What is a DJ?

A just question indeed, and one that can be answered on several different levels. Essentially a DJ is someone who selects and plays music for other people to listen to, and I incidentally think this should be a leveling thought for all the superstar DJs who have recently become their own biggest fan shall we say!

Basically we are here to provide entertainment for people in clubs, bars, warehouses, rain forest caves or basically wherever we are asked to play. But the primary function is performing to a crowd of people, and using our musical acuity to select the right tracks, at the right time for the environment they are in.

The outline sounds fairly straight forward, and it is, as most people could buy the equipment required, learn the basics of how to use it, and play at their local bingo hall (not knocking that, as I’m sure that would be a highly challenging audience) . However its the detail which separates an average DJ from an amazing one, and also what determines whether they will be playing in a local pub on a Saturday night, or flying to Brazil to perform at the Skolbeats festival for example.

What outlines an amazing Dj is a combination of thoughtful and inspiring music, exceptional technical ability, stage presence, and complete and blatant passion for every crowd they are facing.

Learning to mix is a lesson in faith and commitment; gaining the skills of the big Dj figures in circulation today doesn’t happen overnight, or over a few weeks, or even a few years. Its positivity and dedication that cannot be brought, and people who Dj for mere reasons of image generally have a short lived career.

The idea behind learning to DJ with Digital Labz, is to encourage people to develop their skills and style, record a demo mix, master it, and then help and advize them with getting it to promoters effectively, with a view to being offered a slot playing in a nightclub which supports their Genre.

We design our courses to be between 8 and 10 sessions dependent on the student and their background. In this time you will cover all the essentials and techniques of beat-matching and mixing music. In addition to this the course is also accompanied by written material and some tutorials recorded on DVD/VCD.

Six weeks following the completion of the course, students are invited back for a review session. This is held in two parts and involves some system practice in a nightclub during the day time, in preparation for response to their demo CD send-out. After this the work is down to the individual. They know the principles and techniques, but a huge amount of work and practice will still need to follow in order to start making some serious headway within the local scene/industry.