Tips for DJing in the open air!
Its the summer, and not only that, loads of clubs are closed indefinitely. So, an awful lot of DJs are having to DJ out in the open air. This can be amazing fun, and lead to some magic moments, but it also presents certain logistical challenges, for all sorts of reasons!
Here’s some practical tips to avoid coming a cropper!
Get some shade
If you can set the decks up in a way that you get some shade, that is a GREAT idea – and if there is no natural shade, a large parasol can be a huge help. There’s a few things at play here.
1 – Protecting yourself – you do NOT want to be getting sunburnt, you don’t want sunstroke – and this goes especially if you are DJing a long set, drinking a few drinks, and then risking get messy because of the heady mixture of sunshine and alcohol.
2 – Laptops and CDJs can have real problems in the bright sunshine. I did the main stage at GlobalGathering a few years ago, DJing in the changeovers between the acts. One of the earlier acts was relying on a laptop which was in direct sunlight for their set – towards the end of the set, it started to crash, as it was overheating! I have known this to happen with CDJs too – a total vibe killer!
3 – Even on their brightest setting, many CDJ displays and lights are almost impossible to see properly in direct, bright sunlight. Laptop screens can be tricky, but these LCD screens are a NIGHTMARE out in the sun. A bit of shade at least gives you a chance of reading your track library!
Stay hydrated – but keep those drinks away from the decks!
I mean – this one stands for pretty much any gig ever. But there’s obviously a practical point about staying well hydrated out in the sun, and then an observational point that drunk party people out in the open, be it by a pool or a beach or whatever, seem to be even more clumsy and unpredictable than people in clubs. A high bar to beat, sure, but in my experience it holds true.
Try to make sure that you keep your drinks on a table/surface away from all the electronics, and don’t let randoms try to put their drinks round your decks etc!
Sun Lotion!
If you are going to be out in the sun, get yourself lotioned up – but make sure you wash your hands before you get to the decks! Nobody wants skin cancer, and nobody wants weirdly sticky decks.
Sunglasses!
Sunglasses in the club are basically a great way of signalling to people that you are either an idiot, or high on drugs (and want to conceal your massive pupils). In the club, sunglasses are a big fat “NO”.
Out in the open? Yes! Get those stunners on. Rock your favourite shades. For a start, people just look cooler in sunglasses. That is a scientific fact. Also, you then have the advantage of people not seeing where your eyes have wandered – an occupational hazard at pool parties. The sun’s UV rays can damage your eyes as well as your skin, and it can sometimes get windy as well, so shades are a very practical addition to your set-up.
Be warned though! The problem of screens and displays being difficult to read can be exarcebated by dark-lensed sunglasses. Pick wisely!
Check your set-up for stability and safety!
One thing that holds true for most outdoor gigs – you tend to be DJing on a temporary stage/deckstand. A good venue should have something stable and secure, with any power points safely away from water, using safe electrical connections. But there WILL be times when this isn’t the case – when you are on a wobbly table, with all the equipment running through a multi-connector into a single electrical socket somewhere. Get there, check this stuff out, and do what you can to make sure your DJ booth is stable and safe!
This is where a little bit of judgement and responsibility comes in – if it looks genuinely looks unsafe, you need to raise this NOW. Its pretty unlikely that it actually be truly dangerous, but water + electrics = a bad time. You have a responsibility to yourself and the party-goers to make sure that this is all OK!
At smaller scale events it might be that you and the party organisers need to make sure that anyone who comes near the decks knows the score – if the table is wobbly or unstable, if there’s an electrical cable trailing across the floor etc, anyone coming close can be asked to be careful. Ideally, tape down loose cables so that people can’t trip on them. Because if they can, then people WILL trip on them! And don’t forget that there will be a big legal liability bill to go around if you accidentally electrocute 250 people in a swimming pool…
Watch out for rain!
I always recommend having a plastic keyboard cover, and personally I use a specific Serato one for my laptop (handily colour coded for shortcuts etc). In the club, this is mainly for if drinks get spilled or knocked around the booth, and has saved my laptop many, many times. The Serato-specific ones can be a little pricey, whereas the plain ones are very cheap.
But out in the open – rain is an ever-present threat. And lord knows, I have had some bad luck with this. I DJ’d in Doha, Qatar, at an open-air beach club run by Hilton Hotels. I turned up, and about 15 minutes before my set, it started raining – the only rain they had encountered in months! So, I had to do most of the set with a tarpaulin pulled over the Pioneer Nexus set up, and a plastic bag over my laptop! Unsurprisingly, I DJ’d to a very, very small crowd.
But if it can rain on me in a country that is largely desert, it can rain on you wherever you are – make sure that you are ready to act fast if that happens! Always have a contingency plan, and if you can, practice how it will work ahead of time – no point thinking you have a plan, then realising that it doesn’t work in the heat of the moment!
Think about the time you are on
One of the great things about DJing out in the open are the transitional moments – the obvious one being sunset. There’s something magical about when the sky turns into a blaze of reds, pinks and purples, and this brief, passing time can be a defining moment in an open-air set, when you take people from day-time into night-time, and switch the mood up. If you have got a sundown set (or indeed a sunrise one!), think about songs that might be able to capture the beauty of the visuals, give people a transcendent experience that will be their abiding memory of the party! Often it is something that you can only prepare for to a certain point – this is where reading a crowd, reading a vibe, come in, where knowing your music collection pays off!
Get this right, and you will be the DJ everyone is talking about the next day!
I’m sure there are things that I have left out here, but I hope this has given you some practical tips and ideas for these open-air sets! Go and build up that music collection at a different kind of pool, and follow me over on Instagram!
Music Podcasts!
I’ve been a podcast junkie for years. For a long time the focus of my listening was politics and sports, but over time, a great selection of music-based podcasts has emerged, covering all sorts of areas – whether songwriting, legendary careers, the DJ circuit, and much more besides.
You can learn a huge amount from these podcasts, about the heritage of the music you play and listen to, the nuts and bolts of the “business” part of the music business, and ways to maximise your creativity and productivity.
Here’s a selection of highlights…
Song Exploder
This podcast is a great short listen for music fans, especially those who write their own tunes. Each episode features one particular song, with the composer walking through how they wrote and record it, and finishes with the song in full. Often you will hear a familiar song in a whole new way after listening to an episode of this, and it is always fascinating. There is a huge back catalogue of episodes to explore, everyone from Fleetwood Mac to Big Boi to Tame Impala to Bjork to Meek Mill.
