Now it is.but if you made that statement in 1990 you'd get slapped.

Back in 1990 just to spin at standard 4 hour club gig was a HUGE investment and forced you take DJing seriously. Turntables and a mixer would cost you about $1000 then it would cost you at least another $1000 to accumulate a big enough record collection to hold down a whole night. Then you constantly had to keep up with new music which would set you back at least $150+ a month.

So you are saying every DJ plays nothing but top 40? lol

Playing music is easy. DJing.... Not so much. There is a difference.

#Truth

id say thats true at a kev and tracy style piss head club but not true at a proper nightclub
you would get boo`ed off especially playing anything you listed

+1

DJing is not that hard, but DJing WELL is very hard.

Statements like this are why there's no money in DJing at clubs anymore. Bar and Club owners start to agree and the talented DJs get undercut for the Tostinos DJs.

Yeah the dumb part is if you play top 40, have no DJ skill, don't mix, you're fine. If you play top 40, attempt to mix but fail (trainwreck) you stand out.

I think where newbies fail is not creating the right vibe in the room. You can take 1000 songs, multi-genre, sort by BPM and mix music, but if you take 100 random tracks and beatmix them perfectly for 4 hours, chances are you're not creating that vibe in room (otherwise known as room programming).

I've had the pleasure of opening for newbie DJ's (and getting paid more to open for them), after I finish spending 2 1/2 hours creating a vibe I've seen them destroy it in 10 minutes and clear out the club. The whole opening for a worse DJ is some of the local club & promoters politics (the new guy also handed out a few thousand flyers and blasted his headline event all over facebook & twitter, brought a 100 person guestlist that 3 people show up for).

I have had some amazing reactions to what I do, and then I've seen people try to duplicate it and fail. I'm not perfect and sometimes the crowd is complicated but I like to take pride in not playing the same set 4 nights a week, trying to find older songs other DJs and people in the crowd forgot about to take them back. I play whole songs when the time is right, and I short mix when the time is right. Some guys like to play the first minute of every song all night long. Others talk too much on the mic.

+1. Djn one type of format is easy. Djn for many different events/crowds and doing it well is an entirely different story. Past weekend did all latin one day, dancehall & hip hop the next, wedding last day. All different gigs, skill sets.

Playing top 40 to a bar scene is probably the easiest gigs you could ever do. Your playlist is easy. Your not sitting there really putting in work. You already know what to play. When you step up to bigger venues and events your required to do more. Its expected by promoters, event planners, guests, etc. The preparation time is different.

+1

this. SIXXX and SELECT know their stuff.

+1 on everything he wrote, plus I would add that I've seen some out of town, 'headliner', veteran DJ's come in & screw up the whole vibe set by someone else at the beginning.

And I don't buy the whole pizza theory thing, if this was true - why did Dominoes go and spend all that money changing up their generic awful tasting shit & advertise the hell out of it?
just my 2 cents

It's been said, but the type of gig you do obviously makes a difference. Being able to adapt to your crowd is the real challenge. The open format gigs are my favorite, and usually have an older crowd that don't really wanna hear afrojack, britney spears, lady gaga, etc. so you have to be creative and know your music.

respect to any dj in here who cut up their fingertips once in a blue digging for vinyl

I am sorry but what is vinyl?

Exactly... you can play top 40 on a juke box all night. That is not DJing.
Just because someone is dancing to a song that is playing doesn't mean someone is DJing.

i've specialised, i now only play the top 20 :)

I've looked around at a crowd in the bar put $20 in the jukebox and turned the whole place from a bunch of people talking and drinking to people singing and dancing to the music. (and most of the songs were more than 5-10 years old, NOT top 40).

The only annoying part gets to be when people see I was picking the songs and start handing me money asking me to play more songs out of the jukebox.

I used to hate gettin those hang nails and paper cuts. And that weird dusty smell. lol, But anyway yeah like somebody said above, playing music is easy. Anybody can load up a song and push play. That aint a DJ. Actually having a style, blending, mixing, mashing, scratching, juggling and having the musical knowledge to take people on a little journey. THAT takes years of hard work. THATS who i'll call a DJ.

