My mom and sat me down at the dinner table and said “Sean…Why do you want to learn how to DJ? You’re wasting your time… You should be focused on school and your job”. At the same time, my friends used to make fun of me for dj mixing techno music because hip hop was cool at my school.
I didn’t listen to any of them…
I went out and spent my hard earned money on DJ Lessons (I couldn’t afford many), I bought DJ DVDs, I read disc jockey message forums, I looked up DJ tutorials online and I even followed DJs around to watch them playing in nightclubs…
What a stupid question you might think to yourself, but in actual fact, there are a few DJ’s out there that seriously have no idea. Other DJ’s are more interested in one particular genre than others. How they get by in this business I do not know! Research is a vital part of learning how to DJ. There are a variety of ways of knowing what’s hot and what’s not right now:
Online Music Stores
I can guarantee you that local shops in your city or online stores such as Amazon will feature some of the hottest tracks around whenever you decide to look. Why? Because they look at the sales of each track and it would make sense to promote the tracks that are selling like hot cakes. Take a look at your nearest record shop and see what they have on offer. Remember – you don’t have to buy the track there and then, you are just getting inspiration for what is in and what is out. You will be visiting record shops more than your grocery store when learning how to be a DJ!
DJ Chart Shows
For the more poppy songs, I couldn’t recommend more taking a look at the charts. Chart shows are often played on the radio, and are normally a countdown of the 40 tracks with the most sales in the past 7 days. Don’t even bother looking at the charts for any entries by DJ Tiësto or Oakenfold – the charts are a view of what tracks the nation has been buying most. Read the rest of this entry »
Hey DJ Friends, I apologize for not having posted recently on the dj training blog.
I have missed about a week from my DJIng, producing music in the studio and from sending out stuff to you in the video newsletter. If you haven’t yet signed up for the LearnToDjFast.com free DJ Lesson Videos then do so Right Now by clicking HERE!.
If you are looking to learn to dj, those dj videos are the best way to get started.
So the reason why I have had to take time off is because I have something called “Computer Eye Strain”. My right eye started twitching uncontrolably and this caused my vision to go blurry. I had to cancle a DJ gig because my doctor said that it was from straining my eyes too much from spending too much time on my computer!
Here’s what the doctor said and how you can stop this from happening:
There is one dj lesson from pro djs that I hear over and over again.
If you want to get all of the dj lessons that I have learned from the biggest pro DJs in the world emailed to you, sign up for free DJ Lesson Videos by clicking HERE right now!
Its funny because some DJs will think that this post contradicts another post I made a few weeks ago called Djing: Its About Your Sound where I told DJs that it is crucial to develop a sound.
A lot of DJs took that post the wrong way. They though I was saying that you had to limit your music to one sub genre to be successful as a DJ. This is not true. Yes, you have to develop your own unique sound. But your sound can consist of as many genres as you like. In fact, listening to and playing different styles of music is the best way to develop your own unique sound.
Furthermore, you will be thrown into lots of different situations as a DJ where you will be required to play different styles of music that what you would like to or what you would normally play.
We all got into DJing because of the music… (yeah right!) but a definate side bonus to being a DJ is that you will make lots of great friends along the way!
If you would have asked me a few years ago when I was taking Dj Lessons in Vancouver if I cared, I would have said “Man… I don’t need anymore friends”. I figured that the type of friends I would make would be girls that wanted guestlist and guys that wanted to say their buddy is a DJ. Groupies that just wanted to ride the coat tails of the Dj (which is not a bad thing if they are cute girls! ).
On the contrary though, over the last 10 years of my life (the span of my DJing career thus far) I have met so many incredible people through DJing. These people are social, fun, friendly and have introduced me to even more great people.
Other DJs, cute girls, successful business people, people that love to dance, celebrities, professional athletes, owners of nightclubs, promoters, entrepreneurs and people of many other professions have bumped into me through DJing and I am proud to now call these people friends.
Its great because as a DJ you already know you have something huge in common with people that come up and want to meet you: you both love the same music. Friendships are built on commonalities and a big one is similar musical tastes.
