DJ Lesson Advice on Entering a DJ Competition How to Stand Out

0:01 Hook, something else, head

Alright ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to start this video off by wishing my son Ryan Lewis a happy birthday. You're 17 today mate, sorry I can't see you but I love you millions and I hope you have a nice day, a good day, in fact I hope you have a friggin' shit odd day. Also this is a DJ lesson, it's an intermediate DJ lesson and it's mainly for people who are going to participate in competitions. At the moment in Dubai there's a Pioneer competition so if you are entering that and you're through to the next heats then have a watch and maybe you can just, alright not everyone's going to copy this but it might inspire you and may make you think ah maybe I can do something else. Very importantly as well, big shout out to the Dubai DJ Academy. I will be there the end of this month, September 2014, teaching over there so if you are interested in getting one-to-one lessons from myself and some other tutors then follow the link down there to their Facebook page, send a message and get involved.

Okay, so I'm going to give you an analogy first of all. Top 40 song or songs in the charts, songs that you hear on the radio. Three and a half minutes roughly, and something in that song that grabs you by the old oobily jab jabs is something called the hook. Now the hook is the part of the track that you hum along to and you just can't get it out of your head, some tracks you love, some tracks you absolutely hate but you can't get the hook out of your head. That's because the bridge doesn't work. You can't get the hook out of your head. The thing about the hook is that it's in there and they're like it and they'll buy it and they pay attention. You're more inclined to want to listen to it again, etc., etc.

2:16 Let's just play a track

You're more inclined to make more note of that track and in turn love it, buy it, etc. Now let's put that analogy to formulating your mix if you're going to participate in a competition. So let me show you something else. I don't know if this makes sense but I'm just gonna show you an example. So when you hear this one verse, here's what we're going to do. Here's what we're going to do. Right, let's just play a track. Now let's imagine this is the beginning of the competition and I'm now about to start my mix in a competition Yes everybody! Now I'm enjoying myself. I'm smiling! Oh sorry! I'm having an effect I'm jiggling. Everything's jiggly. I need to wear underpants Everything's jingling. And now we're coming to the break

3:51 The judge will be thinking, well judges, that's boring boring

And now I'm messing around with knobs. I'm acting as though I'm doing something Let's stop it there. Why do you think these judges are judges? Why do you think they've been asked to be a judge? It's because they know their job. They also know and they can see, and some can even hear most of them can hear without even looking that when you're playing a track and you look as though you're doing something on the knobs bass, mid and treble, you're actually probably not doing anything at all. For the crowd the general public, wow look at the DJ he or she is doing stuff on the mixer! Oh my god that's amazing! The judge will be thinking, well judges, that's boring boring. Now as I said earlier in a track you have the hook. In a mixing competition

You need the hook. You need to grab the judges by their ooblee jab jabs big time. You need to go, hey listen to me watch me I know what I'm doing. So okay straight away two tracks right at the beginning of the mix Now I'm not saying you have to do this. What I'm saying is it's a bloody good idea because straight away you've got their attention. They're now thinking do you know what? This person I like them because they are doing something straight away. All of a sudden out the blue, they're going here I am full frontal give me some. Right, now there was a little break there after about eight bars. Have a listen from I did a hot cue earlier on Now listen What I've done here, I set two hot cues. The first one is on

The Dapper Revolution. The next one is on Holly Johnson Follow Your Heart Frankie Knuckles and Eric Cuppa Director's Cut Signature Mix Ham Bacon and Eggs Sausage and Sorry, I was just pretending about the Eric Cuppa. It's really sausage and bacon. Just kidding. Right So what I've done, I've got a hot cue on the Revolution I've also got a hot cue on there Now again, this is about construction. This is about formulating your mix prior to the competition, writing everything down BPM notes where things come in and go out and whatnot You would not normally do this in a nightclub environment unless you were a top-class DJ being paid vast amounts of money and the people couldn't give a monkey's whether you were playing

6:45 I've got a little break there and then I can bring another track in

Ringer Ringer Roses all night because they'll still be going Oh, I love you, I love you during the course of an evening digressing slightly when the crowds in front of you, you will go with the crowd. The crowd will go with you. So you can't really have a precise mix to work on because those tracks could work wonderfully together. But if you lose the dance floor and you've got your set and that's all your set then your set may not be able to bring the crowd back up. But in a competition you can do this because you're there to impress so you need to do as much as you can. So I've got a little break there and then I can bring another track in. So let's do that exact mix again, but then add another element or

Another track.

Straight in another track. Now then we've got another break. All right. So again, what you could have done, what you should have done is get another track ready. You've got your break now we can add some echo or just jump around a bit and then in. All right, maybe not there. A little bit further on. But the idea is that you get the idea. Okay, very important Ryan. I love you. Happy birthday my friend. All right and also Dubai DJ Academy big up to you soon Pioneer DJ competition in Dubai. If you're entering do this kind of stuff have fun impressed smile wave your arms get stuck in practice and enjoy. Thank you Brian. I love you.

This transcript was produced automatically from the audio of the video and may contain mistakes.