Starting to doubt my potential as a dj

[bartboy]

I think you need to take a step back and go back to what made it fun for you in the beginning and not worry so much about what you can potentially do with the software and focus more on what you like to do.

Also getting a controller could be helpful as it gives a real feel of motion for DJing. It can make it a lot more fun to practice also try practicing standing up and moving about I find that helps me plow through even when I mess up all over the place.

[Frank112916]

I remember after my first month of DJing when I had bought my S4. I plopped down 900 big ones and said "wow, I spent a lot of money, I better get good, and fast." I saw the whole controllerism routine by Ean and it just turned me on to DJing and the possibilities were endless. It's been almost a year now and how times have changed. The only thing I use cuepoints for now are certain mix-in and out points and visual cues to keep me in time. I sold my S4 and moved to two TT's and a mixer w/ TSP2, which was another huge investment.

Controllerism faded really fast for me after seeing how people reacted to my (albeit poor) routines and attempts at it - and them begging to just hear the regular song without me destroying it to bits with FX. Switching to TT's and a mixer has made me focus much more on a) the music and b) the mixing. Having to control decks, and beatmatch, I had no time for FX. Not to mention the FX controls were no longer at my fingertips for me to abuse. My transitions are smoother, my blends are better, my cuts are quicker, and my scratches well...they still have room for improvement :-p. My style of DJing has changed significantly. I hardly use FX anymore, except for sweep to smooth out rocky transitions and the echo on my mixer for those patented backspins, lol. Granted I mix top40 with a bit of electro so transitions are pretty quick and FX are frowned upon.

Anyway, the point I am trying to make is that DJing is a process of discovery. If you want to get better - you need to make the investment. And if you want to get better - you have to learn the fundamentals. There is no easy way to be a DJ, which is one of the reasons I stay out of that whole sync button debate. If sync made you a great DJ then we'd just put it on ipods and leave it be and there would be no DJ's left. I think the best thing a DJ can do is play for a crowd. See their reaction to how you are playing. It will tell you way more than anything else. It will let you know if what you are doing is actually any good and give you insight as to where to go next.

[WEEDNIRVANA]

I'm amazed you made it 6 weeks with mouse + keyboard. I made it about a day like that before I gave up, waited a year or so, and then bought turntables.

I've been using just a mouse and keyboard for the past 6 months since I started and only now am I beginning to take it seriously enough that I feel like I need to own my own controller (which I'm currently in the market for.) Using just mouse and keyboard for so long I feel like it made me focus more on the technological aspects of it (mapping to be able to use my keyboard effectively, learning how to beatgrid almost anything (I do a lot of stuff with totally unpredictable 80's hardcore punk and noise rock, etc) and just getting the feel to be totally intimate with the software (TP2) as I feel controllers kind of seperate you from the software somewhat.)

[MaxOne]

I feel controllers kind of seperate you from the software somewhat.)

Software isn't what you want to be connected to... it's the music. Physical controls help you organically connect with controlling the music better.

[Bamfs01]

I remember after my first month of DJing when I had bought my S4. I plopped down 900 big ones and said "wow, I spent a lot of money, I better get good, and fast." I saw the whole controllerism routine by Ean and it just turned me on to DJing and the possibilities were endless. It's been almost a year now and how times have changed. The only thing I use cuepoints for now are certain mix-in and out points and visual cues to keep me in time. I sold my S4 and moved to two TT's and a mixer w/ TSP2, which was another huge investment.

Controllerism faded really fast for me after seeing how people reacted to my (albeit poor) routines and attempts at it - and them begging to just hear the regular song without me destroying it to bits with FX. Switching to TT's and a mixer has made me focus much more on a) the music and b) the mixing. Having to control decks, and beatmatch, I had no time for FX. Not to mention the FX controls were no longer at my fingertips for me to abuse. My transitions are smoother, my blends are better, my cuts are quicker, and my scratches well...they still have room for improvement :-p. My style of DJing has changed significantly. I hardly use FX anymore, except for sweep to smooth out rocky transitions and the echo on my mixer for those patented backspins, lol. Granted I mix top40 with a bit of electro so transitions are pretty quick and FX are frowned upon.

Anyway, the point I am trying to make is that DJing is a process of discovery. If you want to get better - you need to make the investment. And if you want to get better - you have to learn the fundamentals. There is no easy way to be a DJ, which is one of the reasons I stay out of that whole sync button debate. If sync made you a great DJ then we'd just put it on ipods and leave it be and there would be no DJ's left. I think the best thing a DJ can do is play for a crowd. See their reaction to how you are playing. It will tell you way more than anything else. It will let you know if what you are doing is actually any good and give you insight as to where to go next.

Thanks for this.

[mostapha]

I feel controllers kind of seperate you from the software somewhat.

I agree. They have a lot of other benefits too.

