How Did You Learn DJing?

[Nicadraus]

I was in a band, we split up - I put my amp and guitar on ebay and got an e-mail from a chap in Essex saying he's swamp a pair of deck, a mixer, some speakers and vinyl.... I bought some more records and taught myself to mix.

In fact I started playing gigs before I could even beatmatch. That came later. I guess I learned half of what i know on stage...

Interesting story. Good for you!

[Coldfuzion]

Taught myself off the forums.

I learned / understood the concept of Beatmatching from our very own JesC and Charles Feelgood who used to run the Orange County DJTT store. This is me learning from them.

[IMG]

[wongaling]

taught myself and watched a couple youtube videos. I think the main thing is just practice and if something works put it in your mental bank of cool dj things and if it sucks either forget it or tweak it till it sounds good.

[brian_johnstone]

like others have said i pretty much taught myself, have friends that dj and asked them for advice, had a half hour beatmatching lesson and away i went. i honestly have learned most of the technical stuff from here, this forum should be in any beginners dj guide.

[Dj_4-$hure]

Taught myself off the forums.

I learned / understood the concept of Beatmatching from our very own JesC and Charles Feelgood who used to run the Orange County DJTT store. This is me learning from them.

[IMG]

Where in Oc is this?

[photojojo]

It closed

[Complex.ity]

Still very new, but learned beatmatching and all the basics on my own with just trial and error, but my buddy taught me all the technical aspects and picking out and curing the flaws I had. This was all in 1 night too. Was in shock on how much more there was to beatmatching!

[Luconia]

My noob story will bore you to death..

I started to have an interest in the whole mixing thing way back in 2006. I've listened to enough radioshows such as ASOT & PvD mixed CDs along the way & the transition to the next track fascinates me.
So i made a research, read a lot from various sites & forums on how it was done. So i tried using Ableton ver 5, Youtube plus forum tutorial on how to warp tracks & align them so that they transition seamlessly...it works, but still have to do a lot of the 'studio' work of just mixing 2 tracks together. Stumbled upon VDJ ver 4 & tried that thing coz it resembles more like a traditional dj setup, only in software..it does not make any sense, especially when thinking of grabbing the vinyl by mouse/touchpad! finally get the hang of it 4 months later. Used VDJ4 as it is without any controllers (at that time items related to dj gear is almost non existent locally at my place, only can be bought online...which i never have the nerve to do back then due to the stories of online scam). Nevertheless I made a lot of mixsets, podcasts, online radio mix, 10min youtube megamixes with only VDJ4/5 & the laptop touchpad....this workflow lasted me for about 2.5 years..

Finally managed to buy my very 1st dj hardware in Nov 2007, that is a Vestax PMC 07 scratch mixer from a local forum member. without any turntables or cd players the mixer was useless by itself. I kept it in the closet for 3 months. In Feb 2008 managed to get a pair of CDJ800mk2, like new & only few months old. after a few tries on connection that thing finally come to life! i was soo excited (my hands are shaking just from touching them alone...i feel like a caveman meeting something new, never saw a real dj setup up close in life) the 1st 4 hours i can barely sit trying to matching beats until i managed to nail it down! not to mention i'm losing a week of sleep

And the rest is history...nothing can beat the 1st feeling of joy even though i have upgraded & moved on...

[Liambo]

Played records as a baby - from 2 years old onwards (i have pictures and videos to prove this).

Got decks when i was 14 - Learned my music and got a deeper interest.
Got a residency - learned the basics of mixing, beatmatching and song selection there.
Got a nightclub residency - Got further in depth earned some badges and a bit of a name.
Skipped back and forth the two smaller clubs in my town until a DJ Comp.
Came second in a DJ comp (lost out by 1 mark) - progressed to the biggest residency in the town.
The head DJ fine tuned my skills (first time i had help from another person other than a book) and now got the second biggest residency in the town.

1 happy DJ.

[CryderSteez]

I bought a used macbook pro that had a copy of ableton live installed on it. After arsing about and throwing a few mashups together at a party I decided to start throwing a bit of money at some entry levl gear, a BCD3000(haha) things escalated from there and I now have my own portable sound system and the beginnings of a decent vinyl collection.

The funny thing about my rise to prominence is that I started at the absolute digital end of the spectrum and have worked backwards towards the old analog tables and a mixer standard. This is nice because I have a thorough understanding of the technology and I don't have to fight it like some old school DJ's switching to digital setups.