Why did you choose to become a DJ, and what made you think you would be any good?

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Papa Deuce

Mac Daddy DJ
Aug 8, 2006
19,843
594
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Valley Forge Area
DJing is like making BBQ, to me..... meaning that if I do my job well enough, people will smile and have a good time. Look at my posts. Yes, occasionally I have some substance to them, but usually I am trying to make people smile. There are far more technical people than I, here.

What made me think I would be good at being a DJ was that I love music and I think I can read people.... and not just on the dance floor. I think I have a gift at knowing what people are like, and what they like. So, I put 2 and 2 together, and there you have it.... a DJ was born.

I LOVE throwing parties, but strangely enough, I don't like attending parties. To me, even though it isn't true, every time I DJ, I "feel" like I am throwing a party.


So, why did you choose to become a DJ? And what made you think that you would be a good DJ?

This is NOT "How I became a DJ".... we have covered that as nauseum. :sqbiggrin:
 
I didn't "choose" my first gig, it fell into my lap and through the years in the begining, there was just one reason and my old business card from 8th grade says it all...

"We Just Like To Play It Loud"

Then what made me decide to go full time and give up my butcher gig? I looked back on it and through the years DJing just made me happy. Really had nothing to do with anyone else. It made me happy.

I've never thought about why I am a good DJ. Most of the time when comparing myself to the people on the boards, I don't feel I do as much as you and am not as good as you all are.

I just have a knack of wanting a good time for me, and that translates into others having a good time also. I know selfish isn't it.
 
Papa Deuce said:
I LOVE throwing parties, but strangely enough, I don't like attending parties.
Click to expand...

Sounds familiar to me :sqbiggrin:


You don't happen to know this dude named Obi Wan, do you...?


I don't like going to parties either, cause like any decent egotistical DJ, I want (no wait, I deserve) to be the life of the party. Seems to piss everyone else off -- so I make my own parties, and get paid for it :)


The only time I don't do that, is TT bars.
Because, the gals are the stars. I take second billing in that case -- but they've always treated me fair :sqcool: :sqbiggrin:
 
Great thread Papa. I have always loved music, and having dinked around as a hobbyist musician for the better part of 20 years and working with pro-audio equipment, it seems like a no-brainer for me. Luckily my previous naivete hasn't stung me TOO bad! :sqlaugh:

I echo your sentiments exactly EXCEPT for the part about reading people when I started. That was a learning curve for me, and is still something I am learning and working on 4.5 yrs into the game!
 
Way too much fun, I hate to dance ;). I really have a blast seeing people enjoy the music I play, even though it's just a hobby for me, 90% of the time I'm the DJ at the parties that are thrown by my acquaintances :)
 
I fell into DJing right after getting out of broadcast school in 1990. I did it on a PT basis as I was getting into radio. Was I any good? At the music...not too bad. I was born a music freak growing up listening to everthing thanks to my Dad, Older brother and sister. So this part came rather easily. The Emcee/Mic work took a little while. I feel more comfortable than ever with it now.

But it's true...to see and hear people having a good time with what you're playing is an awesome feeling!
 
Ruben Mora said:
Let me be the first to say - Women

Don't tell me wife!
Click to expand...

Ruben and I think alike :sqbiggrin:

The second reason was Beer :sqwink:

I was a kid when I started I was convinced I would be good at anything. The beer and the chicks stoking the ego really convinced me :sqwink:
 
A good friend of mine was the trainer for a company now defunct called "Far West Entertainment" and he knew my theater skills. I actually had to learn the music part.

I came into some money from a leveraged buy out (Ahh, the 80's!) and bought my first set up. It was top of the line stuff, too! I started playing at church events for free and got a job or two.

Funny thing is that the first event I booked I missed because I was in the hospital with Viral Menengitus. They were not sure I would live. That friend of mine went in my place. That's the only one I have missed, and it was in '87.
 
I've told this story before but, here goes....

Late one night while I was takin a ..... oops wrong stroy... hang on... ah here we go...

Since the early 90s I've loved going to karaoke bars and trying to sing.... but, it wasn't until 2005 that I actually put things in motion...

Me and the wife, Fred will love this, were sitting in our usual hang out on a Saturday night at the local VFW post... the host was doing a horrible job as usual, sound was terrible, rotations were atrocious.... on and on problem after problem... and this was not the only time... song selection sucked... but atleast he had all his discs (read not a pirate)... he showed lots of favoritism and so forth to... which for me has always been a huge turn off since the 90s...

I turned to my wife and said, "I can do this better..." and she says, "Well then why don't you..."