Questlove Supreme
Questlove is, of course, the drummer and band leader from the legendary Philly hip hop act The Roots (who also happen to be the house band on Jimmy Fallon, and Jay-Z’s backing band on his MTV Unplugged. Questlove has forgotten more about music than most have ever known, and his deep love for music, along with his insight as both a musician and DJ, mean he is in a fantastic position to dig deep into his guests’ careers on his podcast Questlove Supreme. He has an incredible 3-parter with Jimmy Jam, and a brilliant conversation with legendary producer and Def Jam founder Rick Rubin. The standard of guest on here is stellar – Michelle Obama is the latest visitor, and he’s had Babyface, Ceelo Green, Lenny Kravitz, Chris Rock and many more.
Frequently guests blow Questlove’s mind with their versions of how legendary musical moments actually went down – the Dee Nice episode is absolutely essential listening for any real hip-hop heads!
ARD Podcast
The ARD (Awesomely Righteous Dudes, or America’s Realest DJs!) podcast is a completely different angle to the previous two – Low Budget (who founded Hollertronix/The Hollerboard with Diplo) and Dirty South Joe, two DJs from Philly who are well respected circuit/local DJs. Theirs is a fun, light-hearted look at the DJ world from the perspective of those DJs who are on the weekly grind, and are full of fun discussions of the latest trends and their experiences in DJ booths dealing with the sorts of customers most DJs can recognise.
They regularly have guests join them, and have a really well-rounded perspective, completely unpretentious, frequently hilarious, often very illuminating. Great listen to understand the day-to-day workings of career DJs.
The Top 20 Podcast with DJ Spider
This podcast is a similar sort of thing to above, but less irreverent. Again very US-centric, and again generally DJs who are pretty successful, but more at well-established-resident than superstar level, making it a fascinating listen for those DJs wanting to make a long-term career out of their passion.
I really enjoyed this episode with DJ Scene.
Trailblazers: Electronic Pioneers
This podcast is a fantastic piece of work – genuine legends of electronic music interviewed by two music industry stalwarts, Eddy Temple Morris and Nick Halkes. Taking in guests like Fatboy Slim, Goldie, Paul Van Dijk, Tony Prince (the man behind the DMC DJ championships), and many more – all legends, all full of incredible stories about their lives and career.
If you want to understand the history of the electronic music scene, you need to listen to these interviews! A big favourite of mine was the Mike Pickering episode – from Haçienda resident DJ, to multimillion-selling M People pop star, to Calvin Harris’s manager!
Broken Record
He was mentioned above as a guest on QLS, but Rick Rubin hosts this podcast, which aims to replace the liner notes that used to bridge the gap between audience and artist. Albums would routinely come with a wealth of info about who made the records, and how, and where, and when, and much more… With the advent of streaming, that bridge has been lost, so this podcast talks to musicians and producers about their process and techniques and inspirations.
Rick Rubin being the legend he is, he has no trouble getting in absolute superstars to talk to him – Beastie Boys, Andre 300 (Outkast), Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Nile Rodgers (Chic), Wyclef Jean (The Fugees) amongst many others.
I loved this interview with Tame Impala, especially when he turns the table and starts asking Rubin questions…
Crate 808
This UK-based podcast is all about hip-hop, and has featured some absolute legends – Just Blaze and Pharaoh Monche on recent episodes for starters! Featuring brilliant, knowledgeable and insightful talks about new releases and old classics, this is an excellent one for rap fans.
Hip Hop Saved My Life
This podcast is hosted by UK comedian Romesh Ranganathan. He’s a well known comedian, and lifelong hip hop lover. His considerable profile means that he can attract a really high calibre of guest, plus he does live events – with his regular tour DJ being former Heavy Hits interviewee Martin 2 Smoove, and another frequent guest of his being DJ Yoda, another former Heavy Hits interviewee!
I particularly enjoyed this episode with producer and DJ Mark Ronson!
Last Party On Earth
Techno hero Tiga hosts this dance-music-focused podcast, where legendary house and techno DJs discuss what they would play at an imaginary last ever party for the DJ in question. Tiga is a famously interesting and thoughtful character, and the conversations, with legends like Carl Cox, Seth Troxler, Pete Tong and Annie Mac.
There are many more out there for people to explore, but these are a range of my personal favourites. They should give you plenty of food for thought, and inspiration for your DJ sets – go stock up on tunes at the Heavy Hits pool. And follow me over on Instagram!
Diggin’ In The Crates
One of the most important skills that any DJ can develop is the ability to work out what is hot, and what is not. There’s a tightrope to be walked between playing things that you can safely rely on to move a crowd, and playing things that differentiate you from the other DJs out there.
Here’s a few ways to keep your crates that perfect mix of crowd-pleasing and individualised!
Heavy Hits curated playlists
Given the website we are on, I can’t ignore the brilliant custom playlists available over in the pool. You can search by keywords, genre tags, category and more – and pretty much every genre and era you could think of is covered, selected by an expert in that field. There’s a great mix of crowd-pleasers and overlooked classics to choose from. We all also have associated Spotify/Apple playlists for some of these, so you have multiple ways of checking these tunes out!
As well as the playlists, you also have the charts to look into, where you can break things down by different time spans – the most recent 7, 30, 90 and 365 days, so you can either have the most popular recent things, or stuff that has been big over the last year.
Tik Tok Trending Tunes
As you can see above, Heavy Hits has Tik Tok Top Trending playlists that it puts out. And in the music landscape of 2020, where almost no clubs or festivals are happening to keep an eye on dancefloor trends, Tik Tok is one of the quickest ways to find out what songs are familiar and popular, especially with younger listeners.
Chartmetric has recently started keeping a chart to show the weekly changes in songs’ popularity on the popular social media platform. There are some fascinating metrics included, and if you are looking to spot trends as they emerge on Tik Tok, its a very useful source of information.
Spotify playlists
One of the best life-hack DJ tricks I’ve learnt in recent years is using Spotify playlists to dig into specific styles. Even in genres you know really well, this can be a great way to learn about tracks and artists you had missed. It is incredibly simple; create a playlist, name it something reasonably descriptive (eg, “90s R&B” or “Songs about money”). If you want, enter some info into the playlist description with useful keywords for the algorithm to use. Even just 5 tunes is enough to give Spotify a decent idea, then it will suggest tunes. The more you add to the playlist, the better an idea of what you want it has.
A friend set one up for background music at an event, wanting songs about money, and it worked it out straight away, giving him dozens of options he never would have thought of otherwise!
If you get booked for a function and they want you to include a genre that you don’t know a lot about, this is an amazing shortcut – just get the client to give you half a dozen suitable songs, and then let Spotify do the digging on your behalf, and pick the ones that you think work!
