Start DJing - How To Get DJ Gigs You Want In Clubs

To get you on the right road to start DJing, read the following steps which will definitely help you on your way to becoming a club DJ, if that's what you want.

And even if you're happy to play in parties and bars without hitting the clubs, I'd advise reading it too.

1. Choose DJ equipment

If you're sure that you want to DJ, you'll be ready to splash a few hundred dollars, pounds or Euros on your gear.

You did know that right?

Now, what gear do you get? You've heard about CD decks, vinyl turntables and digital gear.

The choice is an easy one to make once you answer this question: what format is your music in?

If it's in vinyl then you'll need DJ turntables. If it's on CDs, then have a look at some DJ CD decks.

But I'm guessing here that you want to start DJing because you already have a large collection.

And in most cases, your collection is likely to be in digital format (MP3,.wav,.flac).

For around 80% of new DJs, this is the case.

If so, you should look into digital DJ equipment.

Even if you're on a low budget to start with, no problem, you can find out where to start with a budget DJ gear guide.

2. Learning to mix

You have a choice here, you can either learn to mix all by yourself, trying to read a combination of books, webpages and YouTube vids (many of which give different advice) or you can simply get a full video course to learn how to DJ in less time.

Learning on your own is possible but takes time, effort and dedication. This is what you need to be ready for if you want to start DJing.

You can also take DJ lessons (expensive) or look into courses which help you learn with video assistance.

3. Promoting yourself

Like it or not, DJ promotion is an essential part of becoming a DJ.

A Facebook page is just not enough on its own. DJs who think they can get by with just a Facebook page and adding friends don't get anywhere.

You'll need to create a cool DJ website, build contacts and make a banging promo CD.

4. Create your image and unique style

Instead of being just like all the other DJs and copying the same tunes and style as your hero, how about being original?

Original DJs get noticed and if you have a style and image that people identify with, if you stand out amongst other DJs with a cool music selection and look, you'll get more gigs.

Believe me, this really works and you need to have it in mind when you start DJing.

So what do you do to stand out from the crowd of clone DJs? This is made of 2 parts: creating a unique DJ sound and also a cool DJ image.

5. Get DJ Gigs

Now it comes to the hardest part when you start DJing. Why is it so hard to get DJ gigs in clubs?
It's so hard because you have to get into that circle of people.

You know, those guys who all know each other, who don't seem to let others in and who give each other all the best gigs? We've all seen this before.

It's frustrating when someone gets a gig because they're a friend of someone else. In fact, it's really annoying! Because you know that you're better than that other guy but HE's the one on the decks.

There are some great techniques which help you to get to network, make friends and get into the doors of clubs a lot easier. Once you manage that, only one thing can happen: you WILL get DJ gigs.

This article and many more other DJ tips, reviews, advice and a free guide to getting DJ gigs can be found at The Total DJ Blog

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The DJ Business - Starting And Making Money With DJing

Do you need to know how to start a DJ business? If you play out then you are ALREADY in the DJ business. Many people earn money from DJing and for some, DJing is your sole source of income.

Generally, the DJs who make a bit more money and enough to live off are mobile DJs or wedding DJs. Some club DJs can also make enough for them to live.

The super star DJs like Tiesto, Van Buuren and Guetta and the rest of the top DJs can make a living from DJing too, and much more than the rest of us. That's pretty obvious.

Everyone has a chance of getting there, but what if you don't? The guys that do school discos, functions and weddings generally just rely on DJing and maybe another one or two other activities to live off.

Not the coolest guys in town admittedly, and no, they wouldn't be invited to play at my party. But they often know how to run a successful DJ business, so you have plenty to learn from these guys.

I don't know if you'll want a "real job" and to DJ on weekends. Or if you want to set up a DJ business as a mobile DJ, doing weddings, hotel functions and events, that's fairly lucrative. You can have other activities on the side to improve your income.

You may need to concentrate on not just depending on DJing for a living. After all, you want to earn more cash from the DJ business.

What's the best advice for making money from DJing?

If I was to condense all my advice down to you about this, I'd try to get into this mindset: Try to earn good money by doing what you enjoy. You need a decent level of cash to live normally and secure the future. Doing what you enjoy separates you from the crowd and makes you happy. Most people don't really like what they do.

Build yourself a DJ website

The obvious tip here that you may be overlooking is to build your own DJ website. This is especially useful if you're a mobile DJ and DJing at events and weddings is your main source of income. You want to attract bigger and better paying clients.

