Se Connecter:     

Forum: General Discussion

Sujet: When you started to DJ - Page: 1

Cette partie de ce topic est ancien et peut contenir des informations obselètes ou incorrectes

When I was eleven my dad bought his first professional dj, which was a Gemini that did not tell you nothing except what track it was and the time, my dad would always get me involved when he would use it. By the time I was twelve I had learned how to use the dj pretty well. Now I am fifteen and still continue to dj, maybe not professionally but i still practice. Now instead of my dad teaching my I teach his with VDJ.

I am curious to know how many of you older dj's started out.Why? When? How?
 
Posté Fri 20 Jun 08 @ 12:13 pm
lol the earliest i can remember me associating my life with djing would be at the tender age of 10 ( still have my power rangers mighty morphine )...oh yeah...good time....i was interested at how crazy this one guy made the party at the wedding that i was like...man i wanna go to that party again.....then. i was into the techno /rave thing and was like..man that dj is good..then ............got my first cd players(i think age 13)...practiced......got my ION dj 2 channel usb mixer ....with (vdj light edition)./...practiced till the damn thing broke ..literally and ....then when i started getting into the intricacies of djing...found out about vdj and then ....as soon as i started working.....bought vdj....got lots of help and tips and stuff
and REST IS HISTORY>>>>>.well im only 18 goin on 19 //so more history to MAKE>>>>.

djreaper
United states marine corp.
 
A friend of mine sold me some Technique 1200's when i was 17. I spun in my room and made mixed tapes for my friends, had about 20 crates of singles/records. When I was about 21 i started hanging out in go go bars (Strrip clubs) but that got way to expensive. I had to come up with a plan to be able to hang in the go go bar without spending so much money, i didnt look very good in a bikini so that was out, next best thing was to become the DJ and thats what i did.
4 years later I lost all of my equipment in a massive flood, now 13 years later im playing around with it again.
 
scribe_oner, click on my name and there's abit of a run down on me.

 
what, no photos jimmy?
 
TDBennett wrote :
what, no photos jimmy?


Been trying to get some up but got only gone digital in the camera dept, in the last couple of months. But I will do soon, promise.

Got one of me wearing funny blue rabbit ears, (don't ask why) and I'm not posting that, lol.




 
My true start was around 10 or 11 years old, I had two cheapo tt's, a radio shack mixer and an emerson tape deck. The only good thing in the setup was a Grandmaster Flash transformer box which had one main transformer switch and left/ right buttons to transform by stereo channels. Been trying like hell to find one now & can't even find any info on it. Anyway, after a few years of not being able to do what I wanted with what I had I opted to give it up & pursue guitar instead. Finaly, a few years ago I picked up a copy of DJ Mixstation 3, but sold it off because I decided to buy the herc. mk2 for kicks. What a turning point in my life, ever since it's been full speed ahead;^]
 
