How often do you practice

[fat8ack]

This question is coming from a guy who mainly spins EDM so I really just blend songs together for 1.5-3min from song to song, sometimes looping and dropping in a 3rd song who knows. I try to spend about 2-4 (maybe 5 if it is like a Sunday with nothing else to do) hours 5-6 days a week in front of my NS6.

It has been almost a year since I started my journey into this wonderful art and have always wondered how much every one else practices. Especially the guys who have been at it for 10+ years. Do you even have to practice much any more or is it just second nature? I don't really just play the same set over and over either I have a file set up with a bunch of songs that I feel go together one way or the other, so it is kinda like a grab bag.


So I guess the main question would be how often and how do you practice mixing/spinning? I felt this question should be in the Techniques section because how you practice and how often deff has a lot to do with make us better DJ's, and in some way really is part of our Technique.

Thank you for your time ladies and gents! :D

[moyo wilde]

have a friend who is a pretty good dj, he told me i shouldn't think of it as practice, but just having some fun.

2-3 hours/day

[fat8ack]

have a friend who is a pretty good dj, he told me i shouldn't think of it as practice, but just having some fun.

2-3 hours/day

No doubt and very good point....deff having a blast when I am "playing at home". Except for the train wreaks hahaha......

[mantis]

yeah moyo has a point.

i just like to play for myself every night after a long day of work. I enjoy playing music and mixing it. Practice is essential to success tho ( as in anything)

[Chay]

I used to practice for hours, about 2-3 a day, but nowadays it's barely 1 :(

[Lazerick]

total - 4 to 6 hours a week (during internet shows)

[Rek_Aviles]

total - 4 to 6 hours a week (during internet shows)

Same.. I only get on to play my FW show.

I use to practice almost daily, at least for 2 hours. That was a long time ago.

[Hausgeist]

Same. I play for a few hours a week, or whatever I can get in, just for relaxation and enjoyment.

"Before I learned the art, a punch was just a punch and a kick was just a kick. When I studied the art, a punch was no longer just a punch and a kick was no longer just a kick. Now I understand the art, and a punch is just a punch and a kick is just a kick." - Bruce Lee

I am not saying I am the Bruce Lee of mixing, but you get the idea. :tup:

[Sean]

I wish I could do more, real life gets in the way of djing sadly :(

[Ocie]

Pretty much every day. I try to mix for about 2 hours and switch it up by trying different transitions, as well as different genres. I record most of the time and go back and listen to the mix soon after.

[Smallz]

a few hours a week is the best i can do now. Schoolwork has started to pile up!

Also, even if you are a master of the art, practice still needs to be done. Have you tried doing something you haven't done for a few months? You get really rusty.

[AlanS]

What do you mean by practice? I listen to my music 3-4 hours a day and set cue points/count bars/etc. I only mix about 30 minutes to an hour a day. Sometimes I don't even touch my turntables.

[fat8ack]

What do you mean by practice? I listen to my music 3-4 hours a day and set cue points/count bars/etc. I only mix about 30 minutes to an hour a day. Sometimes I don't even touch my turntables.

That sounds like practice to me man. I do the same thing a lot as well as far as listening to what I have and seeing the cue points (I have use Serato Itch and the wave forms really help).

[DJArmani]

usually 1.5 - 2 hours mon. - fri. and sat. or sun. 3-4 hrs on a boring night. when there's school vacation i practice as much as possible within the vacation.

[Rick_N]

Not enough, maybe fit in a couple hours during the week and maybe 2-3 on the weekends. Plus whatever shows im doing. Most of my "practicing" is going over new tracks and making sure everything is sorted. Some times I get the odd sunday night where I can have a couple 40's and pound out the vinyl for a few hours. But, thats for pure enjoyment since most of my vinyl rarely gets played out.

Full time student and working full time does not leave much time in the day for things other than sleep lol

[Haddock]

Now that school has started up, barely an hour/day on average. Hoping to get back to the at least 2hours/day that I used to be doing. Just gotta get on a scheduled and stick to it!

[Ashley Caveney]

about 2 hours a day 3 times a week,

i dj 2 nights a week so :/

[DJHoss]

I mess around, try new things, test songs on eq levels for about 2-3 hours a day on average. All day and most of the night on weekends.

[Atomisk]

I don't practice. I get ready for gigs, set up playlists, burn CDs, make bootlegs, find new music, etc. during my "practice" time. I'm generally playing out 3-5 times a week so I definitely get my time behind the decks in then.

