"I knew I wanted to become a DJ when..."

[Kingbob182]

What made you want to become a DJ?
Was it someone you looked up to in your family? A great DJ at a club? A cool mixrtape you had?

"I knew I wanted to become a DJ when..."
My friend gave me a CD with a 'Vato Gonzalez Dirty House Mixtape' on it. I loved the idea of mixing from one track to the next so quickly and smoothly and having never heard many of the tracks, I often couldnt tell where one track ended and another started which I thought was really cool. After I got this I learned to make my own mixtapes using Adobe Audition.
I dint start mixing on CDJs until I saw Laidback Luke mix at Winter Sound System in Melbourne in 2008. I feel in love with house music and they way it was produced to be mixed and Started saving for my first set up.

[Sigma]

For me it was hearing scratching for the first time back in the early 80s and the Street Sounds Electro compilations, which weren't the first mixes I'd heard but they were the first ones I heard that I thought were mixed really well.

[Rothgery]

Honestly for me, my buddy gave me a burnt cd of Tiesto's "Live at Energy 2000" the energy (pardon the pun) in that set blew my mind - I wanted to do that.

[Gnozis]

I'll never forget this. I always new of DJ's and scratching, but I never really understood what DJ's actually did. I thought they just played one song after another and occasionally scratched. I was at my first school dance when I was about 16 and towards the beginning of the night the DJ transition into the hook of Party Like a Rockstar.....instant mind f*ck. I had no clue what I had just listened to, but I was intrigued. Over the years I started discovering the DJ culture and started when I was 18.

[Chay]

Honestly for me, my buddy gave me a burnt cd of Tiesto's "Live at Energy 2000" the energy (pardon the pun) in that set blew my mind - I wanted to do that.

My parent's friend introduced me into Trance music a few years back, when I used to listen to mainly rock and a bit of metal. Ever since, I grew up on Tiesto's legendary songs along with Armin van Buuren and Cosmic Gate (When they made hard trance instead of progressive now). My dad is a fan of Tiesto which he bought a DVD called "Tiesto in Concert" I believe it was in 2004 that he let me watched and the crowd's energy, the music and the man himself was simply captivating.

From back then till now, I have many, many different EDM genres that I listen to including the Eurodance that I used to listen to as a kid during the 90's while Breakbeat is my newest genre that I recently got into :tup:

[DeadPhr0g]

....when Traktor introduced Auto-Sync.

[de.j.l]

The Shushwaps is what really got me into it... I .. always wanted to be...coool.. :s

[Rothgery]

....when Traktor introduced Auto-Sync.

First troll of 2.0? or am I jumping the gun?

[de.j.l]

Hey, a guy has got to get his posts in and without the smarts.. it can be a tough go.

[Chay]

First troll of 2.0? or am I jumping the gun?

And so it begins... :lol:

[DeadPhr0g]

First troll of 2.0? or am I jumping the gun?

I am no troll.

[de.j.l]

Just because you don't live under a bridge doesn't mean you're not a troll yee know.

[c-hawk]

....I figured out I could get paid for doing something I liked.

[JDH]

Went to a rave last year and met a former DJ who played at the 90s raves - the way he described his enthusiasm for mixing and seeing everyone have a good time was all that I needed.

[finalcoyote]

Met a guy, turns out he DJ's. Had some epic parties in his house while he seshed, ended up seshing myself. You dig.

[Manu]

I was donig it before I even knew was a DJ was. Before that I thought I was some dude who liked to line up some records and do crappy remixes on 4 track

[Somedj]

had a buddy who was doing it, and he needed help with other gigs, so he showed me the basics and away I went... rest is history.

[NickJames]

Started as a lighting technician... As one of the few guys willing to pull all nighters for EDM parties/"raves" I did my share... Watching the DJs from the side of the stage is what got me hooked and doing the lights meant I had contacts early in the game.

[daveoj]

I used to do interactive light shows at some 'raves of questionable legality' during the UK's second summer of love (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Summer_of_Love) ('88 - '89). I was only a kid working with a friend on our hacked-up computer and homebrew electronic stuff. Whilst we were testing out our gear... one of the DJs offered to give me a quick lesson, seeing that I was looking over him. I was hooked, and so began the quest to learn learn learn. I'm still learning, but from then 'til now, one thing remains the same: the feeling of dropping tracks that give you goose bumps!

[KLH]

When I went to a father/daughter dance and the DJ was terrible. I knew that I could do better. I bought an M-Audio Xponent and the rest is history...

-KLH

[Maikky]

When I saw david guetta DJ I was like omgz I needz to djz .

