Why I want to DJ
September 27, 2009
Hi all,
I’m such a huge fan of trance. I remember my 1st Euphoria album back in ‘99. It was advertised as being “for the mind, body and soul” and it really was. I had found the genre of music that I could really relate to, the type of music that affected me on an emotional level. The albums kept getting better and better that year and the next. What I enjoyed about these compilations was that the tracks were mixed so the entire album would take you on a journey. Over the years I’ve heard many different styles and techniques for mixing and that has made me want to try out these techniques and come up with a few of my own.
The other project I will be working on at the same time is to learn about music production so I can make some quality trance. Check out my other site at www.maketrance.com.
My first attempt at DJing
A couple of months back I decided to try it out and see whether it was for me before I bought some equipment. I went down to London and purchased a 5 hour session for a couple of hundred quid. I took down some CDs with me full of MP3s. The equipment I was practising on was the Pioneer CDJ-1000 MK3 and the Pioneer DJM-800 mixer.
Man was I terrible with my 1st effort at beatmatching. I picked the skill up pretty quickly though and with some tweaks from my tutor (every 5 seconds) I was producing some decent noise.
Next I had to learn how to transition between tracks. There are many ways to do this (which I will be learning over the coming months). My tutor told me of a method where I count 8-bar phrases and use the low frequency EQ knobs to switch over from 1 channel to the other.
I have to say I was having a lot of fun. I picked things up very quickly and was ready to make my 1st mix CD. This is when things got tricky as I had to now use headphones to mix. Anyway, the recording had started so there was no going back. I began to lay down the tunes and the end result was pretty decent, I’d certainly buy it myself. Maybe I’ll end up putting the mix on the site some day so we can talk about what was good and bad.
What’s next for me
My aim is to create mixes that people will listen to and feel deep within. My dream is to play in big clubs. In fact, I was in Ibiza back in July and one of my best nights was with Tiesto at Privilege (an amazing club, check out some pics on Google). I could picture myself up there blasting the trance and watching as the melodies take people to a higher level, just magical. I’d have my own unique style of mixing, blending the melodies so well that people wouldn’t even know the track had changed.
Until next time….
I think this is enough for this post. Next time I will be describing my equipment and how I have set it all up. After that I’ll just wing it. If you guys want me to talk about something specific, just mention it in the forums.
If you want to be updated when I put up another post, just sign up to the mailing list in the top-right (you’ll have to validate your email address to confirm you’re a real person).
Forum topic of the week
As this is my 1st post here, the forums are going to be empty. Why not start off by discussing your own experiences of DJing and what you’re hoping to gain out of following me on my journey to learn the skills. We can also talk about some DJs we like to listen to and the styles of mixing that appeals to us. Click on the following forums icon to go straight to this week’s thread. From there you can also create new threads. I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts. If there are any technical issues with signing up to the forums, contact me, the link is in the header.