To each his own, but I miss having real hardware. Unfortunately, the hardware is so expensive now that it's really hard to plunk down the cash unless it's top-end stuff, which I can't afford.

I remember after my first month of DJing when I had bought my S4. I plopped down 900 big ones and said "wow, I spent a lot of money, I better get good, and fast." I saw the whole controllerism routine by Ean and it just turned me on to DJing and the possibilities were endless. It's been almost a year now and how times have changed. The only thing I use cuepoints for now are certain mix-in and out points and visual cues to keep me in time. I sold my S4 and moved to two TT's and a mixer w/ TSP2, which was another huge investment.

Controllerism faded really fast for me after seeing how people reacted to my (albeit poor) routines and attempts at it - and them begging to just hear the regular song without me destroying it to bits with FX. Switching to TT's and a mixer has made me focus much more on a) the music and b) the mixing. Having to control decks, and beatmatch, I had no time for FX. Not to mention the FX controls were no longer at my fingertips for me to abuse. My transitions are smoother, my blends are better, my cuts are quicker, and my scratches well...they still have room for improvement :-p. My style of DJing has changed significantly. I hardly use FX anymore, except for sweep to smooth out rocky transitions and the echo on my mixer for those patented backspins, lol. Granted I mix top40 with a bit of electro so transitions are pretty quick and FX are frowned upon.

Anyway, the point I am trying to make is that DJing is a process of discovery. If you want to get better - you need to make the investment. And if you want to get better - you have to learn the fundamentals. There is no easy way to be a DJ, which is one of the reasons I stay out of that whole sync button debate. If sync made you a great DJ then we'd just put it on ipods and leave it be and there would be no DJ's left. I think the best thing a DJ can do is play for a crowd. See their reaction to how you are playing. It will tell you way more than anything else. It will let you know if what you are doing is actually any good and give you insight as to where to go next.

QFT.

[rcs1113]

A whole month and a half and you aren't a pro yet? Yeah, you should quit.

Lol, it's just that with a lot of other stuff in I do/have started to do I was always pretty good from the get go. I know that sounds cocky and I don't mean it to be but I just expect a lot from myself in every facet of life.

i used to feel this way all the time for the first 2 years of djing. after gigging for a while i finally hit a point where i felt like i "got it". i started understanding (in my opinion anyways), what djing was about and where i wanted to go with my sound. its normal to feel stuck, trust me this feeling will come and got very often. just stick with it and you'll be fine
also, instead of listening to other's mixes and feeling down about your own skills, look at these mixes as sources of inspiration and try to tell yourself that you are gona strive to be that good one day. keep in mind you haven't been doing this very long and it takes years to get good at it.

i hoped that helped and best of luck

Thanks for the motivation! Like I have read about others, it takes years and years of experience to get good at it. That's a good point too about other people's mixes, they have to be my role models.

dont even begin to think about fx and cue points yet, master actually mixing two tracks well.

Yea I think I might just go back to doing that because that's what I did in the beginning and I was loving every second of it.

Don't do it because you want to go pro, do it because you love the music. If you love to bang on for hours on end then any money you spend won't be a waste.

I have had thoughts like yours before but then I realised that being a superstar isn't my eventual goal (maybe it's yours) but that I should just keep having fun and if I happen to get to a point where I feel I am good enough to go searching for gigs then I will, and if not whatever.

I say you should find yourself a used mixtrack pro as it is a cheap controller that is great for a beginner and is all in one.

I don't want to be a professional or anything I just wanted a really fun hobby that sort of revolved around my love for music. It's pure euphoria when I'm mixing and have my speakers and subs turned up all the way and just enjoying myself, this is what i like. As for a controller I'm pretty set on getting a vci-100 as it has nearly every feature I want to use.

You may want to get a controller of some sort - just allows you to utilize more of the tools available to you... but you are only 1.5 months in ... don't stress

Hahaha thanks, definitely can't stress about something I'm supposed to be enjoying

take a break away from for a while and if you still got the itch come back to it and get a cheap 2nd hand controller to begin with.

Yea that's exactly what I'm going to be doing, I think I'll take a break for about a week to let some ideas build in my brain.

Dont quit, just practice more 6 weeks isnt a long time. get a controller or better yet get some tt's they feel alot more like your doing something instead of looking at a screen.

you have good mix's and bad mix's just give your friends the good mix's and delete the ones your not happy with.
Practice

I don't wanna go with turn tables just yet, it seems kinda tricky and as an 18 year old saving up money for college tt's and a mixer is definitely more to shell out than something all in one.

If you feel it's a chore and it's boring that you don't develop any further, well frankly, maybe it's not for you?

Definitely not this, I enjoy myself mixing even if I'm not pleased with the outcome

You're right, you need a controller to start enjoying it properly.

