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how can I become a DJ?

I am 16 and a female. Can you go to college for DJing?? I am looking to go to a californian college. DJ AM is my fave DJ, and I was wondering when you DJ like him, do you have to speak to the crowd. What do you exactly have to do? Do you think you have to have a lot of personality to be a club disc jockey?????

Public Comments

1. If you are talking about club DJing I don't think you are old enough to get in the clubs. If you are talikng about on on air gig then that is totally different. Most if not all radio now is computer generated and all the music comes from a service. Its not like the "old" days when you had to be talented and fresh with ideas. Yes you can go to college just check out the catalogs to see which colleges have Mass/Com classes. Good Luck.
2. you need to be 18 to get into most clubs. depending on were you live, you might need to take courses. look into some schools near were you live, and seek out the teachers opinions.
3. The short answer is practise,practise,practise!!! As there are various forms of djing, i'll take it you mean a dance music dj (involving beatmatching and mixing). First off, you have to have a serious passion for the music. Having an ear for music helps but it is much more important to have a decent sense of rhythm. If you can keep beat during a break, or know when the beat is going to kick in, you have the basics down. Second, you need dedication and perserverance; you're not going to get very far overnight! You have to have time to put into practicing, and carry on practising even if it seems you're not getting far. If everyone stopped doing stuff because it was "too difficult" there would be a lot less talent in the world!! Learn the basics!! Learn how the various tools of the trade work and fit together. Dont be afraid of turntables and mixers (or mics!). The most important skill for any dj is the art of pitching: getting two tunes of different speeds playing at the same speed. For a beginner this can be the most intimidating, but as you gain more skill & confidence, this becames almost 2nd nature. Its all about hearing if one tune is faster or slower than the other: if you keep having to push the record to keep it in beat, its too slow and you need to pitch it up and vice versa. Its also a process of elimination: if its too fast and then its pitched too slow, you'll know the right pitch is somewhere in between. Let me tell about my first "mixing" setup; i was also about 16 and had a really crap PC. I had an mp3 player that had pitch control and a jogwheel, WAVs of the tracks i wanted to mix to, the CD-ROM with the tracks i wanted to mix out and the std windows volume control as a mixer. It was a seriously lame system but it worked! I learnt the importance of the first beat and i could work on pitching in privacy. What im trying to say is that you need to do anything you can to find out how tracks fit together! As for your other qs, i dont think you HAVE to talk to the crowd like your an MC from the Bronx or wateva; i know i dont want to hear the dj rambling on over a killa tune! It all depends on what aspects of your personality you want to bring out to the crowd. I think if youre trying to be something youre not, the crowd will hear that. Its all about confidence, knowing that you can take the crowd on a ride. As for colleges, there must be somethin around there, try asking around at your local record stores about any courses that might be an offer. Otherwise mail me for 1 on 1 tips. Good luck! ;)
4. First of all I'd go to college and get a degree in communication, work the college radio station while your there. As a teen do parties for your friends. Sure you have to know how to talk to people, any station I've every listened to from talk radio to music, even news stations have to know how to communicate with people, you have to be well versed on what's going on in the world, news, current events, you have to be able to think fast, in radio you can't have dead air, you constantly have to be saying something. Theirs a talk show on all day on 101.5 in south Jersey and from ten - two theirs a duo on named Dennis & Judy, they do nothing but talk for four hours a day, every hour they change the subject, from current affairs, sex, music, and lots of fun and phone calls, listen to them sometime and you'll get an idea what that aspect of radio is all about, they play music on the weekends. Do you ever listen to Howard Stern and Robin, their never at a loss for words, I use to look forward to Robins news, I don't have Sirius yet but I miss them so much I'm going to get it. As for having a lot of personality, to be any kind of jockey, yes, yes, yes, how dull would it be if you went to a party and had a dud as a DJ? Hope this helped a little, wish you luck !!!!!
5. Always look up colleges that work in media when wanting to work in media. If you have to speak in front of a crowd take a public speaking class or preforming arts. Hey everyone has a lot of personality, but they rather show say 10% of it & that makes it an anoining guessing game when you want people to get to know you. Do this if you like red wear alot of it (make it look good) it you like comedy learn comedy it "builds up character" or personality, because it's already there you just had to learn a new way to bring it out. If you're shy CUT IT OUT, because that aint gonna work. By the way you asked your question I can see personality already. Be open, be kind, be caring and most of all be yourself. I hope you reach your dreams.