Got my first recordable 8-track machine at age 10. Had a 8-track player as well. I copied music from the radio and did my first gig for an older cousin\'s birthday and from then on 36 years later still doing it. I helped out in a mom / pop electronics store as well at the age of ten so the owner showed me how to make the simplest of mixers using 2 DPDT on/off switches(for stereo sound), one for each 8-track player... To cue up was a little difficult because 8-track tape only fast forwarded(no rewind) if you missed you had to go all the way through again. At the age of 12 I got a Telec mixer and a Pioneer Turntable from Santa. Started buying 12\" extended mixes and some 45\'s and mixed for about 6 months using 1 8-track and 1 turntable with the addition of a headphone to cue. I caught onto beat mixing very fast as in montreal even back in the 70\'s the biggest dance clubs were playing live on the radio. I recorded the music using my 8-track recorder then brought the tape to the record stores to find the songs, once I had them I learned to imitate the DJ\'s blending. By the way the DJ was Robert Ouimet, one of the greats back in the day. Check him out on google. When I reached the age of 15 I started going to the Limelight where he was the resident DJ for many, many years and he became my mentor and then we became friends. Today he produces music. Anyway, back to my story... At the age of 13 I got my 2nd turntable and put the 8-tracks in the garage. Borrowed a friends cassette deck and made some great mix tapes for friends and family. At the age of 14 when roller skating was big my cousin asked me if I wanted to be partners in a summer gig at an ice skating rink as his dad was able to acquire about 300 pairs of roller skates from a burnt rink. I lived at his place all summer anyway so I thought it would be fun. Well it was, my parents fronted me money for my 1st lighting system which filled the arena floor with dazling effect and we built our 1st set of speakers for the rink. The gig lasted for 2 summers. It\'s then I learned that wattage meant nothing... of course depending on the venue... In a rink it didn\'t take much as the sound was reflecting everywhere. I think I used an 80 watt pioneer amp back then on 4 15\" cabinets with large horns. At 16 i was still working at the electronics store while going through school and I started my 1st weekend club gig at a famous begginners watering hole downtown Mtl. People still talk about it today. Also at 16 i bought my 1st set of SL-1200 tables and a modded Yamaha PM-430 mixing board. In Quebec still today you will see club DJ\'s and mobile guys using pro mixing boards. like many Quebecers I still mix with my mixer on the left side of my tables or CDJ\'s. When I lived in Toronto for 2 years they thought I was nuts mixing like that but I used to explain to the DJ\'s that each hand is trained to do it\'s functions which in most cases is true. Funny, back in the 70\'s I was clearing $75 a nite and today I still see DJ\'s making the same money doing club gigs. What\'s up with that?? At this point in my life I was also doing live sound but the drugs they paid me didn\'t pay the bills. The money for me was DJing. At the age of 18 I purchased the electronic store where I started a 10 and from there the DJ business grew large. When I learned what Karaoke was and that it was going to be introduced to North America in the early 80\'s I bought my 1st system and added it to my DJ gigs and realized that I could make some serious coin seperating them. Well by the mid 90\'s I had approximately 28 gigs a week just in Karaoke alone. Back then I paid $350 and more for just 28 karaoke songs per disc, but it was the beginning of something new. People told me... why waiste your money on Karaoke as it\'s only a fad. I think back 25 years ago when I started doing Karaoke shows and think wow these guys really didn\'t know what they were saying. I still do 12 shows a week of Karaoke plus DJing. I remember back in the day after the shows were over and people would say \"man too many wires. I guess you can\'t wait for the future when everything will be wireless, Eh\" i\'d laugh and say it will never happen in my lifetime. Today, after a gig people still come up to me and say \"man too many wires. I guess you can\'t wait for the future when everything will be wireless, Eh\". Not much is changed except today when the gig is over people also say \"this must be the worst part of the night for you to pack up, etc\". My response is always \"What do you mean, this is the best time of the night for me, I\'m going home after a long day here\" and it\'s always easier to pack up than to set up. One thing that has changed for the best is that I no longer have to cart 15 record cases with me, Yeh baby!!!. Another funny thing that hasn\'t changed is that I still get butterflies at the beginning of an event. Even after doing thousands of functions in my life. The internet has changed a lot for me as well today. I travel a lot and have found that everywhere I go in the world people are listening to the same stuff. Back in the day before internet, I would go to Toronto, New york, Vancouver, Florida, California to visit or play and the music style would be totally different in each city. I would buy vinyl in each place and only a handfull would become a hit in Mtl. This explains why in my younger years it was rare to see another DJ from another part of the world play in local venues. Today\'s record pools like ERG and promo only sell the same music worldwide so everyone\'s playing the same tunes everywhere pretty much at the same time. I thought computers and internet would make my life as a DJ easier but as some of you know this is totally false. I now spend more time searching for the hottest tracks and spend way too much time testing software, etc. Back in the day when there was no internet and no computers you simply had to replace a needle time to time and just buy your tunes at your favorite DJ focused record store and spend more time doing other stuff with friends and family. What\'s this world coming to? Well, this message brought back a lot of great memories,, Today, I still gig for people that used to know me back in the late 70\'s at my 1st club gig which lasted 3 years, but know they are there with their kids or grand children on certain nights. I've been the resident freak, I mean DJ today at the same place for 7 years but my son also has followed in my footsteps so he's there on other nights spinning. He travels a lot DJing and having a blast pretty much doing 7 nights a week... If you have a passion for music, DJing, seeing people having fun and making money doing it then the only thing I can say is stick with it !!! THANKS for letting me rant...

