Resident DJ's

[LXJ]

Do you guys begin to treat every night like a job where it becomes mundane to the point that you're playing the same dance floor destroyers at peak times like a formula or do you still get excited every night.

[JasonBay]

Depends on the residency and what's expected of you. If you're a resident at a more commercial top 40 club and are expected to play just that for 4 plus hours a night, then yeah, I would probably shoot myself after the first month.

But if you're a resident opening DJ at a more underground spot where they expect you to dig and explore and introduce new stuff and build up the atmosphere for 4 hours until the main headliner appears, I couldn't be more happier then.

[dj matt blaze]

After awhile it doesn't matter what you play and where, you will have nights that you just don't feel like going to work.

[JasonBay]

After awhile it doesn't matter what you play and where, you will have nights that you just don't feel like going to work.

Then maybe you should really rethink why you want to DJ in the first place if that ever happens

[DJ SB]

I find that continually making and playing my own bootlegs and getting good reactions is nice and adds a level of interest.

[zimfella]

I can tell you after djing every Friday for 3months it does get tiring. I was tired of what was expected every week. tired of the music i played. I felt i needed to stop so i could go back crate digging and develop a new flavour that i enjoy. otherwise i would never progress. And we do it for fun right first?

[rdej47]

To the OP, I got a spot as an opener at a new club in town here, originally the intention was for it to be a pretty progressive club but that wasn't paying off quick enough. They've since changed it over to pretty much a top 40, commercial club and the work has quickly become mundane. Definitely gotta be careful about where you choose to do a residency.

[dj matt blaze]

Then maybe you should really rethink why you want to DJ in the first place if that ever happens

@ JasonBay, it doesn't matter how much you love being a DJ, how much you love music, everyone has bad days, bad nights, don't feel good that day, whatever, things happen in your life where you just don't feel like going to work. Its called being a human. To think that a person is going to be absolutely, incredibly excited every single night is pretty unrealistic.

[JasonBay]

@ JasonBay, it doesn't matter how much you love being a DJ, how much you love music, everyone has bad days, bad nights, don't feel good that day, whatever, things happen in your life where you just don't feel like going to work. Its called being a human. To think that a person is going to be absolutely, incredibly excited every single night is pretty unrealistic.

I know I still am, even after my laptop got stolen and I had to scramble around trying to figure out how I was going to play my next gig I was still happy to be there and know that I was getting paid good money to play other peoples music and was making a living off of it.

The only way I would consider DJing as "work" is if I got stuck in a commercial top 40 place playing music I don't want to. If that was the case, then yeah, I can understand why people wouldn't want to work some times. But if you're playing a weekly gig where you actually get to play tunes you like (gasp! What a concept, playing tunes you actually like as a DJ!), PLUS get paid for it as well then I don't see any reason why you wouldn't feel excited about it.

[sobi]

After doing this at almost all levels for the past 15+ years, I can tell you that the only real, true answer is both of the below quotes at the same time.

After awhile it doesn't matter what you play and where, you will have nights that you just don't feel like going to work.

Depends on the residency and what's expected of you. If you're a resident at a more commercial top 40 club and are expected to play just that for 4 plus hours a night, then yeah, I would probably shoot myself after the first month.

But if you're a resident opening DJ at a more underground spot where they expect you to dig and explore and introduce new stuff and build up the atmosphere for 4 hours until the main headliner appears, I couldn't be more happier then.