How do you do this? By appearing high up in the search engine rankings. Many DJs fall into the trap of failing to make their websites appear in online search engines. Starting a DJ business is not easy, but possible using clever networking techniques, internet bookings and video marketing.

This article and many more other DJ tips, reviews, advice and a free guide to getting DJ gigs can be found at The Total DJ Blog

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The Top DJ Tips, Tricks and Advice for Club DJing and Making People Dance

Here's my multi steroid booster, magic bullet little blue pill designed to make you perform like the best hot list of 6 key DJ tips:

1. Be the Master of your equipment

Don't think you'll somehow get by without enough practice.
You may not want to hear it but you'll need to know your DJ gear inside out and like a real pro.

Read the manuals, look up the best video tutorials, practices and advice on how to use it and try some little tricks with it yourself in the weeks and days leading up to events.

Develop your own little techniques and wizardry. Take it to the max.

Be the geek who knows all about how to make the most of your gear.

Make sure it's 100% reliable and carry out all the maintenance checks you'll need. Take a back up solution if you can.

Back up gear

For example: if you have no back up for your laptop, burn some tunes onto CDs. At least if your laptop crashes you'll be able to play from them.

Know exactly how everything works. Be relaxed with it. This'll free you to think about other things, such as..

2. Know your music

Knowing exactly what tunes you've got in the bag, case or on your hard drive is a huge bonus.
Knowing when to play the right tunes and who to play it to is just as important.

A deejay who cannot perform should either not be playing or has forgotten to check through his or her music recently.

Check my pro DJ tips on knowing all about your music.

3. Watch the crowd

Now, you can master your DJ equipment perfectly well.
You have the best tunes in town.

But if you're not paying attention to the heart and soul of the party, then none of that matters.

A real pro will be watching the crowd every few seconds.

He or she won't be just looking up every ten minutes, they'll be feeling the dancefloor out, connecting with them.

A top deejay won't be so immersed in their mix that they can't look up. They are comfortable enough with their mixing techniques that they can afford to check out who's dancing, who's going crazy and they'll see if people start to sidle off the dancefloor.

Reading reactions

You'll be able to gauge people's reactions. Maybe they're happy, drunk, drugged up, boys or girls, black, brown, white.

All of this is important when deciding how to react by choosing your next tune.

It's the intuitive part of DJing and it's why some make it and others don't.

Luckily you can find out much more about DJ Tips to read the club dancefloor.

4. Look great when DJing

Like it or not, how you look is part of your image and impact.
Some people even prefer a good looking guy or girl to someone who puts on the best tunes.

No really, it's true.

Ask your image conscious friends some tips on how to dress and adapt to the venue you're playing at.

People will relate better to you if you at least make an effort.

I'm not saying you have to look like Brangelina, but be smart, adapt and make the most of what you have.

When I say adapt, I mean that you'll need to know about the people who hang out there and they'll react better to you if they relate to your image.

You'll go further if you do that.

5. Don't get distracted from your set

It's all to easy for the weak willed boys amongst us to get distracted by a hot gorgeous girl coming up to the booth with a flirtatious smile and asking for Lady Gaga right this minute, because it's her birthday, she says. Be respectful, but remain in charge Be polite, but don't get distracted. Speaking to her is not more important than getting your mix right. Now, maybe it's just me but people always seem to ask me for stuff right when I'm lining up a tune and I need to concentrate. I just ignore them until I'm set and satisfied. Then I'll answer them, quickly. Remember your priorities Don't let them distract you from your set. Listen, be nice, but they can't change the course of a night that's going so well. The priority is your set. You need to remember that before some big breasted dolly puts you off. If you find that you have difficulties with saying no to requests then see exactly how best to handle them with my tips on dealing with booth requests.

6. Play the music they want and not what you want

Now let's get this straight.

While it's hard not to think this is all about you, numero uno, number one son of a gun and the king of the booth, it isn't. I know I just said you shouldn't get distracted by hotties asking you for music, leave that until the end. One of the best DJ tips is for you to pay attention to the whole crowd, not just one person asking for Lady Gaga. You see, people are there to have a good time and very few of them will actually be looking at and wondering about how cool the deejay actually is. It feels grand to lay down tunes that make people dance from a club booth, but you're here to make people dance. You're not playing to jerk yourself off in a booth. The more people that dance, the more successful the night will be and the more chance you have of getting bigger and better paid future gigs. So it's up to you to adapt to the crowd and not the other way around. The above DJ tips should help you play your set better, get invited back for more gigs and rock the dance floor.

This article and many more other DJ tips, advice and a free guide to getting DJ gigs can be found at The Total DJ Blog

View the original article here