Does it take any skill to be a "DJ"?

leggo wrote: »

I was having a chat with a mate, who also DJs, the other day about how everyone thinks they're a DJ until they actually try it in front of people. He was saying how, whenever he looks after music for his friends they're constantly shouting at him to play this and that. I told him that when my friends used to do that to me, I'd happily hand them the music themselves, and watch as within 3-4 songs they pass it back to me meekly...having royally pissed everyone else off.

I also do a lot of radio stuff. And radio is a similar beast. Anyone who's not involved thinks "Sure those lads have it handy. Get paid thousands, only work 2-3 hours a day and then just talk and play a buncha songs. Anyone can do that!"

You can see why, at face value there doesn't appear to be much skill to talking or playing someone else's song. If it's popular in the charts then most people will like it...job done!

I agree with you OP, anyone can be a DJ. Sure I'm convinced I'd make a great engineer. All I'd have to do is go to college for a few years, pass my exams, then just find a job, engineer...some stuff...and count my cash. Easy!

The problem is that the bits in between aren't exactly as easy.

See first, I need something to actually DJ with. There's free stuff out there and it's not too shabby...for learning...but you'll be found out if you're charging any kind of decent rates and thus people are expecting value for money. So you've got to first love music enough to drop a few grand on gear. In my case, twice in my life I've had enough money to buy a car. Both times I needed new DJ-ing gear. Guess which one I picked? But sure Dublin Buses don't smell as much of piss these days, I've plenty of willing drivers for gigs and walking is good for the heart and mind. Oh yeah, if you haven't figured yet, DJ-ing costs. A lot. My last upgrade was close to three grand. That's just on actual mixing equipment, never mind PAs, speakers etc.

Then I need music. Music of all different genres to be able to suit any occassion (since a gig can, and does, come at any time. I'm settling in for a night-in right now, but technically if the phone rings I could be starting a 4-hour set two hours from now). So much music I can accomodate almost any random request. You might say "But sure with the net and broadband speeds you can download 5,000 songs in the next 24 hours." But I don't have the cash to pay for that. "But you can illegally download?" But my music needs to be of a certain quality to be able to play during a gig (ideally WAV or 320kb/s mp3) and that generally costs. And I need to be able to play up-to-date stuff, too, so that means scouring everywhere for copies of the latest releases and integrating them into my collection. If possible, even making some contacts that will send me tracks before they're released. But they don't just send this stuff onto anyone or artists would go bankrupt. Which brings me up to my next point...

Then I need to be able to combine my music and gear to...be good! If I ruin my mate's 21st on my first gig, after all, the phone won't be ringing non-stop for me to work again. So I've got to practise my arse off. I've got to learn how to beat-match and mix songs. I've got to learn where each song fits within a set and how to build it to give an all-encompassing night (where people are going mental dancing, have their arms around each other singing merrily, laugh, scream cus it's their favourite song etc). Believe it or not, if I play one song that 'everyone loves' at the wrong time and mix it poorly, not everyone will love it. Part of enjoying music is the perspective given to each song, e.g. songs that remind you of a moment or time, so give it a poor perspective and people will HATE you for it. And there's MILLIONS of DJs out there these days, more than ever, so to actually be considered for gigs ahead of them by people I need to have something which makes them want to book me ahead of their mate who did Mary's party last year and, would ya believe it, had EVERYONE up doing a Cha-Cha-Slide! Legend! Getting good also means having to politely decline the text to come out for pints on numerous occasions, while you sit at home for hours on your own obsessed with trying something 'real quick' that nobody will likely ever even hear. My old flatmate used to laugh how I'd pause a conversation mid-sentence, say I'd be back in 5 minutes, then emerge from my room 3 hours later saying "Nah, didn't work. Ah well, you were saying?" It takes that kind of passion and commitment to improve and develop enough to just stay competitive with what else is out there these days.

Then I need to be able to GET gigs. After all, if I drop 5-6 grand on gear I don't want to see it gather dust after taking it out to play once. DJ-ing gear is for life, not just for Christmas! So I need to be able to make contacts, to figure out a way to convince people to use ME, to use one gig and turn it into many (I'm still getting party bookings off people I gigged in front of 3 years ago), to break into a cliquish club scene that doesn't have any vacancies in 2011, all the while standing out from the 50 other DJs who'll send clubs their Soundcloud links that week.

And so on.

So no, it doesn't take any individual skill to be a DJ. It takes many skills.

I see it like a job: in any job or career field, you'll have people who are naturally brilliant and rise straight to the top; people who have potential, work hard and graft out a career; people who aren't great but work hard and 'get by'; people who are terrible, get sacked and find a new career; people who are terrible, but go for pints with the boss, and end up doing well for themselves in spite of it all; people who work hard, have ability but never go anywhere for some reason or another; people who just do the bare minimum to stay in the job, but never go any further than that and are perfectly content with that arrangement. Etc etc etc.

To say that it takes no skill, though, is like me claiming that anyone can be an engineer. Anyone can, in theory, but it doesn't mean that you can just step up to a pair of decks and get a place kicking in minutes. If you don't believe me, come to a gig of mine sometime and I'll give you a go!