I’ve done everything (almost) to set myself apart from my competition, but still I sometimes feel like I’m behind in the DJ game. I hear bangin’ tracks played by other DJ’s and I’m like “Hell Yea! That one will be in the next set for sure!”, which is fine, BUT, they ALWAYS get these bangin tracks waaaaaay before I hear about them. If the track is good, then of course I’ll play it, but I want to be that guy who gets that track before anyone else knows about it. I mean, by the time I’ve heard it and start to play it, the track is old news , this doesn’t ALWAYS happen, but I want to play the track when it’s fresh, not when its been spun to death… Ya dig?
So, my question to you guys is, do you ever feel this way? and if so, what are some resources that you utilize to combat it? (I.E. - Blogs, forums, websites, etc.
P.S. - If it makes a difference, I generally spin, Top40, house and electro stuff…
You are always gonna have problems with those genres mate, as they are the most predominant ones out there. Most guys will trawl Beatport, the same blogs etc for their tracks, so there’s no escaping being exposed to basically the same tunes, unfortunately.
My solution: Pay some one to whack them so you don’t have any competition
Browsing trough some old Essential Mixes = gold. I’ve found a lot of tracks who are pure diamont wich I’ve never heard before. (Julien Jabre - Swimming Places from Martin Solveigs’ EM for example)
picked this up off there when it came out back in september, heard it on radio1 for first time last week. not the greatest example, but you get my point
they also had ‘riverside’ by sidney samson (pre vocals for radio version) on there this time last year, before it was it all over the place.
take a look through the electro/breaks and electro house sections, there’s a few things i’ve seen there before hearing them elsewhere.
I use Beatport mostly. if you WANT to play the same stuff as everyone there is charts, if not, you just go to the genre you want/search for a label you like, and browse through the newest releases (still, some people will have these). Then you find songs you havn’t heard, and you can get those. The amount of music being played, versus the amount being released is quite small, so, there are always bangers hiding. However, sometimes it is good to play songs that are popular, as you get the shallow crowd involved.
The Record store (if you live in a large city) is still the best place to purchase/find out about new tracks. If your town doesn’t have one sign up to new release emails from websites like phonica records and Juno.
Most of the good house producers still only release stuff on vinyl so you are gonna still have to buy records then record them.
Definitely all about listening to late night radio sesh’s! Even pirate radio, dunno what the pirate situation is like in the States but there’s loads in the UK. Even internet stations, all you gotta do is text in or call the DJ and ask what the tune is if they dont announce it.
I personally don’t pay attention to what other DJs are doing in my city, I just focus on what I like and don’t get caught up in the sound of the week if you will. The thing about DJing is it’s about 90% searching for music and only 10% of it is actually playing out.
I spend about 4 hours a day just listening to new music, and hate about 3/4 of it but the 1/4 I do find is gold and more likely than not no one in my city has it.
A great part of a dj’s work is looking for music. This is something you have to learn to do.
In the golden times Sasha had a few people paid to get records for him… I don’t know if this is still going on as Sasha isn’t the hot shot he was 10 years ago.
In the old times you had to go to the recordstore and go through hundreds of vinyls to get something. Today it’s pretty easy with beatport and such.
If you want to get different results, do something different. Everyone is browsing the charts, if you do that you’ll end up with the same result. Plus you can’t compete with bigger djs that are getting special promos before the tracks go in public. I say look for different music, browse the labels’ catalogues, look for unknown tracks of an artist.
Dig, dig, dig, dig… until you find a gem. And then you keep digging of course.
well you can’t really “dig” at stores for new hot ish, imo. for the newest bangers, you need networking. you build relationships with djs, producers, labels, and you become one of the people that they hand out demos to. then you’ve got something that very very few people have
A good way to play tunes others might not have is to drop in tunes from another genre, for example when playing House, drop some prog trance in, or visa versa, it works a treat.
Well since im listening to Trance,i usually listen to all the big radioshows out there,and checking Beatport,Junodownload & Audiojelly once or twice in a week.
, this doesn’t ALWAYS happen, but I want to play the track when it’s fresh, not when its been spun to death… Ya dig?
