Week 16 - learning how to DJ

Everyone wants to be a DJ.  Most people reading this probably know one (apart from Mum, sorry Ma, you do get singled out a lot).  But how many of you have a friend who is actually a proper DJ, a good one with skills and gets paid to do it?  With the advancements in technology over the last fifteen years or so, any old music obsessive can become a bedroom DJ, matching up records and making their own mixes. But that my friend, does not a DJ make.  Its about the people listening to the tunes that the DJ plays i.e the crowd, the heart and soul of a club.  If they have a good reaction to the tunes and stay on the dance floor, that is the sign of a good DJ.  

Now I was lucky enough to know some very good DJs while I was at University and even made a very minute impression on the scene for my limited circle of friends by putting on a drum 'n' bass night.  The "tornado" from Brasil, DJ Marky was the headline act and I will never ever forget the feeling I had on the dance floor while he played. It was pure joy, pure energy, pure soul - I never wanted it to end.  Luckily for me it lasted a little while longer as we all had a massive after party back at our house and no doubt, the real image that is burnt on the majority of my friends' brains is the sight of DJ Marky going at it on the decks as if he was back in the club, but was just in my mate Adam's bedroom.  He was absolutely smashing it.  It was him that really showed me the incredible flair and skill that a DJ can have and that it really is an art form.  

At some other time back in Adam's bedroom, I tried a couple of times unsuccessfully to beat-match, the first and, really only thing you need to master to be a DJ.  Basically I found it utterly nails.  Still, that didn't stop me having the fantasy of being the next "Smokin' Jo" (who I seem to remember from my school days is also a brilliant DJ).

So here we find ourselves yet again, in the position where I am faced with what possibilities there are and what I can learn throughout this unfathomable year of challenges.  Of course I'm going to try and learn to DJ. Pah!  I'm imagining that it takes months and months to master the art and I'm going to attempt it at a piddly little one-dayer, but I guess with all these things, its all about getting a taster and then seeing if I want to pursue whatever it is with serious intent.  Here's hoping.....

I contacted the DJ Academy, which trains wannabe DJ's all over the UK.  The London branch is run by On The Rise Academy, a DJ and production company based in Wembley and that is where I found myself on a rainy Friday morning last week.  My one-on-one workshop was with Jay Cunningham, one of the directors of the company and a DJ for well over 20 years, as well as a label boss, producer and radio presenter. As it turns out he is a massive D'n'B head.  Sadly, I decided to go back to my roots and bring with me 30 prerequisite tracks of absolute classic, party house.  Obvs. 

Jay set everything up, loaded my music up on the system and after shutting ourselves in the soundproofed studio, he began to take me through it all.

I wasn't going to be learning with decks and vinyl at first, instead I was taking charge of a DJ controller that in some ways does a lot of the work for you as it instantly matches up the bpm of the records and also tells you the key that the track is in and a whole host of other cool features, which for some old school heads is a bit of a cheat.  As Jay told me, some clubs won't use DJ controllers and still stick to using vinyl and CD mixing. But what transpired to me, is just that it saves a bit of time. Its just another platform. Yes, one doesn't have to beat match anymore with just their ears but if you're a half-decent DJ, there are just so many other incredible possibilities in how to perform with this technology.  You can loop parts of the track, play bits of four tracks at once, drop the bass out of one track, raise the treble in another etc etc which all makes for a potentially unique and memorable set from a DJ.  Rather than just mixing one track into another and so on and so on.

Ok thats about as technical as I'm going to get, as to be quite honest, most of it goes over my head.  All I will say is that we had such a laugh.  I basically just got to play a load of my favourite tunes and dance around like a loon and feel a pretty cool rush when I managed to mix the tracks well. I stood there planning each track and trying to think whether "Return of the Space Cowboy" would mix well into "Break of Dawn" and so would sing to myself "badabaa badabaabaa badabaadaba" and would that go into "I'm surprised to see your suitcase at the door...!"  Essentially, if you're a really good DJ, you have to know your tracks inside and out and think about them in a very specific way, certainly different to how I was thinking about them.

After a few hours of learning about beats, bars, phrases, tempo, bpm, FX, EQ, mix points.....my head exploded....no, not really, after that I got to do my own mini mix.  Argghhhhhhhhhhhhhh the pressure!  It was palpable.  But, I could use the knowledge and the practise from the last few hours and pick the tracks that I knew were relatively easy to work with.  Now I am under no illusions whatsoever: Jay helped me enormously by putting in some tracker points on each of the tunes so I could see the musical changes on the laptop and also create a few loops here and there, so it was by no means all me on my own.  But, still, I got to feel like I was just that little bit closer to Smokin' Jo ha (or, DJ Sharffy)  Watch me in the mix (cringe)

I have to say it wasn't completely horrendous but I would have a mountain to climb if I was to really master the art of DJing.  You can listen to my 30 minute party mix right here!!  Emma, Dorcas, Rachel, you will love!!

For the last half hour I wanted to go old school and get on the decks, taking me back to my days trying helplessly in Adam's bedroom. I wanted to practise real beat-matching, but after having learnt on the DJ controller I was an absolute lost cause.  It really is an incredibly accomplished skill, plus you need to have a very good set of ears.  I'm not sure I have the stamina nor the inclination to put in the amount of work, time and money that is clearly required.  I think I'll happily just remain on the other side of the DJ booth with my hands in the air, smile on my face and the fantasy of DJ Sharffy's 30 minutes of fame.