It is also worth keeping an eye on the charts on streaming platforms, which can usually be viewed for different territories, or globally. And the big curated playlists have a huge influence on what songs blow up in the mainstream.
Radio Station playlists
It has long been the case that radio drives a lot of what the public ends up enjoying, and a great shortcut for following this (if you haven’t got the time to listen to a bunch of different stations) is to regularly check out their playlist pages. Hot 97 has their New AF! page, which is also available simply as a Spotify playlist. The BBC break their radio playlist down into A list, B list and C list, and from this page you can check their more specialist stations as well from the links at the bottom. The BBC’s main music radio rival, Capital FM, is here.
Depending on where you are and what music you play, its very likely you can Google the top stations’ playlists for pages much like the above!
Shazam
Times have come a long way since I started DJing in the mid 90s – if I heard a song on the radio but missed the announcement of who it was by or what it was called, I was stuffed. Same in the club – if I didn’t go and ask the DJ, or if the DJ didn’t feel like telling me, I could leave a club wondering if I’d ever hear that song again.
Now you can grab your smartphone, fire up Shazam, and within seconds it usually tells you the song, artist, adds it to your Shazam library, maybe sends it to your linked Spotify playlist… its crazy!
And of course, Shazam can keep charts of what is being Shazammed! If millions of people are getting their phones out to find out the name of a song, you can guess that it is proving popular. This can lead to some interesting revivals of old songs, which have been in an advert, film or TV show!
Listen to mixes by DJs you respect
This one might seem crashingly obvious, but its surprising how many DJs forget to listen to other DJ mixes. A friend put it very well – “A DJ not listening to other DJ’s mixes is like a writer not reading other writer’s books”.
There’s a whole host of reasons to listen to other DJs mixes, and at the heart of those reasons is the discovery of songs, and hearing how songs might work in ways that you didn’t realise they would. There’s plenty of songs that I’ve written off as not suitable for playing out, and then when I see a DJ use them in a club, or hear them in a mix, I realise how wrong I was!
Most DJs include a tracklisting these days, and even when they don’t – there’s always Shazam!
Go on a Youtube journey!
This is a fun one – kind of unpredictable, but it has taken me to some weird and wonderful places at times! Basically, its a bit like the Spotify playlists one, but a bit more random (in my experience anyway!).
When I do this, it tends to be after seeing a tweet from the Paradise Garage Bot that has caught my eye. I head over to Youtube to check it out, and then sometimes just let it play, or select something from the suggested videos. I regularly discover complete obscurities this way. Once I ended up discovering a whole sub-genre of Turkish disco edits that I had no idea existed, but that was full of incredible stuff. I haven’t really understood exactly how this one works, but I enjoy following my nose around there and seeing what I stumble across! There’s always a few suggestions that I don’t recognise, and within a few clicks you can be in totally uncharted territory!
Bandcamp
This is easily my favourite music store on the internet, and a great source for underground and alternative music. They also have a simply brilliant function – you can follow other users, and receive notifications about what they buy. I follow a bunch of my favourite DJs, some friends, random people who seem to have good taste, and discover all sorts of great music this way. My collection that I’ve bought can be viewed here.
Soundcloud
To be honest, I don’t use Soundcloud the way I used to in its heyday, but it still has a crazy amount of edits, remixes and bootlegs on there for free download – if you can be bothered to spend a few hours on there, you can find some really high quality stuff!
Often, tracks will require you to follow the artist on Soundcloud and/or Instagram in order to download the tracks you want, which is a small price to pay. And this will sometimes take you to this handy site – Hypeddit – where you can quickly skim through other tracks you might wish to download.
So as you can see – there’s a whole host of ways to stay on top of what is popular, and to search for things that will differentiate you from the next DJ.
I hope this helps you stay on top of the current trends, and dig a little deeper for the curveballs in your sets!
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The Dos and Don’ts of DJ Changeovers
All DJs have their ideas about their ideal sets, and those fantasy moments where it all comes together for pure magic; hundreds, maybe thousands of people united in a moment of euphoria and togetherness. Hands in the air, a seething mass of happy humanity.
But there are also more practical concerns that it pays to be good at – and one of the simplest of these is the art of the changeover. It might not seem like much, and in many ways it is one of those things that if you do it right, it goes almost unnoticed. But do it badly, and it can really, really reflect badly on you. And that does not help you get to the magic moments!
So I’m going to talk through a few common issues, warn of some pitfalls many fall down, and share a few stories from my time behind the decks!
DO BE FRIENDLY
This might seem crashingly obvious, but it is amazing how often egos or nervousness get in the way of this one. Trying to be too cool for school, or maybe being insecure about your status next to the other DJs. Seriously – a happy smile, a friendly greeting, and some kind words (“awesome set!”, “have a good one, this is a great crowd!”) can go a long way to helping the party along. And ultimately, we are all there to serve the party!
DO GET THERE IN PLENTY OF TIME
There’s a bunch of reasons for this one. For a start, if you budget to get there 5 minutes before your set and then get held up, then you are in trouble! Also, at big clubs it can take surprisingly long to get from street to booth. Really, you want to be there in enough time to meet the promoters/booker that is employing you, take a walk around the club to see what it looks and sounds like and get a sense of the crowd, and to be able to hear what the DJ before you is playing. The amount of times I have handed the decks over to someone, and then within their first 2 or 3 songs they play something I played 10 minutes ago… Oh dear! And if you are the first DJ on, you don’t want the club having to wait for you before they open their doors, and getting there early is a good chance to chat to the staff.
DO TALK TO THE OTHER DJs
Another reason to get there early – you can chat with the previous DJ about how to do the changeover. You might have preferences for this, and they might have preferences for this, and there’s no guarantee that they are exactly the same. If you are dealing with a big name DJ that is higher on the bill than you, it is sensible to defer to their preferences. But it is worth asking them if you are following – some will want you to let their last song play out, some will be happy for you to mix straight in, and you never know, this sometimes can lead to impromptu B2Bs! And the same applies if you have been warming up – they might have a big showbiz intro they want to do, they might want to encourage some applause for you, or they might prefer a seamless mix into their set. Be prepared for any of these possibilities! It shouldn’t really need saying – don’t play the headliner’s tracks in your warm up, unless they have expressly said that it is OK to do so! But generally, to even ask the question is seen as a faux pas by most people!
If they are following you, maybe offer them the chance to look at your play history to avoid doubling on tracks. And if following someone, you can ask them for the same, to avoid looking silly yourself, or ju get there in enough time that this isn’t a worry.
