The Journey

Everyone’s a DJ and I Love It

At the dawn of the decade it seemed like you couldn’t go a week without one of your friends inviting you to come watch them DJ at some random bar/club/house. And I’ll be the first to admit, I’ve definitely been that guy. My good friend, Jake, and fellow partner in BANG!, got me into DJ’ing back in 2008 and I immediately fell in love. The first time I played at a house party and saw people dancing to the music I was playing, was one of the best feelings in the world. Having someone come up to me and say, “That was a great set, thanks” was all the recognition I ever needed. But that romantic period has gone away and nowadays, everybody’s a “DJ” 

But I for one, am glad that everyone is trying to be a DJ

 Think of all your favorite “DJs” that you would typically see on a festival line up and then think about how many of them actually make their own music. Answer: almost all of them. There are very few DJs that get to that level solely based on their DJing skills. The late, great DJ AM was one of them and he was definitely a master of his craft, as well as Z-Trip and DJ Vice (although, they have both produced a few tracks of their own). It seems that to make it as a DJ, it’s more about who you know, than “what you know”. For example, DJ Pauly D who is #21 on Celebrity Networth’s list of richest electronic DJs. All it took was some hair gel, a Jersey accent, and a reality TV show.

It was only common business sense to transition into the world of music production. The “DJ market” is so over saturated, that the opportunity costs of entering the market are way too high. Technology has advanced so much that the barrier of entry into the world of DJ’ing has significantly come down. Traktor’s new iPad app allows anyone who has an iPad to be a “DJ”. It’s a great piece of technology and I think it has the power to open people’s eyes to the realization that there’s so much more than just hitting play for the next track. Creating a captivating set is no accident, learning how to manipulate your song selection and read the crowd doesn’t happen over night in your bedroom.

For the better part of the last year, I have spent way too much time on my hobby of music production, but I have no regrets. It’s been one of the most challenging and rewarding processes in my entire life. So how did everyone becoming a DJ push me into becoming a bedroom producer? Because I wanted to get that rush of playing for a crowd again. When Jake and I first started messing around in Ableton, we had one goal in mind, play at a huge venue. We would watch videos of festivals and clubs and get goosebumps every time there was a shot from behind the DJ looking out onto the crowd. We’ve had a small taste of that, and once played for around 500 people, but what about 5,000? Then the realization hit that the only way that would ever have a chance of happening to us is if we were known for our own music, not our DJ’ing.

Thus began our journey of bedroom producing.

Welcome to The Journey, an inward look at our personal journeys as bedroom producers. In these series of posts we will be looking at our failures, triumphs, and realizations throughout our quest to make the best electronic music we can. We will be covering topics such as creativity, collaboration, work ethic, and the music scene as a whole.