In this video, Ellaskins goes over one of the most important dj lessons which is how to carry yourself as a DJ.
In the Learn To DJ Fast Video newsletter, one of the things you’ll hear from is promoters and nightclub owners. These guys all say that a DJs attitude is everything when it comes to who they will be choosing to DJ that night. Go ahead and sign up for our free DJ Lesson Video Newsletter by clicking HERE right now!
A lot of the Learn To Dj Fast students ask me what my DJing dream was when I started. This video pretty much sums up the dream that I had when I was starting out so I wanted to share it with you!
There has never been a better time to become a DJ. Now is your time to begin living your dream. To get started with your Djing, sign up for free DJ Lesson Videos by clicking HERE right now!
DJs are the new rockstars. DJs like Tiesto are filling stadiums that legendary bands like U2 and the Rolling Stones couldn’t even fill up. DJs are being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for gigs. 500,000+ people attend Dance Music festivals like Miami’s WMC each year to see DJs like you!
In this video, Dj James Zabiella is holding the camera while DJing at a beach party during the WMC Miami this past March. Check out all of the girls in the crowd watching him. When he looks to the right you will see the legendary BBC Radio 1 DJ, Pete Tong. The best part is the the buildup finishes and the crowd ERUPTS!
This can all be yours too. Every week there are more and more parties just like this one around the world that need DJs like you to play! Read the rest of this entry »
There are so many DJing opportunities (free money from government grants, big gigs, travel etc) lying in front of new DJs like you that understand the game of becoming a DJ. If you want to quickly understand the game then sign up for free DJ Lesson Videos by clicking HERE right now!
Becoming a successful DJ can be a simple process. There are only a few key steps that someone learning to dj must take to go from an aspiring DJ to a professional club or rave DJ.
1) Choose the right Dj Gear that will help you learn to mix quickly.
2) Learn To Beatmatch (get dj lessons)
3) Train yourself to mix
4) Put together a CD
5) Create a brand / image for yourself
6) Build a Following
7) Promote and Market yourself effectively to your following
It always amazes me how few people get these simple steps right. (Either you get it or you don’t).
Case in point… I volunteer for an agency called MusicBC which is a part of FactorMusicCanada. Its our job to decide what artists get funding from the Government of Canada for producing and marketing their music. There are sooooo many DJs out there that apply for these grants (free money from the government). Of these hundreads of DJs that apply, very few of them understand the basics of how to become a really good DJ and how the music industry works.
I’ll give you an example. One DJ was applying for a grant to help her produce (create) a song in a professional studio. Under her plan she said “Upon recieving the money I will use final cut pro to produce my album.” Final Cut Pro is movie editing software and can’t be used for audio editing.
This has nothing do do with learning to Dj. Its pure entertainment value! If you want to get more great DJing videos, sign up for free DJ Lesson Videos by clicking HERE right now!
I have no idea where or why this video was made. All I know is that I fell out of my chair when I saw it!
To learn to dj like a pro you will have to train like a pro dj. What does this mean?
First of all get the Free Dj Training video lessons by clicking here NOW!
Lets take a look at 5 of the top pro athletes in the world right now: Tiger Woods, Lebron James, Syndey Crosby, Wayne Rooney and Payton Manning. These guys are the top of their field and live their dream lives and yet they all still swear by a number of things: The first is coaching. Even the best have coaches to make their learning process easier and faster. They all have training aids such as videos. They all study other great players in history.
My point here is that if you want to be a HUGE pro DJ, follow the footsteps of the pro DJs that have already made it. There are TONS of resources out there for DJs. There are dj videos, dj manuals, dj guides, dj books, dj dvds, in person dj lessons, online dj academies and even biographies on successful DJs now and from the past.
Get out to parties, nightclubs and raves by yourself. Hang around the DJ booth and watch the DJs mixing. You’ll learn a TON. Check what dj equipment they are using. CDJs? DJ Turntables? DJ software like Ableton Live or Serato… How are they mixing? How much time do they spend looking at the crowd? What are they looking for?
There is one dj lesson from pro djs that I hear over and over again.
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