If you are the headline DJ on a line-up, communicate your preferences to the promoter and residents, but try to avoid seeming pushy or arrogant. If you are the smaller DJ, do your best to to find out what the headliner would like from a warm up set. On the night, simple questions like “Is there any tempo you want me to finish on” and so on communicate to them that you are there to set them up as best you can. They will really appreciate this thoughtfulness.
DO THINK ABOUT TECH SET-UP
If you are on USB, it is generally a pretty straightforward process to swap over. But once laptops and Serato get involved, it can get more complicated. Fake Blood used to joke about the “15 minutes of confusion” trying to change DJ booths round, and when your focus is on that, it is very easy to lose sight of the party. If you have to use a Serato box or similar, try to get that set up by a sound tech if it is a possibility, and if that can be done at the start of the night, even better. Pulling the wrong cables out in the middle of a busy night is without doubt the stuff of anxiety nightmares. If you are on Serato, seriously considered purchasing their club kit plugin. It means that you can plug directly into the USB port of a whole range of mixers, including most industry standard club installation mixers such as the Pioneer DJM900. This saves SO MUCH hassle.
I once had to take over from a DJ at a gig in Sheffield, not long after I had been in the world final of Red Bull 3style. The warm-up DJ had another gig to get to, so I had to swap from his Serato box to mine. We were high up on a stage, in front of a huge crowd. Somehow in the changeover, my box got knocked. I watched it, seemingly in slow motion, topple from the stage. All cables disconnected at once, and the unit smashed into the club floor below. TOTAL silence, and about 800 people suddenly staring right at us! Brilliantly, we were using vinyl for Serato that night, so the option of just quickly switching to a track on USB wasn’t there. While he ran off the stage to rescue my Serato box (which miraculously hadn’t been killed by the fall), I plugged a deck in, and chucked a record on to break the silence – only then realising that the emergency record I’d pulled out had no markings to say which was the A or B side. Thankfully I guessed right, and New Order – Blue Monday drew big cheers from the crowd, and we just about got away with it… But I learned a lot of valuable lessons that night!
DO FINISH AT THE APPROPRIATE TIME
I’ve seen this one more times than I care to remember. These days, 1 hour slots are very common, so as to stack a line-up with DJs. But then, at 11.59 and 45 seconds, the DJ that finishes at midnight mixes in Mo Money Mo Problems, and you are left in the weird situation of either mixing out before the Biggie verse, or losing 5 minutes of an already short set! So – DON’T BE THAT GUY! Stay in communication with the DJ following you – “OK, gonna do two more, you good to go then?” – it is always possible that they might need you to play a little beyond the exact time. Be ready to finish on the dot, and also be ready to continue on for a little if their set-up is taking longer than expected.
DO MAKE SURE THE NEXT DJ KNOWS HOW YOU LEFT THE MIXER
I tend to mix using both the crossfader, and the channel faders. I have learnt over the years that a LOT of DJs prefer to just use the channel faders, and to leave the crossfader switched off. All too often I have forgotten to relay this information to them, they’ve tried to mix in, and panicked as time ran out, and the new track isn’t coming through the system. Now, I always try to check – “Do you want the crossfader on or off?” – and also leave the EQ and gain pots at 12 o’clock as well.
DO MAKE SURE YOUR PEOPLE BEHAVE
It is very common for DJs to roll with a bit of a crew – partner, friends, maybe agent or manager if you are at a certain level. Most times, they will expect to be in the booth with you. Its crucial that they understand the etiquette you are following – having your mate start messing with the faders while a headline DJ is trying to get his set started is not a good look!
DON’T HARASS THEM WHEN THEY ARE STILL PLAYING
If you want to get a pic with the headliner, or exchange contact details or whatever, there are better times to do this than during someone else’s actual set. In the green room/backstage early or late on, or during your set, where you can manufacture a bit of time and space to do this. All DJs know the frustration of the punter who doesn’t get that you are at work while on the decks, and won’t leave them alone – the last thing you want to do is create the impression that you, a fellow DJ, don’t understand this!
DON’T LEAVE THE DJ BOOTH IN A TOTAL MESS
There are few things less pleasant than taking over the decks and there’s empty glasses everywhere, no clean surfaces to set a bag down, rubbish all over the floor, drinks spilled all over the equipment, and so on. Keep the booth how you’d hope to find it, and make sure to tidy your stuff away when the next DJ arrives, and definitely make sure there is room for any bags or flightcases they have with them.
Much of this comes down to communication.
Try not to be intimidated by the headline DJ, even if you are a big fan – if they’ve travelled to be there, they are looking for friendly faces. Strike up a good rapport and then the next time in town, you’re that great warm-up DJ they got on with so well before. A lot of friendships in DJing start this way, and it can really open doors over time!
If you are the resident, in some ways you are the face of the night to guest DJs – that is a real responsibility, and the promoters and clubs genuinely value residents who take this side of it seriously, and act accordingly.
If you are a guest DJ, or even the headliner, making it clear what you would like in a way that isn’t condescending or mean is just common sense. I have heard so many 2nd or 3rd hand tales of “Oh, such and such a DJ is a total idiot, they were really rude to everyone” – often based on the only time they met the DJ in question. People love a bit of gossip, and a lot of insecure DJs will use any opportunity to trash talk about someone higher up the ladder than them.
So, even if you are jet-lagged and tired, try your best to be polite and friendly, or you risk picking up a reputation – and people would rather book DJs that are easy to work with! Clarity ahead of time (and arriving in plenty of time at events to make sure things are the way you want) will iron out a lot of the issues you might run into.
Ultimately – the more professional you are, the more that people will treat you like a pro, whether you are just starting out, or are at the top of the game.
For now, keep building your skills, and pick up the best new tunes at the Heavy Hits pool. Follow me on Instagram!
Mindblowing new tech in Algoriddim’s djay Pro!
Every so often something comes along that just leaves you scratching your head thinking “how the hell does that work?”. Having a rotating plastic disc that you drop a diamond-tipped needle into, and the bumps in the groove convert into music. A smaller plastic disc with a load of 1s and 0s that you fire a laser at. A disc with a control tone that you send to your laptop in order to control the 1s and 0s on your hard drive. All absolutely bonkers when you think about them for a second or two.
Well – here’s another one.
Algoriddim‘s djay Pro app, available across OSX, iOS, Windows and Android, has just unveiled an incredible new feature for the iPhone and iPad app, powered by Neural Mix Technology. For now it is not included in the Mac, Windows or Android apps.
