NEARLY NYE PARTY

'Become A Dj' presents:

What: No end of the world for us - get your party gear on! Join the Nearly NYE Party and see the old year off at The Fluid Bar on 30th December! For once take your music taste buds for a real treat - deep/tech house sounds spiced-up with live vocals.



Who: Savour yourself for the main act of the night: a refined collaboration, debut live performance by West End Jersey Boys lead singer Ryan Molloy & ‘Become a DJ’ founder Mantas Jan. Fill yourself up with some punchy deep & dirty beats, goosebumps baselines and unforgettable vocals. Mantas Jan is bringing the whole team behind him including Mr Funksta, K.I.F.F., Monique Parris, Markus Mucenieks and Keith Hunter spinning some of the most resent deep’n’techy house.



So what: This is only the beginning! The Nearly NYE Party will jump start a series of parties & events throughout the year. So no, no end of the world for us - we need to do some major partying next year! So what? Lets keep in touch? ;-) The entry is free, however you have to be on the guest list to enter. So please RSVP to events@becomeadj.co.uk



Where: Join the free party on the 30th December, Sunday at The Fluid Bar - a small and intimate Bar and Nightclub - in the City of London (40-42 Charterhouse Street, EC1M 6JN). The powerful Turbo Sound system will make sure those shivers run down your spine all night long!



To sum up: 7PM till 2AM / Free entry / Fluid Bar / RSVP to events@becomeadj.co.uk

Finding Music

Whether you are just starting out or have been playing live for many years, I’m sure you realize the importance of having music. After all, you can’t DJ without music ... people need sound to dance to ... even in silent discos :)

If you’re anything like me then at times you will struggle to keep up dated on new releases and find it difficult to sift through available tracks to find the gems you’re looking for. Let’s take a look at some of the issues that you may be facing:

•    You have a large collection already of the music genre you wish to play, yet they are over a decade old and you’re struggling to find something recent that gives you the same feeling as the tracks from back in the day.

•    You’re not sure where to sample or buy music from.

•    You’re playing gigs weekly so you need to have new material all the time, and it seems like a full-time job doing this preparation.

•    You’ve found some websites to buy music from but there are soooo many tracks ... you’re not sure how you will filter through them all and find the hidden gems.

•    You’ve found tracks you want to buy but it’s becoming very expensive.

•    You have a long folder of MP3s on your computer and have difficulty finding the tracks you want.

Ok, so let’s tackle the obvious question first ... where do you buy music from? These days pretty much everything has become digital and there are many websites out there with the latest releases you can buy in MP3 format. Following are some sites that I use:

http://www.audiojelly.com – This site lets you sample tracks (very important), view its waveform, has a Top 100 list, has a New Releases list and lets you browse by genre or perform a custom search.

http://www.trackitdown.net – This site has a pretty cool player with playlist, easy navigation for different genres, easy access to different mixes of a track and good descriptions of the tracks.

http://mp3skyline.com – Although you can browse for tracks on the site, you need to download/ install a Java application locally to interact with the music library ... perform searches, sample and download (you buy credit into your account to purchase tracks until your credit runs out). The application will store all downloads in a convenient location so you can re-download quickly and for free in the future. On the website you can also search by ‘last added’ date and ... my personal favourite ... access RSS feeds of your genres so you can keep updated via your RSS reader of latest tracks.

There are many more out there ... yet these work well for me. Google searching will give you a lot more. Test out different sites so you know the cost differences, how up-to-date their libraries are, what the purchasing process is (e.g. pay per track or pay to receive credits), whether you can access your download history and perform a repeat download without re-paying, whether you can skip through the sample so you don’t have to wait to get into the main part of the track, and so on.

Once you have found your preferred sites, you now want an automatic way of keeping updated on new releases. There are a few options here:

•    Facebook / Twitter – Most of the sites that sell tracks will have Twitter feeds and Facebook pages you can join to keep updated with latest releases.

•    Join the site’s mailing list to be emailed weekly with tracks in your preferred genre(s). Some mailing lists also give you tracks that are in DJ playlists so you know what’s hot right now.

•    Use the search features on the site to order by latest releases (or other filters that you prefer, such as if you’re looking for tracks by a particular artist).

One last thing I’ll mention regarding keeping costs low ... on some sites I’ve seen tracks that are new cost more than older tracks. If it isn’t urgent for you to be playing the latest releases, an option is to hold back and buy music let’s say with a release date of 3 months ago or older.