Its all how you play it. We can have the same catalog of music, but play the songs completely differently. Thats where the skill and actual Djn come in.

If DJing was so easy, then why this thread? lol

serato.com

If djing was that easy then this site wouldn't last. lol www.djforums.com

Yes if I go to a generic top40 shit bar.

No if I go to a respectable joint that plays good music.

in the grand scope of things even in the musical world, djing is not that hard.

it's certainly not as hard as learning a real instrument or learning to produce music...

that said, it's harder being a great dj than just a good dj, but technology has made it so that most people can be relatively decent without the effort it used to take.

The saddest part though, is nowadays, the majority of the general public can't even tell the difference between a mediocre dj and a good dj let alone a great one.

to be honest, I find djing a top40 venue (and doing it well) much, much harder than djing good music all night.

"it's certainly not as hard as learning a real instrument or learning to produce music..."

I don't know about that...

You can learn how to play an instrument in a very short period of time.

You can also produce music without having any real knowledge. There are sooo many programs out there that make it easy to learn an instrument and to produce music.

Too true. But when the hear a great DJ they like it better and know it's better they just don't know why... Put some average nobody DJ back to back with the likes of Enferno, Craze, A-Trak, Z-Trip, Jazzy Jeff, Riz etc... And the crowd will know which one is better no question even if they don't know why. Nothing is very hard if you want to suck at doing it.

repost due to quote fail.

quote fail # 2:



um - really? what instruments are you playing that you can learn properly and play well in a short period of time?



key word is learning it properly and doing it well. You "can" produce music with no knowledge just like you "can" dj with an ipod. Doesn't mean it's going to be any good.

In some instances I agree with that. At some hipster parties I've been to the DJ plays whatever the hell he wants and the crowd goes with it regardless because they're simply more open minded to all music.

Going to have to agree with both points, especially the first...with rare exception I wouldn't want to listen to anyone play any instrument they've spent less than 5 years practicing on, and probably more like 10.

Guiar...

Flute...

Piano...

DJing...

They all take practice. lol

You can learn to play them fairly quickly... now, you can either get more advanced and get all crazy with them or just learn the "basics"

"Going to have to agree with both points, especially the first...with rare exception I wouldn't want to listen to anyone play any instrument they've spent less than 5 years practicing on, and probably more like 10. "

That's what I mean... you can definitely learn to play an instrument rather quickly. Noticed I didn't say "master an instrument". Just like you can't master DJing in a few months. You can learn to beatmatch, but you're going to need a lot more than that to master it... especially if you're going into turntablism, etc.

I remember reading a quote back in the 90's, about rave parties. And the quote was, as a DJ, your job is to take the crowd on a journey through music.

As a DJ you have to help people sort through their stress about life. People go to bars to drink, to get laid, hang out with friends, etc, just as much as they come to listen to music. By taking those people away from the stress of their daily lives your music helps them identify with you as a DJ.

As DJs, we all consider the bar & club as work but to the rest of the world, it is an outlet for stress, to decompress, let loose and have a good time. They might be pissed their girlfriend or boyfriend broke up with them, they got fired from their job... they might be celebrating a birthday but WHATEVER you can do to help the people get what they expect out of going out for an night with their friends will make you that much more memorable, bring repeat business and build a fan base.

A lot of DJs put on a mix CD till more people get there - let me say, I don't believe in that. It's important with the FIRST PEOPLE that walk in the door that you are building that connection with them and your music. That connection means that it wasn't a waste of time to show up hours before everyone else. That even though there's 20 people, we're still going to have a good time. Those 20 people are the ones that will tell all their friends to come earlier next time. It also helps understand what kind of crowd you have to work with later on.

That's exactly my point. Us DJ's can bicker amongst ourselves about skills but we play for crowds not other DJ's. Our crowds can't tell the difference between a technically good DJ and a bad one.

