Becoming A Successful DJ- Taking The Road Less Travelled By

To go the off-beaten path may seem full of fear, uncertainty, and anxiety, but it is also something that is hugely rewarding and has a never-ending thrill to it. No longer is it necessary to conform to conventional occupations to have a secure career. With time, there have been many new career opportunities that have paved the way for earning a good livelihood. And creating good music by being a DJ is one of them. 

If you have a knack for listening to all sorts of music genres and creating interesting pieces of your own, this field is one option that you should try venturing into.

What is it all about?
First things first, you need to learn what DJ-ing actually entails. You may have come across many Disk Jockeys mixing and playing music to entertain a big crowd. The enjoyable music with upbeat notes varies from one DJ to another as they bear their personal style. Such music is inspired by various styles and genres which can be transcendental of different time periods of the music culture.

So how many styles of DJs are present?
If you see well enough, you will know that there are no two DJs who work in the same manner. Depending upon the audience they create jamming playlists for, there are different kinds of disk jockeys. 

●     Club DJs
The club DJs are in-house resident MCs who play there regularly or there could be DJs who are called occasionally. They play the music in accordance with the style and vibe of the club they perform for. 

●     Freelance DJs
They are the ones who you may have seen performing for a special occasion like a wedding, a corporate party, or even a prom celebration. Since they are very much on their own, they are largely responsible for everything, starting from the setup from scratch to disassembling the equipment at the end. Whether it is planning the show, managing the crowd, or making any announcements, they are responsible for everything. 

●     Radio DJs
This one is entirely based on how a radio functions. The list of responsibilities may range from weather announcements between songs to creating new music. Even though sometimes you may feel that corporate DJing may have led to the loss of control over music, still this form of art thrives in the format of podcasts. 

●     Live Act DJs
For them, their craft is their specialty and this is the reason why they hold on to their niche pretty strongly. They are widely popular because of their skills, reputation, and their specialty behind the deck. The way they mix their tracks actually is a showcase of their tricks, dexterity, and ability for smooth transitions. They are quite the exhibitionists and mostly are turntablists along with being controllerists. Their mastery is so on point that them playing their gear feels like watching a live show of musical instruments.

Why Go For It?
Apart from getting the chance to glide between different genres of music per se, there are many other motivating factors that should entice you to think about this as a lucrative career option.
First is the money of course. Either you take it up as mainstream or take it as a side gig, there is a lot of play money that you can make.
Secondly, it is pure pleasure, as it can be quite therapeutic as the love for mixing, listening and curating your own kind of music could be a real joy.
Thirdly, is fame and recognition. Once you have made your mark and more and more people become familiar with you and your work, the more it helps you to carve out your following.

What All Would Be Required?
As you are getting to know about this more and more, it is only natural for your curiosity to be reaching this point. For even starters, you need to get beginning with proper DJing platforms that professionals also swear by for the right kind of experience. Some of them are Rekordbox, Serato, Traktor to only name a few. Along with them, there are a few software that you should always have for better creations and mixing like Virtual DJ, djay Pro, Mixxx, and Mixvibes CrossDJ.

What About the Hardware and Equipment?
Well, being a novice, your laptop should serve you well, after downloading all the prerequisites with some customized settings. However, as you gain more experience, you would gradually want to move on to more elaborate equipment to get more scope for experimenting and music controlling. And that is where having DJ Mixtape decks come in, which gives you the benefit of using various musicians and DJs from their tests and demonstrations. This lets you have much more than having just a record pool of various forms of music and can also give you a chance to learn techniques of various DJing software hands-on. Along with this kind of controller setup, investing in a CDJ and Vinyl Setup can also elevate your experience to a different level altogether. If you wish to have, you can also get yourself a Timecode and HID Setup, whose functionality will make you feel inclined to mix and make more music.

Is That All?
Well, if you ask us that should be pretty much it. Alongside, we would just suggest you start creating more and more of your own kind of mixes which would help you to hone your skills more and more. Publishing and sharing your own crafted music will help you to get in touch with people and that would help you to create an identity for yourself. Also, being active and interactive on social media handles would help you to get easy publicity which would be super instrumental to get you your initial gigs and performing opportunities. With your baby steps becoming more confident, you would start to establish yourself gaining experience and value in no time.

The Last Word
Well, after reading all of this, do not stop yourself from researching more about all that you want to find out. Let faith, dedication, and strive to succeed guide you to find your footing in this new world. However, remember that there are no set rules, so do what makes you happy and if that means that you need to tweak some of the conventionals, so be it. We wish you all the very best!