Next time we will discuss what to do with your purchases and good ways of organizing everything to save on time so you are in control of your music ... not the other way around.

Written by Etchy Boy!

Win tickets to see Skrillex!

Hello Everybody,

We have a pair of tickets to Skrillex @ the Warehouse project in Manchester on the 6th of December.

LIKE our Facebook page and SHARE the post for an opportunity to win the tickets. We know that not everybody likes Skrillex but we are quite sure that almost everybody knows somebody who likes Skrillex. So if you don’t want to go yourself you can give it away as a Christmas present.

Since we will be giving away tickets and other cool stuff from time to time it is good to watch this space fro further opportunities like this!

Happy playing and good luck!

“YES I CAN”

So, you want to become a DJ. You started out with a dream, a fire and a passion to make this work.
You went out and bought some expensive equipment. You took lessons from the best tutors. You
practiced for many hours. Yet for some reason you feel like you aren't getting where you want to
be.

Maybe your goal is to play in bars, clubs, make loads of money, hook up with hot girls or guys, make
people smile, or you have another reason for wanting to DJ. However, all of a sudden the passion
doesn't feel as strong as it used to and you may doubt yourself at times.

Sound familiar? Well, firstly you should be patting yourself on the back for putting in the effort to
turn your dreams into a reality. You took the initiative when so many others would just talk and
take no action. That in itself is an accomplishment because you can't reach your destination without
getting on the road in the first place.

This road will have challenges, uphills, downhills and many obstacles. Just like anything with life, the good things don't come without a fight. At times you will feel like you aren't getting anywhere and it's at this moment you must push yourself further and show the world what you are made of. Close your eyes and picture yourself living the life of your dream ... hear the crowd cheering for you ... see them wanting more ... feel the adrenalin pumping through your body ... smell that scent of success.

What you have just done there is visualized your goal. Visualizations are a powerful way to express
to your mind exactly how you expect your life to be. Do this consistently and you will start making
subtle changes to your daily habits and routines that will result in your visions becoming a reality.
Do this consistently and do it with belief. You must believe in yourself. Know that you know that
you know you will reach your goal .... and it will happen. Too many quit when they are about to
reach the top of the hill, so close to seeing the sunshine on the other side.

So when you're feeling down and de-motivated, think back at why you wanted this in the first place
and believe in yourself. Think about the music ... the world needs to hear your music. Look in the
mirror and shout out as loudly as possible: "YES I CAN" ... too right you can ... and you will.

Written by Etchy Boy

Introducing Traktor Dj courses

Widening Horizons... Or in other words: Introducing Traktor Dj courses

We at Become a DJ are passionate about music and the art of DJing. While our mission is to provide high quality courses in which students learn the skills they need, our hope is that during their time with us they also soak up our passion for this art. We believe that music is for everyone. It matters not whether you are rich or poor, old or young, boy or girl as long as you love what you do and you make people enjoy their lives while you are doing it. Similarly, it matters not what equipment you use. If you rock a crowd you rock a crowd. 'Nuff said.

In this spirit we are widening the spectrum of courses we offer to include software DJing. In the first instance we are going to offer courses at different levels using Traktor™. There is a lot of unnecessarily angry exchanges on user forums, magazines and social media websites about whether or not software DJing is actually DJing. We do not subscribe or participate in these feuds because in our opinion they are pointless. First of all, one cannot stop the technological advancements. Software DJing has arrived in a big way. Regardless of whether every single person welcomes it or some will refrain, the fact remains that more and more live shows and clubs use this platform. Secondly and most importantly at Become a DJ every student will still need to learn to beatmach (without the synch button engaged) regardless of whether they sign up to learn vinyl, CD or software DJing. When build on solid foundations, using Traktor™ for a performance can be just as challenging to the performer and just as entertaining for the audience. Software DJing is not harder or easier than other forms, It is simply different. Laying a pair of skillful hands on some hardware controllers to operate Traktor™ can result in incredible and satisfying musical experiences and jaw-dropping performances. Achieving such performances requires dedication, patience and practice, just as much as it does using vinyl or CD decks.

We are looking forward to seeing our students regardless of which course they sign up for.

Written by Swim the Shine

Bigger and better!

Hello All,

Finally! After countless nights of planning, many many hours of hard work, even physical labour, we are super excited to present to you: bigger and better ‘Become A DJ’!!

