9:44
When you are too old to DJ
On YouTube this video is called You Are Too Old to Be a DJ If........??????.!
What this lesson teaches
He acknowledges up front that this appears to contradict his usual position - you are never too old - and then makes a better argument than the slogan.
How young is too young
He deals with it first. Old enough is when you can physically use the equipment without damaging it.
And a nice piece of experience: three of his children broke the armrests on his turntables by grabbing the tone arm and pulling it the wrong way. The one who did not is the one he showed how to use it properly from day one.
Controllers are far more forgiving - the main risk being sticky drinks over the knobs. His instruction on children and equipment is good parenting as well as good teaching: help them, inspire them, do not push them. Push and they will decide they do not want it, which is counterproductive. Let them use it at their own pace.
The actual argument
He is 54 when he makes this, and he describes his own ear honestly.
When he started, he kept a hawk's eye on the charts, because chart music was the popular music and the sounds were new. His ear was tuned to then.
Now he cannot get his head round a lot of current pop. His specific complaint is pitch correction - and the substance of it is not just taste: a voice that is slightly off goes through the processing and comes out sounding amazing, and what it has lost on the way is soul.
His comparison is the fair one. Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder - singers whose reputations rest on what they could do with an unprocessed voice.
The point, and it is a good one
When you reach the stage of saying music isn't what it was in my day, you have two options. And the one most people assume - stop being a DJ - is the wrong one.
The other is: stop playing that music.
He states his own decision plainly. He does not want gigs where he has to trundle through material he has no feeling for. Not a refusal on principle - he simply cannot put a hundred per cent behind it.
Why that matters professionally, not just personally
And this is the part that makes it a lesson rather than a grumble.
The vibe and energy a DJ gives from behind the decks goes out to the room. You cannot stand there like a stuffed lemon through a record you dislike and have the floor feel good about it.
Then the test, and it is one you can apply to any DJ you watch: somebody bouncing around and smiling - is that real? Or are they going through the motions while mentally checking who liked their last post?
Because an audience can tell. We want to see and feel and hear passion, and a performer faking enthusiasm is worse than one standing still.
So the honest move
His recommendation: come clean. Say out loud that you do not want to play that music any more, go back to your roots, and play what you love.
And then carry on, because at that point you are not too old at all - you have just changed what you offer.
What it costs, which he does not say
Worth adding, because this is a business stage. Narrowing what you will play narrows what you will be booked for. A DJ who declines the current chart material is not going to get the twenty-firsts, and will have to find the rooms, the nights and the clients who want what they do want.
That is a real trade, and it is a better trade than the alternative: taking the booking, playing the records, and being visibly absent behind the decks.
His own formulation of where the line really is: the only time you are too old to be a DJ is when you are dead - because it would be very difficult to play something from a coffin.
Contents of the video
0:01 It's quite important because it does help with the whole DJ community
Right, so you're too old to be a DJ and this is possibly why. Now, first of all, before you start ranting on at me, please, please like and subscribe. It's quite important because it does help with the whole DJ community. Very simply because if you're thinking, well there's not that much on DJing... On YouTube. Or how come so-and-so hasn't got many subscribers when they're very good at what they do? Well, that's possibly because you have not subscribed to maybe myself and other DJ content channels. So by doing that, you help with the algorithms, pushes all of the information up, which means it's seen by a lot more people, which helps all of us. So please like and subscribe. Anyway... You're too old to be a DJ. So, in the past I have said that you're never too old. In fact, the day you're too old to be a DJ is when you're dead because it would be very difficult to play something from ashes or a coffin. On the other hand, you're probably thinking well hold on a minute, you're contradicting yourself now Jonathan because you have said in the past you're never too old. Well, this video...
It's slightly more, not so much in depth, but it's looking at it from another angle. Now firstly, how old should you be before you want to be a DJ? Well, so long as you can physically use kit correctly and not damage it, that's when you're old enough. I have seen, which I'm sure you have videos of like... Almost grown-up babies on the decks and I think that's amazing. What a great way to start some kind of musical education for the younger generation because music is one of the keys of life and it helps teach and inspire and motivate people. And also, any type of music, well most actually, is good for the soul. So if you have kids, why not let them have a little go on your decks? Now back in time...
