what's your routine for practicing in daily life

[u/javelsedet]

interested in other DJs routines when it comes to practicing the craft. lately I have been spending my time more on preparation for the tracks rather than doing transitions a

etc. It's a little frustrating as it feels like a form of procrastination which frustrates me.

[u/Useful_Secret4895]

At some point, it's not just rehearsing or practicing, it's more like sports training. I train myself to choose the next track in a very limited time window, to be at the same time energetic and calm, to keep the flow and the overall rhythm.

[u/MealQueasy4545]

Listening to your tracks and getting to know your library is absolutely not procrastinating even though it may feel like it. It’s one of the most important aspects of the journey and it’s so easy to build into your daily life.

A great habit to get into is recording something every time you have a mix and listening back to them a day or two later. This helps you to critique your own technique and understand what works and what doesn’t with transitions and building a set, AND you get to know your tunes better

Also instead of preparing each individual track with tags/hot cues etc I found it to be much more effective when I started experimenting more with building folders and playlists for mood, energy, feeling, where I’d play them, what i could see my favourite DJs playing etc. This will help frame your tracks in varying contexts which is a great way to improve your ear for selection and set building

[u/King_Unique5 → u/MealQueasy4545]

Yes 💯 This is exactly what ive started doing and you won't see me anywhere without my headphones on listening to my mixes! Already am improving massively with my beatmatching and set progression skills....also mix different genres regularly to keep things fun. Id recommend this 'practice' strategy to any newbie 👍

[u/Ganadhir]

Get up, smoke a blunt, scratch. Eat a burrito. Scratch some more. 4pm,mix a set and scratch. 6pm dinner. 6:25pm talk to the Mrs. 6:30 pm blunt. 6:35 pm scratch. 2 am bed

[u/javelsedet → u/Ganadhir]

the old Thompson routine I see

[u/Ganadhir → u/javelsedet]

Ya know it blud

[u/Purple-Finish-7013 → u/Ganadhir]

You only talk to the Mrs for 5 mins? Lol

[u/illogikul]

There’s a time to organizing and prepping and a time for practicing. Both are needed.

[u/Flex_Field]

My practice is all mental.

It is mentally exercising my vast knowedge of the music I know and love, and with which I have formed relationships, and trying to make new connections and relationships -- new bridges, new roads, new pathways -- that work and make sense.

I practice making the massive mental mapping of music in my head more effective and efficient.

That includes destroying old pathways to make way for newer, better, stronger ones.

The mental work is what gets skipped a lot.

[u/LeBB2KK]

100% of my time is prep, sorting the records, listening to them, quickly testing them against other and put a sticker (BPM, some words) on it if needed. I rarely if ever "DJ" at home, I don't really need too as I have done for so long, and still play quite often in clubs.

[u/MixtressK-La]

Tracks I have never heard before. 2 hours a day, different genre each day. Sometimes, mixed genres. Keeps you on your toes, and in the moment.

Also, a great way to crate dig.

[u/lilboboblue → u/MixtressK-La]

This is also how I do it, love beatport streaming

[u/Physical_Archer_689]

I have 100 playlists on SC and 100 more on Serato. Im constantly reorganizing and further organizing my library (also frequently adding more songs). This is a never ending hobby lol..

I use to spend alot of time finding the next best song for the smoothest transition I could come up with (from my library). I could spend up to 30-40 hours preparing for a set in my earlier days.

Now I spend like 10 max and most of it is just organizing/ categorizing songs and I trust more in my ability to mix it right in real time. 🙏

[u/Nukemi]

I struggled a lot to get the daily practice in and then i bought an standalone. Now i play almost every day which was my goal when i decided to go standalone even when i feel like my standalone gear is vastly inferior to my main setup.

While going downstairs with my laptop and hooking in my computer to play with my traktor setup is no effort at all, there is just something in being able to flip a switch and start playing within 30seconds with my upstairs standalone setup.

I have barely even touched my big traktor setup since i got my standalone.

I still spend the same amount of time prepping, though. Maybe even more because engine is a fucking mess. But, thats pretty ok by me because i enjoy tweaking.

