Forbes Article - "How Hard is DJing?"

[AllDay]

It's one of the simplest parts of DJing, and with just a little bit of practice, most people can pick it up easily. I learned in one day.

Mixing songs together so that noone can tell that your even changing the song takes ages hombre. Sure u can put the song at the same bpm and start it at an appropriate time. But getting your songs to mesh together perfectly is a skill and a half.

[BradCee]

Mixing songs together so that noone can tell that your even changing the song takes ages hombre. Sure u can put the song at the same bpm and start it at an appropriate time. But getting your songs to mesh together perfectly is a skill and a half.

+1
in a kind of ironic way, the less stuff people realise you're doing, the better you are

[tokenasianguy]

Mixing songs together so that noone can tell that your even changing the song takes ages hombre. Sure u can put the song at the same bpm and start it at an appropriate time. But getting your songs to mesh together perfectly is a skill and a half.

...Or the music you're playing is so similar and monotonous that nobody can tell, or even care.

Don't fool yourself. Mixing two tracks doesn't take that much skill...And I wouldn't call it a skill and a half.

As much as it made the OP angry to read that article, it actually makes me angry when DJ's talk about how much skill is involved with mixing two tracks of the same genre together.

When DJ's get hired, they're getting hired for the whole package, not just their ability to mix two tracks together. Image, service, salesmanship, etc are all things that matter when getting any kind of gig (or job for that matter, even if it's in a corporate office).

For clubs/Touring DJ's - It's a combination of track selection, skill, taste, and most of all, bringing a personal perspective to the table. It's about "uniqueness" and doing something different, because nobody wants to hear the same crap all the time from the same cookie cutter DJ. But how much of that is subjective? I actually stopped going out to hear DJ's because I couldn't stand everything I heard. IMO, nobody has a decent track selection in this city, except me. Case in point, everyone's opinion is like an asshole. Everyone has one and they all stink.

Mobile DJ's - The skill is still necessary, track selection isn't so important because people give you requests all night and everyone that attends a wedding is just a sheep anyway. You also have to be an AV tech of sorts, and not look like a total douche, showing up with a spread collar, cheap suit, big moustache etc. (which incidentally describes most wedding DJ's). Again, everyone's opinion stinks, but I'll be damned if you manage to convince any of them.

But don't kid yourself, it's not brain surgery, and mixing two songs isn't a skill and a half and doesn't take years to perfect. No offense, but if it takes you years to perfect "mixing" or that's what you consider "a skill and a half" you're in for a world of struggle because there's much harder things in life...And DJ'ing (even if you include manual beatmatching), doesn't come anywhere near being the most difficult, or even moderately difficult.

People pay me to DJ because they need a music expert. Someone who knows virtually every genre of music inside and out, and also knows their way around audio gear...Not because I've perfected the skill and a half of mixing two tracks of the same genre together...

I can hold my own about virtually any genre of music, from any day/age...THAT is something that takes a lifetime of work...But it's still not that hard, because it's my passion.

When DJ's specialize in only playing one genre, and only familiarizing themselves with one genre (not saying this is you because I don't know you. I'm just making a general statement), then say DJ'ing takes years of work, it makes me laugh.

[tokenasianguy]

+1
in a kind of ironic way, the less stuff people realise you're doing, the better you are

I tell that to my friend all the time.

"The better you DJ, the less people will notice".

Either that or "How many thousands of dollars of gear do we need to mix two songs together?!?!"

[BradCee]

Either that or "How many thousands of dollars of gear do we need to mix two songs together?!?!"

i dread to think how much i've spent over the years, yet my current set-up (which does more than the most expensive 2xTT & 2xCDJ set-up i've owned) only cost about £350

Don't fool yourself. Mixing two tracks doesn't take that much skill...And I wouldn't call it a skill and a half.

but is even easier to screw up

[ksandvik]

As with any other artist forms, the more unique you are in combination with how commercial you could push it, the better.

[squidot]

...Or the music you're playing is so similar and monotonous that nobody can tell, or even care.

Don't fool yourself. Mixing two tracks doesn't take that much skill...And I wouldn't call it a skill and a half.

As much as it made the OP angry to read that article, it actually makes me angry when DJ's talk about how much skill is involved with mixing two tracks of the same genre together.

When DJ's get hired, they're getting hired for the whole package, not just their ability to mix two tracks together. Image, service, salesmanship, etc are all things that matter when getting any kind of gig (or job for that matter, even if it's in a corporate office).

For clubs/Touring DJ's - It's a combination of track selection, skill, taste, and most of all, bringing a personal perspective to the table. It's about "uniqueness" and doing something different, because nobody wants to hear the same crap all the time from the same cookie cutter DJ. But how much of that is subjective? I actually stopped going out to hear DJ's because I couldn't stand everything I heard. IMO, nobody has a decent track selection in this city, except me. Case in point, everyone's opinion is like an asshole. Everyone has one and they all stink.

Mobile DJ's - The skill is still necessary, track selection isn't so important because people give you requests all night and everyone that attends a wedding is just a sheep anyway. You also have to be an AV tech of sorts, and not look like a total douche, showing up with a spread collar, cheap suit, big moustache etc. (which incidentally describes most wedding DJ's). Again, everyone's opinion stinks, but I'll be damned if you manage to convince any of them.

But don't kid yourself, it's not brain surgery, and mixing two songs isn't a skill and a half and doesn't take years to perfect. No offense, but if it takes you years to perfect "mixing" or that's what you consider "a skill and a half" you're in for a world of struggle because there's much harder things in life...And DJ'ing (even if you include manual beatmatching), doesn't come anywhere near being the most difficult, or even moderately difficult.

People pay me to DJ because they need a music expert. Someone who knows virtually every genre of music inside and out, and also knows their way around audio gear...Not because I've perfected the skill and a half of mixing two tracks of the same genre together...

I can hold my own about virtually any genre of music, from any day/age...THAT is something that takes a lifetime of work...But it's still not that hard, because it's my passion.

When DJ's specialize in only playing one genre, and only familiarizing themselves with one genre (not saying this is you because I don't know you. I'm just making a general statement), then say DJ'ing takes years of work, it makes me laugh.

ah tokenasianguy, this is still a hot button for you i see. i'm curious to hear some of your mixes. have any online?

[tokenasianguy]

ah tokenasianguy, this is still a hot button for you i see. i'm curious to hear some of your mixes. have any online?

I feel like that would just be cannon fodder.

The truth is, I don't make mixes.

I'll admit that maybe it takes a couple years to be able to play an entire live set perfectly, but mixing itself is fairly simple, especially with Traktor.

I recently taught a friend how to DJ and he had no problem pulling of decent cuts and mixes about half the time, after a couple hours of instruction.

[SirReal]

I kinda read that as the guy who paints houses commenting on a beautiful painting and saying anybody can paint, I taught my friend to paint his house in 2 hours. Sorry.

[zestoi]

yet some people at the forefront used that ease to make more complex music, like dubstep.