So I started collecting more discs and also some equipment... put together a mediocre setup which included a pair of Sound Tech 110's and a pair of Yamaha BR-15s.... single tray RSQ CDG player, 1 Nady XA300 for the ST's, 1 Nady XA900 for the Yammies, and my laptop running PCDJ Blue....

The idea was to do karaoke... but, I quickly found out that 1. I didn't have enough music and 2. Nobody was looking for anyone without a following. 3. the pay was lousy....

Still reluctant to advertise word got around and I booked my first wedding reception which was to be a karaoke reception... hahahaha... ya like that was really going to happen... luckily a coworker of mine at one of our other hotels also DJ'd and she lent me her discs....

I made it through the evening and got a very nice tip and on top of that they asked my wife to tend bar... which was little more than poping the tops of beers and pouring soda... still she got $12/hr at a 6 hour gig... and a tip... plus I got a tip... we made out like bandets that first time out.... and had a ball.

BTW and this is where my nickname came from... the company name was Jokers Wild Entertainment... due to weird websites coming up in google searches for that name we changed it to what we are today!
 
I was basicly thrown into it when the resident Dj didnt turn up

so ever since then its like a walk in the park
never stop learning
 
Our church was holding a fundraiser dinner and dance and didn't have anyone lined up to play music and could not afford to hire someone. Hubby and I had a lot and offered to take care of it. I picked out all the music and made a play list, he played it and I stayed with a friend at the table (I was very shy). People danced all night and I had to keep telling my husband what to play next. That night was a success for the dance and they asked us to do it again for the next event. So we fell into it and are trying to build it up into more but it's a slow process, I'm okay with that, want to do it right. I love music and almost as much, making people dance. It is a blast to see so many people having the time of their lives and loving the next song more than the last one. Since I have only done those events for the last few years, they are the ones I know I am good at. We'll see this summer about other events. LOL (keep your fingers crossed)
 
I had a neighbour with a DJ business that double booked himself. He knew that I had been in bar bands and knew music and equipment so he asked if I would be interested in covering a gig for him. I played with the gear for a week and got myself acquainted with the cds and away I went. My first gig was a wedding that got me a $50 tip and a referral for another wedding two weeks later. My second gig was an 80's themed party with a bunch of people my age that netted a $150 tip and the referral wedding from the first went very well and I netted a $100 tip. I figured that after three weeks in the business I already had a referral and three tips so I must have done alright. After that I was the stand by guy for my neighbour and the local multi-op. I did a couple of consecutive weeks in a bar for the multi-op and the bar owner asked if he could send me every week. He didn't want to wast my talent in a bar so he started sending me to weddings.
After three years of this I bought my own gear and went out on my own. I still have a pretty good relationship with the multi-op owner and he sends me work when he's stuck. My neighbour took the news pretty hard and we haven't talked much since.

young...
 
As far as being any good at DJing, I don't consider myself to be all that hot. But clients and guests are pleased. That's what matters. :)

I chose to make a business of it when I found that people actually got paid to DJ. For the first couple of years in the early '90s I was setting up a home stereo for the in-laws who'd party at the drop of a hat. They never even offered to pay me a dime. And when I had to turn them down in lieu of a paying gig, they got sore.

Long story short, I had to get divorced to make any money at it. :D
 
Chicks dig scars....

Oops, wrong post. :sqerr:



Good question.

Because they said "You're the BEST!" after every gig....


No seriously,

I took the WOM referrals as a sign that maybe I'm doing something right. If others liked what I was doing, and others would call me to do THEIR events, then does that make me "good"?

I solicit feedback whenever possible & have used that feedback to adjust/improve where I can.
 
I hope I can keep this short..but I always get long winded!

Ok..so it was winter of 2005/2006. I was laid off from my full time job. My girlfriend/wife to be worked during the day. Well at this point I was laid off from work for like 6 weeks, and I became bored out of my mind.

I decided to run up to the local music store and look into guitars. I have this secret fetish of wanting to learn to play the guitar in the worst way. Well as I was looking for guitars, I came across the small dj section.

Well, I got thinking, and this is what persuaded me to think I could possibly make it as a dj.....

1) Great people skills. I understand people, and I am very easy to work with.
2) I figured the investment would be roughly $11,000..and if I DJed at 50% of the places that normally have dj entertainment, I could make back $7500 or so. Which means...that if I sucked and I got no repeat business, I would be out $3500 or so. Well I knew, since the equipment was used, I could re-sell equipment, and take a small loss, but at least I tried. No guts/No Glory right?
3) There was a handful of other "horrible" djs in this area, and I knew even without experience I could do way better than them. If you have common sense this is a no brainer...not an ego trip.
4) I knew that with my personality, and connections already, I would be able to rank my business somewhere in the #5 positions of the 10 businesses in the area.
5) I have been in and to several weddings, and somehow I always remembered what made that event special, and I took that little extra incentive into mind when I outweighed the big decision.

