Returning To DJing After A Break

1. The Gear

You can still DJ on record decks and a simple mixer – some DJs do. You can still DJ with CD players – again, some do. But most DJs have moved on from these things. Here’s what to…

Standalone DJ gear

The closest thing today to the previous generation of DJ gear (that you may have used when you last DJed) is “standalone” DJ gear.

This is equipment that you use by buying music files and preparing them on a computer (making playlists, adding extra information such as the tempo, key and more), then transferring them to a USB “pen drive” or SD card, to plug into the equipment and DJ from.

Think of that USB drive or SD card as a big CD with all your music on it. From there on, the equipment behaves much like previous-generation CD DJ systems used to.

Standalone DJ gear comes as both “all in one” gear (where you get two “decks” and a mixer, all in one box), or separates (individual players and a mixer). The latter is usual in clubs, at festivals and in any pro DJing environment.

Need gear recommendations? It’s all inside your free resource sheet – grab it here

2. The Music

What’s changed in music

Record shops still exist, but vinyl is expensive, niche and somewhat legacy nowadays, while CDs are also well past their peak. DJing is predominantly done today with digital music files, not physical CDs or records.

Today, the music can be bought permanently from digital download stores, track by track, or from “DJ download pools”. The latter offer working DJs (the definition is very vague) limitless DJ-friendly versions of popular songs for a monthly subscription.

Alternatively, music can be “rented” temporarily from music streaming subscription services, several of which plug in to all DJ software and even some standalone equipment.

Subscribing to a music streaming service is actually a great idea nowadays, because it’s such a good way to discover new music – although we are not yet at a time where it’s a good idea to rely on these services as your primary source of music for DJing with, for lots of reasons.

Buying the actual music files, just as you’d buy records or CDs, is still the way to build a DJ music collection. Don’t over-complicate this: buy good quality music files, throw them all into one folder on your computer (your DJ software can help you sort them further), and make sure you back that folder up regularly.

Many DJs used to vinyl or CDs find adding the artwork they know, and keeping artwork up to date for new music, helps them transition from physical records and CDs to digital files.

3. Techniques

Modern DJ systems have lots of features that don’t exist with turntable systems, and that only existed in very basic forms on early CD systems. These include “sync” (to lock beats and tempos for easier beatmixing), “hot cues” (to jump around to points in tracks easily), looping (which can be easily based on multiples/fractions of beats), key lock and key shift (for easy harmonic mixing), comprehensive effects (also often locked to the beats), and extra decks.

These new features mean that what DJs can easily do on their gear is very different to the “old days”. Far from just mixing one track into the next, DJs now can mix with multiple sources easily, having them all synced together so as not to worry about manually beatmatching them.

By also adding samples, jumping around tracks in perfect time using hot cues plus “quantize” (a feature that keeps performance tricks “on beat”), and using key lock and key shift to keep everything harmonically matched, DJs can play sets that are more like live remixing than just playing records, and that cycle through many tracks much quicker than DJs typically used to.

Don’t be overawed by the possibilities

However, it’s crucially important to understand that none of this is compulsory – many DJs still play the ways DJing has been done in the past. New ways of DJing add to the previous ways, they don’t ever totally replace them, and how you play is not governed so much by the gear or the features available to you, but by the audience in front of you, and what they want or expect.

Your first step will be to choose your modern gear, assemble your music collection, and learn to play just as you used to. You should let the rest develop over time, because there’s something else you need to get back into the swing of first, which is…

4. Performing

DJing is still about playing the right music, for the people in front of you, right now.

If you’re returning to DJing after a break, it’ll be the fear that it has all changed too much for you to deal with that will be worse than anything – as soon as you’ve played for that first time in public, that will all fall away.

That said, of course things haven’t stood still over the last few decades – so what follows are a few thoughts on some of the areas that have changed that may help you ease yourself back in to things.

The culture has matured

The whole DJ culture thing has matured hugely, as yesterday’s teenagers become today’s adults. After all, arguably DJ culture has been a “thing” for 40-odd years now!

For instance, nowadays even wedding DJs are expected to be able to mix, because couples getting married partied to “real” DJs as teenagers. Likewise, yesterday’s full-time clubbers don’t see why they should hang up their dancing shoes just because they have careers, kids and responsibilities, so venues, festivals, events and livestreams have sprung up to cater for them too.

This whole culture is no longer just a young person’s game. Just like rock/pop music appeals across the generations, DJs and dance music now cater for audiences of all ages too. So it stands to reason that there is room for DJs of all ages. Ultimately, this should be where you take comfort as a DJ returning to this.

5. Promoting yourself

To get the gigs, you’ve got to promote yourself – some things never change. So it stands to reason that one of the biggest “issues” faced by DJs returning to DJing is not the tech or the music or the techniques, but getting the gigs.

Despite the social media age, and the need to have at least a regularly updated presence on social media, one thing remains true. If you want to play gigs in any town, city or neighbourhood, you still need to be seen, known and liked by both the people who attend the venues and the people who run them and book the DJs. This involves going out!

For younger DJs, DJing is often a natural extension of their social lives, and so this bit is easy. But for older DJs, when all your friends are not avid clubbers, it’s harder, and so you need to be realistic.

Your type of people ARE still going out, albeit nowhere near as often. Where do they go? What restaurants, bars or venues do they frequent? This is where you need to focus your efforts. Find “your” people, and work out from there.

However you do it, decide how many times you want to perform in, say, each season, then commit to doing so. A “performance” may be just providing background music at a restaurant’s anniversary (that you suggested to them), or at private parties – but if you commit to the number of gigs as a non-negotiable, then the job for you becomes to improve those gigs season by season.

Apply some of the steely determination you’ve learned through your working life to this, the kind of determination many younger people haven’t developed yet. See it as an advantage! For some extra help, download your free resource sheet by clicking here.

6. Producing music

Making music has become very popular among DJs. Why? Because it is a natural extension of DJing (especially how it’s done with modern DJ features), because it can better show the world the music you love and your musical ideas… and because it can give you music that nobody else has got!

You need no more gear than the laptop you already own to start producing. The need to use a recording studio is long gone.

No need to make your own music first

It’s important to know that you don’t need to start making original music from scratch.

Many DJs drift into producing because they start making simple re-edits, mashups (where you combine two or more existing tracks to make something new) or “bootlegs” (unofficial remixes based upon publicly available versions of songs).

This kind of producing needs a DJ’s ear much more than it needs formal musicianship.

Make unique versions of your favourite tracks: Laidback Luke’s Bootlegs, Mashups & Re-edits Course