Episode 75: Restraint & Patience: The DJ’s Lost Virtues

Full show notes available at http://passionatedj.com/75 Episode 75 is all about two important virtues which many DJs disregard: restraint and patience. Today is a short solo show, where David first discusses the latest happenings in DJ news before getting on to this beefy topic. We live in a world of instant gratification. Everything we do is “now, now, now!” And anything that doesn’t deliver instant gratification is pushed off to the wayside. Technology has done great things for us, but it has also made us impatient. And, like many things, this has affected the way many people approach DJing. Because of things like tempo sync buttons, digital music distribution (legal or otherwise), and ultra-portable all-in-one DJ solutions, it’s super easy to get started in the realm of DJing without “putting in your time” in the way that many people once had to. The warmup DJ has a very specific and, seemingly, obvious job. He is supposed to prepare the room for the headliner… akin to a local band opening for a national act. When we’re talking night clubs, he (or she) is supposed to start getting people interested in what the night will have to offer. The problem is, today’s typical warmup DJ is more concerned about “rocking out” than supporting the night as a whole. They want to play all their banger tracks in the hour or two that they have been given, in order to impress whomever may be listening. The funny thing is, I (along with many DJs and promoters with much more experience than me) am rarely impressed by someone who goes all-out to a room of people who are not quite ready to dance yet. This DJ is impatient in two distinct ways. Firstly, he’s advancing the energy of the night too quickly (how can you find room to ebb-and-flow when you’re already starting at 10?) Secondly, many of them are simply not willing to put the time into their overall DJ career. In other words, they want to be a superstar without merit. You can’t put all the complaints towards the DJ. Promoters are the ones in charge for putting all the puzzle pieces into place. Just as DJs should be curators of music, promoters should be curators of entertainment. Many younger promoters are guilty of trying to jump on whatever trends are hot that particular week, and run with it. Most of them take a half-assed approach, because they think jumping on the latest bandwagon is all they need to do to sustain an audience. This is why most club nights seem fairly “watered down”. A good promoter knows how to pick-and-choose their DJ lineup… not just because of what genre that DJ is known for, but because they know that their values line up. It’s not always the case that well-established promoters will only book well-established DJs… perhaps it’s more accurate to say that they will only book DJs who have proven to them that they know how the timeline of a successful night should look. The best way I know how to describe 99% of today’s DJs and promoters is lazy and functional. You can’t throw a stone without hitting a DJ in the head who is able to mix two tracks together without trainwrecking. But, think of it this way… you also can’t throw a stone without hitting someone in the head that knows how to cook something edible. Does that mean there’s no such thing as a good chef? Today’s technology is already perfectly capable of stringing together a list of songs with gapless playback and perfectly in sync. Give your crowd a reason to have you as their selector. That’s how to stand out in today’s sea of noise. Put in your time, perform your craft with conviction, and be patient. It’s not the only way… just the best one. For the rest of the show notes, please visit http://passionatedj.com/75