What does a DJ do, really?

[tito]

For a good dj 90% percent is the selection and crowd reading, the other 10 are skills, stage presence, minor stuff.

[Saoudi]

IMHO i guess thats only if you are planing to be/remain a parties dj not sure lets hear others opinions

[grazz16]

I like what everyone has said so far

A DJ listens to a lot of music and plays the correct tracks in a (hopefully) unique and creative way to create an enjoyable mood for a given party. The bad ones make people run away from the dance floor or accept the fact that "DJs suck and it's just the way it is at weddings," and good ones lead to spiritual events and can influence the development of music as a whole.

That about sums it up for me tho. Sometimes when I'm reading the forums and threads about "beatmatching vs synch" and "you're not a real DJ if you dont beatmatch manually" etc. it seems people forget that it really is 95% song selection, arrangement, and smooth mixing, after that who the hell cares!?! (btw i typed up an eloquent response to that thread the other day for like 30mins only to have the site crash and i lost the post...but whatever...this is the summary version)

[bmo]

"gets the bitches"

[DJ Abide]

IMO DJ's usually ride a dead horse down the beaten path and follow Top 40 trends, which are controlled by media corporations/moguls, and wear out already over played pop tunes because that's what the douche/douchette's on last weeks Jersey Shore were dancing to.

My musical taste had long kept me out of the mindset of wanting to DJ as I was submerged in the underground hip hop scene listening to artist like Sage Francis, Aesop Rock, Atmosphere, etc... These are not artists people would dance to, therefor I would probably not have done very well. I am hip hop. I love the elements of the life and always wanted to contribute to the progression of the lifestyle. My life had been consumed with motorcycles and most of my free time was spent riding and getting in trouble as a result (cops hate wheelies if you didn't already know). I have owned a copy of Scratch for years and it always gave me goose bumps.

After hearing Girl Talk for the first time my perspective was shifted greatly. He used songs that everyone knows and can relate to, and I honestly thought I would consider dancing if I had heard something like this played at the bar vs. the top 40 CRAP that's been shoved down my ear canal every time I enter a public establishment.

I then started my hoarding of music that I enjoyed as a child, stuff my dad would clean the house to, tracks I heard on various mixes, and in general finding material outside of the hip hop scene. NOT Top 40.

I've been sorting and sifting my iTunes library for years and picked up some controllers this summer to start learning the art of mixing them together. My plans are now to be a multi-media DJ by also making montage video's to play my tracks over and eventually including the audio from said video's as part of my mix. It's going to be something completely out of the norm and the music will be such a wide variety that everyone in attendance will appreciate some part of the night as the only genre that won't be played is country.

I think this is the direction every DJ should have taken from the get go, but in the quest to get paid peanuts and drink tickets most are content just playing the same shit on heavy rotation with very little effort to discover or introduce something out of the norm.

Fortunately I live in Chicago, a city big enough that I'll be able to find plenty of establishments with broadened horizons. I could probably find a place to play underground all night if I wanted to. But I've decided to learn it all which will allow me to drop a few of my favs from a genre of music very few people know or listen to, even though some of the material is probably the most well written poetry period.

End Rant

[BentoSan]

What a DJ does is very much in a state of transition at the moment, no longer is a DJ who just mixes out from track A to track B - your completely free to put your own spin on things. Every DJ (especially in the digital domain) is going to do something different so there really is no definitive answer to the question "what does a dj do" other than make speakers move

[BradCee]

What a DJ does is very much in a state of transition at the moment, no longer is a DJ who just mixes out from track A to track B - your completely free to put your own spin on things. Every DJ (especially in the digital domain) is going to do something different so there really is no definitive answer to the question "what does a dj do" other than make speakers move

this

think of it as performing a symphony with each track as a note or phrase in your orchestral arrangement.

[fatmandy]

All the right answers are in here

Be proud of the music coming out of the speakers, at the end of the day it is about delivering the right music at the right time to the crowd, or to no crowd, building a crowd and making it hard to leave. Always look around and see if you have people nodding along, feeling at home with your tracklist and getting pumped and energised. That is the power you hold, to influence and manipulate your audience to the vibe you are sharing. DJing is a powerful thing, done right and skillfully it can unite people from all places in life like some kind of multicultural, tribal wizardry! Learn how to cast those spells and feed off the audience, once you get them going you become their guide and your role is to amplify and inspire the party. In return they will amplify you and then you can have more fun!
When you get in the zone with the crowd and your ability to take them on a musical goodtimes quest you will be hooked.. It's a blast and rewarding in so many ways when it all comes together

Put in the time, the research, progress your skills, play many many genres and be grateful everytime you get to play out some big speakers, whether it is to 3 people or 3000 it shouldn't matter to you if you love to hear the music.

Enjoy!

[Daniboy]

All the right answers are in here

Be proud of the music coming out of the speakers, at the end of the day it is about delivering the right music at the right time to the crowd, or to no crowd, building a crowd and making it hard to leave. Always look around and see if you have people nodding along, feeling at home with your tracklist and getting pumped and energised. That is the power you hold, to influence and manipulate your audience to the vibe you are sharing. DJing is a powerful thing, done right and skillfully it can unite people from all places in life like some kind of multicultural, tribal wizardry! Learn how to cast those spells and feed off the audience, once you get them going you become their guide and your role is to amplify and inspire the party. In return they will amplify you and then you can have more fun!
When you get in the zone with the crowd and your ability to take them on a musical goodtimes quest you will be hooked.. It's a blast and rewarding in so many ways when it all comes together

Put in the time, the research, progress your skills, play many many genres and be grateful everytime you get to play out some big speakers, whether it is to 3 people or 3000 it shouldn't matter to you if you love to hear the music.

Enjoy!

^This post right here took 5 years to be crafted.

[DJAdeSands]

IMO.. Let's assume you got the music/access to music.
The most important part to being a DJ is Selection.
Don't matter on the venue, the event, the stadium.
The DJ will make a selection of what they believe will work on their audience.
Some Party DJ's can be dynamic and do this on the fly btw..
Selection is a by-product of knowing your music, knowing what you have, when to use it, and HOW to use it.
Choosing the right music at the right time for that particular audience. We provide a service to audiences to give them a great time, introduce tunes to them, and present it in such a way that they want to hear you again.
If that means playing Top 40 tracks, so be it, give them what they want, they are the ones paying you, not the club. Without people, the club would have no money to operate and pay you.
A busy dancefloor is the result of what you do, and you could be the best technical DJ in the city, but if your music is rubbish, no-one's gonna care. Knowing about beatmatching, is seriously important too. It's what makes your selection 'flow'. Although that skill is for a more discerning audience, some won't care how you mix.
I have and still hear technically shit dj's playing a serious selection and winning, with no beatmatch, with no FX, no fancy gadgets or controllers, and still get re-booked.

FX, sampling, live scratching, clever use of loops, and pushing your equipment to it's technological ends are very much advanced techniques that definitely do add class to the set tho, but I'll still say, selection is THE most important thing after electricity and the means to play your tunes.

I'd consider myself pretty technical when it comes to playing live. I like my sets to flow, generate a good vibe, and use the available technology to provide a sound that is mine. I'm useless at scratching.. so I won't do that.. occasional backspin maybe...

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