Technically, no, thats why I say song selection & timing are far more important, except in the case of house music, where trainwrecking is not an option.

trainwrecking is never an option. It is unacceptable. If you are a dj who trainwrecks and can't learn this basic skill, then you should try slamming the crossfader from one side to the other fast or fading intros and outros like radio djs.

Again... Put your average DJ up agents someone like an Enferno, Craze, a-Trak etc.... And tell me the crowd wont know who is easily better.
For the most part the better statement it that most crowds will settle for what ever is there. Also, they can't really tell you why a certain DJ is better than another one they just know they had a better time listening to one or the other.

I am with SOO this puts me in a position where i really dont love the music i am playing and makes it hard for me to give it the same effort I would normally have for music that i love to play, not that I play to get paid

I think too much value is put on the number of club gigs DJ's have over individuality. The local club circuit does provide instant rewards money wise but it's a huge rat race and you can EASILY be at the bottom of the barrel in a month if you dont keep up. You have to CONSTANTLY keep up with Top 40 and every little sub genre even if you hate the music. Then you spin 3-5 nights a week doesn't leave you much time to carve your own niche.

Enferno, Craze, Atrak came from the battle era where individuality was rewarded and they have taken that into the club circuit. It took them years to get the recognition they have but they dont have to worry about $50 newbies snatching up gigs if they want to take a week off for a family vacation.

Vice, AM, Z-Trip and a whole lot of other great DJs that will easily out rock your average are not known from the battle circuit. A big part of being great is individuality just like you said but that comes from practicing, learning and trying to be different and pushing the limits of your own creativity. Which is was easy, every DJ spinning would be on these guys level... So again... JUsT to DJ may not be hard but to be really good or great at it is. The people on this level are not there by luck of the draw and you can tell that by going and seeing them perform. They put in more time and effort and hard work that others and it shows. There are a whole lot of cats who made a name from battling that are not getting that kind of love and respect in the club game so don't knock these guys hustle and hard work by saying they get a free pass just because the won a battle. It's obviously so much more than that. I said it before... Anything is not that hard if you are willing to not be any good at it... But if you want to stand out and be great, then yes, Djing just like anything is hard.

djing is really hard man. If you want to do it properly, it is tough. For the 1 to 2 hours on the deck, you need to keep things moving. It is 100% concentration; otherwise, you are slacking off. While I am mixing two tracks, I am already thinking on what's next, always what's next. Gotta keep it fresh. Mixing is the easy part.

So I've been wasting the past ten years focusing on other genres... anything BUT top 40.

Dammit, if only I'd sold out sooner, I'd have learned how easy it really is to DJ and make "everybody" dance to top40.

I still disagree. It's waaaaaay harder to learn the basics of most instruments than it is to learn the basics of DJing - with the exception of maybe hardcore scratch techniques, learning to DJ is no where near as technical as learning a real instrument.

kazoo...


recorder...


jews harp....


harmonica...


cow bell...


clave...


triangle...


:)

Hence the word "most"

you know what though... even top 40.
you can jukebox it sure, phone it in mixing intro to outro's

but we have all been in the situation, you do a new room and the people are FLOORED by what
you did..(and in your eyes, your thinking...I do this same shit every night...)

so, that means its not that easy,
actually, lemme me stop myself right there... Its very easy to be medicore and go through the motions.
you'll get your check, owners will be happy, people will dance and drink...

I look at spinning from 2 views.
1. Diving.
much like diving in the olympics as much as theres a execution score, theres a difficulty scale.
so if your "working" and executing in the 7-10... people DO notice.
but if your exectuing at a 10, but your difficulty is only a 2...well, thats just going through the motions....
but more important than that is KNOWING your place... knowing when its time to slide up and down (NH) the difficulty scale.
we've all seen the overzealous opener ripping shit at 845 PM at full volume to 12 people.
as weve all seen the guy playing 7 minute funkymixes intro to outro at 1230 pm.

thats the difficult part of dj'ing for a young DJ... the rest is tits if you have the skill set and
you stay on your practice./

Aside.

along of these groundbreaking DJs in the last 2 decades knocked down some serious walls in the top
40 rooms... its not like these cats were playing obscure shit/
they were playing top40 THEIR way.

if you had told me in 1995 that wonderwall was going to be a groundbreaking crossover, song thanks
to a young ballzy dj who played top40 his way, I would have probably laughed right in your face.

so, in the end... its up to the dude with the headphones how easy he wants his job to be, right?