Then I posted a DJ name thread on DJF and it was all history .

[Rek_Aviles]

Heard Glenn Friscia on Hot97 back in the day, spinning house music, which I never really heard except for one or two records my bro had.

Started recording music on tape and tried recreating some of the mixes by hooking 2 tape decks together and timed my mixes with the pause button. I then got my friend to bring over his dads record player and we connected them to the same speaker and mixed any records we could find. Eventually I convinced my parent to buy me some belt-driven Gemini TTs and the rest is history.

[Badger]

Way back in February 1988, a friend of mine in high school, knowing I was a lonely computer geek with no life, asked me to create some "free pass" cards for his friends to get into his forthcoming gig - a Valentine's Day party at a church.

I did so (on an Apple IIe with a black-and-white dot-matrix printer), and he dug the cards, so I asked if I could attend the gig and help out.

I kept attending gigs, learning more about the equipment and the business, and moving more and more "out of my shell" as time went on. Plus, I started collecting 12" singles of the club/dance music that I liked. Within the course of a few events, I knew that I wanted to become a DJ as well. The experiences that I had going to gigs as part of his crew, going on trips to buy records, etc... those rank among the happiest experiences of my life.

So, there: I knew I wanted to DJ when I got to experience the thrill of the industry from behind the scenes.

:badger:

[Original]

I realized I couldn't dance or produce.

[Era 7]

Honestly for me, my buddy gave me a burnt cd of Tiesto's "Live at Energy 2000" the energy (pardon the pun) in that set blew my mind - I wanted to do that.

for me it was also Tiesto. only it was the "Elements Of Life" DVD. i loved the energy in the tech trance part that one single person could make 25000 people party their ass off.

[djshire]

When I realized all the bitches I could pull.









:lol: No it was when I went and saw BT perform many years ago at a club during DEMF. And yes, i know, BT really isn't a dj, but it got me thinking about it.

[Muggz]

I have always listened to several genders in music. As I grew older I was listening to more new things which people seemed to enjoy. I then thought to myself, Maybe I could be a dj? Then next thing you know I got a set up and started deejaying.

[login]

I was enjoying attending to raves but at some point I was loving the music and decided to become a dj.

[silentsounds]

Got into Trance music through a friend around 2000 ish. Eventually watched some Tiesto DVD around 2003 or 2004 that sparked the interest. First time I touched any gear was in 2005. Then spent the good part of 2-3 years reading and understanding what i was all about before buying my own.

[Andrew B]

I just love music. I kind of naturally fell into it.

[finalcoyote]

Yeah, good point.

I started playing Guitar and Piano when I was... 10? Young, anyway. DJ'ing came later, but love for all things musical helped.

[bernardgregory]

when I saw "Juice." although now I know that he wasn't really doing all of that in the movie LOL

[Atomisk]

I heard this.
http://www.aeonscope.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/the-crystal-method-vegas.jpg

[xsonixs]

It happened when I first found DSS DJ (http://www.myxoft.com/) (back then at version 2). I initially thought it was just a player. Then I started messing with the keyboard shortcuts....then all hell broke loose and my wallet took a dump! Now moved on to serato and other things.

[DjEvesis]

Like three years ago, I didn't want to go to bed so I turned on the TV. A documentary about DJs and copyrighted music was on. When I SAW that DJ remixing a linkin park song live, with all his gear, I knew I had just discovered something big. And I just searched on the internet for more and more informations on it.

[manoaboi]

I heard Girl Talk for the first time :uhoh: I thought he was doing everything on like 8 turntables I guess. To be fair, I didn't know much about anything.

[l0ckd0wn]

1998; Detroit rave parties.

[DJ Matt]

i always did it, from making mix tapes at birthday parties as a kid

when i was 16 myself and a few friends borrowed a set of turntables and found out none of them could mix except me LOL
so i became the elected (only person that could be trusted behind the decks) and it sort of went from there.

[l0ckd0wn]

These were my first two dance music albums, or what I would later find out to be Big Beat.


I heard this.
http://www.aeonscope.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/the-crystal-method-vegas.jpg

This CD and...

Chemical Brothers: Block Rocking Beat EP
http://s.dsimg.com/image/R-1933807-1273182548.jpeg (http://www.discogs.com/Chemical-Brothers-Block-Rockin-Beats/master/25138)

[epik1]

I was learning to play drums --> was a bboy (love hip-hop)/drum and bass --> Have been trying to pick up DJing for a few years now but hardware is $$$ and I'm trying to dump all I can spare into my car lol.

