Ever wonder what separates a good DJ from a great one? Join us, Ilia and Nino, as we reveal the sacred Ten Commandments of DJing, an essential list of dos and don'ts that has guided us through the highs and lows behind the decks. From treating your gear with the utmost respect to nailing your music library knowledge for those peak-hour sets, we're sharing golden nuggets of wisdom that are sure to elevate your DJ game. Expect to walk away with insights on securing your interests with clear booking agreements and the finesse of handling song requests that could make or break your night.
We don't stop there; our 14th episode is jam-packed with anecdotes and tips that delve into the heart of club DJ success. Imagine mastering the art of reading a room and connecting with your audience through every announcement—this is the real magic that turns a set into an experience. We'll take you through the journey of professional conduct that resonates with every crowd and the ethical paths to sourcing your music, ensuring you're not only playing the tunes but playing by the rules. If you're ready to join the ranks of DJs who not only play music but create moments, this episode is your backstage pass to the industry secrets.
Ever wonder what separates a good DJ from a great one? Join us, Ilia and Nino, as we reveal the sacred Ten Commandments of DJing, an essential list of dos and don'ts that has guided us through the highs and lows behind the decks. From treating your gear with the utmost respect to nailing your music library knowledge for those peak-hour sets, we're sharing golden nuggets of wisdom that are sure to elevate your DJ game. Expect to walk away with insights on securing your interests with clear booking agreements and the finesse of handling song requests that could make or break your night.
We don't stop there; our 14th episode is jam-packed with anecdotes and tips that delve into the heart of club DJ success. Imagine mastering the art of reading a room and connecting with your audience through every announcement—this is the real magic that turns a set into an experience. We'll take you through the journey of professional conduct that resonates with every crowd and the ethical paths to sourcing your music, ensuring you're not only playing the tunes but playing by the rules. If you're ready to join the ranks of DJs who not only play music but create moments, this episode is your backstage pass to the industry secrets.
Welcome back everyone to another episode of the Clever DJ with Ilia,
Nino:
And Nino! What episode is this again? Number with.
Ilia:
Ilya and Nino. What episode is this again? Number 14. Oh, number 14. Okay, we're getting up there, we are, we are All right. So this is Q2. It's been three months April. Our first episode for April will be something that we think is pretty important to follow the Ten Commandments.
Nino:
Well, we actually made our own Ten Commandments Of DJing, of DJing.
Ilia:
Yes, so I have a little set of notes here for us. Alright, so before anyone judges these commandments, there were so many things we thought about which we weren't sure of Like. Should this go? This be first, should this be second?
Ilia:
yeah, there's a lot of different factors, but we we generalized it and we came up with this list yeah, something that would be good for beginners, for more advanced djs, and then if it has to do with only beginners or touring DJs, then we'll have it in the honorable mentions, but again, so this is our 10 commandments, right? Yes, our 10 commandments, so let's start with the first one Respect your gear and make sure it's in optimal condition, whether it's beginner or advanced gear.
Nino:
So sure it's in optimal condition, whether it's beginner or advanced gear. So, yeah, you gotta make sure that your gear is working properly, right and um, honestly, for for professionals you don't even have to have like the best gear, you just have to make sure it works properly yeah, that everything uh has been tested before the the wherever you're going, that there's no uncomfortable situations where, oh, the speakers are crackling or deck, one doesn't work.
Ilia:
Yeah, whatever it is, treat your gear respectfully, because if you show up to your gig and your gear is not in the optimal condition, it should be in. That's it. I mean, even if you have time to go to the store, what if the store is closed, right, or it's a remote location, you're done, which also means you should have a backup. We'll get to that. But yeah, yeah, that's number one.
Nino:
Respect your gear. What was I going to say about professionals? Well, it doesn't even matter what you play on, just as long as it works and that it works properly, like all the buttons are working, all the levels and knobs are working properly, yeah, and yeah, just make sure everything is yeah, because at the end of the day, all that matters is people are dancing and you're making them dance right. So it doesn't even matter what gear you're using, if it's old or new, professional or amateur, just as long as you get the job done.
Ilia:
And the gear is working as expected. Number two always have, always have a booking agreement or a contract, some sort of legal paper that says these are the expectations between us, me, the DJ, and you, the venue or the client. You have a lot to say about that, right the expectations between us, me, the DJ, and you, the venue or the client you have a lot to say about that, right?