Cow bell FTW! hahahahaha nm

" so, in the end... its up to the dude with the headphones how easy he wants his job to be, right?"

Yup.

DJ'ing is not that hard for top 40 DJ's who are inevitably going to close down clubs they DJ at.


This is the cycle of most clubs:

1. Remodel / Model

2. Open / Reopen

3. Pay $$ and hire good DJ's / invest in throwing good events / have good staff / promotion

4. Become complacent and spend less $$ / let promoters bring in DJ's so they can pay them instead

5. Close / need to remodel and open under a new name, i.e. return to step 1


Good clubs stay that way by continually spending money throwing good parties and paying good DJ's. Regular patrons notice the difference, and actually being a good DJ (not just average) is a really hard job. Every good DJ has had that residency where you HAVE to be on point with every song selection to keep the crowd. Yeah, it's paint by numbers a lot of the time, and yeah, shitty DJ's can do an acceptable job at some places that might be drawing for other reasons (super cheap drinks, amazing location, loose go-go dancers), but patrons are not going to continue to return to someplace where the bar manager is just playing songs off an ipod without mixing unless there's a really good other reason for them to do so.

I think the basics of learning all those instruments is pretty easy. Some, like the violin, are much more difficult.

You can learn a few guitar songs, way more than enough to get laid by college girls, in just one day of practice. Drums are pretty easy too, but I learned how to play the basics of those after learning how to DJ so the learning curve in that direction is probably a little skewed.

However, getting the skills to be really good at any of those instruments is obviously very difficult. Especially the skills to not just be able to replay others work, but to also be able to create your own.

Always glad to see you posting here dropping wisdom Greg!

DJ Greg J

on point.

Watchwww.youtube.com

The first mistake was playing for Hipsters... LOL

^ I'm in Portland so I have no choice anyway, but I quite enjoy spinning for a lot of hipster crowds n

Djing is not hard if your a juke box , but if you look at it like its a art your constantly doing new things adding , getting better at your craft.... I don't see anything as being easy when its something you live for. because you cant look at it as easy. sure all the fundamentals become easy but as a whole the art forum getting better takes time and you can always get better so i would never look at it as easy.

I did violin for like 13 years so comparatively - strictly from a technical perspective I find DJing simple as all hell.

If I tried to get hardcore into scratching though it would be a different story...

lol i bet

ok, there you go. Your skills as a Dj are not on par as they are w/ violin. If you were DJ for 13 yrs at a competitive level it would be a lot more work and not as easy.
That's like some kid that sits last chair in a middle or high school band that does just enough say to you that playing violin is easy. Anything is easy if you don't want to be very good at it.

that's the thing tho - scratch djing is completely different than "club djing"

I would put scratch djing akin to actually playing an instrument.

mix djing - which let's face it, that's what the majority of us do - isn't really as hard as a lot of us would like to make it out to be.

It's not east to be great or even good, but it's not like it's some sort of ridiculously difficult thing that only a select few can do...

DJin
- record selection
- slam records
- mix / blend
- emcee/mic hype
- scratch (*see skratchlopedia)
- beat juggle
- body tricks
- producing (studio / live performance)
- mixcd
alrite, i'll include
- twistin knobs (efx) and pushin' buttons (cue/loops)

can't even do half of that (specially scratchin) - how do you guys can say DJin is easy? lol

ithere's no standards in DJin (exam/certification/etc), that's why anybody can call themselves dj.

see, don't get me wrong - it's not easy to be good or great, but it seems like it's pretty darn easy to be mediocre which compared to real instruments for the most part, you still need to put in real effort, practice, and time, to even be mediocre and an instrument.

whereas DJing, with today's technology, you can be mediocre within a month or two - and then be booked for a bunch of gigs if you undercut enough.

you can have this skill set before your even decide to start spinning.

