नमस्कार
As per my experience working as a club DJ you gotta deal with the drunks and have to work in the dark but the fun part here is that you can pick your own music and can program the whole night according to your choice and if it all goes well and according to the plan which in most cases do than you gonna feel pretty damn good and it will make you look more cooler in front of the crowd as you gonna be the music director, promotion director and an on air personality.throughout the night.
Getting your start
Lemme tell u that how i started when i chose being a Club DJ as one of my career options.
In beginning I started playing in small bars for free just to understand the work flow and to gain some experience.As i haven't got any initial training in Disc Jockeying i started doing it b'coz making music and playing it was my hobby and now its my profession.
After few weeks with the help of my friend i managed to get myself a gig. He booked me for some kind of fest in Venkateshwar college (South Campus, New Delhi) that was the first time when i played in front of a crowd from there i have learned a very imp. lesson that if u want to make people dance on your tunes u have to think and feel like them only and no matter how much good and international music u will play somehow a group of girls in the crowd gonna convince u to play some bollywood tracks an especially item no's and lemme tell u that college people are crazy about punjabi tracks...these were the few things which i have learned when i started playing
and after playing here and there for few months i finally entered the Club line...
Working as a mainstream Club Dj u have few responsibilities over u and m gonna explain them in brief
1)Your DJ Name
2)Proper Promotion of your space
3)You are the entertainment factor
4)Effective music mixing
5)Crowd Interaction
1) Your DJ Name
Working in a Fast paced n hip industry like night clubs business requires everything flashy and that is from ur clothes till ur slang u have to have a cool attitude and if u don't than also there in nothing to worry about as u can fake it b'coz u are in an entertainment business and lil acting is required and once u got ur avatar right its time to choose a cool n funky name which goes with ur attitude
I got stuck with DJ Shiva 2 years back and i don't feel like messing it now.The reason i chose this Name was as it my real name lolz and as i play n mix trance more in comparison with other genres so somehow i can relate trance with my name.
Whats in a name?
Does ur DJ name really matters? well not exactly...there are many people who have terrible DJ names like paul oakenfold but he is one of the hottest Djs around the world. A clever DJ name like DJ abhi or A-bee instead of Dj Abhishek Kumar Rathore may help u get noticed more quickly that's all
2) Proper promotion of your space
Even if u got the best promotion in this world no one gonna come to ur party if they havent heard about it.As a DJ its ur responsibility to alert people in many ways.u must let ur guests kno dat whats hapenin and whats coming up via flyer,posters,newspaper advertising etc.
It is also important to keep everything fresh in line. Don't run promotions more than three or four weeks. Always keep this thing in mind that people get tired of things quickly
here are few examples of party posters which i used
3) U are the entertainment Factor
people want to become club DJ for a no. of reasons money,fame,chicks and love for music.Many Djs dont realize that they have entered in one of the worlds largest industries,The Entertainment Business.Djs are getting paid to entertain. and a Dj entertain through a combination of right blend of music, a glowing personality and something unexpected once in a while.
To reach the level of a Master Dj u must have to become more than a human Jukebox u need to become a true entertainer and it comes naturally to some people and for many it takes years of practice and in my case m still learning as everyday is something new for me. new tracks, new people, new mixing techniques.
4) Effective music Mixing
I am playing in a free standing club from last 2 years now and although the dj culture hype would have u think all club Djs who play in tremendously large n awesome night clubs where drug addict people dance to anything u gonna play. i had estimate that 2 percent or less of the thousand of the club djs all over India or the world have those dream gigs to get.the remaining of us work at the smaller clubs where people wont gonna dance to everything if they havent heard that track more than hundred times or if they cant sing that track they wont dance.Even at standing clubs sometimes when i mix a song flawlessely and people havent heard that track before the dance floor starts getting empty one by one.
when i entered this business i have heard a lot that djs are trend setters they make new music popular bt i dont think it right.
free standing clubs and bars have only motive of making profit by entering as many people as that club can handle and making them dance and drink so that sale of liquor increase and club can earn
no matter how gud u are in mixing by the end of the day u gonna end up playing requests of people only and that too punjabi.so its better to practic mixing bollywood music more.
5)Crowd interaction
In reality, the Djs who people talk about and get the big pay amount are not masters in mixing music or great scratchers-they are the only Djs who put on the complete interaction with the crowd. They get everyone involved in club till end by playing crazy games or doing promotions.Well u can practice ur scratching or mixing in ur bedroom or anywhere with ur equipment but theres only one way to find out that wat people will respond to and thats by-trial and error.Those who take chances will learn what works better.If u want to be the next big thing in Dj industry be prepare to get embaresses several times try n learn from ur mistakes and later the payout gonna be huge
I have hosted a lot of contests in my club from corporate to private parties depending on the mood of the people as if they are really interested in playing games or not.
sometimes i end with no response at all. and sometimes it comes out as a great party so as i told u its all -trial and error and ya couples are easy to make them participate in games in comparison with singles so search for them in the crowd
What i do mostly after party is to click pictures with the crowd so that they feel gud as DJ is hanging around with them. Always remember that u are the star of the night.
What i do mostly after party is to click pictures with the crowd so that they feel gud as DJ is hanging around with them. Always remember that u are the star of the night.
well thats all....
hope this article gonna help my fellow djs who wants to take it as a profession.
next time m gonna cover on the equipments for spinning and how to mix like a pro.
धन्यवाद
DJ Shiva
Peace out
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