I can relate to this. I'm about to turn 48 tomorrow, and I'm definitely not in that nightclub vibe anymore. The way I see it, if I'd stand out as a patron due to my age, then I probably ought not to be deejaying there. So these days I stick to livestreaming, or the occasional block party or other types of adult functions.
But, hey, there's still obviously folks my age or older who are out there doing it, and more power to them! Heck, I saw Moby back around 2016 or so, and he was going head-to-head with Gareth Emery and spinning dubstep in an arena! But I guess at that level, it's a little easier.
Maybe a better question is what age is too old to learn??? Dont say early 40s haha
When you're no longer having fun and it starts to become a chore that is when its time. I'm in my 40s now and still play out a lot.
It's possible to DJ in clubs for young adults, but if you do you'd better bring it! Know their music intimately and then mix it flawlessly. You will be judged, doubted, and scrutinized far more than younger guys, and to pull it off you must earn the respect of the room.
Thought I'd hung it up, but was contacted by the owners of a new club a few months ago and have been doing their Saturday slot ever since. "Open" format (which around here means equal amounts of new and recent hip-hop and Latin, and little else) and it's been quite a trip! The room has been slammed, even with an old man up there!
I'm 33 and still going more than ever after doing it every weekend since I was 16. But my scene is full of 35-45 year olds and the occassional 50+ year olds and one old DJ that's 76.
i think this is a very good post.
im 43 and most of my crowd are about 20 yrs old
problem with getting older, is some people suffer from "still living in the past" syndrome, or "my era was better" syndrome, musically and that's what causes them to lose their relevance i think (unless its a club for people who are also living in the past)
I think if you have the kind of personality type who is always looking forward and enjoying fresh new content (while respecting what has come before it), then you can play to the young crowd, but you have to be cognizant of the fact that a very short amount of time for you, couple of years for example, where nothing in your life has really changed, can be a much longer time for a 20 year old club goer in terms of the stages of life that happen at that age and the musical trends that they would associate with it.
Last edited by DJ Matt; 09-26-2022 at 01:53 PM.
I think what's helped me is that I listen to - and do personal mixes of - new tracks whether I'm working a club catering to it or not. The fun and challenging thing to me has always been mixing new stuff - I've done older tracks so much. Every month I grab 35-40 tracks from DJ City (my DJ pool) and do a personal mix just for fun. My Soundcloud account was pulled years ago for copyright violation, so they're often just for me and a few friends.
My post pandemic DJ room before this was really open "open format" - where the age group was more broad and I'd freely go back even into the 1990s. But there were always young people in there, so I wasn't hitting this new room cold.
Although it shouldn't have been, the surprise to me was the cold shoulder I got from many in this room on my first night. I had to prove I deserved to be there... guess I did OK because I'm still doing their Saturdays three months later.
Last edited by b.ill; 09-27-2022 at 12:07 PM.
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