Funkmasterfrank
Montreal
 
Started back in 1980 in the height of the Disco era. I know it was two Techniques tables and a Numark 4 channel board - I believe.
I remember when light boards for the clubs were toggle panels!

Ok - Ok - basically we were this side of rocks and fiire!

I got started because I was in a club and the DJ didn't show ( he was not doing continuous mix format) I had been doing the lights.

THey asked me to step in. I got them thru the night and then took all the 12" singles and timed them out with a stopwatch - came back next week with a play list broken down by BPM and KILLED! Doing it ever since.

Oh - kinda don't need the stopwatch so much any more, nor the newsletters from the record pools to tell you Key listings! Geez, I realize I sound like my gramps!
 
When I started DJing my roadie, Moses, used to tell me I really burned that bush. Then he split, and took his group elsewhere. Those people knew how to have fun too......left me with this golden calf and a bunch of manna, I miss those days.
 
whew. this was only 5 years ago. middle school, didnt like the dj. thats it. i was 12, dj was some old fart who played itunes. i thought i would do better.

now 16, applying for jobs etc. btw i dont wanna hijack, but when you young ones got into clubs, etc, did you have to get a business license? at a job interview, someone asked me if i had one... kinda lied lol
 
TearEmUp - thats actually very funny. If you are younger than 30 it's even funnier.
I'm going to try to make this as short and sweet as possible. Got a turntable (cheap belt drive type) and a little mixer for christmas. Commenced to tear up every record my parents had. Also blew the speakers in their table top stereo system. That was in 1976. Followed every DJ I could find around and learned all I could. Started doing shows @ 16 and started on the radio @ 18. Sold all of my gear @ 20 because I needed to get a real job (atleast I thought). Everyone I knew that DJed was poor. Joined the Army and was sent to Germany. Started DJing in the club on post the following week. I couldn't seem to get it out of my system. Continued to DJ throught my 2 years in Germany and gained momentum equipment wise. It was cheap there. I also played in France and Italy while I was there. Then I got sent to Fort Bragg, NC for the next 2 years. Gained more momentum. Went to Desert Storm in Saudi Arabia and was DJing at a chow hall we converted into a club on the weekends. When I came back I got out of the Army and stayed in Fayetteville, NC, where I presently have 16 DJs and do about 15-20 parties a week. Most of the time I'm standing on the front of my bass boat catching fish. I thank God for the talent and the ambition that got me here.
 
mpezzella wrote :
TearEmUp - thats actually very funny. If you are younger than 30 it's even funnier.


I'm 45...still funny?... lol.. ;-)
 
old git... lol


 
from an even older git.... lol


 
TearEmUp wrote :
mpezzella wrote :
TearEmUp - thats actually very funny. If you are younger than 30 it's even funnier.


I'm 45...still funny?... lol.. ;-)




45????//// damn didnt u say that like when u used to roll with ur homies the T-rex and the raptors..lmao
 
mini reaper wrote :
didnt u say that like when u used to roll with ur homies the T-rex and the raptors..lmao


They did a wicked version of Bang a Gong...T-rex and the raptors did..so don't knock em Reap...lol
 
TearEmUp wrote :
Bang a Gong...T-rex


Got to be a all time Classic, along with Ride a white swan.

 
TearEmUp wrote :
mini reaper wrote :
didnt u say that like when u used to roll with ur homies the T-rex and the raptors..lmao


They did a wicked version of Bang a Gong...T-rex and the raptors did..so don't knock em Reap...lol



lol tear always has a comeback for the jokes i throw at him...i guess its all the thousands of years of gettin punked at ..ahah ..lol learned all the jokes in the book ..lol

jokin terry .....
 
1987 fresh fest saw jazzy jeff terminator X and jam master jay r.i.p. kill the tables....later that summer saw dj cash money amd dj joe cooley...that did it for me..
and i been in the mix ever since...
 
91%