Nino:
Yeah, you always have to have a booking, a contract, before you book the actual event. Make sure you follow through with your payments and stuff. When you're supposed to get paid Now for club DJs, you still have um a contract between you and your promoter or whoever's going to pay you, right, if you're going to get paid beforehand a deposit or you're going to get paid, you're going to get the rest of your payment before you even touch the decks, right? So that has to be all written down in the contract and made known for sure.
Ilia:
And, if I may just go a bit in depth here, legalities are extremely important in every business, especially when it comes to something like DJing, because you need to make sure that you get paid and that you don't get undercut or get pushed out of the contract in a kind of unfair way or that if something happens and the venue gets sued, that you're indemnified, that you're somebody who is not going to be a part of that lawsuit. So there's different contracts and different number of contracts you may need in certain situations, but for the basic, regular scenario, your DJ was hired to do an event, a wedding, a birthday party. Make sure that they know how much to pay you, when to pay you and when's the deadline, and that you're not going to play unless you're getting paid.
Nino:
Some of you might not go that way, but yeah, all the details have to be laid out there before you even sign it what you're bringing, what you're not bringing. So they don't say oh well, you said you'll bring extra lights, yeah or if you're supposed to emcee but they bring it on the spot and say you're supposed to MC, but no, it's not in the contract.
Ilia:
Not in the contract. Again, you can edit it however you'd like, but have a contract. Number three know your music and have a decent amount of music that you're familiar with, especially if you're doing open format.
Nino:
Yeah, well, this is more for open format, for wedding DJs, mobile DJs, a a large selection of music, but you have to make sure you know what you're playing to as well. Now, granted, you're going to have requests. Um, people are going to request songs and you might not know them, so there's no point in in knowing the songs. You're just going to play them pretty much. But for the songs that you know, and if you want to impress people, you've got to be able to mix it flawlessly in and out of songs. So make sure that you have a pretty decent library of old and new stuff.
Ilia:
Yeah and know it, know it well, so you can actually not just brag that, oh, I have 20 000 tracks. You actually know them. They're categorized and you know which ones are your go-to, like your go-to 500 that you always use. Those are the ones you need to know inside out.
Nino:
It makes it easier to find too in the mix. It makes you a better dj if you have a your library, very like what's it called yeah, when your crates are very organized right it called your crates. Yeah, when your crates are very organized right. It makes you a better DJ. You're faster at picking songs and mixing stuff right Now. When it comes to club DJs, now you guys are going to be sometimes just doing R&B, hip hop or EDM stuff.
Ilia:
So know your music, know your role and what you're going to play, yeah, what's current, what's good for that club, what kind of for the audience that comes there, right, the crowd that comes there? Um, so, not necessarily how many tracks you have, but make sure you have the right stuff. Um, now, next number four know how to handle requests and announcements. So, song requests, announcements. Somebody walks up to the booth and says, hey, can you say this? Or hey, we're cutting the cake, or hey can you?
Nino:
I can't do that right now, man, I'm in the middle of something right, yes.
Ilia:
Well, can you play this for me?
Nino:
Yeah, yeah, well, you have to know when to say yes. Be honest with them. If you can't play it, or if it doesn't fit the vibe, um, I'll try to play it if it fits the vibe, it's, it's the. The genre I'm playing now doesn't really, uh, go with what you're asking for. So you know, um, you're gonna try to handle every request the best way you can.
Ilia:
Yeah, don't just, uh, brush people off. You never know who you're brushing away exactly. And um, it's just, you know, like I remember being a kid and bugging the dj a lot like really a kid when I was 10 years old, right, and it really like broke my heart when you wouldn't play my song. I'd be like like what are you? Like you're ignoring me and like, and I don't want to make another kid feel that way, there are so many kids like that I'm like ah, if you only knew, like, if you were the dj, you'd know how I feel, right, exactly.
Ilia:
So I understand that's their side now, because that's that's me. But at the same time I remember what it was like to be the kid. You remember that kid yeah, you're that kid from from that that, um, the private birthday party we did like like your clients.
Nino:
Yes, yes, yes.
Ilia:
And how man we made his night, we made his week when we played his track and I was really hesitant too.
