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DJ Montreal: What is the Role of Being a DJ?

To crowds at dance clubs and other live events, DJs create music mixes. Being a DJ is more than just a series of tunes, and many consider DJs as musicians and musical artists. DJs pick tracks for their audience and use specialized equipment to control and combine songs using methods such as rhythm m

DJ Montreal: What is the Role of Being a DJ?
DJ Montreal: What is the Role of Being a DJ?

To crowds at dance clubs and other live events, DJs create music mixes. Being a DJ is more than just a series of tunes, and many consider DJs as musicians and musical artists.

DJs pick tracks for their audience and use specialized equipment to control and combine songs using methods such as rhythm mixing, matching phrases and scraping.

Back in the day, it was literally sacrilegious to put your hands on a vinyl record. Yet early DJs like Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash, and Grand Wizard Theodore pioneered the methods that we now take for granted. Breakbeats, scraping, looping, and punching are DJ’s talents and if you want to partake in the disc-jockey world you should train to continue. Learn how to improve your tools and basic skills, and how to bring your fan base and expertise into your career.

Let’s make one thing clear before we continue. This is not only a new adventure, but it’s also a change of lifestyle. It doesn’t matter why you want to be a DJ because everybody has their own vision. It’s a music dedication that few people can grasp, let alone equal. Becoming a DJ is not an introvert or fainthearted thing. It takes your soul out into the world and declares, “This is who I am!”Face the slings and arrows of haters and dishonest people who think that you can do better than you or that you are garbage. You’ll have to contend with some of the worst kinds of people who do not see you as an artist, but as a tool to make money for them. You will find a career that will be gratifying, stressful, thrilling and above all enjoyable if you can bear all that and still be yourself.

Getting started on Being a DJ:

Getting started on Being a DJ

Getting started on Being a DJ

First of all, what does the DJ do? You are actually the one who plays music in any place. That’s as basic as it’s, but so much more is available. The rotary boss, the Club DJ, the radio DJ, and the handheld DJ are present. You can concentrate on one, but a good DJ must be able to work in a variety of these disciplines. When you want to be a DJ club, that’s all right. Note, it’s your job. A player who can shoot but can not play defense, rebound, pass or dribble won’t make it into any squad. It’s no better to become a DJ. If you can blend different types of music and change your fly theme, you will have as many chances as you can. You also need to learn how to combine and produce applications. This is probably the most difficult part. Get closer to the app. Understand what tools the app can bring and how it functions–it allows you to break down the music.

If you want to go “old school,” you don’t have to use tech. Scratching the old types of vinyl to their inevitable destruction is a highly valued art form, a lot of fun and the toughest to learn. It needs a little creativity and a song to become a true DJ, but everyone likes one. Technology may help speed up your workflow as a remote DJ, but you may not have as big a cool factor. Being a scratch DJ is both very costly in time and in money, it is time-consuming, but it is worth driving around the city trying to find the few vinyl stores available. Yet saving between $5 and $50 on a single record costing just $8 the day it was initially dropped would throw the budget into a dent when you need to buy hundreds. Do you want a DJ for an event like a wedding or commercial parties etc.

Good Knowledge on DJ Equipment:

Good Knowledge on DJ Equipment

Good Knowledge on DJ Equipment

The countless keys, levers, sliders, and dials can first be somewhat overwhelming, but once you get a sense of what they offer to you, they will become like your brushes. Starting with DJ’ing requires developing your skills and you have to be confident in the controls to do so. Let’s get the controller going. An all-in-one DJ controller is definitely one of the best on the budget (read the manual for a decent beginner pick), although it can go from around US$ 100 to about USD3500. A DJ controller and a vinyl deck are quite the same as how they work, and the distinction is that the vinyl deck uses music. You don’t need a $3500 bat unit, or perhaps ever. You can get everything you need to start mixing and recording songs with a few hundred bucks. Today, new controllers have a LAN interface that will allow you to connect to several devices at once, and combine it with applications to enable you to access loops, share music and link them between devices. The Slip Mode lets you repeat or scrape audio on another tune, and you can scrape and scrub your music with the jog dial (or wheel).

A DJ mixer now switches to the mixer as an air traffic controller. It is responsible for taking all the inputs into the equalizer and for controlling the tone. You don’t also need a machine to operate a CDJ mixer that’s useful if you want to be a standing DJ. The downside is, though, that about $1000 is costly. This monitors the volume and sound frequency level of each unit and transmits it to the speakers. Each mixer has at least two channels, but there are several club mixers. -the channel has a Frequency Control and a Fader, all of which are operated by a Master Control Input. The headphones are the way you synchronize and plan the next step before you splash the audience. Because you can only hear this performance, it will give you some time to solve problems, to find your next record and to make sure that everything is ready.

Working on Crazy Music Variations:

Working on Crazy Music Variations

Working on Crazy Music Variations

Know the music you play from the BPM. The song’s beats per minute (BPM) dictate how quickly or seamlessly you can blend it with another song. By measuring the beats with a stopwatch, you can measure BPM, but it is quite repetitive. Most mixers will have a BPM counter on the wall, whilst most DJ software measures the BPM of a track, even though this might not be 100% correct, so there is a good sense of the BPMs yourself.
You can use a pitch shift to suit the beats, even if two tracks are only a few BPM apart. Yet use it on an album that has no vocals yet. Speeding up or slowing down switches the focus and messes about it all.

Observing and Learning New DJ Styles:

Observing and Learning New DJ Styles:

Observing and Learning New DJ Styles:

Select a DJ whose style you respect and watch as much as you can. Be vigilant of how songs are designed and how the audience is handled. Upon watching them many times, get to the DJ after the show and ask for some tips. Many DJs will be glad to help you lead if they know that you are concerned.
Get ideas from the major DJs. It can sometimes help to see celebrities including Headhunterz, Tiesto, Avicii, Knife Party, Sebastian Ingrosso, Deadmau5 and Skrillex.
Be a Multi-Gender DJ. You can still be an expert if you have several styles— you are just a logic specialist. Most DJs are excellent in one kind of music–being better in several ways gives you the crop’s cream.

Keep up with current developments in rock. To be competitive in the fast-moving world of today, you have to be on the top of all charts and where things seem to be heading. You must be up to today and move into tomorrow.
You should always write yourself notes, figure out what the music you just heard was and keep a list of suggestions for later while you relax and do your thing. Keep your phone or pen still ready so creativity calls when you want. And your best friend does the same when he needs you to hear his new track.

Author

Daniel Jack

For Daniel, journalism is a way of life. He lives and breathes art and anything even remotely related to it. Politics, Cinema, books, music, fashion are a part of his lifestyle.

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