Im making this into a shirt, thanks Wiz:


"Nothing is hard if you want to suck at doing it"

but that's it... when someone says DJing... hell, when someone says ANYTHING is not hard... do you think in your mind that they're talking about doing it on a very low average joe level?
If someone walked up to you and said... playing the violin is not hard. Would your immediate thought be... you are right. thinking he meant on a bare skill level minimum?

So you think that all these undercutters and average joe blow fly by night CLUB dj's are as good or close to the skill level of cats like A-Trak, Craze, Enferno (on a club set level... not battling) or even bigger club names that can get up to $100,000.00 and more? SERIOUSLY?
And if you are as good or even close to being in the same league as a DJ who can get between $10,000 -100,000 per show and flown around the world and given the red carpet treatment to do so, you think it's ok to do it for free or for only $100 ?
I'm gonna go ahead and give you more credit than that and assume you are smart enough to see how that would not be good or smart in any way.

all these undercutters are not getting anywhere near that because they are not GOOD DJ's... club, scratch, battle etc... they are just dj's who have no standards, place no value on themselves or their (lack of) skill and are ok being taken advantage of. Getting put on because you are willing to ben over and pick up the soap does not mean you are a good club dj... people dancing to popular music does not mean you are a good dj... I can park my car and turn the system up with a good song on and people will dance.... that does not make my car stereo a good DJ!

actually, yes I do



of course not - but those people are the top 1% - when you're looking at an average in terms of "difficulty" or skill level - you're not going to be bringing up the top of top, you're going to be looking at the mean - and that IS the joe blow fly by night club djs and undercutters.



That is getting completely off topic but keep in mind that "djs" like pauly d, sam ronson, and any celebutards that want to "give djing a try" are making that amount of money for gigs so I don't see how your fee in any way relates to skills - I'm pretty sure that ship has long sailed.

i know when i started my mates were all straight on the case trying to give me a dj name
to me i didnt think i needed one ,just because i had turntables that doesnt mean i felt i could call myself a dj
i got booked to play in a local club after a friend gave out a tape i done after about a year and a half of starting and i still didnt feel ready
i didnt really consider myself a propper dj until about 4-5 years
now it seems to be a case of the postman delivering your kit lol

hahaha dj in a box.
Hey let's all go play DJ!!!!! YAY!

Honestly, it must be nice going through life accepting such low standards and not wanting better for yourselves.

Carry on with your mediocrity.

that was not directed at you toasted

the only people I see accepting low standards are the clubs that are willing to book the undercutters and djs in the box.

Personally, even though I developed to a decent name in my country and in the scene/genre that I'm known for, I know I'm far from being anywhere near the top of the food chain when it comes to skill and I'm constantly trying to improve in as many areas as i can.

That being said - I still think the basics of DJing is easier to master than most ;)

...and the dj's offering the undercut and the real DJ's who don't take any kind of a stand about it at all
;)


That's a great attitude and one every body should have if they are going to do something they feel is worth doing at all. And I agree with you that the basics of DJing are easier to master than most instruments but to be really good or great is not easy. It all comes down to what you take from the statement DJing is easy. Seems like (to a certain degree) alot of the back and fourth going on here is due to people not realizing they are arguing two different points.

that's the thing with me - I know I'm a good dj - I also don't think I'm a great dj even though I get that a lot from fans.

There's always someone better than you no matter how high up the food chain you get and it's ones who think they're already amazing and refuse to learn from people that fall the hardest. That's why I long ago stopped caring what other DJs were doing other than seeing what I could learn from them...

Hell, I've learned things from DJs that technically suck at DJing and yet have impeccable selection and timing even if they can't even mix cake batter.

Hell there's probably some kid practicing in his bedroom 5 hours a day that no one has ever heard of that will be the next qbert one day.

sorry CMOS, but that just screams misquote... (nm)

You can use that quote for girls who get gigs not based on skills.

