Serato & 15,000 Songs Doesn't Make You A DJ! (Comment on Radio Facts blog post-click this headline to read original post)

The problem with the statement "anybody can DJ a party now" is that assumes spinning is no more than slapping songs on any ole kind of way. Yes, playing the right music for your crowd is the most important thing. But matching beats, smooth transitions, scratching to accentuate the song, not just for show because "you're a Hip-Hop DJ," bringing in the right song at the right moment to hype up the crowd, knowing more than one genre of music… it's becoming a lost art.

Unfortunately, the standards for DJing has dropped, not only in the minds of promoters and club managers, but in the minds of club goers. Train wrecks don't make people snap their necks looking at the DJ booth. Cutting songs off in the middle of a verse doesn't prompt a collective groan from the dance floor. Galloping beats don't make the crowd walk off the floor in disgust.

I'm not some old school DJ that is still slepping around crates of records. I am a very proud Serato and Macintosh user who teaches other DJs how to use Serato properly. But spinning is more than "I have 15,000 of my favorite songs in my computer. I'm a DJ." What happens when your carefully premade playlists and mixes bomb completely, and you're left with hundreds of people waiting for you to make them dance? If you haven't mastered "transitions and matching beats from song to song on the fly," memorizing the songs so you can get the party jumping again, the crowd is going to leave thinking you are wack.

DJing is reading and reacting to your crowd, playing that perfect song to take the mood higher, reaching back for those classics (or dusties as my hometown of Chicago would say) that make the crowd throw their hands in the air, taking them on a musical ride that leaves them breathless and sweaty at the end. I don't want my crowd to say, "the music was good. Who was the DJ?" I want my crowd to say, "damn! Big Chicago put it down tonight! Where is he going to be next?"