Top DJ Tips

This may not help you if you are a clean-living, healthy DJ but I remember the following from my early days of playing out at parties in London.

I had been awake since early on Friday morning and it was late on Sunday night, probably early Monday morning. I was at a house party where almost everyone had already gone to bed. Actually most people had probably given up the ghost and gone home to bed.

I was tired too.

There was a large bay window behind the impromptu DJ booth and to smother the sound of the party the hosts had piled mattresses vertically against the window. Somewhere in the middle of Paul Van Dyke's "Binary Finary" I fell asleep, leaning upright against the mattresses. As the record ended someone poked me in the chest. I simply picked up the needle placed it at the beginning of the record and went back to sleep. I did this maybe a dozen times in a row. The shocking thing is that the few people on the dance floor just kept dancing, every time.

The moral of the story for DJ's is:
- no one cares as much as you think they do
- the people on the dance floor are usually in a worse state than you are
- the music is more important than the idiot who presses the play button
- sleep is good if you want to take you DJ career seriously

I hope that all helps.