[u/javelsedet → u/Nukemi]

ease of access is a big one for me. check out the Sp404mk2 dj mode

[u/Miserable-Sense7836]

I listen to a lot of music. Probably 10-20hrs of new-to-me music per week, every week, for 25+ years.

Then most days I do a short mix (10 tracks / about 30mins), record it, then put it on a couple of days later, grab a can of coke or a coffee and a glass of water, and dance to it. Does a good job of showing you things you need to do to get the pacing right, see which tracks work, judging the energy and so on.

[u/andymcleary]

I don’t practice nearly enough. If I get new records I’ll player em through and listen to the run in/out a few times. Just don’t have the time unfortunately. That’s probably why I’m not getting better as quickly as I’d like.

[u/danby → u/[deleted]]

"64 beats" on the cdjs is a full phrase.

64 beats is 16 bars. Phrases are typically 2 to 4 bars (often 1 bar in hip hop) . You probably mean section not phrase.

[u/danby → u/[deleted]]

Intros, Outros, breakdowns, verses, choruses etc... Are called Sections in music theory. That is just the case.

and please come tell me I'm wrong

You are not wrong about the song structure, and I'm not disagreeing that intros, drops and builds exist nor disagreeing about how long those sections can be. But you are using the word "phrase" incorrectly

If we end up conflating phrases and sections it makes it harder to talk about how mixing works at the phrase level. For instance, you don't have to mix in at section boundaries but you should still be phrase aligned. The way you cut between bars needs to be aligned at the phrase level. Etc.

If we have this more sophisticated language for structure of the music the we can discuss it with more nuance and that helps us see more subtle ways to use that in your mixing.

[u/javelsedet → u/[deleted]]

thanks for replying! I have been producing music for about 15 years now so song structures etc are come naturally. I only use an Sp404mk2 for DJing so when I want to prepare a song, I record it instead of transferring because it makes me analyze the song. I also listen to music about 5 hours every day because my job contains driving around alone which I really appreciate. I spend my work hours listening and my spsre time I record what I liked into the Sp404mk2 and gainstage it, normalize and set start point. I haven't gotten into cue points yet tho

[u/DJTRANSACTION1]

i been doing this 18 years. no amount of home practice got me to level up until my 14th year when i got my residency at pyramid club nyc where i have to do 7+ hour sets of original no remix 1980s music. preparing sets never ever works as the crowd is different all the time. no reruns on the music with some exceptions and everyones song request must be taken into account but i decide when to play it. i did this for 2 years every single week 7 hour sets original 80s music. there is no other place to get hardcore experience in a packed club while everyone is screaming at me and sync button does not work for original 80s.

some short videos from my residency

https://www.instagram.com/p/CjT41_XsPFr/

https://www.instagram.com/p/CkVRDcCulSD/

https://www.instagram.com/p/CkMkfE_uoHt/?img_index=1

[u/phatelectribe]

Grab some tracks and start mixing. Try out ideas. Learn your craft. Find tracks that go well together.

[u/IF800000]

Preparation is not procrastination, so long as you actually set aside time for mixing also.

[u/sniepre]

just listen to my stuff in order and find where i hate it and keep repeating that until the vibe works then work on the technicals

[u/deveric]

I have a weekly stream that I play on, that's my main "practice" and helps me keep things up to date. Basically just a dedicated "this night I am doing this for an hour+"

Otherwise I tend to listen and buy new music on the weekends, and then after I organize i try to play for a bit.

[u/Eelxyr_]

Idk I feel like you get to a point where technique is down, song selection becomes the real time consumption for me, as well as I make music and I’m nowhere as good a producer as I am dj and I’ve been putting way more time into producing and finding music vs working on mixing, atp i can mix in or out of songs I don’t know all day.

[u/Tough_Tadpole3362]

maybe a little blunt, spinning for 1 to 2 hours, until bedtime. works great, clears the day out of my head

[u/BapehCS]

I barely use decks when I’m at home, I just go through the music and use loops and cue points with laptop controls, then when it comes to doing it with a controller or CDJs it feels even easier

[u/8ballposse]

I get gigs, I practice on the job