Hi all, Hopefully this isn’t a thread that has come up before, I did use search but the keywords turned up a lot of unrelated posts.
I thought it would be good to read other people’s stories on how you first got into DJing and why you wanted to do it.
For me I always used to listen to Drum and Bass DJ mixes and still do, I used to get bored listening to single tracks one after the other due to the long intros and outros. When listening to DJ mixes (on cassette at the time) I used to fast forward past the tracks I didn’t like and eventually decided to try recording my own mixes using only music that I liked.
I bought a Numark DJ in a box and started hanging around the local record shop from the age of 15 spending all of the money I earned from my Saturday job. Eventually after months of very poor mixing my skills began to improve and I recorded loads of tapes to listen to at school and eventually at work.
I started a pirate radio station with a couple of older guys I had met and they taught me a lot more tricks and techniques.
How..
Loved music as a kid, in teenage years, was a bit of a loner, so I got picked on, bullied, and found my solace on the radio. The more I listened to music, the more I wanted to be ‘in it’ started producing when I was 17 on 2 commodore Amiga’s, and actually had a lot of fun. My music collection grew, I was listening to DJ’s mix tapes in the local area, started hitting discos with few friends, and saw what other DJ’s were doing. Thought, ‘I could do better than that’ , ditched the production, bought cheap belt drives, made a few contacts, got a gig in local kid’s disco, spent earnings on more gear, and more music, this then went onto a bar, and it went from there. 20 years later, doing all kinds of events now.. it’s been good. Seen a lot and learned a lot more.
Why?.. cos I fookin love it.
Recently, met one of my idols.. GMF. Was a good day.
My interest in music started when I was around 7, I used to dig through my mum and dads record collection and sit listening to it on headphones. When I hit high school around the age of 11 I heard insides by orbital which really opened my ears and mind to a whole new world of music. Musically I was abit of a black sheep at school, everyone was into either hardcore, drum and bass or hip hop and when I they asked me what I was listening to and I said “the latest global underground by John digweed” I would get some really funny looks from people. I think I was always heading to the DJing side of it but the eventual nudge came when I met a like minded fellow at collage he was into all kinds of stuff but dj’d tech and progressive house. I had a dabble with his turntables and picked it up pretty quickly, a couple of weeks later I bought myself a set of numark belt drives and a 2 channel mixer and never looked back. We eventually ran a night of our own in our local town just so we could play in front of people, from there I gigged for a few years, mostly low key stuff but did manage to do a couple of warm ups for some big(ish) names, 16 years later I’m still at it but haven’t gigged for a few years now, recently I’m thinking I need to get back on the horse
In 1992 I saw GE Real (R.I.P) on 3 decks at my local rave and I thought “I want to know how he does that”, in 1994 I’m at the same rave listening to Fergus play hard trance and I’m thinking “I want to play this music”. That was the year I got my first set of decks, I’ve not really looked back since then.
The first thing I learned was to diversify my music collection, but I still got all my rave vinyl just in case.
I had dabbled in traktor a few times in the past because I was always really into music and I’d been told by friends I had good taste. I never really had any money to spend on traditional equipment, and at the time I really didnt understand why you wouldnt use all the help you could get when it came to djing (syncing, etc). But I never really spent that much time on it and it never became a passion.
In 2013 I moved to Berlin, and slowly I really got into the club scene here. After getting well educated watching most of the best DJs in the world (think I saw 60 of the top 100 RA list in one year) and meeting a friend who had started mixing vinyl a few months before, I decided to dive in. Didn’t hurt that I actually had money to spend on a hobby finally. This was in february 2015.
Now me and the friend rent an apartment together with a full club setup in the living room (two decks, two cdjs, xone 92) and around 500+ vinyls collectively. We spend a lot of time mixing and are slowly getting opportunities to play out at clubs and smaller festivals, although we are in no rush. I really reaally love the act of mixing vinyl, since this is a hobby to me, something to spend my time on, something to get my mind off work (I’m a freelance designer) and something that I love doing. Everything else that will come with that is an extra bonus.
I love playing b2b with other talented DJs because it really puts you on your toes and forces you to adapt… I love mixing different genres together and find a way to make it fit. I love long blends, building something new out of existing tracks. I love pitch-riding, makes everything so smooth. And I loove playing long sets. Everything under 4 hours feels just too short to really get a story groving, a journey.
Hoping I can find a similar entry point into producing as I did with mixing. But time will tell.