2:31 Apart from that, you should be fine
And three of my kids did this with my old vinyl turntables. They broke the armrests because they grabbed hold of the arm and pulled it the wrong direction, breaking the armrest. The only one who hasn't done that is my younger child because I've shown him from day one how to use it properly. But we're so lucky now because with a controller, there's very little that can go on. The only thing you would do if you're going to let your small child use your controller is make sure they don't have any fizzy poppy sticky drinks with them and they don't dribble all over the knobs. Apart from that, you should be fine. But help them, inspire them, don't push them. Okay, that's something you can't do with kids because if you push, push, push, it's likely that they'll go, sod you, I don't want to do this. So it's counterproductive. Just let them use the kit at their own pace. Anyway, back to the job at hand. Why are you too old to be a DJ? Now I'm speaking from personal experience. I'm 54 at the moment. But also...
I want your thoughts, whatever age you are. Because I'm going to try and explain something that hopefully you will agree with and it will make sense. Now back in the day when I started DJing, it was top 40. It was commercial music, of course non-commercial as well. I used to keep a hawk's eye on the charts to make sure I knew what was coming in, what was going out. So then when I did mobile gigs, I would play a lot of chart music because it was popular music back in the day. And there were different sounds, there was new feelings and there was different instruments, you know. All sort of electronic instruments that started to transpire more towards the mid to latter part of the 80s. Even though they were very experimental in the late 60s and early 70s, it was only more predominantly I suppose out there in the 80s and of course boom the 90s when it was practically all dance music was all electronic. But you see then my ear was tuned
4:57 You listen to an artist and it sounds slightly electronic, their voice
To the sounds from then. Whereas now at my age, I cannot get my head around a lot of the modern day pop music. To me, the auto key changer just sounds... I nearly used the word F then. I'm going to use it. Frigging terrible! And we seem to have the same artists and if you listen to them and if... You listen to an artist and it sounds slightly electronic, their voice. It's more than likely it has had some form of cleaning kind of something or other to make it in key. So in other words, if the artist is slightly off, guess what? When it goes through the rinsing mincing machine, it sounds amazing! But the trouble is it's lost its soul. If you listen to the likes of Aretha Franklin or James Brown or Marvin Gaye or Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, did they use key changer? No, they didn't. They point blankly refused simply because they didn't need to. They had and they still have amazing voices. The ones that are alive, of course. But what I'm getting to in this video is maybe.
Now just maybe, when you get to a certain age and you start doing the old humbug, music isn't what it was like back in my day, then possibly then and only then, you may want to consider stopping becoming a DJ. But, here's the big but, maybe you need to stop doing more modern day commercial Now that is what I am going to do, okay? I've thrown in the towel. I don't particularly want to do gigs anymore where I have to trundle through all of this mumble rap crap. I'll be honest with you, I'm sorry, I don't like it. I'm just being honest here, okay? I don't like it and I don't want to play it. And as a real DJ who is very passionate about the music, if I'm at a gig, I want to be passionate about the music I play because the vibe and energy I give behind the decks to people has to be positive. I do not want to stand there like a stuffed lemon going, oh God, while I've got some rapper going, mm yeah, diamond ring, uh, uh. I don't want to do that.
7:16 Therefore, my age, I am not too old to be a DJ
And I don't want to stand there behind the decks while I'm playing another remix of a track that sounds like the other ten she produced from some female artist who's backed by a big company who practically own the charts anyway. I don't want to go down that route. On the other hand, I would like to play the likes of James Brown and Aretha Franklin real-to-real Robiness and all tracks like that because I have a passion for that music. Therefore, my age, I am not too old to be a DJ. But I am at a stage in my life where it's not a case of I refuse to play it. I don't want to play it because I cannot put 100% of my passion behind the decks, behind that music when I play. Because digressing slightly now...
If you ever get the chance to go to a gig and you watch a mobile DJ, and he or she is bouncing around, having fun and smiling, watch them. Because you will hopefully be able to tell if they are indeed having fun and enjoying the music. On the other hand, you will indeed be able to tell if they're bouncing around... Pretending thinking, I can't really wait to have a look on my Facebook profile and see who's liked the last picture I did of a pussycat. Because that is not what we want. We want to see and feel and hear passion. And we want DJs to have the passion behind their sets. That's why, very quickly... If you are of an age where you think, I don't like modern day music, it's a load of crap, then you should consider two things. One is to stop being a DJ or the other one is to maybe stop playing that. Come clean and go, do you know what ladies and gentlemen, I don't want to play that music anymore. I want to go back to my roots and play music that I enjoy. If that's the case, carry on. And if that is the case, then the only time you're too old to be a DJ...
Practice and enjoy. Thank you.
This transcript was produced automatically from the audio of the video and may contain mistakes.
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