Essentially, you can isolate drums, harmonic content (the instruments in the songs) and vocals, as 3 separate elements. But you can do it in real time, as you mix. So if inspiration strikes, you can do some frankly crazy stuff with no preparation necessary. If that is confusing you, let Crossfader explain in a bit more depth, and demonstrate how it works (and sounds!)
As you can see, it is remarkable. Obviously, the big downside here is that it is built into a software app that few serious DJs currently use, and limited to iOS. But sometimes this is the kind of breakthrough needed to get people to take a new app seriously, or motivate the existing kingpins to develop similar on their software – I have already been on to Serato to register my views!
For a bit more of an idea, here’s DJ Yoda messing about with it on his iPhone over on his Twitch. Really interesting what he was able to throw together in this little experiment. Seems that the era of the mashup may be returning in full effect!
Cosmo Baker
Can you tell our readers a little bit about who you are, and what you do?
I’m Cosmo Baker and there’s a lot of things that I do but primarily I’m a DJ and music guy who’s based in Philadelphia. I mean I do a lot of things haha, from being involved with education, entrepreneurship, activism and so on – but every road in my life has come from me being a DJ and from being involved with music. I’m extremely grateful for that!
You’ve been in the game for a while now – what inspired you to get into DJing? what was your initial set-up, and where did you play your earliest sets?
Well I think my original inspiration to become a DJ stemmed from just growing up surrounded by music and diverse cultures. My mom exposed me to all sorts of different music in our household of course, and just growing up in a big city and everything that you get from being in that environment. I think the desire for me to share is something that’s pretty natural to me, and also being curious by nature. Plus you have all this early hip-hop stuff that’s just floating around as a kid, and you’re seeing it all kind of unfold in real time, and when you’re young that feels like it’s this secret club that you have a membership for. That’s probably the closest thing as to what inspired me to really do it, because I got started very young. Now my first sets were DJing for house parties and basement parties while in school, but it wasn’t too long before I was spinning in proper nightclubs – I was playing in really big, popular clubs in Philly by the time I was like 17 years old. When it comes to my original setup, initially I had two really crappy turntables, like direct-drive joints, and one didn’t even have pitch control. I would have to just speed up or slow down every other record in order to blend haha. And my mixer I think was a Realistic mixer from Radio Shack – I’m sure a bunch of DJs know exactly which one I’m talking about!
You’re from Philadelphia – a city known for a great tradition in DJing. How has that influenced your approach to DJing?
That’s a good question and to touch on the Philly thing, everyone pretty much acknowledges Philly’s position in the tradition of DJs as being top notch and many people always say something like “It’s something in the water” but that’s not really the case. Philly is a tough, working-class city and people do not take any shit, and they have good taste. To me, if you learn to DJ in Philly, if you are not good the people are going to let you know immediately. With that being the case, one would have to get really good, really quick, or you just won’t cut it. Also, with Philly’s close proximity to New York, there was always this “little sibling” rivalry that was prevalent so Philadelphians, with the constant chip on their shoulders, always had to try and “one up” every development that was happening in NYC.
How would you describe your DJ style? What are your favourite things to play, and why?
I love so many different genres of music and I always want to try and make that somewhat clear whenever I play a set. Traditionally growing up in Philly when you would go out to parties or clubs the DJ would be playing all sorts of stuff across the board, so I’ve always liked to be able to take a left turn in a set by playing something out of the ordinary and just making it work. I mean I got into all of this because of Hip-Hop but also if you think about it that ‘left-turn” mentality is written into the DNA of the music. And as to my favorite thing to play that’s an easy question – I love playing disco. Cause I love the music, I love the energy and feeling, and I love to dance!
How did your time in New York impact you musically?
I lived in NY twice actually! Philly and NY are pretty close, like about 140 kilometers and I would always go up and hang out when I was a teen. But when I first moved up it was 1994 and so if you could imagine what the city was like then. I was already playing in downtown nightclubs and you have to really try and imagine how cool it was when you’re playing a record that’s BRAND NEW – and it just happens to be a song by Notorious B.I.G., Or hey I’m gonna play this new song it’s called “Shook Ones Pt. 2” – a real magic time for sure where a lot of the songs that are now considered canon were fresh at that moment.
In addition to that, at that time I really got into house music just because I would be out and be able to see DJs like Frankie Knuckles and Louie Vega, David Morales and Junior Vasquez. An amazing time for sure. When I moved back up in the early 2000s it was right after we had launched The Rub so us as a crew and also as individual DJs were really in the mix with everything that was happening in the mash-up wave. Until that wave came crashing down haha.
You wrote a great thread on Twitter in reply to a snarky Snickers advert – you clearly take the role of DJ seriously. What do you think are the main responsibilities of DJs, and why do you think these are so important?
I’m glad that you liked that. I really wasn’t trying to get too into it with the company but to me it was disrespectful to people who actually are DJs for the occupation. And it goes way beyond a guy like me, who’s marginally well known, and also really reframes the definition of success. There are thousands upon thousands of working-class DJs out there who feed their families and pay their bills by entertaining people, doing something that they love. I think there’s a nobility in that. The responsibility of entertaining people, educating people, and providing a place of solace and escape are truly important things to be providing to a community.
With over 25 years behind the decks, you are something of an elder statesman in the DJ world – how do you see your role in the DJ community, and the wider community?
Haha I don’t know about “elder statesman” although that’s very kind of you to say, but I do appreciate the fact that I have been able to have a pretty sustainable career and at the same time give back to a culture that has given me so much and allowed me to thrive. And if I have a position that allows me to highlight or put on people who may deserve shine and aren’t getting it, or to impart some sort of guidance to my fellow DJs, or to youth in general, I am happy to be there.
How has technology changed the DJ world – both in the booth, and elsewhere? For instance, I first encountered you on the Hollerboard, which was a huge influence on my approach to DJing, and my network of contacts around the world!
The technology – both the actual DJ tech itself, and the internet that has allowed us to get and share data and to me more interconnected – has been a great thing in the way that it’s given so much to the culture. The technology of digital DJing has truly allowed a vast wave of creativity with DJs that never seems to stop growing and has really allowed people to push the creativity to the limits. And with the internet we’ve been able to market ourselves on a global scale, which has led to building relationships where we are able to operate in a micro gig-economy. But most of all it’s been great because through the internet I have been able to meet so many great friends all across this planet!
What are your hopes for the post-lockdown world – both in the world of music, and more widely?
Well between COVID and the great awakening that is this revolution I truly believe that we are going to come out victorious on the other side. We have to be optimistic about that, because we have no other choice. Starting with the pandemic we started to see this thing like the old children’s story “The Emperor’s New Clothes” situation play out in real time. All these systems that we’ve been beholden to are now being exposed for how bad they really are.
