If you want to learn to become a DJ, you’ll need to know how to set up a DJ system. It may seem daunting at first, but it’s easier than you think. So today I wanted to go over a few basic tips on DJ system setup.

I will assume you’ve already decided on which music medium you want to use. Turntables, CD players, and professional computer system soundcards will all have RCA outputs. You’ll want to connect RCA cables to the channel inputs on your mixer.

NOTE: Not all computer soundcards will come with RCA outputs. You may need to upgrade to a better soundcard. Specialized digital DJ systems like Serato will let you plug in with RCA cables.

Next, you’ll need to connect your DJ mixer to your amplifier and speakers. Some speakers have amps built into them, some need an external amplifier. If you are using speakers with built in amps (also called “powered speakers”), all you need to do is connect the mixer’s outputs to the speaker inputs. There should be both a left and right output on the mixer.

If your DJ system set up uses unpowered speakers, you’ll need to connect your mixer’s outputs to the inputs of the amplifier, and then connect the amplifier’s output to the input for the speakers.

When connecting the mixer to an amp or powered speakers, there are a few different cables you might encounter. Some mixers only have 1/4″ cable outputs, some only have RCA cable outputs. There are also XLR outputs on some mixers. Your mixer might have a combination of these outputs as well.

Not all amps and speakers use the same inputs either. You may find yourself in a situation when your mixer only has RCA outputs, and the amp has 1/4″ inputs. If this is the case, you’ll need to buy a converter to let you plug the RCA cables into an amp with 1/4″ inputs. These converters can be found at Radio Shack or any musical instrument store.

Once your DJ system setup is connected, plug in the power cords to all your equipment. Don’t turn it all on yet though, certain things needed to be powered up before others. First, turn on the power to your mixer, turntables, and any processors. Make sure the master volume is turned down on everything. Next, turn on your amp. If you turn on your speakers before the amp, you’ll hear a loud POP noise which is not good for the speakers.

Now that everything is turned on, start playing a track, and slowly adjust the level of your amp, speakers, and mixer until you can hear the music.

When it’s time to turn everything off, just reverse the process. Speakers off first, then amp, then DJ equipment.

These are just some basic tips on DJ system set up for beginner DJs.

Are you a DJ looking for work? The best jobs you can land are resident DJ jobs. In this post you will learn how to land pro DJ work at a club or bar.

DJ jobs can be found in many locations around the world. While you can find them in big cities like London, New York, or Madrid Spain; you can also find them in your own hometown. Some DJ jobs can be found online. Just head to Craigslist and look for “Resident DJ Wanted” or something similar in the listings. This is a good way to find some work, but most of the good music jobs at the larger nightclubs will be found by word of mouth.

Networking is the best way to find and land a great resident DJ job. You have to get off your couch and get to know all the people who have the power to hire you as a resident DJ.

The first step in this process is to have a professional website made up to promote yourself and your brand. You have to look like a pro if you want to get treated like one. You could have many years of experience as a club DJ, but if another guy can promote himself better, it won’t matter. The easiest way to build yourself a professional website is to use a pre-made template. You can find the company I use under my “Resources” link.

Next, make sure you have a well-made DJ demo mix. If you want to play to large club crowds at night, your employer is going to want to know that you know what you’re doing. He or she will want to listen to what you can do. Update your mix every month with new songs. Hand it out to all the potential employers in your area. This includes club owners, club managers, and professional event promoters.

You’ll also need a business card. Have this made up by a professional, don’t try to do it yourself. When DJs make their own business cards, it makes them look like an amature. Hire someone who knows what he is doing, it will be well worth it in the long run.

Same goes with photography. Hire a professional to take a headshot of you. This will be used on demo CDs, your website, and party flyers.

The biggest mistake I see new DJs do is to try and save money by doing everything themselves. If you want to become a resident DJ at a club or bar, you need to present yourself as a pro. You can’t do that when you try to do all your own website design, photography, etc. Even if you think it looks cool, club owners who are used to seeing professional work will not. If you don’t have the money to hire pros to help with your self-marketing, than work extra hours at a day job and save up for it. Buy less music for a month or two so you can save up for these DJ expenses. It is that important!

