Photo: ca.complex.com
Photo: ca.complex.com

Whether you’re starting out as a DJ or you’ve been working at it for years, there’s one thing that never changes. That one thing is that you’re always striving to be better. You want to be better than the DJ you’re opening for. You want to be better than the DJs who are competing for a time slot at the best club in your city. At the end of the day, you want to be a better DJ than you were when you woke up that morning.

So, to that end, we’ve compiled a few tips to help you become that better DJ.

  1. Spending a lot of money on expensive equipment will not help you reach your goals. DJing is all about practicing the elements of good mixing, and … well … everything else that goes into DJing. You should be able to DJ off any equipment. If you’ve got the money, go ahead and buy your favorite piece of equipment. But, don’t expect it to do your job for you.
  2. Take a certain percentage of the money you earn from DJing (as much as you can afford) and spin it right back into your DJ career. Use that money to upgrade your equipment (when necessary), take DJing courses to improve your skills (as much as possible), and create press kits that can help you get more gigs.
  3. Check your attitude at the door. No one wants to work with a stuck-up DJ. Even if you’re the best of the best, understand the fact that everyone deserves respect for the job they do.
  4. If you notice, there are a lot of people in the music industry who give up drinking. That’s not out of some religious conversion. It’s a practical response to the fact that you can’t do a good job if you’re wasted, even if you think you can. Remember to stay professional no matter how long or short your set is.
  5. You’re the DJ. You decide if you want to accept requests or not. You might find yourself in a situation where you have to play requests even if you don’t want to, like if the bride and groom forgot to tell you about a song they absolutely want played. Typically, though, you create the boundaries. No matter what happens, stick to them. You’ll be happy that you respected yourself as the professional you are. The crowd will be happy that you didn’t give in to anybody’s whims.
  6. You want to be a DJ for as long as possible, right? You need to protect your hearing. There really is no way around this one.

Tell us: what tips would you like to add?