Governments – they’re inept. This economic system – broken. This healthcare system – broken. And people are fed up and they are tired and they are weary. Then you throw this new great depression in the mix and you have millions upon millions of people who are vulnerable and they now feel as though they’ve been rightly fucked up, and they are correct in that. Add to that the brutality of having to live in quarantine for months on end and all you see is some sort of trauma or another daily, and then you have something like the George Floyd murder and that was just the spark that landed in an already exposed powder keg. So now it’s exploding, as it should. It’s way overdue.
So I have to remain optimistic that through the power of the people and the movement that is happening now that we will be able to enact true and lasting change that will be able to reshape and reframe our global societies and how we see ourselves both in them and interacting with others.
It’s a fucked up time but also on the same note it’s oddly a very exciting time as well. I can truly feel this as maybe being “The One” and there are many people who are older who I’ve talked to and they feel the same. Now of course like I said we must stay optimistic, but at the same time we can’t sit this one out. Everyone is in this fight.
Now for the music I would bet that we are going to see some amazing stuff in a few months. Don’t forget that traditionally in times of great strife, great art has been produced. Look at the 60s, or during the Reagan era. Huge stuff happened during those times.
Lockdown has been a pretty huge challenge for most djs – on multiple levels. How have you adapted to stay active as a dj, and also to stay healthy – physically, and mentally?
I got into the streaming thing pretty early, like early March in perhaps the first week. I have had some experience in streaming before but when I did it my reason was because I needed the catharsis and the release in playing music for people. When I saw the initial response, I was floored and immediately it hit me that this is going to be a good thing. So that’s really been helpful in keeping sane and also staying connected to my fan base. Also it has been helpful to me to approach the whole streaming thing as it were an actual gig. So setting up consistent scheduling, formats, have the branding and the promotions for it all, and really try to define the identity of what it is that I’m doing. I think that when everyone is feeling weird and nothing is certain, having something that is consistent and reliable for people to hold onto is key. And that sense of “consistency” goes beyond DJ streaming – you have to have that in your regular life. Set your alarm, make your bed in the morning, have breakfast – all the little things that keep you rooted in normalcy. That’s been super helpful and key for me to staying healthy!
How have you found the experience of livestreaming? I’ve had a bit of a love/hate thing with it – when it goes well, it can be the best thing that happens that week, but if I have a bad one for whatever reason (technical issues, streams being taken down mid set, low numbers etc) I can take it far harder than I really should.
I mean it’s fun and it’s great and it’s also exciting in the sense that we are all collectively creating something from scratch. The tech stuff is annoying but the copyright stuff is really the biggest bummer of them all. That’s why I like that Mixcloud does video streaming and I think they may come out on top after all this is done. And also it’s definitely allowed me to go into my own zone creatively, specifically how I want to format and produce my shows. So it’s cool… But nothing beats playing live for people. Nothing ever will. I hope that we can get back to that one of these days.
With the terrible killing of George Floyd, there have been huge protests in the USA, and worldwide, in support of the Black Lives Matter cause. What roles and responsibilities do you see the dj community having at moments like this?
I think it’s been pretty well noted where I stand on the issues of both system racism in our country (and globally) as well as my desire to finally see true Black Liberation. But speaking about it from the perspective of a DJ… As DJs we serve the role as entertainers, educators, healers, voice for the voiceless. So it is imperative for us to use our voices to speak up for those who need it. People who are silent – everyone sees you. Trust me, people are not going to forget. And lest I have to say that those who decide to remain silent might as well be complicit in the actions of the oppressor. I don’t care about your brand – in fact fuck your brand. You stand on the sidelines for this, you’re playing for the other team. And this goes SPECIFICALLY to white DJs who are in this game. Never forget that you are a guest in a house that was built by black folk. You should be grateful to even have a space in this. So earn your keep.
Check out Cosmo on Twitter and Instagram, and at Twitch, Mixcloud and Soundcloud! Get the latest heat at the Heavy Hits record pool, and follow me at Instagram!
Doing it for the ‘gram!
Heavy Hits is obviously best known for its incredible music pool. I like to think a few people swing by this blog regularly to see what I’ve been writing about. But one of the most fun aspects of the Heavy Hits crew is our amazing Instagram, run by the brilliant Schuller.
You can get the absolute best DJ content on the ‘gram there – from genius memes, to polls and discussions about equipment, great DJ routines from some of the best DJs in the world, and much more, as well as being notified about what is going up on the pool via the Stories!
There’s endless useful DJ-related content up there. Here’s a few highlights of what you will find…
Of course, the memes!
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We love asking our community about what equipment they rate highest
We have helpful explainers for how to get more out of your membership, and posts to let you know what music is going up!
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And some brilliant DJ routines, putting you on to amazing DJs like Andy Purnell & DJ Angelo!
The Livestream Landscape
There’s little doubt as to the major trend in DJing in 2020 – the huge explosion in livestreamed DJ sets. We’ve discussed this phenomenon here on the blog before, but some time on, things are gradually evolving.
The most popular platforms for most people remain Facebook and Instagram, largely because that is where people have an audience, often built and developed over many years. The problems there remain the same as before – copyright takedowns mid-stream are a constant threat unless you have been whitelisted (which seems to be a phenomenon amongst certain high profile DJ accounts on Instagram).
Instagram are widely believe to have instituted a “90 second” rule, and have blogged about their rules and restrictions here. In my experience, Instagram livestreams are often taken down before 90 seconds of the offending song have been played. Which makes the adverts that they have done which prominently feature DJ livestreams a bit… well, maybe a bit misleading.
While Facebook is trigger-happy in ending livestreams, they do seem responsive to allowing the videos to remain online after the fact if you contest the copyright claim – I have generally written something like “Fair use of music, not using whole track, and as part of a DJ performance” when contesting the copyright strike, and almost all of those claims have been dropped. This obviously doesn’t stop the livestream being ended in the first place, so that doesn’t really fix the key issue!
Mixcloud Live is very much a work-in-progress, and has almost no natural audience – it relies on you being able to get people to click through. It also has various logistical issues vs other forms of streaming that make it less appealing – my laptop sounded like it was about to explode when I tried it. Running OBS and Serato at the same time on the same computer is not ideal! Zoom appears to be a popular platform for private DJ sets – be they birthdays, or corporate events for companies that are working from home during the lockdown.
