If you’re willing to throw down a funky beat along with a couple thousand dollars, then perhaps a set of turntables should be the next charge on the credit card.
At parties, people are usually drinking, dancing and having a good time. At the heart of the party lies the DJ, who has the ability to set the mood and keep everyone energized enough to make it through that 4 a.m. walk home.
Buying the appropriate equipment is the most costly part about becoming a DJ. A normal setup includes two turntables (around $1,000 each) and a mixer (around $400). Speakers, computer programs and, of course, music add to the expense. When choosing turntables, it’s important to decide whether you want to go with CDs or vinyl.
Fourth-year ethnomusicology student Marlon Fuentes has DJ’d for events such as JazzReggae Festival and Bruin Bash, as well as at some of Hollywood’s most elite clubs.
“I think vinyl sounds a lot better because there’s an analogue signal. It’s not confined to the parameters of an MP3. It’s actually bigger. It has a bigger sound,” Fuentes said.
However, carrying a vinyl collection around from club to club can be cumbersome in an era where MP3s can be pulled up instantaneously on a laptop. Computer programs such as Serato and Ableton provide quick access to entire libraries of music, even allowing the DJ to “scratch” the MP3s with blank vinyls or CDs on their turntables.
“Now it’s a lot different. You can find the songs online as opposed to old school where you’d have to find them in the record store. Now there are different sites that I can go to to find really new remixes of songs so there’s a lot of good stuff to choose from,” said Josh Walker, a fourth-year Design | Media Arts student, who is also known as DJ Mirth.
Serato sorts music by beats per minute, and many DJs who are just starting out use that convenience as a springboard for choosing which songs to mix.
“You can either learn to mix with your ears or with your eyes,” Fuentes said. “Don’t stare at the computer screen and match the two waves. That leads to a lot of bad selections. I’ve seen a lot of people try to mix two songs that are the same tempo but have no relationship, and it’s just a bad mix.”
Fuentes prefers using vinyl over MP3s because it forces him to really focus on what he wants to bring with him for a gig.
“It’s a more manual selection process as opposed to, “˜Oh, I have a gig, I’m going to take my computer.’ Songs get lost when they’re just lines of text on a screen. Music gets lost. It loses its identity. That’s why I love vinyl. … There’s more care involved.”
Buying the appropriate equipment also depends on what type of DJ one aspires to be. According to Eddie Danielyan, a third-year political science and Russian studies student known as DJ Eklectiq, there are at least three types of DJs: battle DJs, who show off their skill with crazy spins and scratches; club DJs, who don’t do as much scratching but focus on keeping the crowd energized; and mash-up artists, who blend songs much in the style of Girl Talk.
Even though genres can blur and exceptions can be found, DJs who play house music don’t scratch as much, so MP3s or CDs may be more useful, whereas DJs who play a lot of hip-hop and rap will scratch more, so vinyl is preferable.
The next step is experimenting with the equipment. Walker said he believes the most essential part of learning to DJ is learning to beat match.
“You can have songs that are the same tempo, but they won’t line up. You set a cue point on the bass drum of the first song. It’s not that technical,” Walker said. “You’re hearing this one and you start the next one (on the same beat), and at that point you can fade back and forth and the beat’s still going.”
Don’t expect mad DJ skill to come instantaneously, though.
“It was difficult because I knew I wasn’t good at first, so the biggest dilemma was deciding to either stop so (the crowd’s) ears won’t bleed or continue and get better so they’d enjoy it,” Danielyan said.
After becoming comfortable playing for a crowd and learning from feedback, a DJ can develop his or her own taste more thoroughly, and with that, his or her image.
“You start branding yourself. You get pictures at some of your gigs, or you might even do your own little photo shoot. You become a personality,” Fuentes said.
Trevor McFedries, DJ Skeet Skeet, has spun for Warped Tour, Katy Perry, Boys Like Girls and this year’s Bruin Bash.
“All of a sudden everyone’s a DJ, so you really got to spend time making yourself stand out,” McFedries said. “Do it your way, don’t just copy big DJ’s sets. It’s important to create your own identity.”
Having an online presence is crucial to becoming known. Putting mixes on MySpace, gathering fans on Facebook, and e-mailing club owners are all good ways to get a foot in the door. Even volunteering to spin for free has its benefits.
In some senses, DJing is a type of mind control. In the hands of the DJ rest not only the turntables, but the crowd’s moods as well.
“Us humans, we love power. Everyone loves power,” Danielyan said. “It’s a responsibility you take, but most of the time you’re willing to take it because the payoff is a greater reward.”
Even with all the glamour associated with being a DJ, flashing lights and a lot of attention can’t be the only motivation when it comes to success.
“For people who don’t really like music and want to DJ as a job, but they’re not really that into music … that could be annoying when you don’t really know what to play and you don’t know where to find music. Real fiends know where to get their fix,” Fuentes said.
“Honestly, it takes an ear,” Walker said. “If you can’t listen to music and tap your foot, you’re not going to be a DJ. You have to love music essentially, and then it will come.”
Even though DJs are often required to be “yes” people and play what the crowd wants to hear, it still requires more creativity than just plugging in an MP3 player into a set of speakers.
“That three seconds between songs (on an iPod) makes the biggest difference in the atmosphere, the environment and the moods of the people attending the party. It seems like three seconds is nothing, but if you provide an environment where the music practically doesn’t stop, that just energizes people completely. (It’s) cool to play new songs, but that doesn’t show off the DJ’s skill. An iPod can do that,” Danielyan said. “Don’t be an iPod. Be a DJ.”