Afro Monk

I wanted to write an actual post. The past couple of months have been life changing. Mid 2009 I decided that I was going to follow one of my dreams of learning how to DJ. The past 2-3years of my life I spent too much time listening and finding music (dubstep) that it really took most of my energy. It even affected me at home because I was so obsessed. 2009 was a new beginning for me and things had to be rebuilt. I had so much emptiness that I needed to fill.

The thrill of finding new tracks and ordering the latest dub on record took on a whole new purpose. The music was all that could fill the void. All this energy transformed me into a whole new person. I would go out almost every night to catch every DJ set I could from locals and international DJs who spun dubstep.

It had been years since I had begun to party like this. Eventually I began to see familiar faces every night I went out. Facebook and MySpace are quite powerful tools and eventually started networking quite a bit. Kept my distance but would have a conversation here and there.

It really dawned upon me that all these years of following the music I was one of the few. It became apparent to me that the scene was now at its prime and getting ready to explode. The time was right and I had already invested so much time into the music that it only made sense to begin DJing.

As a huge geek I looked up all the options of gear. Starting up from scratch is quite expensive and you don’t want to spend lots of money on something you won’t use in the future even if it doesn’t go well. After tons of research I decided to pick up the new controller from Numark, The NS7. It worked on a platform called Itch made by Serato. It was an all-in-one type controller and used Mp3s from your laptop. I already had been collecting vinyl but knew that it was more for the purity of the sound and wasn’t sure if I was ready to move to be a turntable DJ.

After picking up the NS7 and playing around with it and learning the basics I had a good amount of fun. It wasn’t till one day I got a call from a close friend of mine to come DJ his party last minute. That night I knew that this is something I REALLY wanted to do. Not for the fame or name but more so for the feeling you get when you see people dancing and you’re in control. There something about having the ability to drop a tune and know everyone will go wild.

Months past and I had amassed such a huge vinyl collection and decided it would be a great idea to finally pick up turntables. After searching craigslist for a couple weeks I stumbled upon a pair of mint condition Vestax Pro 2300s. Playing records and hearing that warm open sound made me fall in love all over with music. I told myself that if I ever had to play a dubstep set I’d only spin on vinyl.

After getting comfortable with vinyl and dropping some serious cash I finally realized I had to slow down. You have no idea how expensive records can get. There are no real solid record stores in the States so everything you buy is shipped over from the UK.

During all this I fell in love with a new sound of music, glitch. I had always heard tracks here and there that were IDM or Glitch but never really looked into it. My ex girlfriend tried to get me into it but no luck. It wasn’t till I heard some of the older Glitch Mob sets did it hit me. My love for dubstep is still with me but I have wanted something new and fresh again. Glitch Hop introduces a better bridge for most people to get into electronic music. Everyone knows the samples and hip hop tracks that are put into glitch hop.

I found a great community at glitch.fm and now am a regular in there. The networking and friends that I’ve made because of glitch.fm are priceless. After spending a good amount of time in there I’ve learned quite a lot about new hardware. I recently picked up an Akai APC40 and learning Albeton.

The life of a DJ from my stand point is very difficult. If you want to stand out and take pride in everything you touch, you’ll have TONS of work to do. It’s not easy keeping up to date on all the freshest tracks, tracking them down once you know them, tons of money spent, equipment, skill, etc… It’s honestly a way of life. This is my hobby. I have a day job from 8am to 7pm. It consumes you and you’ll never listen to music the same. I can’t tell you how much time you need to listen to music if you want to stand out. Yet I can also say that it is so easy to just be that guy who plays what everyone else is.

Let’s get this straight. While it might look real cool being a DJ who spins on CDJs or Decks are just playing one song after another and mixing and matching beats when moving onto the next track. That’s as technical as it really gets. There is a skill of playing them in a correct order for a real journey but you’ll rarely get that. The only thing a DJ is really doing is matching beats and crossing over to the next beat in a technical stand point. Although it sounds easy it’s not but isn’t the most difficult thing once you get it. Now since I have acquired all these toys it’s what I’ve been working on. The only problem is sometimes I feel like I don’t really have control. Yeah some mixers have FX and fun stuff to play with but when it comes down to it you’re only limited to the tracks you have when using CDs or Vinyl. This is where the APC40 comes in. It’s a controller that lets you have complete control and ability to add endless amounts of things to a set.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve stared at folders of music that I’ve aquired. There are time where I have 2-3 Gbs of new material that I have to figure out how to tackle and organize. Let alone label and remember what each track sounded like. It becomes daunting sometimes. Never did I know what it was like to have to take a break from music. It gets to the point where it’s like you can’t just listen to a song in the background. You have to listen for certain things and feel like this track will make ppl move or spark something in them.

Just when you think you have a complete setup now it takes time mastering it. Taking countless hours listening to tracks and picking out what you feel will take the dancefloor by storm. It’s especially hard with experimental tracks and glitch. You figure 99% of the people who you playing out too haven’t heard this before and hope you picked the right tunes for everyone.

When using Albeton you also have to consider you have to prep every single track you have to really take advantage of what Albeton can do. Warping, slicing, and modifying your templates takes work as well. With all these things being considered and understanding a bit of the work that it takes. Think about trying to do all this with a day time job most DJs have and juggling the time for going out and hearing new stuff at clubs and making time for practice or recording. Lots of nights I have to chose if I want to go out or stay in and work on some stuff.

I mention all these things because sometimes you forget how much time and effort a DJ really puts into it. I know every time I hear a solid set I make sure I go up to the DJ and tell him thank you and appreciate him playing certain tracks in a set. From going to knowing nothing about the latest in technology like CDJs, Serato, Mixers, Interfaces, etc… I have to say it’s not easiest thing know how to use all the hardware. Mad respect to all you DJs out there who spend the time looking for your original tracks.

Keep in mind this is all I’ve learned from just picking up stuff and starting off. It gets a lot crazier and stressful when you introduce promoters, clubs, parties, flying to other cities, etc…

Related posts:

1. Low End Theory Podcast Episode 9
2. Miami Dubstep DJs
3. Dubstep’s biggest names hard at work