The emerging favourite for DJs seems to be Twitch. It has traditionally been a gamer’s favourite, and from the DJ perspective, the experience is light years ahead of the competition in many ways. Fantastic video and audio quality, great chat functionality, a brilliant mobile app, and much more besides. From the start of the lockdowns, it was clear in their terms of service that DJ sets were against the rules. However, they appeared to actively begin to court DJs and musicians, clearly seeing the possibly huge new audience numbers that could be brought to their platform. They are owned by Amazon, so they could almost certainly thrash out a publishing deal with the labels should they choose to.
Then this week, news emerged of a huge batch of DMCA takedowns against archived content. DJs around the world had a collective minor freak-out, but now that the dust is settling, maybe things aren’t as bad as feared. Twitch tweeted out the following
“This week we’ve had a sudden influx of DMCA takedown requests from 2017-2019. If you’re unsure about rights to audio in past streams, we advise removing those clips. We know many of you have large archives, and we’re working to make this easier.
This is the first time we have received mass DMCA claims against clips. We understand this has been stressful for affected creators and are working on solutions, including examining how we can give you more control over your clips.
We adhere to the DMCA, which requires that we take action on content and streamer accounts upon notice from rights holders, as happened this week. Our guidelines for this have not changed, please reference here“
For more about the DMCA, check this Medium article.
Others took up the discussion, with this insight from Billy Lane.
UK underground stalwart Plastician had this to say on the topic – explaining that, ultimately, this is to do with labels choosing how their content should be used and monetised.
So the long and short of it seems to be that, for now, DJs are relatively safe to continue on Twitch. It was always a dubious legal position over copyright and DJ sets on that platform, and it remains so. Videos don’t appear to be getting stopped mid-flow – which means it has a huge advantage over Facebook and Instagram. Old content may be targeted, and need to be removed – not ideal if you have a big archive which you like to use as a kind of “showreel” to potential bookers and clients. But, at time of writing, the initial wave of panic seems a little unjustified, and the doom-mongers who declared “Twitch is over!” may be a little premature in that judgement.
It is possible that this is the thin end of the wedge, and the scope of takedowns will increase – at which point this becomes far more urgent for the DJ community that is developing on Twitch.
But for now, Twitch remains a very viable option if you are prepared to put the work in to develop a following on the platform. Come and follow my channel here, and go grab the latest heat for your sets from the Heavy Hits pool!
Serato Studio, with DJ Blakey
Could you tell our readers a little about your journey from young battle DJ, to being Serato’s Artist Relations guy in London?
I entered my first DJ battle in 2000 in Chichester when I was 15. I did it under a different DJ name and I was terrible. At that point I had only been practicing turntablism for about a year, so I fully expected it to be bad! I kept at it and basically spent all day every day practicing scratching, beat juggling and routine composition. In 2001 I entered the London DMC regional, still 15 years old, and I got through to the evening final at Cafe De Paris. I went on first and they kept me in a back room of the club because I wasn’t old enough to be there. Again, my set wasn’t great but it was certainly an improvement on 2000.
At that point I really started to take it seriously and in 2002 I came 2nd in the London DMC regional, making it to the UK final. In 2003 I came 2nd in the UK final, and in 2004 I won the UK final and came 4th in the World final. I entered one more competition in Japan in November 2004 after being invited to participate by Vestax. That was my last DJ battle.
Fast forward to the 2017 and Baptiste from Serato contacted me about the European Artist Relations role. I had 4 separate Skype interviews before Matt Perry (Artist Relations Manager) and Scotty Hoogerbrug (CMO) came to London to interview me and decided to employ me.
Serato is pretty well established as the most popular DJ software for open format and hip-hop DJs around the world – is Serato studio an add-on/plugin, or a separate program?
It has a quite similar look, but Serato Studio is actually a separate app altogether.
Serato Studio has been floating around for a while, but this seems to be a much different beast to what I saw when it was originally released – what’s new in this?
You’re right, it’s a totally different application just a year on from release. It now has a completely free mode, which allows you to use it as much as you’d like with some limitations, but still letting you be creative and make some dope stuff. We also recently added an auto chord feature, which allows you to write chords into your songs by just hitting one note. These chords will then change key if you decide to change the key of the entire project. You can also change the feel of these chords, which puts space between the notes to give a more natural, less robotic sound. It’s the most fun I’ve ever had making beats. I spent a lot of time between 2010-2013 making music in my spare time, but I came up against the same obstacles every day. Studio breaks down a lot of those barriers and allows you to just get busy with making a tune and having fun.
What sort of tracks is this aimed at making? I noticed that there’s a couple of different modes, “New beat” and “New DJ Edit” – what’s the focus of each, and how do they differ?
We have templates and drum patterns for pretty much every style of music, so you can make any style of music you like. You can also make DJ edits for your DJ sets inside Serato Studio, and you can get as creative with these as you like. If you want to just edit a song’s arrangement, you can do that in seconds. If you’d like to add drums, samples and instruments to your DJ edits, that’s really simple to do too. This feature has been really popular because DJ’s know that making edits and original music for your DJ sets is one of the key ways to stand out in today’s scene.
I had a play around with the free version today – really fun making up beats with the step sequencer! Is that sort of functionality something you could ever see being adding to Serato DJ for live use?
There are no plans to fuse the two applications right now, but we’re open to these kinds of suggestions!
What sort of updates will there be for users? There seems to be loads of drum and instrument sounds already, and a decent selection of drum pattern presets. Will those be updated/tweaked as trends change and new genres emerge?
We add sound packs every month, which are free to download for subscribers and people who have bought the software outright. We’re also really listening to the feedback of our customers and directly our feature roadmap towards what people want, so we’d love to hear any feedback that people have. I’d love to see some UK garage drum patterns in there, for instance.
Is there anything else about Serato Studio or Serato in general you’d like to tell us about? And where can we check you out online?
There is some very cool stuff being worked on at our HQ in New Zealand. I was out there back in November and I was shown some things that really blew my mind! Something I’m particularly looking forward to is the official Phase collaboration, which we showed in it’s alpha state at NAMM back in January. But there is plenty of other cool stuff in the works this year too which people are going to love.
My IG is djblakeyuk. Come and give me a follow ✌
Keeping Your Head Together
One of the most difficult challenges in a situation as unusual as this is keeping your head together. I’ve had some challenging days and weeks in the last couple of months, and I know I’m not alone in that.
DJs are in a particularly difficult set of circumstances at the moment, but there are ways I have found that help me stay in the right frame of mind. I still have ups and downs, but the framework I have gives me something to fall back on when I start slipping, and I can tweak it as I go along.