[LeFresh]

I usually practice less than an hour a week. Im just not motivated. I need gigs, so that could be my practice or I'd be motivated to practice.
But..I practiced mixing/scratching for an hour yesterday and 30 minutes of scratching this morning. I plan on getting a few hours in today.

[1point5]

I find that if I don't touch my decks for over a week I'm already a bit rusty when i do go back to them. I practise most days though so it's usually ok :)

[Era 7]

varies. sometimes i jam 3 times a week, sometimes just once and sometimes not at all.

[DJNR]

It comes down to the amount of school work I have during the week. Last year I was pretty lazy and I wasn't practicing much (playing too much starcraft T___T) so I started a bi-weekly podcast to keep myself motivated.

[Dj_4-$hure]

I try to get on every day on the weekday's for 1 hr, and on the weekend 2-3 hr.

[Raindance Rob]

This question is coming from a guy who mainly spins EDM so I really just blend songs together for 1.5-3min from song to song, sometimes looping and dropping in a 3rd song who knows. I try to spend about 2-4 (maybe 5 if it is like a Sunday with nothing else to do) hours 5-6 days a week in front of my NS6.

It has been almost a year since I started my journey into this wonderful art and have always wondered how much every one else practices. Especially the guys who have been at it for 10+ years. Do you even have to practice much any more or is it just second nature? I don't really just play the same set over and over either I have a file set up with a bunch of songs that I feel go together one way or the other, so it is kinda like a grab bag.


So I guess the main question would be how often and how do you practice mixing/spinning? I felt this question should be in the Techniques section because how you practice and how often deff has a lot to do with make us better DJ's, and in some way really is part of our Technique.

Thank you for your time ladies and gents! :D

iv been DJing on & off since 98 & i still practise for at least two hours a day. imo with new tunes you need to find where the drops are & what goes into what etc so i dont think you can ever get enough practise

[Raindance Rob]

Pretty much every day. I try to mix for about 2 hours and switch it up by trying different transitions, as well as different genres. I record most of the time and go back and listen to the mix soon after.

thats a very valid & good point. i do that alot myself aswel like so i can see were iv fucked up & work on it next time, remember we're all only human & fuck up sometimes saying that you shouldnt be sloppy & not give a fuck lol

[spirez]

13 Hours per week min if you include gigs. I rarely practice outside of that. Just listen to new tracks instead.

[TheFrenchWay]

I'd say at least 1 or 2 hours a day during the week and weekend when I'm not busy, is more like 2 or 3 hours. Tag teaming is a really good way to practice aswell. When you have a friend who also DJs.


EDIT: By tag team in this case I mean: 2 decks, 2 mixers, 2 people. :tup: (Decks, Controllers etc...)

[Manu]

Almost a daily basis, though I'm learning the tracks more than anything else.

[Interracial Tea]

I practice whenever I feel like it or else it stops being fun. Sometimes I wont touch my tables for days.

[Dj K Stakz]

Hey guys quick question. I just got scratch live 3 and everything is set up. My only issue is I want to me able to take my laptop with me and control scratch live with just my computer. Now so far I haven't discovered a virtual crossfader or a way to get volume out of my songs with the simple headphone jack plugged into the side of the computer. Thanks for any help I just need to get sound out of serato when I don't have it hooked up to my technics/mixer.

[Ocie]

when you don't have your SL3 plugged in to the USB port, you can listen to a track by clicking and dragging a track into the player at the top of the screen. press the play button in the upper lefthand corner.

you can also control a song by selecting internal mode. SL3 needs to be plugged in though.

mixing without SL3 plugged in isn't possible though.

[Manu]

^^^ you need to PRACTICE (hinthint) your user manual more often, and you need to learn how to click on "new thread". http://www.djstore.com/manuals/ran/ranseratoscratch.pdf

[BuddyUK]

If i get some free time and it's an appropriate time of day, I'll get on the decks and have a spin. Unfortunately free time is often in short supply and spend too much time BSing on the internet to boot, also have a big stack of books I'm intending to read but never get round to as well :argh:

[DJ Riddims]

I practice when I have some free time and also have to be in the mood to mix which is about 6 times a week. If I am not in the mood to mix I won't practice at all because I'll just mess around with the decks rather than actually try to make a mix or try something new.

[bumpyjonas]

Not much, real work is dictating my time, however try to get in at least couple hours once a week.....