[robmixx]

When the late Jam Master Jay let me stand by him on stage and watch him cut up Cheryl Lynn's Encore back when RunDmc first released It's Like That/Sucker Mc's and Hard Times when I was a teen in South Carolina.
Peace be with you................Rob Mixx

[DeadPhr0g]

When I saw david guetta DJ I was like omgz I needz to djz .

Then I posted a DJ name thread on DJF and it was all history .

D. Guetta doesn't even know how to turn on cdjs. Just saying

[Andrew B]

I suppose I can expand. I moved to Chicago in 1989, which was the first time I had heard House. There was a local teen dance club (juice bar) that only played House, and it was all over the radio at the time as well. I got a cassingle (:lol:) of Mr. Lee's Get Busy, which is right around the time I started "DJing" high school events. I would use two CD players and a cassette deck hooked up to a stereo. There was no mixing, as I didn't know it even existed or was possible.

I bought a few more discs when I was in high school (Moby's Go on CD Maxi-single is one that stands out), but my interest really picked up when I went off to college in 1992. I learned what a DJ actually does, and had my first regular club gig by around 1994 (possibly 1995).

I moved out to Los Angeles in 1997 and my interest kind of fell off, mainly because I was struggling to start my career and couldn't really afford to invest in my own equipment. I never stopped buying CDs, but I just couldn't spring for 1200s and regular vinyl purchases. I finally bought my own setup in 2001 when I became financially comfortable enough to do so. And that's that.

[Rick_N]

I used to listen to paul van dyk, and other trance and hard trance back in high school. Never even knew there where other genres, to me that music was techno lol. Used to also play with mixvibes or something like that, never really knew anything about djing or how it worked. I then joined the Marine Corps and they sent me to So. Cal where there was/is a huge scene. I eventually attended my first rave and figured that I could do what that dj did. Found a friend who knew how to mix, found my love of breakbeats, and boom bap the rest is history. Just took what I knew and ran and as i met other dj's I just got better and better.

And thats where im at now, just doing my thing and playing out when i have the time.

[djvix805]

I've always loved music. Some of my family members have been DJs but many fam members are in the music business so it runs in my blood! :D

[Wakka]

Paul Van Dyk Roseland ballroom march 14th 2008. was a complete mind blowing set. That night i said to myself 'i wanna do that' and so it began.

[Dj_4-$hure]

When I younger and would always stare at a Disney record and broken turntable in my parents garage, always wishing I had a stylus for the TT. I also just fell into dj'ing, I never once said I want to be a dj (well kind of when I saw DJ Babu). I would download a 30 day trial of Virtual dj and boot my computer once my trial was over and download it again and again. LOL. Next thing you know I own TT's a legit version of TSP1 and 2 and the rest will fall into place.

[Psychogenics]

when i saw my dj friend not giving a fuck and enjoying the music to the fullest.

[ElectroManiac]

I have been into EDM since I was 14-15, like 10 years a go, but I wasn't the person to go to rave and parties. I was more the geek kid who play a lot of videogames and listen EDM. When I get into college in 2007, I made a Dj friend. We start talking about DJing and everything involve in it. He start trying to convince me to get into it, but I never pay that much attention. Them I went to a friend birthday party where he was mixing, and he let play with the gear for a bit. It was a djm-400 and a pair of cdj-200. Of course I didn't know how to mix or anything so I was pretty much trainwreking the crap out of it, but the atmosphere with the people dancing and getting crazy no matter how much I suck that night is what got me hook. Probably was because I played some anthems and they were drunk dancing on the pool and that's what got then crazy.

After that day I download a pirate version (yeah I know :uhoh:) of virtual dj and start playing with it. I start reading a bunch of stuff about how to beatmach and dj gear. I start watching every video on djtutor.com and every pic of every dj gear I found on the web. That's how I found djforums. After several month on april 2008, I went to the US to visit my family there, and decide to get my gear. I was trying to choose between getting a xone 22 and a nuo2.0 and that is when I made account on djforums. I remember a thread made by konflick, now known as Nick Bike, about the release date of the Xone 22, and I made my first post there asking some stuff about the xone and the nuo. Them I end up getting the nuo 2.0 with a pair of dns-1200, and well that's how I get into djing.

[Paulie65m]

After I seen Tiesto push play and did his all time famous pose , yess
"The Jesus Pose"
The Greatest Dj of all Time :uhoh:

[Kingbob182]

I suppose I can expand. I moved to Chicago in 1989, which was the first time I had heard House. There was a local teen dance club (juice bar) that only played House, and it was all over the radio at the time as well. I got a cassingle (:lol:) of Mr. Lee's Get Busy, which is right around the time I started "DJing" high school events. I would use two CD players and a cassette deck hooked up to a stereo. There was no mixing, as I didn't know it even existed or was possible.