The key aspects for me are 1. ) Habits and 2.) Journals
Habits
I try to start my day with a habits routine that sets me up well. I use a great app called HabitBull to track a whole bunch of activities – I’m a huge advocate for the power of habit in changing the quality of your outcomes. Once you do something regularly enough, it becomes basically automatic, and you’re doing a positive thing without even having to think about it. My key things first thing in the morning – out of bed at alarm, make bed, 25 press ups (to wake body up), meditate, journal, Duolingo classes (usually do these last 2 over breakfast). Then I will head out for my morning run.
The great thing about a habits tracker (where you tick a box each time you complete the habit) is that it keeps you honest – if you aren’t tracking, its easy to go a week or so without doing something, and before you know it, the habit has completely slipped. When you get 2 or 3 days without a tick in the box on your app, you know that you need to do it today! If you are anything like me, your competitive urge will motivate you to keep a good run going, and to maintain a certain percentage of habits completed (I feel like 80%+ is decent going, at the moment I’m at 83%). Don’t beat yourself up if you have a bad day, just use it as motivation to do all your habits the next day.
You’ll find that the simple satisfaction of a full set at the end of the day is very good for your self-regard. And by setting up the right habits, you can get your day started with a bunch of simple things that are good for your wellbeing. For the competitive amongst you, you can set up with Habit Share and compete against a friend – thanks to this, I haven’t eaten any candy in all of 2020, amongst other things. The competitive element has massively helped me here!
If you want to know more about habits, there’s two books I highly recommend – The Power of Habit, and Atomic Habits.
Journaling
This is something I struggled to do regularly at first, but now is an integral part of my daily routine. I actually go a bit overboard, maybe – I probably don’t need to use all these methods!
I use an app called 5 Minute Journal – this is super simple, and means that even if I don’t have time to use paper journals, I’ve given the day some thought here.
Then I use a journal planner called Best Self – though there are many similar journals. The way this one works is that you have up to 3 x 13 week overall goals. You map out why you want to do these, what this will achieve, and most importantly, how you will achieve them. Then there are 13 separate weekly planners, and finally, a diary where you can plan our your days down to the hour, with space for your daily aims and accomplishments etc. I find this incredibly useful in keeping me focused on a specific goals – I tend towards getting easily distracted by whatever comes along, and losing focus, and being able to refer back to this journal keeps me on track. On the day, and in general. Seriously – my brain is extremely scattershot at times, to the point where my girlfriend suspects I have ADHD! But this book allows me to regroup and get back to what matters, rather than following whatever distracting thing came along!
I plan my day in the morning, and review it at the end of the day, list my wins etc. It is fundamentally about productivity, through better planning – I’ve found it much easier to stay focused and get things done since using these.
Finally, I just use a normal notepad to journal my general thoughts, feelings, plans, observations – this one is much more about staying on top of my mental and emotional health. Again, I use this morning and night. In the morning I write down the date, time I got up, and score my mood out of 10. Then I talk a bit about my plans for the day, how I’m feeling. At night, I reflect on the day just gone, the important things that happened, congratulate myself when I deserve, examine the times I let myself down, etc, etc. This kind of journaling is a bit more about exploring why I want to do things, why I feel certain ways about how things went, what it all means. With this, it is very important to be completely honest with yourself – in many ways, if you use this right, its a bit like a form of therapy. You get to explore your thoughts and feelings about things. Having a way to express them privately, and explore what you really think about the circumstances we are in, is a very useful tool to have in your kit. I hang on to these journals (Best Selfs I chuck after I’ve used them) – they are a fascinating window into where my head was at different points in my life, and its interesting to be able to refer back to how I felt about specific moments. Often its not at all the same as how my memory remembers things – the brain is strange like that!
Another thing – give yourself some breaks!
For the first month or so of this crisis, I forgot to give myself any days off. Normally, with gigs, I would treat Monday/Tuesday as my weekend, and have a bit of “me time” then. With the lockdown, I was trying to work a Mon-Fri office day, but then streaming at the weekends as well, which meant lots of prep in the days. I was getting really stressed and up tight, then there was a moment when I realised I had been putting myself under more work pressure than I ever was in normal times. I was saying yes to every opportunity to do a mix or an interview or whatever, which was making it harder for me to do any of these things properly, and impacting my ability to do my own projects right
Once I recognised this, I made it a goal in my Best Self planner to do absolutely nothing on certain days other than my morning habits – I just hit the sofa and watch movies all day long! And on your work days, schedule in gaps here and there to go for a coffee, a walk, play a game on the console, etc etc. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy! And I’ve had to make some tough choices about which projects I have the time and energy to do – its better to do one or two things well, then 5 or 6 badly! On this topic, I highly recommend this book on Essentialism – the disciplined pursuit of less.
Conclusion
What I’ve written is just a loose outline of what I’ve found that works pretty well for me. Others might not like, or need, that amount of routine. I find that without it, I get nothing done, at all, and that makes me feel terrible, which drains me of motivation, so even less gets done.
When I start slipping, I know that if I religiously tick off all my HabitBull habits (which in total is maybe an hour or two of my day, maximum) then I will feel a LOT better about myself, which I find makes everything else flow. It sometimes takes me a few days to get myself back together, especially at the moment, with so much uncertainty about the future. And that is fine – this situation is not easy, for anyone!
One great thing about journaling and habit lists is that they serve as a really simple early warning system – if I get lazy with my habits or journaling, its a good sign that something is up. Stopping doing these things tells me something is wrong – and starting doing them again goes a way towards pushing me back to a better state of mind. Meditation is a big help here (I use the Waking Up app) – it trains you to be able to note and observe your experiences and feelings as you have them, rather than getting caught up in them. So you eventually become better at seeing when you are going in bad mental directions, which gives you a chance to correct course.
Be kind to yourself, as you would be kind to a friend going through a tough time. If I’m struggling to get back into the groove, a useful trick I find is to make a to-do list, and have a bunch of really easy wins at the beginning, just to get the ball rolling, and work up to the harder, longer tasks. The main thing is just to feel like I achieved what I set out to, and allow a positive mindset to build up.
But don’t beat yourself up if you struggle to get anything much done. This is a really stressful time for everyone in the DJ community, and getting through it in one piece is a win. Anything else above and beyond that is a bonus. Don’t measure yourself based on what you think others are doing.
It has been a common thing to say “we’re all in the same boat” – the truth is that we aren’t, we’re all in the same storm, in very different boats. And in a storm, you will get some crazy ups and downs – the crucial thing is to not get carried away when you are up high and can see the horizon, and not take it too hard when the lows come along and you feel like you can’t see a way out. This will pass, and we will party together again.
In the meantime, do what you can to stay well, try to build your skills, and keep on developing your music library over at Heavy Hits pool!
Follow me over at Instagram.