These main ideas were what originally got my mind spinning. Not to sound egotistical, but you do need some sort of confidence in what I am going to say in the following sentence. When I mentioned I knew I would get roughly $7500 back, I also knew there was no way I could suck at all those events, so I knew at least 25% of those events would re-hire me. Now lets take this one step further. I honestly thought I would have never done 35+ bookings my first year. To tell you the honest truth...I though it would have taken 2 years to do like 20+ events with so many other DJs in the area.

So I would say the 5 things I said above were the main reasons. Obviously there are so many more reasons, but this should be the main highlights.
 
:sqbiggrin:As you all know I am Hispanic and we love to throw a lot of parties especially at my parents house and I always did the music there and at all the neighbors in the neighborhood and they said I was good. So I took that into consideration and talked it to my wife and we both decided if that if is something I like to do and I enjoy that I should go for it and now here I am doing what I like to do.
 
great thread....

My story is like this.....while at college, at Iowa State, I saw a paper ad on one of the bulletin boards in Carver Hall (named after GW Carver), advertising a need for a dj for on campus parties. I called, as I was always the guy hanging with the dj at the parties, bsing and such, and of course loved all kinds of music, and sound systems.

The guy advertising was Ryan Burger, from BC Productions, and now prodj.com as well as Mobile Beat. He invited me to a dorm party to check it out, and that was the beginning for me. He hired me, which took a bit of faith on his part, and before I knew it, I was playing tunes at college parties, junior highs, high schools, and eventually weddings and more formal events. I had a ton of fun, he paid me well, and we all had a good time. I am forever thankful for him doing this, and I should drop him a line in the mail saying so.

Since then, I graduated college, moved to Oregon, and was out of the dj business for about 6-7 years. I then talked to a local dj here in Kfalls, and he hired me to do a couple of gigs. I had fun, but realized that the equipment he used was severely beat down, unreliable, and he was extremely disorganized. I didnt get paid in a timely fashion, and I ended up quitting shortly after that. Meanwhile, I was throwing parties at my house (in my basement) on a semi-regular basis, with a pc and home stereo....people had a great time, and many strangers complimented me on the music selection, and setup. Funny, I was running two winamp players with a crossfader plug in, which back then (1998ish) was pretty cool to most people. Shortly after that, I volunteered to play music for some coworkers' wedding, and had to purchase some pro equipment. I have slowly added to my setup on a regular basis, and now can play a pretty decent sized venue with my stuff.

In between I was one of the resident (if you call it that) dj for a local nightclub....the place went from being pretty lame (dead, slow, not many beautiful people, whatever) to the "hot spot" with fire capacity issues on every weekend. I had a great time, but soon tired of the regular spot, with too much cigarette smoke, drunks, and drama. I ended up quitting there when a patron threatened me, and I basically told him that I was going to stomp a hole in his face......he complained to the manager (he was a friend of his) and I quit/got fired, all in the same night. I was also becoming tired of the manager telling me exactly what songs to play, etc, all the time.....it was a good time to move on.

Anyway, Cliff Notes...

1. love music
2. love PA/sound systems
3. love parties
4. dig people celebrating and dancing, even if I am just watching
5. always at the party
6. extra income
7. good listener, outgoing personality
8. naturally trying to be the life of the party, over the top, and it works as a dj
 
BTW, the actual reason I got into it, was music, decent money and to reduce stress...


1) I had DJ'd family/friends parties, even before I started playing in bands. I grew up around music -- my parents loved it (especially country), but they were not limited in their mindset.

They always encouraged my brother and I musically. We watched every variety show on the tube, and all sang along. My Mom wanted to learn to play keys, so they bought a small organ, which came with 6 months of free piano/organ lessons -- she sent me instead. Then I got drum lessons, and learned the guitar myself, and with the help of friends.

Mind you, we were not well off. She just wanted us to be creative, and used the money they could have used on themselves.

So, after some years, I started joining bands -- which led to...


2) Lots of fun, decent success, good money, lots of babes -- yet lots of stress!

4-6 egotistical maniacs, always arguing about what to play, how to divvy up the pay, who gets top billing, etc.

Around that time, I started seeing some guys DJ'ing at weddings and parties (that was new at the time). They didn't have to carry tube amps, full PA systems, loads of guitars, drums, etc. And they were making decent money, and not arguing all the time!


That was right around the time I got into computing, and using logic.


So, I used that logic, quit the bands, and started DJ'ing and programming. Some of my buds went on to be filthy rich rock stars, some are janitors, and I sit home on my arse drinking beer, and writing DJ and music software now -- can't complain, and Mom would be proud :sqbiggrin:
 
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