One DJ promotion technique I love to apply is finding the Facebook Fan Pages of other big name DJs in my area, and auto add their fans as friends for my own Facebook page. This is easily and quickly done with a Facebook Friend Adder Program. You can pull the IDs off a competing DJ’s Facebook Fan Page, and then set the software to automatically add all of their page’s fans to your account.

It would take months to manually add thousands of people to your Facebook account, but with that program, you can add 100 people a day with the click of a button.

Why only 100? If you try to add more than 100 people a day, Facebook might delete your account. So make sure you set the software to stop after 100 people.

Here is a quick tutorial for how to steal the Fan Page IDs of a competing nightclub DJ, and automatically send friend requests to them for your own Facebook account:

If you don’t yet have the Facebook adding software, I highly recommend you get it. It will save you tons of time, while letting you add thousands of new, highly-targeted Facebook friends each month.

You can pick up the Facebook Friend Adder software here.

Creating a brand around your name is a great way to market yourself in the social media world. There are a couple good techniques for really burning your DJ brand into the minds of fans using the most popular social media outlets: Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace.

Profile Photo

If you want to improve your branding as a DJ, you should use the same profile photo for all three of the major social media networks. If you can, have a professional photographer take a good press photo, and use it for all your profiles. Feel free to change the photo every once in a while, but make sure you change it for all three social media sites at the same time. This will help burn your face into the minds of your fans, and is great for branding purposes.

Bio

Just as with the profile photos, use the same exact biography information for all three sites. Keeping things simple and repetitive is what great brands do. It re-enforces your message.

Regular Posting

To keep active in the social media community, you must actively post content on the sites. The key is to not waste too much time on them, while still posting enough to keep you relevant in the eyes of your fans. I like to dedicate only one hour a day to posting new status updates, photos, or messages on the three major sites: Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace.

That’s one hour for all three together, not each. You don’t want to waste too much time in front of your computer, or you won’t get anything else done. I recommend a maximum of 2 hours posting on these sites. Any more than that, and you may have a social media addiction problem!

Twitter can be a powerful tool in your DJ marketing toolbox. If you want to be a successful DJ, you have to network with your fans. You also have to constantly find new fans. Twitter is just another social media outlet for you to do this.

But taking the time to add followers on Twitter can be very time consuming, and you should always be spending most of your time doing what you’re best at, DJing. This is how you can add tons of followers, very quickly.

One way to quickly create a strong following of Twitter fans is to use an adder program. A Twitter adder program let’s you quickly and efficiently build a following on Twitter with much less work. I use this program specifically for the purpose of adding fans on Twitter. With it, you can add up to 200 new followers a day, just by pressing a button.

You can even target someone else’s followers, like a famous DJ who plays the same kind of music as you. This way they are more likely to follow you if you have a similar sound.

When you use a program to automate your tedious-yet-necessary social media marketing work, you’ll have much more time to spend on searching for new music, practicing your DJ skills, and booking yourself at nightclubs around town.

But if you neglect to market yourself with social media like Twitter all together, other DJs who ARE taking advantage of these techniques will have a stronger following than you will, even if you’re a better DJ.

You must not undervalue the importance of good social media marketing techniques in today’s world, or you’ll be left behind in the dust.

We all know that Facebook is taking over the social media scene. But there are still hundreds of thousands of people who haven’t made the switch. MySpace is still a very popular platform for many people. All club DJs should be promoting their events and their music on MySpace, and anyone who doesn’t is guilty of being lazy.

Laziness is a common problem for some DJs. Once you get a nice cushy gig, you can get lazy. I can tell you that laziness will hurt your long term success. Start spending some more time promoting on MySpace if you want to increase the customer base for your events find new fans for your sound.

Promoting parties on MySpace is not the only thing you should be doing though. You need to add more and more friends to your profile on a consistent basis. Anyone who accepts will become new potential customers, so you must learn to add people like a pro.

I consider adding friends on MySpace to be so important, that I actually employ a guy to do it full time for me. You can’t increase your income without new fans. While not everyone may be in a position to hire someone to add friends for them, you can still work to make the adding process faster and more efficient. No one likes sitting in front of the computer adding people for 5 hours.