Nino:
I was like, okay, I'm not going to.
Ilia:
I was forcing you to play. I was like you didn't play his track.
Nino:
You didn't play his track and, like he told me, it's the son of the owner, right? I was like, oh, I got gotta play it then.
Ilia:
so I played it for one of the last songs and he was so happy he started flipping around and doing.
Nino:
You say the best for last.
Ilia:
I remember that, yeah, it was so funny, it was so like just such a nice kid, um, so that also. You just never know who's gonna walk up. But it's just, it's your image, it's uh. Also, if you're so stressed out when people ask you, like when there's requests, it means that you're inside your gear, like you're not looking in the crowd, you don't know how to handle anything else because you can't have your attention kind of disrupted or whatever. It means that you didn't work enough with crowds and it's not their fault. That's not their problem, it's your problem. You need to learn how to juggle things yeah, so you can't say oh, there's too many requests, you know.
Ilia:
You need to know how to handle that. You need to have yeah, there's.
Nino:
There's different ways of handling it. You never know, the person asking uh for a request might want to hire you for later, and if you brush them off, that's a big one. Yeah, you just lost.
Ilia:
You just lost you just lost them and anything that would come from them. Right, exactly, number five dress appropriately for the event. So have the proper attire, come dress for the occasion, wear tux to a beach. Seriously, just represent yourself respectfully. Or, if you work for another company like like when I was working for nino here sometimes he'll give me gigs. I know what gigs I'm going to and how I should be dressed for those gigs and I make sure I represent him respectfully, right, and myself too, right, even though I'm working for him yeah.
Nino:
So if you're going to do a gig for a wedding dress, appropriately, right, you don't overdress or especially underdress, it's better to overdress, actually. But like, if you're, let's say, brain fart right now, but yeah, dress appropriately. And if your company that you're working for has a company t-shirt, whatever, you've got to wear it too, right, you're representing them, not yourself.
Ilia:
Exactly yes. So number six come early. Being on time is coming late. I remember that from many years ago If you're on time, you're late, yeah yeah. So it all depends on how long it takes you, but still everyone should come early.
Nino:
Yeah, you never know what's going to happen, right, there might be last-minute details that you need to figure out, so you need to be there earlier before you actually jump on and start playing. So always come early so you have time to figure out those details. And then even social media, so you have time to do social media before you actually do the event.
Ilia:
Exactly that's important. Make sure that you have time for that, and it makes you look good too as well to clients.
Nino:
You don't want some DJ coming late, or even five minutes, even on time, of course. If you're on time, you're late. It just, it just makes sense, right. You're supposed to start. You're not going to start right away if you get right, when you get there, right.
Ilia:
So it makes sense, right so, on time, I would say is like 45 minutes early. 45 minutes, just enough time to set up, but that's late because that's just enough time to set up yeah, so you's late because that's just enough time to set up.
Nino:
Yeah, so you have to come in earlier Two hours If you have to set up full PA. At least two hours An hour and a half two hours is decent.
Ilia:
Now, if you're just plugging in an hour 45 minutes. When I started, right, I would come three, four hours early because I had the jitters, I was like, oh, okay, right, I would come three, four hours early because I had the jitters.
Nino:
I was like, oh, okay, where do I start?
Ilia:
from. He's not here to help me out. I'm literally here on my own.
Nino:
And you have to figure out how to put everything together, and I would forget the simplest things.
Ilia:
I was like oh, where does this go?
Nino:
Where does this go? This guy would literally call me when I'm doing a gig on my own and like, oh, it's not working, it's not working, how do you do this? And he sends me pictures and stuff like that. I'm like, oh my God, this guy.
Ilia:
Actually, the first few gigs I was surprised how well it went. But then I got overly confident. I was like, whatever, I'm not even going to check it before I go. And then I either forgot a cable and had to do like a workaround.
Nino:
You bought the wrong cable too.
Ilia:
You bought the wrong stuff, the wrong adapters, right Like. Then had to like come up with a different way to do stuff. Come early, so you have time to figure all that stuff out.
Nino:
Yeah.
Ilia:
Yes, and it all depends on your level and the kind of gig you're going to right, or and your clients. Some clients are very, very like, adamant that you be there early because they don't want to worry about the entertainment not showing up. Exactly, alright, number seven Always have a backup plan in terms of talent and gear.