"Is hard if you want to suck"

:P

+1

DJing is an art. I respect it as an art and all DJs. Everybody has their own way of throwing down in a crowd and every DJ has something a little bit different then the next. I don't know why people hate so much on celebs DJing...its fun for the party and they are just pushing our artform to the masses. Which means more gigs and more DJ fans. It's almost like their endorsing our service, keeping it relevant and cool. I will encourage anybody to pick it up, just cause I love this shit and want people to experience the work put into so they respect the art.

So anyways, to say djing isn't hard is disrespectful to all those DJ's who built up and created this art form. There is so much to djing! There is so many ways to flip this djing shit, matching beats is the basic just like 1 move in a game, but how many cats can do chop and screwed like dirty south DJ's or proper wheel ups sample usage like reggae djs, efx mixes, loops & chains like electronic djs or juggle & scratches like hip hop djs. How about body tricks? Most DJs don't even use the mic or know how to properly hype up a crowd. DJing is such a beautiful thing, there is so many styles and combinations to this shit.

I personally think great DJ's are the best givers. Once you develop the talent you have to be willing to put it out there for the world to enjoy 100%. The best DJ's will find ways to hit as many people as they can and our consistent no matter the outcome.

DJing is an art. I respect it as an art and all DJs. Everybody has their own way of throwing down in a crowd and every DJ has something a little bit different then the next. I don't know why people hate so much on celebs DJing...its fun for the party and they are just pushing our artform to the masses. Which means more gigs and more DJ fans. It's almost like their endorsing our service, keeping it relevant and cool. I will encourage anybody to pick it up, just cause I love this shit and want people to experience the work put into so they respect the art.

So anyways, to say djing isn't hard is disrespectful to all those DJ's who built up and created this art form. There is so much to djing! There is so many ways to flip this djing shit, matching beats is the basic just like 1 move in a game, but how many cats can do chop and screwed like dirty south DJ's or proper wheel ups sample usage like reggae djs, efx mixes, loops & chains like electronic djs or juggle & scratches like hip hop djs. How about body tricks? Most DJs don't even use the mic or know how to properly hype up a crowd. DJing is such a beautiful thing, there is so many styles and combinations to this shit.

I personally think great DJ's are the best givers. Once you develop the talent you have to be willing to put it out there for the world to enjoy 100%. The best DJ's will find ways to hit as many people as they can and our consistent no matter the outcome.

Pauly D gets that kind of money, so do many other celebrity DJ's which has nothing to do with skill. lets be real half of the art of DJIng is knowing how to market and brand yourself. Alot of kickass DJ's will never be big names because they are to busy working their day jobs to spend time marketing and branding themselves

Some of us have day jobs with just enough flexibility to allow us to market and brand ourselves, Thank you very much. LMAO!

Wish I did! hahah my point mainly was, if it was skill that made the DJ there'd be alot less of em around. besides the fact that if you dont produce music now a days, you can only get so far

Ive found this to be true over the years, hence I got into mashups, then bootlegs... now finally moving into legitimate remixing and original production. As wack as a lot of my mash ups and edits are/were at the time when put together, They did get my name a lot of visibility.

True, but there are alot of those that can tell the difference even in a shitty top 40 bar

if people are into top 40 they really dont care about the presentation. personally, all the cutting and scratching seems dumb, when most people want to hear the whole song or most of it anyway.

top 40 will always be easy. when you have to rock a spot using one or two genres of music, then thats more difficult.

for all the time spent on organization and using that as a tool to aid my creativity (as i never pre prep sets), digging for music and learning music (yes learning hard to truly play a song i dont know) ...then taking that practicing the mechanics and after years and years....constantly working harder to incorporate newer technology, reaching out to ppl, building relationships, sharing and gaining...shit man if you think DJing is easy your fucking a beast...its hard but i do it because i love it because if i didnt i wouldve been gave up this expensive & unappreciated part of life ive been into for so long...

smack in the fucking face to the game

crappy wedding sets in the club are a smack in the face to djing

No it's not.

If you find DJing easy and consider your sets and your pay to be average at best then challenge yourself if you're unsatisfied. Grow or get left behind but disrespecting the time others have put in will not help you become more skilled or higher paid.