For the past 4 years, I’ve been using this program to add friends to my MySpace accounts. It significantly speeds up the process of finding and adding people based on your target party demographic. Looking for black males between the ages of 21 and 29 in New York? No problem. How about single girls between the ages of 18 and 26 who like “house music” and live in Miami Beach? Find them instantly, and add them to your friends list.

You can add twice as many people in the same amount of time with this thing. I highly recommend you check it out, it’s saved me (and my people) a lot of time over the years. Check it out here.

Adding people to MySpace takes some finesse these days. Not everyone will add just any stranger anymore. One trick I use to get people to add me is to leave a simple message when adding them. Something like: “It seems we have a mutual friend… ”

Now, this works because it makes people curious. They’re thinking, who is this guy? Who is he talking about? Many time’s you’ll get added right away, or at least your profile page will get looked at in depth. Another trick I use is to make my profile private. People are more likely to add you if your profile is private. It makes them curious. They feel special somehow because you decided to let them into your “private” world.

One last tip, use a real profile picture of yourself. I can’t stand when club DJs post party fliers as their profile pics. It just screams “I’m a spammer! I don’t really care about you, just your money!” People like to deal with other people on the web, not companies.

DJ Gigs are getting harder to find for some people these days, so you need to know how to set yourself apart from the competition.  The biggest key to doing this is professionalism.  Club owners and promoters can spot a newbie from a mile away. To land the good DJ gigs, you will have to look and act like a pro.

These means having your demo CD in a professional package, not just writing on it with a marker.  Graphics go a long way to promoting a professional appearance.

DJs should also carry a professional looking business card at all times.  Not one of those cheezy free designs either, but a custom one.  It’s attention to details like this that will make you stand out in someone’s mind. Check out the Resources page for some free business cards.

Your demo mix should be top notch, if it’s not, keep recording until it is.  Regularly keep in touch with the people who can get you jobs.  Send a friendly email, drop by the club, or take them out to lunch one day. Personal relationships go a long way in this business.  People give jobs to DJs they know personally, not any old stranger.

Music is important, but it’s not everything.  Improve your networking & business skills to land many more DJ gigs.

We all have our favorite way to play music. I want to know what is the most popular right now.  I know many of you probably use more than one type, but let me know which music medium you use the most.

Times are changing fast. Are DJs changing with them?

Every DJ should have a professional mailing list. Too many people don’t realize the importance and value of a good large list. Any serious DJ should have an account with a professional mailing list service.  

These services usually charge a small monthly fee, but these fees are WELL worth it.  The features and control you have over your mailing list is phenomenal.

The time you save & benefits you get from using one of these email services easily justifies the cost.  I use and recommend Get Response.  I’ve used other email responders, like Email Brain and Constant Contact, but nothing compares to Get Response when it comes to value.

You get all the great features of the other guys, at a lower price. A DJ can easily send out upcoming event details, DJ mixes, and keep their fans informed about what is going on.  Having a big list will also impress club owners, and they will be more likely to let you spin at their club if you can show them an actual list of people that follow what you do, rather than just talking a big game.

Actual numbers and figures are what will land you those gigs.  Back up your big talk with a big email list.

Is Vinyl making a secret comeback?

YES!

When Serato came along, everyone finally thought vinyl was going to die out.  I am happily glad they were wrong.  Hipsters have fallen for vinyl’s old-school coolness, and vinyl record sales have jumped recently. Ah, Hipsters.  What would we do with out you?

Vinyl records have long held a special place in many peoples hearts.  The soft, warm sound they produce will always be more pleasant than cold, boring MP3s.  Vinyl’s collectible aspect is also a big plus.  Collecting MP3s is pretty lame.  Showing off your MP3 collection to someone is likely to put them to sleep.  But stepping into your Vinyl library and exploring 2,000 different colorful records is much more fun.

It’s also nice to be able to hold the record in your hands, appreciate the album art, and pop it on the ol’ Technics SL-1210 M5G.  I will never get rid of my vinyl collection, and I know I’m not the only one.