quit djing to produce?

DJ Life & Community General Discussion
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quit djing to produce?

THIS IS A RE EDIT FOR MY POST EXPLAINING MYSELF COMPLETELY

“”“”“Now that i have realized what i have done wrong. let me explain the full situation. “””“”

I have been djing for a couple years like i said. came from overseas djing every weekend and having a blast doing it. I dj’d to fund that habit and my drift car i had. So when i came back here and it became very hard to find gigs i started losing faith. I would talk to the managers, become friends. become a very frequent customer at the clubs and just make myself look as best as possible with being polite to the bouncers, tipping waitresses, and getting to know the dj’s as best as possible. Ive been doing this for 5 months now with no luck. I have a steady set of followers here on this base already that know me as a dj and like my mixing. Heck, i even had the Chief master sergeant of the base ask me to dj for a base wide dorm party. I have connections here and they work pretty well. But I’m finding getting connections in a bigger city very hard.

So i have come to a dilemma of do i continue to try and get gigs and social market the heck out of myself, or do i put my main focus on trying to begin producing. Yes i could do both, but when i work 12hr shifts, school, and random bull#hit that comes up with the military. I only truly have time for one hobby at a time. Now i love dj’ing. It helped me get through some hard times and it helps me relax and relieve stress. I truly do love doing it. But I’m also finding myself wanting to get into producing more and more. My dream since i was a teenager years ago was to become a touring edm superstar. Now, that is very unrealistic but i have to try. So if that means i have to give up one love to begin another. I will do it.

So from reading that. What do you guys think i should do. Temporally put my love of djing to the side to produce. Or keep working my ass off to get the djing jobs i desperately crave?

Again. I’m sorry for coming off as an asshole in my post and seeming to dish on anyone who uses a laptop or sync or anything like that. I truly did not mean to offend you. So please forgive me for that one moment of assholeness.“”“”“”

Hello, i have a ultimatum that i would like you guys to help me with. Ive been djing for 3yrs now. Started overseas in japan working at the clubs on base. Im used to getting a text or phone call every weekend asking me to come out and dj for a buddy or by myself.

Im used too playing nothing but top 40, edm, hip hop and old school. Now i just moved to my next base in idaho in a very small town 40 minutes from the nearest city and let me tell you….it is nothing but country…and more country here. So when i go to a bar owner and bring up the topic of possibly djing for them and they ask what i play and say everything but country…it doesn’t go to well. So I’ve striked out in town minus you small hip hop bar here that only hires me to play every 3 weeks or so. And its getting very aggravating. And since boise is the nearest city to go to i tried there. no luck. so many college dj’s rolling around that can ‘dj’ that I’m tossed into the bunch of guys who want a job to at the clubs also. And its getting very expensive to drive there every 2 days to try and find a djing job. So financially…its getting hard to justify going there so many times when I’m not getting lucky with any gigs.

When i go to the clubs all i see is a 24yr old guy with a laptop and virtual dj and no controller basically just waiting for the song to end then hitting play on the next song. Not even mixing at all. Now this is very irritating because i was raised the right way in my opinion. Handed two technic 1200′s and if i so much as reached for the syc button i got slapped into next week. So its verrrry aggravating for me to see these guys getting the jobs with basically zero skills and I’m sitting in the corner drinking my beer and crying myself to sleep with jealousy.

So my question for you guys is do i just give up on it and move on to doing my life long dream of producing music, or suck it up and wait for the stars to align and get a gig.

2

So your next assignment might be in a city without country music? Doesn’t sound like you need to even make a choice but rather wait.

3

Oh I’m sorry. i didn’t fully explain where i am stationed now. Im in mountain home idaho. 40 minutes from boise. But spending 20$ to go there and back every time isn’t financially justifiable right now. So I’m contemplating just beginning producing.

4

You can always take up producing.
You can expand what you play.
You can setup a youtube channel and put up some mixes out there.

In any event, I do not think you are facing the either/or choice that you are looking at.

5

but my main question is which should i focus on more in my current predicament.

6

Why is it an either or? Doesn’t sound like DJing is taking much time now right?

7

You DJ in your “bedroom” to keep your skills up to par and know the current songs. If an opening pops up, you can pounce on it, although it’s unlikely since I grew up in a place that seems similar to the one you’re now stationed.

In the meantime, get on with your lifelong dream of making music as well.

You can do both, just give up on trying to actually get gigs out there. Ain’t happenin, it’s a waste of time and money.

8

Why can’t you do both?

9

um both like countless others folks into this music?

if your idea is to make music for people to dj with they two go hand in hand as it is.

10

[quote=""shawnyboy998 “”]
…wait…
[/quote]

Wait for what?

Find a club or bar that wil let you DJ (maybe you’ll have to do it for free to start off with) and build a night. You’ll have to promote it yourself (flyers/posters, etc…). If no-ones comes, at least you’ll know that you tried.

The “stars” won’t align for you if you don’t make some moves…

11

I worded that terribly. I’m not going sit sit and wait. What I meant was do I start focusing more of my time on producing or do I continue trying to get dj jobs.

12

Just focus on both, quite easy to split your time between the two, I manage to have a day job, DJ, produce, run a label, and run two nights.

DJing and listening music will help you with your production, so do both, doesn’t have to be a choice.

13

I don’t get it. I know a lot of people that do both, so why can’t you? You make it seem like you spend 16 hours a day looking for a DJ gig and then go to bed.

I work twice a week, go to school 3 times a week, study(homework) 5 days a week, play soccer 3 times a week, go to the gym 3 times a week, DJ once a week, look for gigs once a week, and produce 4 days a week.

Point is, you have plenty of time…

14

I’ll be honest with the poster, you made a comment about the college DJs who push a button and put you out of work. You don’t sound like you have a real desire or the ambition to make it in the music field to be honest. Save yourself a lot of heart ache and choose a field of work that is a little more realistic, I’m sure the military has some kind of job placement field when your service is finished right? There are hundreds of thousands of would be music produces out there working their butts off to achieve their dreams while you’re coming up with excuses. Dude, with that attitude you don’t have a chance in hell. Sorry.

15

Besides my phone getting blown up with notifications from people who won’t even give me advice besides saying ‘why can’t u do both’ 13 times, I would like a moderator to delete this.

16

Buy a music theory book and start studying.

17

Because we’re trying to get you to keep trying rather than give up? I think that makes us awesome people… and 13 notifications in an entire day isn’t a lot.

Our advice is “do both!” You don’t want to? Then quit.

18

Ok let me rephrase that then. You guys are giving me a crap ton of tough love. And due to that tough love…I’m 3/4 through my song I created. So thanks to your ‘tough love’ I am farther in 12hrs then I would be in 3 weeks so Thankyou. Learning anger is the best way to inspire lol

19

and now you have 6 days to look for a job. See how easy that was?

Why are you angry dude? It’s not tough love, we’re just saying why do you have to pick one or the other, why can’t you do both? and you haven’t answered that question yet.

20

It sounds like you can do both as others have said… although (sorry to say) if DJing was a key source of money for me I wouldn’t have moved to an area where I couldn’t do it properly…