The purpose of this first entry of our blog is to simply welcome you to our refreshed website and give a short overview of our new services and nearest future plans.

So, what’s new? The first giant piece of news is, of course, our new studio! Yes, we made it. We have relocated to Shepherd’s Bush, which for starters is so much easier to access from anywhere in London! We have a teaching room, practice room, an office and a lounge. So much space that it almost feels like Google!.. Jokes apart, we are tremendously happy that the new studio has room for more action and even more students.

The second piece of exciting information is the addition to our Courses - the new Traktor™ DJ Course.
The course is designed for those who are interested in learning DJ using Traktor™. You can read more about it in our ‘Courses’ section.
Wait, it gets even better. The third news! We are proud to present to you quite a novelty in town - DJ Studio for DJ Practice. The studio is pampered with the latest industry standard equipment and available for bookings every day for as many hours as you need. If interested, you can book your hours here.

Finally, we have always dedicated a lot of hard work and effort to help those students who wanted to jump into DJ scene and play at gigs. And so we are especially thrilled to announce the new DJ Agency Service! From now on we will not only provide you with skills, inspiration, and guidance, but also make sure that you play on a regular basis.

With that said, I’d like to invite you all to come and visit us at bigger and better ‘Become A DJ’!

Discrepancies between Rekordbox Key Detection and the Camelot Wheel

Rekordbox™ (Ver 2.5) can now automatically detect the musical key of your tracks. This extra bit of info into the songs' details (along with BPM/Genre/etc) can come in very handy to create seamless and tasty mixes on the fly. There are two issues however
1) Some of the keys that Rekordbox™ provides you with you will not be find on the Camelot Wheel (Figure 1).
2) People without musical theory background find the number designation (e.g. 2B) much more convenient than its equivalent in musical notation (e.g. F-sharp Major). But Rekordbox™ only gives you the musical notation.

Figure 1- Camelot Wheel

Here is a bit of musical theory to help you figure out the discrepancies and a trick to help you organise your Rekordbox™ databases.

Look at the piano keyboard in Figure 2. The white keys are designated by the letters of the alphabet as shown. The pitch of the note the key makes increases from left to right (e.g. the pitch difference between the two C keys is an octave). The difference in the pitch between adjacent keys is called a semi-tone. If you have two adjacent white keys (e.g. E and F) then the step between the two white keys is called a semi-tone. If you have a black key between two white keys (e.g. between F and G) then going from one of those white keys to the black key between them is also a semi-tone. Now the tricky bit is what to call this black key. It is ambiguous because it is a semi-tone higher than F and a semi-tone lower than G. Going up in frequency is represented by a suffix '#' (called 'sharp') while going down in frequency is represented by the suffix 'b' (called 'flat') in musical notation. Therefore, the black key between F and G can be called either F# (i.e. F-sharp) or Gb (i.e. G-flat). Similarly,
The black key between C and D can be called C# (i.e. C-sharp) or Db (i.e. D-flat)
The black key between D and E can be called D# (i.e. D-sharp) or Eb (i.e. E-flat)
The black key between G and A can be called G# (i.e. G-sharp) or Ab (i.e. A-flat)
The black key between A and B can be called A# (i.e. A-sharp) or Bb (i.e. B-flat)

Figure 2- Piano Keyboard

So next time when Rekordbox™ gives you a key that you cannot find on the Camelot Wheel you'll know how to convert the output of Rekordbox™ to the corresponding Camelot Wheel entry.

By the way the 'm' and 'M' in Rekordbox™ output stand for 'minor' and 'Major' respectively on the Camelot Wheel. For example 'Gm' in Rekordbox™ means 'G Minor' (i.e. 6A) on the Camelot Wheel.

And here is how to change your Rekordbox™ key detection entries from musical notation (e.g. Em) to the numerical equivalent used in the Camelot Wheel (i.e. 9A).
- Detect the keys of all your tracks by Rekordbox™
- Click on the header 'Key' to sort your tracks by their detected keys
- Use Shift-Click to highlight all the songs of the same key (e.g. highlight all tracks with Em)
- Click the little arrowhead on the 'Info' tab on the left to open all the information corresponding to the selected tracks
- In the 'Key' field change 'Em' to 9A

Repeat the same procedure for all the other keys and you will have the Camelot Wheel entries in your Rekordbox™ database in no time at all.

Written by Swim the Shine