Mixing… freestyling… learning…
Continuing the story of my journey to how I’m going to end up as headliner DJ of a party w/ 1000+ people by the end of the year sometime.
This week was kind of all over the place. Content wise, my mind kept going back to Prince, and I watched Susan Rogers, Prince’s sound engineer, talk about him. She said he was unlike anyone else, talked about his gender presentation, and how he was feminine in the way that a masculine man would be. She also talked about how she found her way to becoming a sound engineer, and how much time it took to really study to take on that role. One of the things I really took away from that talk: she said that Prince would talk about “what street you live on”, but in a musical sense. That you can love other types of music, and visit other streets, but what music feels like home? Like the street you live on? For me that music is R&B, throughout all the eras. It is what really feels most comfortable to me. She also talked about how she found out what wasn’t her musical ‘street she lived on’ by talking about The Beatles, and how she, as a young girl, didn’t have nearly the same reaction that everyone else was having to The Beatles. But she did have a visceral reaction to soul music. That’s how I feel about R&B.
Figuring that out may not sound like much, but it was REALLY question that was bothering me for so long. I kept saying, oh I’m a hip-hop/R&B/house DJ. And I would keep trying to listen to house tracks, and I would try to force myself to like them. And I just did not like them. I couldn’t do anything to get myself to like them, I kept searching over and over for different DJs. Maybe there’s one that I’ll like out there somewhere, I just kept thinking to myself. I don’t even really like 90s house. I like house-inspired R&B, but that’s absolutely a different thing lol. So to claim R&B as my home base, feels like knowing myself in a new way. Thanks Prince Rogers Nelson!
In terms of technical skill this week, I focused on mixing techniques, and listening to mixes that had exemplary mixing techniques. I looked up a bunch of things, like instructional videos on different mixing techniques. I also spent time listening to DJs who specialize in R&B and listening to their mixing techniques. I’ve been spending time listening to The R.O.A.D. Podcast which has been extremely helpful in navigating building this career I’m trying to build, and DJ J Espinosa did an episode recently. I listened to an older R&B mix he put up and took some notes on mixing since I really enjoyed the mix. Also tried to take notes locally on DJs like DJ E Feezy and DJ Nasty who DJ locally for 99 Jamz. I practiced some of the techniques, utilizing more echo and backspin transitions, instead of just fading in the same exact way all the time with the hi/lo pass filter over and over as I’m used to doing. I also paid more attention to the levels for low/mid/hi notes and how I’m using them while mixing. Things are sounding better.
I put up a question on Instagram last week asking for requests for R&B songs that people would like me to mix into a freestyle set. So I downloaded them all, marked them up, and this Saturday put out a mix. I challenged myself to include all the songs requested. This mix is the finished product of all the stuff I’ve been thinking about all week.
Making this shit was not easy, lol. I didn’t prep the music properly, I didn’t mark up all available cue points like I usually do and didn’t listen enough to the songs that were requested, so I didn’t really know them, and that shit makes it really hard to mix. I liked all the songs everyone suggested, but if you saw me while I was mixing, I was struggling. I was mixing with all new transitions that I only barely practiced the same day, new songs that I didn’t learn enough… I felt PANICKED while I was making this mix. There were moments I missed transitions, and luckily there was only one moment where there was a bad technical mess up where I forgot to reset EQs for Love Without a Limit by Mary J Blige, and it was just dead silence when I moved slider over.
Anyway, all that’s to say… preparation, even when freestyling, is important. For me, I’m marking up all my shit and learning the whole song for EVERY song I add to my tracklist. And I tried to do too many new things at once, like trying out new mixing techniques. Like I said, it came out fine, but by the end of it when I started playing Angel in Disquise by Brandy, I was so mentally TIRED by doing so many new things and not doing them with enough confidence, and I was convinced I had fucked up the entire mix. I was about to save it, listen to it, write some notes to improve in a journal, and trash it and try another one, but when I listened to it, it actually wasn’t bad. So I posted it, mistakes and all, and learned my lesson lol.
Last thing for this week, I also focused on getting mentorship, and trying to find another DJ I could actually talk to. Luckily I did use my networks and remember somebody. And so I have somewhat of a mentor to get advice from. I feel like that’s so important and its been a struggle for me to find a local DJ I can talk to that I trust and shares my values, i.e. someone I feel would understand what I’m trying to do. If I’m trying to play in a way that spreads love there’s certain songs I’m not willing to play. And I think that cuts me off from certain opportunities that could be lucrative. My question is how do I not lose my soul and actually make money by adding value to other peoples’ lives through my DJing.
I’m prepping to play a kid’s party within the next few weeks… so the next week and a half will be focused on producing and prepping tracks for that party. See you next week!
