How Did You Learn DJing?

[Jester]

I met a tall gentleman who wore funny clothes and had a slight irish accent. He promised to teach me the fine art of the dj if i scoured the earth for this particularly rare blue flower and brought it to him.

[mostapha]

@ATX: love that story, and I'm insanely jealous. I romanticize those Ureis like woah. I'd plug my tractor setup into one if I found a used one at a decent price in half a heartbeat.

Short version: djforums.com

Long version:

I got into EDM half-seriously in high school. It was all Prodigy and Chemical Brothers and some movie soundtracks (Hackers, FTW) back then. In about 2004, I started dating this girl named Katie (no, we're not still together, and that's fine). Dating her was one of the most important parts of my life for a number of reasons, not the least of which was she convinced me to give DJing a real go. I'd been playing with some random software (the OSS project that eventually became Mixxx) for a bit but didn't really have a clue what I was doing and din't buy the right music or anything. Late in that year, I found djforums.com on a random google search and spent like 2 days straight reading, signed up for a user, and started asking questions.

I'd never been to a club at that point.

I decided, "fuck it, I've got the money," and bought a pair of 1210s from a guy that a friend knew and–after a false start with behringer–a vestax mixer that I used until 2008…and like 5 or 6 trance records. I got so fucking sick of matching those records together learning to beat match…and started building a collection.

I watched a lot of videos that Jason Cerna and Marc Stokes posted to DJF, as well as a few other people who's names I never knew. I got to the point where I could hear mixing technique in ful mixes. And I read a lot. As much as I post on forums…I probably read ten times as much. Even more back then. It was their advice and videos and trial & error…and mostly positive feedback from Katie and other friends…even when I'm sure I sucked.

Since then, my style has changed, and I've used every major form of DJing there is…vinyl, Pioneer CDJs, Ableton, Traktor, Serato, Controllers, time code, produced mixes. It's been fun.

Never took a class. Never really talked to another DJ in person about mixing until I was basically competent…nem0nic might be the only exception to that. But, we mostly talked about gear.

I guess that's about it…not as long as I expected.

[sarasin]

My mate who had been trained to mix by some club DJ taught me.

Sat me down....explained how the gear works....and got me to match beats between 2 TT's....for about 3 hours....till I could keep them matched for the whole track.

SHITTY SHITTY decks.....

Then started messing around with Virtual Turntables and my PC....then PCDJ....then bought CDJ100's and a mixer.

I was one of the first cats to have em here in Cape Town. Due to me playing with PCDJ and software...I found I could work the CDJ's instantly. (took the guy who taught me REALLY LONG to get into them)

Pretty soon I was able to pull tight sets in my bedroom. If you can pull TIGHT sets on you bedroom system...you can rock a large club rig....I did just that.

[DJ ATX]

@ATX: love that story, and I'm insanely jealous. I romanticize those Ureis like woah. I'd plug my tractor setup into one if I found a used one at a decent price in half a heartbeat.

HAHAHA... I actually hated mixing with those stupid rotary knobs. Ever try scratching with them. You have to put index and middle finger on the side of the knob and move it that way. Crabbing was definitely not possible. Guess with time you grow to have appreciation for it.

[dland95]

I bought a Gemini CDM 3600 (worst piece of kit in the world btw) and watched the Dj Tutor videos. Learned a lot from that.

[mostapha]

HAHAHA... I actually hated mixing with those stupid rotary knobs. Ever try scratching with them. You have to put index and middle finger on the side of the knob and move it that way. Crabbing was definitely not possible. Guess with time you grow to have appreciation for it.

I've never really wanted to scratch. I've got the bug to spin hip hop for the hell of it, but if I were going to do it for a gig or in any way seriously, I'd buy/rent a TTM-56s or 08proIV without thinking.

For House, Techno, and, well, everything I spin remotely seriously, I've preferred the rotaries I've hacked together. To each his own.

[Era 7]

learning by doing and youtube. i was facinated from of what a DJ could do with a huge crowd. so i bought my gear and just started from there. learned everything from there: phrasing, beatmatching etc.

[farhanashraf]

i always wanted to dj but did not know where to start or how to start. my business partner and i started doing events and he luvs house, but does not like hip hop. i like both but i like hip hop mire, and we wanted an even level of house and hip hop in our events. so he figured he teach me how to dj and then i can dj the hip hop side and he dj the house side.

and the rest is history....

[sarasin]

learning by doing and youtube. i was facinated from of what a DJ could do with a huge crowd. so i bought my gear and just started from there. learned everything from there: phrasing, beatmatching etc.

Power of youtube eh!

I heard Jon Jones learnt a lot of his fighting technique via Youtube!

[Deinfamous]

When I spun atmospheric dnb(starting out), I actually learned how to mix it by listening to LTJ Bukem's Mixmag CD.


*in an old man voice* Back in my day we didn't have this youtube stuff and auto sync business you kids are using! /end old man voice

I used to work for a dj school in DC years ago. I taught many kids how to spin. I still teach people how to spin w/ vinyl, CDs and controllers. I sometimes enjoy doing that more than playing out. Thats just me though.