My interest for music started when i was a kid. I picked up drums when i was in school and then next the guitar. I was always fascinated with Music. I used to listen to these rock bands and hip/hop, rap stuff and then i slowly picked up EDM and it completely changed my life.
When i was learning guitar, i met this DJ who was playing in my cousins wedding and one day i decided to take my chance and i hooked up with him on Facebook. Mind you, he is one of the most well known and best DJ’s in my city. He taught me the ins and outs of the music game and helped me a lot when i was struggling at the starting for gigs. He used to play in all this big clubs and i used to attend to a one or two parties of his. Then i started getting gigs and he again hooked me up with the best sound rental company in the city. Then i kept getting more gigs and now i want to produce music just like him. I’m really lucky to get a mentor like him
Played the piano when I was a kid and used to listen to a lot of DJ mixes. After hearing quite a few bad DJs and having a go on a friends set of decks, decided “Why not?” and went from there.
I loved music so I wanted to share my music with other people live.
I bought a Technics belt drive turntable with a tiny pitch knob 25 years ago I learned how to beat match by playing a fixed 33 RPM record on my parents record player and I would beat match using the Technics hooked up to a different stereo receiver using the 2 volume knobs and tone controls to blend. No mixer.
My best friends parents had another Technics turntable with pitch control. So I bought a cheap Pyramid mixer for $120 at a flea market and borrowed my best friends parents turntable and I did my first live gig. At a high school keg party. After that night I was hooked and met an older DJ at a record store that asked me to play some of his younger aged gigs. He would charge $400 and give me $200.
One night I was parking cars at a parking lot and the lot was full. A bouncer at the hot night club down the street begged me to park his car when a space opened up and return his keys when I got off of work. I said “do you know the DJ there?” He said “yes. Come by after work and I’ll introduce you.” So I did and I got my first club gig. It was 1992.
Before I got into djing I played guitar and keys but when I started to smoke a lot of weed and listen to some old music I got interested in making beats and music production in general. Then I realized that it would be highly beneficial to develop dj skills for the sake of beat making and playing music live.
During my high school years (~05-07) was when I really started following bands/musicians from all types of genres. I always exchanged music/playlists with a few of my homies who also have similar taste. At this point, I never really paid attention to the sub genres of electronic music. To me, they were all electronic music; some tracks I really liked, others I could care less. Fastforward to Coachella 2015, I stepped into the Yuma tent and had a total revelation that this specific type of music (techno/house) is what I’ve been looking/yearning for. It was totally dark, wood floor rumbling, and the DJ wasn’t the main focal point (as in no humongous stage with all these visuals). Then finally for a second the lights flashed down and all I see people just dancing. I was in love.
I feel like I sorta go off-topic to the question, but that specific moment is what got me inspired to start (apologies for the sappiness).
During my mid-school holiday, i went to work as part-time movers. Its was just 14 years old and wanted to make some pockets money only. My job is to help setting up “mobile disco” our term during that time. From there, i was been introduce to DJ mixers, turn table and all those stage lightings. Thats really inspire me a lot! At that point of time, i didn’t manage to learn much during that time, time was bad. Luckily things are turning good, and i bought myself a DJ set, just to play around, getting back those childhood memories.
I’ve always collected music - first on CDs and mostly digitally. I’ve been going out to shows since I was 14 - at this point it’s the longest hobby I’ve stuck with besides reading on the regular. I had some buddies who had equipment and liked to muck about with it - but they weren’t too serious about playing out at all for years. I was pretty happy just being a consumer and hanging with my close group of friends, honestly.
Then I had friends move away, one of my buddies moved closer who wanted to start playing out more, and I started going out to more local shows. I didn’t like a lot of the DJs - I thought my selection of songs was better.
So I bought turntables, serato, a mixer - and it’s been a ride from there and I’m happy where I’m at not only playing events but helping throw them on a consistent basis. (We’ve thrown 12 this year so far and are taking the summer off for festival season and sound gigs).
To be fair - I spent a lot of time playing with production software (Fruity Loops 4 and then 9 and then Ableton) before I made the decision to screw production for the time being and get into DJing. I’ve not really produced any tracks but I know my way around the programs - and it’s something I plan on getting back into in a few years.
Really though it’s having the confidence that the music I select is better than what many other DJs play - and I think it’s a common element most of us share. I just decided to put my money where my mouth was and prove it.
