Should I be scared of the new DJ's? What should I do to stand out from the others?

DJ Life & Community General Discussion
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Should I be scared of the new DJ’s? What should I do to stand out from the others?

I’m fairly new to the DJTT community and far away from the USA, so I don’t know how you guys see this or the EU guys see this too, but…

I always loved music. Every bit and kind of music. So, when I sold my e-drum kit (still trying to sell my acoustic kit) to buy my S4, it felt a natural move. I was studying how to handle a CDJ and a mixer, how to mix with a great DJ in my town. Really enjoying beatmatching house, hip hop and brazilian funk songs. Every saturday, at the DJ classes, was a blast.

I left out in the middle of the way, when I bought the controller and started practising at home. Listened to more songs, falling in love with deep and prog and so on (and a secret love with moombahton). Even went to a workshop with, my main inspiration, Ean Golden.

I look back at october of last year, when I dropped out of the DJ classes and start practising and getting a few gigs. I look back when I played to 1500 people and see how I still got better and better and how there is a lot to learn and shape.

But last week I saw one photo of a guy with a S2 on facebook. And this freaked me out. I don’t know if he knows how to mix a song, even if he knows what a breakdown and build-up is. But this shooked me up, up to 30 people liked his photo and left comments like “let’s see you at your next gig”, “lets rock” “i want to listen to you”.

His S2 arrived that day. So I started to think: should I be afraid of this? Everyone who can buy some midi controller and set up a software and started playing? Yes. I was at his position months ago (but only my girlfriend helped me :smiley: ). And the audience don’t see a difference. They can’t tell if a set is recorded and so on.

How can I stand out from the rest of the crowd? This is freaking me out! Already got 2 gigs in June, not the ones I was hoping for, but a gig is a gig…

Edit:
Don’t know if I posted on the section off the forum since I was questioning the easeness (does this word exists?) of getting a controller and how should I use mine.

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hey man. don´t worry! we discussed topics like that several times on here and my statement is the following:

do your thing, concentrate on your own stuff, be good at what you are doing, practise,practise,practise, keep promoting yourself but don´t spam, don´t give a sh*t what others are saying and doing, do it for the love of music, it´s not about the fame, it´s about the fun, don´t believe the hype, people come and go everytime and those who really stand for something will stay. fact.period. :wink:

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I could’nt have said it better :slight_smile:

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Concentrate on mixing skills and your programming.

Standing out for the sake of standing out will not make you “better”. Horrible DJs can also boast that they stand out.

To stay ahead of the curve, you should keep up with new tracks, have a good collection of “classics” (this is open to interpretation, as it may even be specific to your locale), and most of all, concentrate on developing your own style.

Market yourself, and build loyalty. (this can be as easy as greeting your guests when you’re not busy mixing)

Competition is healthy…

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You seem like you’re fairly new to the DJ scene as well so just do what everybody else has said here and treat others with respect and you’ll be fine.

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It was never any different really (apart from the cost) than it ever was before, every joe bloggs on every street corner had a pair of 1210’s (or lookalikes), now its midi controllers and a laptop.

Concentrate on your music programming and not on the controller and you will stand out :slight_smile:

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Thanks folks.

Everything is a challenge right now. Getting a booked on the top clubs right here is almost like fighting with the resident DJ’s.
And now I know I’m not far away from the tracks :slight_smile:

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Amazing reply - listen to this and follow your own dreams dude.

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Wel with the 1210’s atleast you HAD to earn how to beatmatch first. Now they just hit he sync button smh

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Not necessarily it seems. The crossfader seems to be an often-misused tool by the youngins nowadays, syncing BPMs be damned :rage:

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Since I am very new to DJing and such, what do you mean by this?

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I can attest to this! A friend of mine starting out slams the crossfader around like it will do the mixing for him.

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I’ve been DJing for a long time and I have no idea what he means haha - if you can’t beatmatch and your mixing on vinyl decks, nothing will save you from sounding like shit.

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Well times fader slams maybe? Or if you’re playing for an artsy crowd and you convince them that the train wreck is intentional maybe it would work.

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I hear a lot of people starting out that just crossfade from one track to another with no transition or blending whatsoever. Which is weird really; if I dropped $250 on a Mixtrack Pro, I would want to learn how to utilize more than simply the 25 cent crossfader on it.I recently was given a mix to check out by one of these newcomers, and he went from a hardstyle track directly into a dubstep drop. No transition (except for a few seconds of some trainwrecking), no beat blending, just a shuddering screech into the next track. :thumbsdown:

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Thanks for all the tips, guys.

Managed to play next month at a really old and traditional place here. Mansão Getúlio.
I can’t manage my excitement!

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:roll_eyes:

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^^^^ Good Stuff!

A wise man once told me it’s none of your business what others say or think about you. Don’t cloud your mind with that. Just do your thing & hopefully that thing makes you happy. If it does you will shine.

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This is simply lack of practice. I see it a lot. Afraid to let it mix in because it’s a trainwreck to begin with & when they do get it right they have no confidence.

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My life. :smiley: