Have you been tired of read the same DJTT Tech Artcile over and over again?
Do you know all the blog posts backwards?
Do you talk together with Ean when you are seeing his videos?
Maybe you should expand the horizons of your knowlage.
If you are a still a bedroom DJ and don’t have cash to buy your stuff yet because you are still on the school or because you live in a foreign country with high import fees ( hey Brazilian mates! ) you should do something until you can invest some money into equipment and training.
You should read a book!
It’s a inexpensive way (the DJ books are really cheap) to learn some fundations before your real experience in the world of DJing.
Here I will post the DJ-related books that I own and some personal reviews of each one that I alredy read:
Review: I’m currently at the middle part of the book and I’m really enjoying the reading.
It’s a book from 2002/2003 so you can expect a lot of old subjects. It’s covering well my technical curiosity about Vinyl DJing and old school beatmatching as I’ve never been in front of a Technics 1200 turntable. They use a lot of pictures so it’s a really easy reading for those people who don’t read a lot.
Before the technical beatmatching chapters there are some talk about what is a DJ and some aspects of the DJ professional of 2002 that is really interesting to know to understand how the DJ changed from that time until now.
“Traktor Bible, Second Edition” by Rainer G. Haselier - 2008-2010 http://www.traktorbible.com/en/traktorbible.aspx Review: I’ve stopped to read this book (at the Digital Vinyl System part) because I was completelly stressed by my work but I will return to it as soon as I finish the “How to DJ Right”. This way I will understand the DVS chapter better. It’s a heavy reading book and it’s suposed to be readed for those who are really enjoying the Traktor possibilities and want to explore them to the max. It has a very good and technical midi chapter for those who know that midi exists but don’t know how it works.
“Last Night a DJ Saved My Live” by Frank Broughton and Bill Brewster - July, 2000
I’d also recommend How to DJ Properly: The Art and Sience of Playing records. I think its from 2006 so probably a slightly changed version of V-Hoff’s “How to DJ Right - The art and science of playing records”. Its structured in several ‘how to’ sections and is an enjoyable read. I’d thoroughly recommend the book to beginners especially. Predominently aimed at vinyl dj’s but theres still lot there for people interested in digital djing too.
Yes I’d totally agree that its extremely important to develop your own style but also think that learning the theory of beatmatching, harmonic mixing etc. is worthwhile and can actually help someone to develop their own style.
Rad, man. I’ve never seen anyone ever mention “Last Night a DJ Saved My Life”. When you get started, you’re gonna love that book. It is Really informative, totally engrossing, at least for a DJ culture junkie like me. They take you from the dawn of “listening parties” with the gramophone, through rare groove juke joints, disco, the birth of Chicago House, Detroit Techno, the export to the UK and subsequent rave explosion in the early 90’s… it’s like a history book but totally fascinating. It has a focus on Disco/House, and is probably a little dated at this point, but that’s ok, cause they cover the subject very well. You won’t believe how many old school heroes they manage to interview, and get crazy-ass stories from. And when you’re done, you’ll feel really well schooled, lol!
I’ve got a long list in my Amazon cart now. I love reading, it’s another hobby of mine, and so this should take me somewhat away from the computer for a bit.
There’s one i read back at school that had a pic of Goldie on the cover … “So you want to be a DJ?” i think was the name. Musta been from 89-90 i think. Yes i’m old, shuddafukup
If you speak German, I can also recommend “Gut aufgelegt! Das Lehrbuch für den DJ”. It starts with a long essay about the history of DJing and electronic music, then shows the equipment and different technologies (Turntable, CD, Digital) with listing all pros and cons, then talks about all the different techniques from beatmatching to scratching, finally tells you how you get your first gig, then gives a little insight about how to produce your own hit record and lists all the classic anthems of every genre, that every DJ should have in its case.
Outside of beatmatching/scratching techniques, the book doesn’t go too much into detail. Like it tells you that you can use Serato, but not HOW to use it. And if you are already in the scene for a while, I doubt you will learn that much more from it, but it is an interesting and competent read.
I literally finished this half an hour ago! The copy I have is the centenary edition, not sure what was changed from the original, but it is quite thick.
The book gives are great insight into the whole world of dance music DJ culture. It takes us from the concept of playing music for people by any means to one which we are familiar with. This concept is broken open and examined to show the reader that how music is played/selected/mixed has grown over the years. The phases of rejection to acceptance to adoration to rejection repeat as dance music changes.
In all, the book is a great read in that it is told by music lovers to music lovers. The authors easily get across the points of DJ relationship to the dancers, global perception of DJs and the pros and cons of a lot of DJing history.
The book is primarily pivoted around the creation of the music (once it became a DJ thing) and the booms in club culture that raised the DJ up in social status. With the two main focusses on the US and UK, other important areas are touched upon. But it is easy to relate the US and UK scenes back to our home towns and sense where we fit in (or don’t).
I recommend this book to all, especially those (like me) who failed to understand what disco really is and how it is still influencing another generation of DJs.
That makes reviews totally soulless as it is basically showing your just making the post to try to get some $$$
We also decided a while back that referral links are not allowed because they eat into the spirit of the forums, so now we remove all posts/threads including referral links.
‘Last Night a DJ Saved My Live’ - is a must. It tells you about the routs of DJing and how it all started. I learned so much about the DJ culture from this book.
‘How to DJ Right’ - Definitely good for people who start off for the first time with DJ equipment.
Just finished "How to DJ Right - by Frank Broughton and Bill Brewster
I must say I read it as a friend had it and I thought I would see if there was anything in there I didn’t know on the off chance(having been a DJ for 10 years).
I thought it was a really good “ground level up” type book with some solid points about beginning DJing.
You have to excuse the fact that it really does seem slightly outdated in regards to the technology (seems like CDJ 1000’s were just taking off at this point) and record buying (talking alot about buy vinyl and purchasing online for the brave (lol)), but the core aspects of DJing (beat matching, phrasing, FX explainations, looping etc) are really good with some simple but effective visual representations of what they are talking about that would really help beginners.
They also go into some details about DJ etiquette and promotion work and the stuff that needs to happen behind the DJ.
One thing that was great is the little stories and tips from all of the DJ’s they must have spoken to while writing it as they are great and well worth a flip through even for experienced DJs. Some funny, some informative but all worth a read as there are some BIG names there.
I would have to say that it is more angled towards EDM but it does seem that they are trying to cover all bases on some of their points.
Overall if you are a beginner and want to learn the basics of beat matching and learn how to build a set with some handy tips on FX and the like then definitely give it a read, not so much here for the Digi-DJ in regards to tech but if you are willing to skim over the slightly outdated content then still have a look as you may learn something or at least re-enforce what you already know!!!
) you should do something until you can invest some money into equipment and training.