Nino:
So, just in case, if you can't make it to the gig yourself, you have people on standby ready to take your gig. Like literally talent, right? You never know. You can get sick last minute. You can get catch the flu, you can catch covid, right.
Ilia:
So could be anything, or family emergency, or if you have your own crew, yeah, have someone to replace your other guys or girls, right, exactly, uh, and, and then, in terms of gear, have some sort of replacement controller, have a replacement laptop that's already set up with your music, something like that. Extra hard drives.
Nino:
Yeah, because you never know.
Ilia:
You never know. Number eight play for the crowd, not for yourself.
Nino:
Number eight play for the crowd, not for yourself. Now, this depends too, if what you like is what the crowd likes. But most gigs you're playing for the crowd. You're not a bedroom DJ. You're not playing for yourself. You're playing for a crowd. You want to make them dance. You want them to react to what you're playing. Now it depends If you are a big star, they all come to see you. They all come to see you.
Ilia:
They're gonna play your own stuff, right, but that's yeah, that goes without, without saying, without saying I mean, if you're a regular, you know open format mobile dj who's just doing all kinds of events, you're bound to play stuff you don't like.
Nino:
Got to read the room. Read the room is very important. See their body language, how they're reacting to songs and play to that. So it's very important.
Ilia:
That's why a lot of open format DJs just appreciate a plethora of genres, right? But when somebody asks me what I like, I'm like I can't tell you what genre I like the most. I prefer this, like you know, I'll give you a list of like. I like these the most, but like not one thing. But then there's the people who know specifically what they like and they won't listen to anything else. They can't be open format DJs. They can't even appreciate that music to the point where they'll be able to enjoy it when they're DJing it. Yeah, they can't be open format.
Nino:
They're more niche to what they like, right.
Ilia:
Even if you don't love it, you got to appreciate it, right? If you just don't listen to it period I don't listen to R&B, I don't listen to hip then you should not play this stuff. You won't know what to play, you won't know the history, you won't know what's hot, what's not because you don't listen to it yourself, right, Right. So it doesn't make sense. All right, number nine this is very important Know the ins and outs of AV equipment, specifically with the one that you usually use.
Nino:
Yes, so make sure that you know how to set it up in different ways, because there's more ways than one that you can set up your equipment right, especially if you have an external mixer in the mix. There's multiple ways. Like I taught you right, I showed you there's different ways of doing it. There's not just one way right and they're not wrong.
Ilia:
There's a standard way, there's a standard way, there's, there's, there's stuff for works.
Nino:
Yeah, stuff for for, for backup, like oh, I forgot a chord.
Ilia:
I can still do it this way, though I never sweat this much in my entire life and this rapidly. I was. My shirt was soaked because, wow, if there's no stores around, there's nobody else around with cables. If I don't figure this out, there's no music and I'm like all right so, but you're not answering because you're on a gig. So I'm like sending you voice notes and pictures and you showed me a really cool way of setting it up. I really appreciated it. I think I was going to figure it out eventually, but we didn't have time for eventually and the fact that you showed me the answer right away like okay, well, do it like this, like this, like this.
Nino:
I'm like okay, and then you're like it works, it's working, it's working. I'm like I know it's working.
Ilia:
Thank you so much, I love you yeah, oh, that, really I did love you for that.
Nino:
It was it saved the night, bro. I've been in that situation so many times, but you know you learn different ways of doing it right? So, yeah, it sucks being in that situation, bro.
Ilia:
I still can't believe that guy who gave me those adapters and I described the situation perfectly to him. I still can't believe he gave me the wrong ones. It's not on him, it's on me, but the guy. I've been going to that store for almost two decades and that guy is a genius, he knows everything. And he was so sure I was like, just take this, that's it, don't bother me, take these two. And I'm like, okay, I'm sure he knows what he's doing. I should have checked I should have checked.
Nino:
Sorry, man, I was busy, but I still, I still figured it out with you.
Ilia:
I was djing, that was a very well-needed lesson um number 10, the last one on the list, one of the most important ones, though learn to beat match by ear, and do not rely on your gear to do it for you don't rely on your eyes as well.