However yo can get creative with your keyboard mapping. Set up instant fx buttons like dely freeze etc. Earl Panda has a wicked video somewhere of him djing on just a keyboard

But truthfully most people would agree that the interface you use helps you "feel" the djing better and be more in tune with the process.

So using only a computer is actually good for learning?

If you really like DJing, a simple controller will be worth much more than the few hundred bucks you pay for it.

As for "I'll get a controller and still suck" - yea, you will. Getting new gear doesn't make you better. Learning how to use it does.

Yea, it may not directly improve my skills, but it will allow me to be more creative and do multiple things at once easier than on a keyboard

I'm amazed you made it 6 weeks with mouse + keyboard. I made it about a day like that before I gave up, waited a year or so, and then bought turntables.

hahaha, it's a bitch to do but I enjoy it so hey

I dunno, i don't think DJing is something that is so hard that you have to "practice" it on a routine. I can say that my amount of actual "practice" is maybe a few hours a week tops. (been less as i am overseas and don't have my TTs). But when im home i'll have a quick mix every now and then, but i never do it for training. I won't touch my decks unless i have inspiration.

However, that doesn't mean i don't put a lot of work into it. I spent countless hours buying/listening to tunes as well as getting into making my own stuff as well (had a 14 hour production session last week).

I would say, just keep listening and learning and building that library. DJing and music (to me) isn't about training like an athlete would (going to the gym and having a workout routine), you need to have that spark to WANT to sit down and have a cheeky mix.

Also, i personally don't see the difference between a mouse and keyboard and a controller. Keyboards are like a big midi button array right? I like to be able to put my hand on a record and stop it. (serato though because vinyl is effing pricey)

This has been incredibly helpful, I have to keep in mind that it's not something to be forced and listening/discovering music definitely helps build your tastes, steer you in a direction, and also just be fun. But with everything having dedicated knobs/buttons on a controller it helps a ton. Just imagine having to use your filter knob by clicking on it and dragging it up/down. Such a pain to do.

I think you need to take a step back and go back to what made it fun for you in the beginning and not worry so much about what you can potentially do with the software and focus more on what you like to do.

Also getting a controller could be helpful as it gives a real feel of motion for DJing. It can make it a lot more fun to practice also try practicing standing up and moving about I find that helps me plow through even when I mess up all over the place.

I'll give it a try, thanks!

Controllerism faded really fast for me after seeing how people reacted to my (albeit poor) routines and attempts at it - and them begging to just hear the regular song without me destroying it to bits with FX. Switching to TT's and a mixer has made me focus much more on a) the music and b) the mixing. Having to control decks, and beatmatch, I had no time for FX. Not to mention the FX controls were no longer at my fingertips for me to abuse. My transitions are smoother, my blends are better, my cuts are quicker, and my scratches well...they still have room for improvement :-p. My style of DJing has changed significantly. I hardly use FX anymore, except for sweep to smooth out rocky transitions and the echo on my mixer for those patented backspins, lol. Granted I mix top40 with a bit of electro so transitions are pretty quick and FX are frowned upon.

Anyway, the point I am trying to make is that DJing is a process of discovery. If you want to get better - you need to make the investment. And if you want to get better - you have to learn the fundamentals. There is no easy way to be a DJ, which is one of the reasons I stay out of that whole sync button debate. If sync made you a great DJ then we'd just put it on ipods and leave it be and there would be no DJ's left. I think the best thing a DJ can do is play for a crowd. See their reaction to how you are playing. It will tell you way more than anything else. It will let you know if what you are doing is actually any good and give you insight as to where to go next.

Wow, thank you so much. I would suppose my friends are like this too, as no one in a club wants to hear a song ripped apart. Honestly speaking, some controllerism routines just sound plain awful because they lack an identifiable beat to them and just sound like a mash of effects.
Just like all you guys have gone from gear to gear I think I want to give just a basic midi a try before I go to turn tables. If traditional style is more of what I like (and certainly what the clubs like) i might give that a try later on in college. Hopefully someday I can play regular gigs at some of the clubs in my college town as they have a ton of opportunities for amateurs since it's located in the middle of nowhere.

Software isn't what you want to be connected to... it's the music. Physical controls help you organically connect with controlling the music better.

True that, I gotta focus on the music that I'm playing and how well it blends together. not crazy styles

[rcs1113]

thanks for everybody's replies, truly helpful!

[dual citizen]

Practice. Know your gear inside and out.
Set a long term goal. How good will you be in one year? Be realistic.
And remember, it's all about music. Learning how to mix takes no time compared to how long it takes to build your knowledge of music. It's a never ending journey of discovery, and you must listen to a lot of crap to find the good stuff.
Never give up and you will get there.

[keithace]

buy more tracks you like...keep playing and mixing...

maybe you need to put the right time in...instead of the wrong time...

like Yogi Berra said..."it's 90 percent mental...the other half is physical"