I bought a few more discs when I was in high school (Moby's Go on CD Maxi-single is one that stands out), but my interest really picked up when I went off to college in 1992. I learned what a DJ actually does, and had my first regular club gig by around 1994 (possibly 1995).

I moved out to Los Angeles in 1997 and my interest kind of fell off, mainly because I was struggling to start my career and couldn't really afford to invest in my own equipment. I never stopped buying CDs, but I just couldn't spring for 1200s and regular vinyl purchases. I finally bought my own setup in 2001 when I became financially comfortable enough to do so. And that's that.

Do you mix anywhere now? Or just an enthusiast from home?
I'd like to think you're just a bedroom dj now because it sounds like your really in it for the love of it rather than everything else that comes with it

[Andrew B]

Do you mix anywhere now? Or just an enthusiast from home?
I'd like to think you're just a bedroom dj now because it sounds like your really in it for the love of it rather than everything else that comes with it

I gigged for years out here, but at this point it's just a hobby. I'm basically retired. :tup:

[Hygro]

This is Andrew DJing at his last gig.

http://www.strictlysocial.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/thomas_bangalter.jpg

[Andrew B]

Yeah, I usually wear a helmet, though. :P

[Hygro]

Actually weird thing, the night after that gig, I woke up from a dream that they had a concert in my school's auditorium and they took their helmets off. I felt really compelled to google-news them and that popped up. I was like, crazy universe.

I'm surprised you were such hipster headphones though :P

[djoc]

i saw this kid who became a dj on this kids' channel when i was 10 years old.

[Ferryman]

I bought a pair of decks back in 2008 on a whim. In fact, I'd just left a band and I swapped my amp and guitar for 2x Numark TT-100's, a mixer, speakers a few vinyl. At first I only wanted them to mess about with.... then I went to a Hospitality night in Birmingham at The Custard Factory and saw Utah Jazz and Commix smash it... I also got introduced properly to dubstep that night. From then on, hooked!

Went home and spent 4 hours a day on them bitches and waxed most of my cash on vinyl.

Still doing similar things today :)

[Atomisk]

These were my first two dance music albums, or what I would later find out to be Big Beat.

This CD and...

Chemical Brothers: Block Rocking Beat EP
http://s.dsimg.com/image/R-1933807-1273182548.jpeg (http://www.discogs.com/Chemical-Brothers-Block-Rockin-Beats/master/25138)

For me it was Vegas and Invaders Must Die, but The chemical brothers were not too far behind!

[DJMC]

I knew I wanted to become a DJ when....

....I saw other DJs at weddings who were "cheesy" in their style & behavior, as well as the music they were playing.

Over the years, I've seen a lot of fads and trends come and go, but ONE thing that I'm seeing as a growing "trend" is the number of potential clients who want a non-cheesy DJ.

So I guess I found a niche, and I filled it.





DJMC is a Sacramento Wedding DJ (http://www.dj-mc.com) who provides non-cheesy wedding reception DJs.

[Chay]

I knew I wanted to become a DJ when....

....I saw other DJs at weddings who were "cheesy" in their style & behavior, as well as the music they were playing.

Over the years, I've seen a lot of fads and trends come and go, but ONE thing that I'm seeing as a growing "trend" is the number of potential clients who want a non-cheesy DJ.

So I guess I found a niche, and I filled it.





DJMC is a Sacramento Wedding DJ (http://www.dj-mc.com) who provides non-cheesy wedding reception DJs.

Can you explain to me what "cheesy" music and behavior is? :)

[djscrizzle]

What got me into DJing is multi-faceted and spans 2 states. In 1998, I went to a teen night at the YMCA in Murfreesboro, TN. Saw a real vinyl only DJ cutting it up on the 12s, NO cds period.
The other half was seeing bad DJ after bad DJ at my Alma-Matre, Calhan High School.

In June of 2003, I put the wheels in motion and got my first mixer, a totally utter shite Pyramid PM4001 mixer, and a decent power amp by the same company as well as some speakers. I used 2 Discmans and a laptop to play choonz off of.

[SplishDJ]

I'd been mulling over the thought of being a DJ for years.

Enter 2011 and I started listening to Fingaprint and Funk Butcher play House music on Rinse. 3 months later I invested in my first pair of Sony PS-DJ9000 TT's and Numark DM1002EX mixer...