How to DJ Advice

Turntabling (the blog) is all about vinyl–everything connected to the collecting, playing, archiving and culture associated with vinyl.

I know the drive-in culture thing I am so obsessed with in these pages seems a bit of a stretch, but since I cut my teeth with vinyl when these things were growing up right alongside in 70s and 80s culture, it seems a natural to me.

But some days, it’s all about the act of mixing together the tunes and keeping people interested in your mix. The DJ aspect doesn’t get nearly as much face time here, but I do like to dispense a bit of my insider knowledge from time to time.

Today I stumbled across another one of those How To DJ sites, but this one actually had some decent information. Sound advice there, especially when it comes to trying to feel out an audience and know what works and what doesn’t.

My main gripe with how-to-DJ advice is that you can’t really learn how to spin music without DOING it. And then there’s only so far you can go before you need to have an actual audience. Want to see how fast you can clear a dance floor? How about how long it takes to bring those feet back onto that floor? You have to learn by doing.

That said, this site has some pretty good tips–especially when it comes to keeping your ego in check and playing stuff that you really hate to make that crowd stay on the floor.

But at the end of the day, if you want to get some experience spinning in front of people, what you need to do is host a party or have a friend bring you on as a DJ for their shindig. Play a few crowds and get a feel for what you’re doing–but don’t tell anybody you’ve never done it before or don’t have much experience.

Most won’t know the difference unless they’re in the biz or you just dork up one segue after another ALL NIGHT. But that’s not going to happen if you’ve been playing with your gear for a while and know your music. Don’t put on New Order back to back with the Statler Brothers and you’ll do fine.