What’s up Scratch Geeks?
This article ended up being more insightful than we ever thought. We essentially asked a few questions to some of our favorite djs and turntablists that we often feature on the Scratch Geek instagram page. We had the idea of talking about practice and Djing as a career.
Part of the goal was to emphasize good practice versus just practicing for practice sake. It is a common trait for new Dj’s to have a time goal on practice. For example: “I’m going to to practice 1
Hour a day” but this is not a helpful way to think about it.
So we wanted to know in regards to scratching, mixing, beat juggling or any aspect of djing:
- How do some of the top DJ’s and turntablists practice?
- How did they practice when they were starting out?
- We also asked for any specific techniques, tips, tricks, drills in regard to practicing.
The other question we looked to explore was around djing as a career/job. We asked these top DJ’s:
- How did you get your first dj Gig? When in terms of years did you get your first gig?
- If different then the questions above, when/how did you get your first real gig (bar/club gig)?
- When in terms of years after beginning did you enter your first battle?
- Whether or not you consider yourself a full time dj, without giving too much detail if you do not want any chance you’d want to discuss the financial implications of being a full time dj? Or just djing as a job?
Hope you enjoy their answers!
DJ Myke aka Micionero (@djmyke_micionero_)– 2 x DMC Italy Team Champion, 2x DMC Italy Champion (Solo), 4x DMC World Finalist, 2nd Place ITF Team Eastern Hemisphere 2003
On Practicing:
“Let’s start from one point, music for me is not a sport. I have always based my “daily practice” on ideas, when I have inspiration for a piece, then the practice starts. I do not like to play for warm-up, music is communication and / or expression. Even when I try the individual techniques I always try to do it on the basis of music, even if it takes more time my intent is to play the technique in order to acquire the mastery of it first. An advice that can help in the techniques is to not focus on a single hand but to try, in everyday things, to use both.”
Djing as a Career:
“I started about 14/15 years with the first school or birthday parties, I always had a great passion for djing. I met the scratch through videotapes after a couple of years I practiced I won some regional competitions, then I landed at DMC Italy and I won it for 4 years, in the same years I also won an ITF championship today IDA, from there they arrived the first requests for live, showcase. I started to make myself known also as a producer urban / hip hop and from there (I have done many live with rapper of the Italian scene) we say that my passion has become a job. First I did everything to maintain and maintain my passion, at the time there were no systems like TRAKTOR or SERATO, so if you wanted to keep up you had to buy the vinyls, and the vinyls cost, the equipment was expensive and was not readily available as today. I totally consider myself a professional DJ because I’ve been living on this for the last 20 years and I’m very proud of it. In my sets of course the scratch, the beatjuggling and any creative form of djing are not only present but are the soul of everything.”
Junk ThirtyThree (@junkthirtythree)– Wild Cuts 2018 World Vice-Champion, Cut2Cut Greece 2018 Champion
Practicing:
“When I was starting out scratching, I was practicing for 5-6 hours a day but it wasn’t a time goal. I was practicing certain techniques in a tempo around 70-75bpm and when I was comfortable with it I was going faster. An advice I give if you want to reach a more advanced level and advanced combos is to master the 2-click flare, its the key to different techniques like the autobahn etc.
Spend time to your record hand, the tars, scribbles and other tricks are useful to develo your style and be unique!
Nowadays I mostly freestyle with the techiniques I know but im trying to add a different flavour to them with variations in the pitch or with some swing. Always got in the back of my head to try out different things!
DJ battles and DJing as a Career:
“I was scratching for around a year when I entered my first battle. I did it mostly for the experience than to place or something
My first gig was a guest in a club where some friends wre playing so they invited me in and it was like 3 years after I started.”
DJ Javin (@djjavin)- 2018 US Redbull 3style Finalist, 2018 Goldie Awards Finalist, Mixer for KKFR Power 98.3 FM (Phoenix, AZ) and Pitbull’s Globalization (Sirius XM)
Practice:
”When it comes to practicing, for me personally, I practice to have fun but also learn something new. When I first started I would practice about 3-6 hours a day (with small breaks in between) trying to get the sound I’d like.”
DJ battles and DJing as a Career:
“I work as a full time DJ and I live off of this craft as my main source of income. I DJ different areas (radio, hometown residencies, agencies, traveling gigs, etc) to have a balance and constant source of income. With this “job” it’s always going to be – you get what you give. If you put in the work, you’ll get the rewards of it. There’s also a lot of different factors other than being good at your job which comes with experience and connecting with people. It’s always about learning and growing (for me personally). As i grow, my career grows and my talents/skills grow as well.
At this time and day, anyone can get a DJ gig even just starting out. It’s a great learning experience and depending how you grow and how much you’re invested in DJing will determine your path; whichever paths in DJing you’d like to take. Whether it’s clubs, battles, radio, corporate, mobiles, etc.
I was a bedroom DJ for a year, taking small gigs to learn. Entered my first battle a little after that and received my first radio residency from one of the battles I entered.”
DJ Koncept (@koncept11.11)- UK DMC Supremacy Champion 2018
Practice:
“I try and practice everyday. How I practice changes on my mood mostly. Some days I’ll just feel like having a freestyle cut. Just going over all the patterns I already know and trying to get them tighter or faster. When I’m learning something new, I tend to just focus on mastering that one scratch. I’ll practice it along with everything else I can do. I find if you try and learn too much at once it makes it a bit too confusing for me. It’s also important to still practice
Other cuts you can do while learning something new so you don’t forget how to do those. I also try and balance beat juggling into my practice. Again I’ll go over patterns I already know and try and come up with new ones. If I’m preparing for a battle my practice is quite different too. I will be experimenting a lot and working on new ideas. When the set is finally made, my practice will be a lot of just drilling the routine or routines over and over. Trying to make them better, adding more details and making it as tight as possible. Tightness is so important to me. I’d rather see something more simple but super tight over someone trying something mad technical but it being sloppy.
I also practice my mixing along with this. Trying out different tunes to mix together, practicing to keep my mixing tight. I find I need to practice mixing very often or I start to get more sloppy.
When I was starting out I was learning new stuff all the time which made it really exciting. I think when I got to a certain level I stopped learning so much. Only over the past 5 years from me moving to a different city I’ve learned a lot more
I think your environment and practicing with different people helps a lot. I went to a dj school with DJ K-SWIZZ (Reigning IDA World Champion and Reigning DMC World Champion) and his dad too which was a great help too. So use any resources like that you can. Practice with people preferably who are better than you and never stop learning. It’s also important to incorporate your own style into new techniques you learn.
DJ Battles and DJ Career:
I got my first gig pretty quickly. Within months of starting to DJ. This was unpaid though! The first I started making money from gigs was when I started running my own events a few years later
Battles are an amazing way to network and boost your skill level. I wouldn’t consider myself as a full time DJ. I once was and it can be fairly up and down with your cash flow. Residencys are best for steady money. Also be careful, when it turns into a job it can sometimes take the fun out of it. I always want to have fun when I DJ, and always play the music I love. That’s why I do this!”