DJ One Reason WHY You Are Not Getting Any Work in a Night Club

0:00 This video goes out to any person who is into DJing

Right guys, this video goes out to any person who is into DJing. Have you ever thought that your mix could be too good? Your set that you've recorded could be too clean, too well put together, too well produced for you to get some work? Are you in your bedroom? And you know you're a good DJ. You know you've got the passion, the know-how. You know you could go out there and you could do a blinding set and even make the world-classed DJs look like idiots. Yet you just can't understand why you're not getting any work. Well this video could give you the answer. It's very simple. Your mix is too good. Right, let's go back 20 or 30 years to when there was just vinyl. That was it. There was only vinyl. There was no screens to look at. There was no little BPM readout. You couldn't download Serato, Traktor or anything like that, or LimeWire. You couldn't get a bunch of MP3s off your mate. No, you had to go and buy records. Not only did you have to go and buy the records, you had to use vinyl turntables. Not only did you have to use vinyl turntables...

You had to pretty much find out your own BPM. You had to mix it yourself. You had to do your own phrase mixing. You had to make sure it was in key, in time, in phrase, in beat and the set flowed. Now if we go back to when sort of proper DJ mixing started around about the 80s early 80s then if you listen to some of the Proper sets. And when I say proper sets, some guy in his bedroom stuck his little cassette player on to record and recorded a set. Quite often you could hear a bit of a glitch. Maybe it went out of time a little bit. Maybe the beats weren't aligned for a few seconds and then they got back in. Maybe it was out of phrase. Maybe there was one mix that was slightly out of key. It was organic. It was real. And any manager out there who listened to that, of course they knew.

2:52 Hear, beep beep, saying

How it was made, because there was no fantastic software for the DJs to just, I suppose, bosh it up so it just sounded like something manufactured. It was real. The trouble is today, is every single mix that's made on a controller, very sad, but every single mix made on a controller could potentially be made by the controller. Now I'm not saying that you have used sync, beatmatching facilities of course at sync, you know you've used key lock, you've used everything via mixed in key or the software so everything's like the same key rising and flowing. I'm not saying you haven't used your ears but what I am saying is that if you're using a controller or CD players and you're letting them do a lot of the work

To make sure your mix is seamless, then it's too good to be true. So when that mix is online or when you show someone your CD, you let them hear it, how do they know that you have done that mix? How do they know that you haven't used your controller and your software to its fullest extent? They don't. should be done and what possibly is slowly being done is that DJs are realizing to get heard and seen you need to make mistakes I know that sounds bizarre it's crazy make mistakes you can't make mistakes in a mix because it would sound terrible but i would prefer to have a mix that's a little bit rough around the edges instead of it being just this seamless line of dreary fall asleep I want to hear passion. I want to hear soul. I want to hear something that's organic, not man-made. And this is the key now. Think about it. Here's an analogy for you. I think this is a good analogy. We go back 30 years and if you wanted to contact a radio station, you'd either have to phone them up and stand in line or quite often you'd hear the beep, beep, beep.

4:49 Let's take that analogy to today and DJing

Or you'd send them a letter on the off chance that they would open that letter amongst the thousands of other letters. Nowadays everyone sends an email or a text, along with all the other thousands and millions who send emails and texts. But maybe you might be heard now via the radio station if you send them a letter, because they probably don't get that many. So let's take that analogy to today and DJing. All of the millions, and literally millions of DJs who are posting mixes and sending them to these managers and they're all pristine and they're wonderful. Maybe a manager is more likely to listen to your mix. Alright, this isn't an exact analogy but it's very close, I do apologise. Maybe there's more chance of them listening to your mix if it's a little bit rough around the edges instead of it just being this dreary, drooly, flowing with no soul whatsoever. Think about it, alright? So the next time you do any kind of set, give it some soul. Give it something of you. Use the software. Use the controller.

Abuse it. Because of course, let's imagine the manager of a club, a big club, a small club, a bar, even a mobile disco, and they want an 18th birthday party and they've heard you. Yeah, come along. We want you to work in our nightclub, our bar, our fun bar, festival somewhere. And you turn up and say, right, do your set. And you start using sync. They're going to look at you as though you're a muppet because they... Want to see a real DJ? People want to see a real DJ. OK, yes, maybe the public don't know and wouldn't know a real DJ from a bad DJ, wouldn't know someone who's using software to is or isn't. But you do. This is the key. You're the one doing it. So would you prefer to go to that event walking away thinking, well, you know, I'd...

It was a great set. I enjoyed it, the crowd enjoyed it, but then when you sleep, when you put your head on that pillow, are you going to go to sleep thinking, well actually there was sync involved and key matching and I didn't really do much? Alternatively, would you prefer, which I would prefer, to go to an event Knowing that I've used a little bit of technology, but I put that mix together and I gave it some soul. Okay? So have a think about that. Thank you very much. And by the way, if you are interested in any lessons by myself, Jonathan Ellaskins, The DJ Tutor, I'm still giving one-to-one lessons, DJ lessons, either via Skype or Facebook. Contact me. There's an email address right down there. Practice and enjoy. I do. Thank you.

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