My name is Bink,I am 65 and I began with the idea purely by chance when I heard AnnieMac and then pete tong on radio one on friday night. I have studied at Confetti in Nottingham for 1 year but had to leave due to suffering from progressive ms, bipolar 2 and diabetes. My grandfather was a famous classical composer from vienna whose music won the eurovision song contest in 72 with vicky leandros. I just love all types of EDM. preferably trance and house. I have my own studio with 2krk active speakers, a mac book pro with logic x, ableton live 9 suite and traktor scratch pro. Also Apple IMac 27"top of the range, 61 key keyboard and a Traktor S8 digital controller. I have applied for a grant to purchase a full set of output software and a DenonMCX8000 with Serato.my dj speakers are 15000watts rms. with full strobe and lighting system. I am also very very lucky to have a tutor called Chris Goss a producer DJ. he has a Friday evening 2hour set every 2 weeks on www.myhouseyourhouse.net. he was last on 17th march. I was at a wedding in Belper last wednesday and got booked to play a festival in june 2018. i find getting the right guests is a problem to suit my genre.
Hi Bink, welcome to this ragtag group of crazy DJs from all over the place in all age groups and spread over all genres. I guess I can be found at the “older” end of the spectrum, going on 54, but you have me beat by a good decade. Good on you for getting into this game. For me it’s just a continuation of what I have being doing since age 14 in 1977. I DO actually remember Apres Toi being on TV back in the day.
Sounds like you’ve got all the right ideas and help to reach your goals.
One thing I do find interesting, and that is your last statement “… find it hard getting the right guests … to suit my genre …”. Clearly if you are a genre DJ you will only play parties/festivals that cater to that/those genres. And you will theoretically have the right crowd in front of you. The more underground or off-center your preferred genres become, the harder it will indeed be to find the right venues and crowds to cater to.
What makes us DJs though is being able to read and adapt to the crowd in front of us. As such we are really there to suit the crowd, rather than the other way around. This changes somewhat when you become a known producer, as by then people will come to see you specifically and actually expect you to play (only) your genre.
I understand that there is a bit of a divide between the (mostly more mobile) open format DJs and the highly specialized genre DJs. And then there are the generic club DJs who will play a somewhat more limited genre range than mobile DJs, but have to be far more flexible in adapting to the crowd in front of them than the genre DJ.
When it comes to getting gigs, if you like getting paid well for your work and having plenty of gigs, being a good mobile DJ is the way to go. If you like regularity and don’t mind an audience that is a little less liquid, getting a residency in a club/venue is a good option. The money is usually less than for mobile DJs but it’s a steady job. Harder to get though as many DJs vie for such positions. Finally the genre DJ, usually limited to playing either genre festivals, genre venues, underground venues or such. Less chance to play, harder to find and get into such gigs and most definitely paying less.