1. DJs make fast decisions
I talk about making decisions a lot in all my free training videos.
Because whether you’re a DJ, or producer, or both – it’s the single
most important skill you will use over and over. You’re simply gonna
have to get real good at deciding. Just count up now how many decisions
you have to make to do a single mix in a DJ set. A lot isn’t it? And the
same is true of making music. Any creative process is a very long list
of very small decisions.
But a DJing decision differs from a production decision in one
crucial way: You have a time limit. That tune is gonna end very soon.
When it does all these people are going to stop dancing. You need to
decide what comes next. Now.
(I still have this recurring nightmare. I’m playing in a heaving
sweaty club and I can’t find the next track to play. I’m forward and
back flicking through my records but nothing fits! I wake in a cold
sweat just as the track runs out…)
Whether it’s flicking through vinyl or scrolling through playlists, DJs only have a finite time to choose that next tune…
This external time limit does not exist in the studio. You can
prevaricate, procrastinate and postpone every decision. And if you’re
anything like I was? You often do. Checking every possible variation.
Weighing up all available options. Doing everything but making that
crucial decision.
All because there’s no one there expecting you to make it right now.
You’ve probably even noticed it when recording a mix at home. Playing
out, you pick tunes like a champ, but at home? Every decision becomes a
never-ending “how about”, “what if”, or “maybe”…
You see, most people make a basic error when they make decisions.
They assume that trying every variation, analysing all possible options,
and researching all the alternatives will help them come to a better
decision.
But study after study has shown this to be one of the very worst ways
to make a decision. You’re likely to over-analyse your way to a bad
decision.
It seems DJs have it right.
Channel your inner DJ…
So when producing, learn to channel your inner DJ. When you’re in the
studio (or even in life), channel that skill of making fast decisions.
Use it. Pretend there’s a time limit on every decision. And make it.
What’s the worst that could happen? It’s likely to be nowhere near as
bad as clearing a dancefloor!
In fact, if you’re confused, overwhelmed or stuck, a great way out I
still resort to today I learned from a little technique I got from years
of DJing. Go with the first thing that pops into your head. Don’t
question it. Just do it.
I used to challenge myself to play whole sets like this. Literally
going with the first track I thought of every time. Yes, it took guts.
I’d have to ignore that evil little voice telling me I was about to make
a big mistake. But do you know what? Nine times out of 10, my gut
reaction was dead on. It rocked.
2. DJs face their fear
Whether you call it fear, nerves, or excitement – every DJ knows
fear. The fear as you go into the club and walk up to the decks. The
fear of the empty floor. The fear of emptying a floor. (And I don’t care
who you are – to be any good you will have done that at least once.)
And any DJ who plays regularly also knows fear is like a fridge. Confused? Let me explain…
You know when you go into a kitchen and you notice the sound of the
fridge running? But then after a while you don’t notice it any more,
even though it’s still on? You have to specifically focus on the sound
to notice it again. Fear is the same as that fridge. This is a process
that happens in your brain called “habituation”.
Fear is like a fridge… you can get used to its background hum and learn to ignore it.
You get used to the stuff in your environment – like smells, sounds,
situations – and they gradually become normal. You don’t notice them any
more. This is your brain’s way of saving processing power for the stuff
that matters. The stuff that’s different from what you’ve become used
to. The stuff that might kill you.
I mean, how many times have you walked into a club at the start of
the night and wondered how your ears aren’t bleeding from the extreme
volume, only to find yourself half an hour later busting some serious
moves in the sub woofer?
You might think it’s the beer. It’s not. It’s habituation. You get
used to the volume. So what scares today will bore you tomorrow – if you
do it enough. (By the way, this is also why folks get addicted, and how
many phobia cures work.)
This is a problem with making music. You remain in your little safe
haven. Just a man and his machines. And if you stay there day in, day
out? Trust me, even popping out for a pint of milk gives you the yips.
But when you’re DJing regularly, you are constantly in new and
unfamiliar situations with new and unfamiliar people, even if you
usually play in the same place. This is healthy. Apart from the added
benefit of meeting people, creating connections and building your
network (always one of your greatest assets) facing your fear and
stretching yourself is a must to move forward, for your brain and your
life.
