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| Nowadays, DJing and production are closer than ever before… but it pays to understand the differences to pay both their dues. |
• Mike Monday is a veteran music producer and DJ who has produced
at least 300 tracks and DJed in 20+ countries over a 17-year career,
who now helps beginners to big names like Claude VonStroke to enjoy
making more music in less time with better results. Click here
now for his free video training series and “Seven Steps Every Music
Producer Needs To Take” ebook on the most effective ways to get the
music out of your head and into the world.
You’re stoked. One of your musical heroes is playing in your city.
You count down the sleeps till D-Day. The day when you’ll be utterly
blown away by their voodoo skills behind the decks. When you’ll be
instantly transported to that special spine-tingling place only their
tracks take you to. When you’ll finally feel that breathtaking rush when
that wall of sound hits you full force in the stomach… only to find on
the night they’re a terrible DJ.
It’s the musical equivalent of watching paint dry. You’re listening
to a badly mixed jukebox of half finished productions and ill-advised
mashups. And the pedestrian programming is made worse by performance
skills of a crash test dummy. Head down looking like they can’t wait to
be anywhere else but playing to you mere mortals.
Gutted! Do you reckon this club offers refunds?
So if you’ve had this experience (or something similar) I guess I
don’t have to tell you being a great producer does not automatically
make you a great DJ. And being a great DJ doesn’t mean you can produce
amazing music.
But just because there are many great producers who are terrible DJs
it doesn’t follow that making killer beats doesn’t help you kill it on
the floor. Or that honing your craft on the decks has no bearing on your
skills at a desk. Because this has not been my experience. You see, in
17 years I’ve done it every way…
Just because there are many great producers who are terrible DJs it doesn’t follow that making killer beats doesn’t help you kill it on the floor. Or that honing your craft on the decks has no bearing on your skills at a desk…
At the start of my career between 1994 and 2000 I was “just” a
producer. (Apart from at my mates’ houses where I’d DJ all the time!)
Then as I finished and released more music I predictably got booked in
slightly bigger places than my mate’s kitchens. I was a “producer who
DJed”.
When I started a monthly residency in London and began to play
worldwide most weekends, the DJing became easily as important as my
studio work. Now, I was a “DJ/producer”. Finally about 18 months ago I
sold all my studio equipment, hung up my production headphones – but
kept my DJ cans. For a spell I held down a Sunday residency here in
Sydney. I was “just” a DJ.
So I’ve experienced the DJ/producer puzzle from all angles. And what this unique perspective has taught me is this:
Honing your DJ craft will make you a better producer. And
mastering the art of production will teach you to be a better DJ. But
only if you understand how the skill sets are similar, why they’re
different and what challenges you’ll have to face down to get great at
both.
Which is exactly what I’m going to help you to do in this mini-series of articles.
How can commanding a crowd every weekend give you a master’s level of
savvy in the studio? How do hours spent peering at screens give you the
clout to knock ‘em dead on the dancefloor? And when you practise these
disciplines in tandem, what hazards must you handle to become what you
know you can be – an awesome DJ and a brilliant producer? Because when
you manage that? You will have the “keys to the kingdom”…