looking for help, is to see if anybody else has ever come to the decision to stop DJ'ing and figured out how to listen to music like a normal person? If so, how do you change your habits?

[keithace]

I'm 40 and have been playing since I was 20. I don't play out anymore but I do have the plans of throwing a few one off parties where I control everything. I still go out in Los Angeles when I get the chance. I have love for house music that I've never had for anything other kind of music. And like you, I have that thirst for new sounds and beats. I'll probably never lose it. I turned EXTREMELY picky in what I choose to buy now. Music is so cheap now it's really hard to not buy everything in your wishlists and hold bins. Refine your sound and style.


/ramble

[FilthyDave]

I'm 40, been DJ'ing since '97. I'm also married but my baby is the business I run with my wife (yoga studio & wellness centre). I also freelance as a sound engineer and help with the technical production of my wife's clubnight

I certainly don't get the number of gigs I used these days. Especially now I've stopped promoting my own clubnight.

But I view music as such an integral part of my life I could never give it up. I still find myself jumping about the room when I find a new track I like and immediately start wondering what it will fit with.

If I ever lose that I'll consider it time to hang up my headphones but until then it's my passion and I'm happy playing for my own enjoyment.

If people want to book me I'll never turn them down but I got into this game because of the music and wanting to share my passion with my friends not to be a superstar DJ. When I started I was playing dirty squat party Techno - it was never going to make me rich & famous!

Do you still jump about the room (or nod your head vigorously at least)? If you do what are you worried about? It's where your passion is so carry on.

What about getting into producing tunes? I know loads of people who juggle kids and demanding jobs and who still find time for writing tunes or playing gigs cos if they didn't they wouldn't know what to do with themselves.

It's in their blood and to deny themselves of it, denies part of their character

[smiTTTen]

Im 928 and have been Djing since Thor. Some of that last statement is true.

Sounds to me like you still enjoy it but are feeling pressured to keep the activity at a certain level. Let go mate. Do it as much or as little as you can and/or want. They'll be good days and bad. They'll be times where you'll feel prolific and others where 6 months have gone by and you've done next to nothing (that's where I am right now).

Play. Don't play. Just enjoy what you do - however much you do it.

[sarasin]

I have a dilemma and would really appreciate some feedback / advice. I have been DJ’ing since 1993 and switched to Digital around 2004 and at the same time, I stopped playing out. I have always had ideas of getting back into things however, I am now 34 with a Wife and Child and a very demanding job.

Where I have a problem is the compulsive sourcing and downloading of tracks. I must spend half my working day 5 days a week looking for tracks that I will never use!

I guess where I am looking for help, is to see if anybody else has ever come to the decision to stop DJ'ing and figured out how to listen to music like a normal person? If so, how do you change your habits?

+1

I retired from my original genre earlier this year, but after a really shitty gig a few months ago, I have also decided to pack it in.

I am keeping my decks and mixer and gear really, so will still play once in a while, but not out anymore.

Fuck it...

[crumarbit]

I think a lot of my trouble was downloading on Soulseek, looking back through the years to see what I had missed to build up a massive collection of top notch house and I have forgotten how to just listen, source new music and enjoy!

I haven’t played out since 2004, would love to but so much has changed, even since then! I love the music more than ever, just not the environment that comes with it. Nobody else I know is into it so I’m not even in a hard to walk away from setting.

It’s the getting my head around not DJ’ing or thinking like a DJ. It’s to get to a position that I get tracks for listening to, not to build and mix and to be honest, I am most certainly addicted to it! That is how I know I have reached a point where I should stop as it is very controlling in my life.

With regards to making tracks, my nature would mean that I would spend every opportunity I have to get on it and that is where the problem lies, my inability to control my actions when it comes to music!

[crumarbit]

Im 928 and have been Djing since Thor. Some of that last statement is true.

Sounds to me like you still enjoy it but are feeling pressured to keep the activity at a certain level. Let go mate. Do it as much or as little as you can and/or want. They'll be good days and bad. They'll be times where you'll feel prolific and others where 6 months have gone by and you've done next to nothing (that's where I am right now).

Play. Don't play. Just enjoy what you do - however much you do it.

I think i may print this post out, haha!

[smiTTTen]

go print it!

The good thing about this forum is that it's all free. I charge clients $125/ hour for my words during the day. Unfortunately, it's all that work that's precluding me from mixing... And around and around it goes...

[FilthyDave]

I am most certainly addicted to it! That is how I know I have reached a point where I should stop as it is very controlling in my life.

With regards to making tracks, my nature would mean that I would spend every opportunity I have to get on it and that is where the problem lies, my inability to control my actions when it comes to music!

The first step to dealing with a problem is recognising you have one in the first place!

But seriously providing it's not financially crippling you (maybe set a budget for each month) and you make the time for your wife and kid, where's the harm?

There are far more damaging addictions out there

Everyone has their vices. Even meditation can be classed as one if it impacts on your ability to function in the real world.

Seems to me you just need to structure things a little better time wise and know when to take a break.

Or if you want to get all pop psychology on it. Maybe this is your escape from the stresses of your life?

Why deny yourself that? A well rounded person who takes time for themselves is a better role model for your kid than someone who gave something up and spends the rest of their life bemoaning it.

You need to ask yourself if it's the music you love and you're happy with it being a hobby you do for yourself or if it's the massaged ego from performing you're missing

[tekki]

Play. Don't play. Just enjoy what you do - however much you do it.

This basically. I haven't been playing tunes for a month or maybe even longer myself, because of fiancee/kids/friends/putting a higher priority on production these days.

The frequency of playing doesn't matter, as long as you get to enjoy it when you're at it.