Channel your inner DJ
Every day – do something that makes you nervous. It doesn’t need to
be base jumping straight away. Just something that give you a mild case
of the heebie jeebies. Pretty soon you’ll be doing stuff you’d never
imagine possible. And this process will happen much faster than you
expect.
3. DJs have a singular goal
The purpose of most DJ sets is simple: Make people dance. (Unless
you’re a radio DJ or playing chill-out or a lounge, of course.)
Of course you might have subsidiary goals, like impress the promoter.
Or that pretty lady dancing over there. Or travel the world making a
fortune. But most of these goals will still be dependent on that one
simple goal: Make ‘em go potty. And you will do anything (within reason)
to make this happen.
This is one of the most wonderful gifts DJing gives you. A simple
goal constantly in the forefront of your mind. Not many occupations have
such a clear-cut outcome. But when you’re producing things get a little
more confusing.
Watching people love your music is nothing less than pure 100% proof distilled motivation to get your next track finished and in front of dancing feet.
For instance, if you’re making an album this might not be your goal
at all. Or it could be one of many other equally important goals. And
even if your goal is to make people lose their load on the tiles,
without the audience there, it is easy to forget.
You see, while having a single simple goal might seem like a creative
straightjacket, restrictions in fact set you free. In the words of Igor
Stravinsky: “The more constraints one imposes, the more one frees one’s
self.”
When I was in the studio, without fail a singular focus on a simple
goal made it many times easier for me to be creative. And when I started
DJing regularly, especially when I started my regular residency – my
production went through the roof. Because I had a goal and I also knew
how to achieve it. Because I made ‘em freak out week in, week out.
And the buzz from sending ‘em potty with other people’s music was
multiplied a thousand-fold when they lost it to my own. Watching people
love your music is nothing less than pure 100% proof distilled
motivation to get your next track finished and in front of dancing feet.
Channel your inner DJ
Answer one question: What is the primary purpose of what your doing? Work that out and you’ll rock it.
4. DJs know how to listen
Here I should probably say “great DJs know how to listen”. Because
learning to listen is often ignored but essential to being a great DJ or
producer. And listening to oodles and oodles of music is one of the
best ways you can do it.
This is where a DJ often has a huge advantage over a producer. To
play out week in week out – you simply have no choice but to listen to a
ton of new music. All the time, without fail. Plus you have to remember
what parts you like, where you might want to mix out on, where the
energy rises and falls in a track, and so on. And by doing this you are
taking the first steps in developing one of the most important skills
you will ever have as a producer.
Listen to music as often as you can. Wherever, whenever. It’s crucial to production success.
Now I get so many wannabe producers coming to me for help who have
got this totally the wrong way round. They’re putting the cart before
the horse. They want to know the latest tip or trick to make this or
that sound, but without developing their listening skills – how the
henry are they ever going to know if what they’re doing is working?
Plus by listening to as much as you do as a DJ you are becoming a
walking musical encyclopedia. (The unkind might say trainspotter.) Every
piece of music you have ever heard will be stored up there somewhere
between your ears, ready for use as a reference, inspiration or
influence in one of your own tracks.
(I’m not talking about coping or plagiarism – this is about the beginnings of your creating your own sound.)
Channel your inner DJ
Listen like there’s no tomorrow. Even if you don’t play out
regularly. If you’re not – do it as if you are. Record a mix every
Friday and Saturday night if that’s what it takes!
Listen to stuff you love, stuff you hate and everything in between.
All of it will inform what you do behind the decks and desk.
Go on then!
It breaks my heart that so many DJs never get around to make their
own music. I think of all those insane beats that’ll never rock a floor,
all those down and dirty basslines that’ll never shake a single booty
and all the life affirming hands-in-the-air moments that just stay stuck
in someone’s head.
All because the guys and girls with the greatest musical knowledge on
the planet never quite got around to it. (And I’m not talking about
“theory”. Theory does not make a great tune.)
Don’t make excuses. If you’re a great DJ then you have what it takes to be an awesome producer.