NO EXCUSES!

rocking it for 6 hours is tough. Mixing is easy.

over here everyone can blend tunes and get away with it but what will get you a good residency and good payed gigs are DJs that can rock the mic while spinning and keep the crowd hyped, there's not many of those where i'm from. Mashups and using ableton or doing the wildest tricks and scratches don't hype the crowd.

Let's be honest, rockin' the mic is not that hard.


hahaha JUST KIDDING.
although I'm sure there are plenty of dudes in here that think that as well.

that's why you have mc's. A dj that can work the mic is a wedding dj.

then you have to pay 2 guys :P, its central america not US, you pay the guy that can do it all :)

Wow...

They say "Two Turntables and a Mic" for a reason.....

DJing isn't that hard and Serato is gonna prove it serato.com
DJing is for people that love music ;-)

I am from South America and even the mobile discos there had mc's. The dj just mixed and played music. It depends on the scene. A dnb dj only plays music and there is always an annoying mc ruining the set.

DJ'ing IS NOT Hard.... it's NOT hard to play music.. it's not hard to hit buttons...
the hardest thing is being consistent and playing music the RIGHT way...
with that said... I've heard some train wrecks out there... I mean.. SL makes it incredibly easy NOT to mess up... if you can't count, beat match and mix properly using SL...then music is DEFINITELY NOT for you!

Mics are for sissies (or for Radios DJs) not clubs. If you need the mic to rock the crowd then you are spinning shit tune. my two cnts.

I think the real sissies are the ones who are afraid to get on the mic when necessary... mixing was easy to me, but working the mic properly/confidently took a bit longer and is still something I am working on improving.

mic game is essential to djing. whether you say one thing or mc a wedding, you need to get confidence on di mic.

completely disagree - mic game can enhance a set if done well and it can also completely ruin a decent set if done poorly but it's hardly "essential" to modern DJing.

You can rock a room with 2 turntables and no mic - you can't really rock a room with no turntables and just a mic.

well - maybe if you're a good beatboxer but even then - you can probably only rock it for like 30 minutes...

Watchwww.youtube.com

heh - Beardyman rocks

I like Dub FX too...

Watchwww.youtube.com

How did I never hear of Dub FX???? That dude is awesome!

yea, he's incredible - I hear he's doing most of his sets using an S1 now since the looping/sampler feature also handles straight audio...

Nice... the song is tight too.... Straight up, I'd drop that in a reggae set at a club.

its all all relative.

progressive house dj - doesent plug the mic in.
wedding dj - on the mic all night. (well, I dont at weddings, but thats a different story)

and theres a billion varients in between.
to say all djs need, or dont need mic skills is a relativly vauge comment.

Barring "whoever owns the blue Camry needs to please move it from te fire lane," there is nothing you can say on the mic that Fatman Scoop or Lil Jon hasn't said better.

Try doing a dancehall session without getting on the mic...

pull upppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp

what is vinyl?

im saying you need to have some sort of exp. and game on the mic, whether you say something or not. sometimes i dont say shit, but if i do its gonna sound good and not corney or with a fake ny accent. at some point every dj will have to say something on the mic, im just saying have the confidence and exp to be sure you dont sound like an idiot.

By the way, for anyone here who likes to poop on DJing a wedding...

Doing gigs like that, with all different types of music genres and expectations, and doing it WELL is tough. Like, super tough. If you can go from playing the typical snoozer dinner music to having the place look like a nightclub in a few hours, then you've earned your salt. The confidence you get in your mic work from events like that is huge too.

The training you get from doing gigs that force you out of your comfort zone pays huge dividends when you are in a club. As others in this and other similar threads have said, lots of DJs can play top 40, or their particular variant of EDM, or hood anthems... How many DJs can take a crowd on a journey while touching on many (potentially) disparate music styles? My favorite headliners are the guys and girls who can make a hood party sing along to some Van Halen or have a bunch of snooty, older clubgoers getting down to some Roscoe Dash.