Nino:
Like. This is the problem with a lot of new, new djs. They look at the waveforms and they get used to just. Their eyes are glued to the the screen and they, they beat match. That way I'm like, yeah, it is a tool to learn, but don't get used to it.
Ilia:
Using sync, we're not against it, all right. We're not trying to make any enemies and we also won't religiously tell you to use it. It's a tool, it's a feature to be used when necessary. So at the end of the day, the crowd doesn't care if you use sync or not. They just want good music. I get that, we get that. But respect yourself as a dj. If you don't need it, beat match by your. It's a skill you will need one like one day you'll need it. And if you're gonna do like four decks and something is just way more like complicated and you just don't have enough hands to do it, of course, then using it is good. Using your eyes sometimes is good, but don't rely on those things you can't rely on it.
Nino:
Yeah, remember that, the times. There was times where the BPMs were off a little bit.
Ilia:
The grid and everything.
Nino:
And then, as Remember, we're going back to back, and then I was beat matching with you and you say, oh, it's not on, I'm like you can't find it, you have to nudge it.
Nino:
You didn't see me nudging it. If it's on, it's on, right. So you gotta, you gotta, learn how to do it by ear. Yeah, that's, it's the fundamentals of djing, literally right. It doesn't matter if you can um, like, like, melodically, do everything like with each song, just as long as you can beat, match and play what the crowd likes, man, exactly, you're good yes, now some honorable mentions.
Ilia:
Uh, stuff that did not make the, the 10 commandment list, be licensed and insured. So, whether it's licensing the music, insurance for your gear, for everything you own, people who work with you and the reason why we didn't put it on the list is because it's more for big companies and stuff. Or up and coming Up, and coming.
Nino:
yeah, but for solo DJs you don't really need to be licensed.
Ilia:
It's great if you have it, but let's admit it, you don't need it right.
Nino:
You technically don't so, but let's admit it.
Ilia:
You don't need it, right? You technically don't, so work towards that. It's important to have that as you progress, but it's not something you have to have when you start. Number two provide references upon request. This is good for you. If you don't have references, then you won't have a nice Google presence with all these nice reviews, facebook, instagram where you can post all of your five-star reviews and people being impressed with you. And also the client wants to know who they're hiring. What's your history as a DJ?
Nino:
It gets you more gigs that way. People nowadays are looking for five-star reviews. They're looking for great reviews on your work to see what, if what you've done in the past exactly, uh.
Ilia:
Number four know how to use cdjs, and that's. That's only for people who actually need to know that. Edm djs. You'll end up in a club. You'll need to know how to use it. Yeah right, a lot of clubs you use cds. Once in a while I see an all-in-one, but usually it's a CDJ setup.
Nino:
That's more for club DJs. That's why I didn't make the list.
Ilia:
So that's very important If you are a DJ who would use that kind of setup. And the last one don't steal music. What do you mean by stealing music? So, okay, we spoke about it before, but what I mean by that? What we mean by that is, yes, when you start out, you might get stuff from YouTube or found a way to rip it from Spotify or whatever. It's because you're learning and you're not really making money from it. But once you're becoming employed in this industry and you're making money, yes, and have some respect for yourself and for the artists, Cause you're also an artist.
Nino:
Yeah.
Ilia:
Get a DJ record pool, get access to those communities where you can pay for the music you're getting, um, at some point, license it, and uh, that's what it really means, what we really mean by don't steal music, because you're an artist as well and you should do things the correct way.
Nino:
Yeah, support artists man. We're artists, we're up-and-coming artists and it's not that expensive.
Ilia:
No, it's not that expensive. It's $20 to $40 a month reasonably priced, Something like that. You have some friends, you a month right, Reasonably priced, something like that. You know you have some friends. You can offer your DJ friend some music and they offer you some music in return. There's a lot of ways of getting music legitimately.
Nino:
Yeah, yeah, so that's this is our list. That's our list, our 10 commandments. I'm sure we have. We can come up with another, maybe 10, 15. There's so many. There's our list, Our Ten Commandments. I'm sure we have. We can come up with another, maybe 10, 15. There's so many. There's always something to say.
Ilia:
This is a pretty well-rounded list, so that's it for today, everyone, thank you very much for joining another episode of the Clever DJ, the first episode of this month of this quarter.
Nino:
We'll see you guys in the next one. Alright guys. See you then.