[DJ Hi Def]

Spend out 1 hour a day on my decks (if time permits) and about 2 hours a day listening to new music (rides to and from work)

[Mr Rupee]

About an hour or two a week but sometimes that "hour" turns into four, which is no bad thing!

[DJStevieRay]

I rarely ever practive anymore, but when I was coming up about 20 years ago, I practiced 2-4 hours nightly for about 5 years.

The only thing I practice anymore is mixing video's as it is fairly new to me (about 1-2 hours a week).

[L.O.]

I try to get in at least an hour of practice a day. I started implementing this new way of practicing by breaking things down according to how much time was available. For example if I had an hour to practice I would work on beatmatching for 30 mins, beat juggling for 15 mins, and a scratch I was working on for 15 mins. Just off the top of the head.

Here is the article I got it from. http://blog.dubspot.com/dj-school-101-p-r-a-c-t-i-c-e-practice-practice/

[Shawn Dexter]

Hey I just joined this forum, i was mad bored and was like there 's got to be a dj forum, been dj for 2 years, been producing since i was 16, now 22 on march 5th, Figured this would be a good spot to introduce my self. And, I play everyday but randomly ill stop for 2 weeks or a week then go back to it maybe 1 to 4 hours when i do spin.

[DJ D'Construcz]

Not including making loops and samples for my sets in Reason. Probably about 2-3 hours a day.

[DJ ATX]

I work a day job, on top of teaching martial arts 3x a weeks. Having a club residency to go to on the weekends leaves very little time to practice. I typically just download songs and work with them for a few. Trying out different ways to work them into my set, getting cue points set and just learning them. Maybe an hour or two a week. Other than that, playing out at clubs every weekend IS my practice time.

[Mike_Easy]

i practice every day even if i dont touch my laptop or controller.. I study my music and try to listen to every detail and think of what songs would mix well with what or little tricks i could try to pull off.. Write these things down cuz regardless how amazing the idea is YOU WILL FORGET trust me i've had "masterpieces" in my head got home and had no clue what i was thinking

[Funkyfader]

2-3 hours a week,deffinately want more but dont have time :school::shrug:

[deejay chaotic]

I practice every day. its more like therapy than practice. thats what music has always been to me, whether listening to it or creating it, its my escape from everything else. Everyday when I get home from work, I go green, throw on my headphones and beat up some vinyl.

[DjAaron]

I practice every day. its more like therapy than practice. thats what music has always been to me, whether listening to it or creating it, its my escape from everything else. Everyday when I get home from work, I go green, throw on my headphones and beat up some vinyl.

Exactly what I take it as. I would get home from work and shower then jump on the mixer and try to relax that way. Anytime I get stressed I just start to mix

[fat8ack]

Exactly what I take it as. I would get home from work and shower then jump on the mixer and try to relax that way. Anytime I get stressed I just start to mix

Originally Posted by deejay chaotic
I practice every day. its more like therapy than practice. thats what music has always been to me, whether listening to it or creating it, its my escape from everything else. Everyday when I get home from work, I go green, throw on my headphones and beat up some vinyl.


No doubt fellas, feels go to escape into the music sometimes.

[Grifff]

Unfortunately free time is often in short supply and spend too much time BSing on the internet to boot

This is too true. I wake up these days with a list of things that I 'definitely will do today' (practise DJing, writing a dissertation, studying for exams, etc) then I have a 'quick look on reddit', and before I know it it's 11pm at night and I've done none of the things I needed to do

[Finnish_Fox]

I don't practice... I just play every day!

[DjAaron]

No doubt fellas, feels go to escape into the music sometimes.

No doubt! It lets me escape all my stresses for that little bit of time

[Charleserion]

Just about every day. I try for about two hours to mix and turn it on by trying different transitions and different genres. I guess most of the time and go back and listen to the mix shortly thereafter.

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[kidj fresh]

Well, when I practice, the cops are called three out of ten times, and I just can't help but play my music loud. I will not jam through headphones.. So yeah back to the point, I scatter my practice sessions through the days, but once the cops are called it is just a total buzz kill... P.S, Its not even as if I play like shit, I actually play my best when cops are arriving, weird..

[bumpyjonas]

Lately just couple times week (3 days max) due to work and school.... Looking to pickup for summer

[djlukewathey]

i do around 7 hours a week mainly over the weekend with life being so busy but i do try and do at least an hour in the week...