The Practical Guide to Becoming a DJ

Since 2007, pretty much my entire adult life, I’ve been throwing successful parties. It’s all I know how to do, so I’ve become very invested in learning how to do it well. I also like helping other people succeed if I think they have what it takes.

There is a whole lot of bullshit advice out there from people trying to sell you on the latest greatest, hold you back, or hold you hostage in some sort of broken culture that they probably aren’t even a part of. The successful DJs really don’t spend too much time talking about what it takes to be succesful, but I want to see a younger generation of music loving DJs succeed and hopefully one day replace me. Turntablists, genre purists, and old dudes who don’t understand social media won’t agree with me, and I don’t care. While those people get sucked in to stupid debates like controllers vs turntables, whether Drake is cool or not, real house music, and bla bla bla, spend your time and energy focused on things that actually matter.

1. You will get a whole lot more bad advice than good advice. At any given time, some poor young kid is getting lectured by an old jaded DJ about how they need to “pay their dues in the scene” before they DJ their first club night. While this is partially true, what this crotchety person really means to say is, “Don’t compete with me please, I’m irrelevant now, and I’m scared you’ll figure out how easy my job is.” The last person in the bar you need to listen to is the old DJ with no parties who is on their way out the door. You can learn a lot from other DJ’s, but spend your time watching the person with the hottest party in town, and the person with the hottest week day party in town. These folks are the ones who are on to something.
2. Don’t wait for someone to give you an opportunity. Create your own. Make yourself valuable. Throw house parties, book acts, create a network of followers, make mixtapes, and promote yourself.
3. Mixing is very important, but song selection is the most important. There are DJs I know who made a good run with nothing but a lap top and ITunes. While this seems a bit lazy to me, it proves that skill can’t replace good taste.
4. Know your audience. Balance your own egotistical view of what is good with what your audience wants to listen to. The DJs I know who are too cool to do this are very poor for the most part.
5. Find someone to teach you the basics, but don’t waste your time DJing in your bedroom for years before your first gig. A lot of skills can only be developed in front of a crowd, like reading the room. Ask a local DJ to let you open up for them for free, and you’ll get your foot in the door. If you support the DJ regularly and can pull a crowd of people together to come see you, the DJ is more likely to say yes.
6. In most cases, play for and promote to the people dancing in the room. For me, that means promoting towards women and gay people. Straight men tend to get in fights, grab butts they’re not allowed to, and show up just to try and get laid, all things that take away from a party.
7. Don’t start with turntables or CDJs, buy a controller. A mixer, turntables, or CDJs will run you a few thousand dollars. All most people need to start on is a good controller. I personally like the Traktor s2 (Link here). It’s only around $400. It runs the same software as my full set up, and sounds very good. If you prefer Serato, this Pioneer controller is great (Link Here). I have a controller that I use at parties all the time when I don’t want to bring my full set up. Also, buy a case. Odyssey makes a great case for the S2. (Link) All those sliders and knobs are pretty fragile.
8. Buy a good sound system. A DJ without their own speakers is like an electric guitar player without an amplifier. With a pair of great speakers (I like these QSC speakers), and a good subwoofer, ( like the Qsc KW 18), you become the master of your own destiny. Starting out, many of your events are likely to be house parties, or bars with no sound system, or a crappy set up. Having a subwoofer will make you a lot of friends fast, as many bars have no low end to speak of. If I hadn’t invested in a sound system early in my career, I wouldn’t be playing music today. At this point, I have 5 full pairs of speakers that I rent to other DJs, and they have each paid for themselves tenfold.
9. Invest in good headphones. The Sennheiser HD 25 are my favorites. You’re going to be wearing them a lot. Don’t ever spend more than $200 on headphones though, as they all break eventually.
10. A large part of DJing is a popularity contest. Make as many friends as you can, and invite them to your parties. Bars won’t hire you if you can’t make them money. On the flip side, you have to create something unique that people actually want. People want to be part of something authentic.
11. Ask yourself what you find attractive about becoming a DJ. Honestly, you might have more fun on the dance floor. It isn’t as glamorous as it looks. I spend quite a bit of my time playing Taylor Swift in the mall and hustle pretty hard. Spending every weekend at a club gets old eventually, and at some point you’ll have to decide between a “real job” and your music unless it is just a hobby. Don’t become a DJ unless you really love music. There are a lot of people trying to be famous, trying to get laid, or trying to become rockstars, but these folks fall out of favor quickly.
12. If you are only interested in playing underground music, honing your production skills will give you a huge leg up. It’s a lot easier to play shows as a Techno DJ etc if you have some credentials. Spend time learning Abelton, but don’t expect to make it big overnight. This is definitely the longest road to success.

I won’t tell you what to play, or what kind of parties to throw, but I wish you the best of luck! If you’re having fun, and the people at your party are dancing, you’re on the right track.

Blake Ward is a long time DJ out of Dallas, producer of the Disco, TX party series among others, a for fun photographer, a record collector, and too busy for your bullshit.

Instagrams: DJBlakeW & Disco_TX

Required Disclaimer: This article contains Amazon affiliate links. Any click may result in me receiving a commission.