May 20, 2024 • 28 mins
Ever felt like DJ myths are clouding the decks of your musical journey? With Digital DJ Tips onboard, we're setting the record straight! Experience an auditory adventure where we dismantle seven DJ myths that might be holding you back. Hear firsthand how jumping into live performances can accelerate your learning curve, drawing from my own rollercoaster ride from novice to seasoned spinner. Nino chimes in too, sharing how tailored mentoring gigs can shape your DJ destiny.
The beat goes on as we tackle the myths surrounding DJ gear, music libraries, and venues. Say goodbye to the idea that only top-tier equipment can kickstart your DJ career; we outline the essentials that'll have you mixing in no time. Plus, there's no need to amass a vast music collection before your first set – we'll show you why a well-curated selection of tracks is your secret weapon. And for those who think DJing is just for the club scene, prepare to discover the world of opportunities out there, from weddings to corporate gigs.
Lastly, age is no barrier in the DJ booth – we're spinning stories of legends like Armin Van Buuren and Steve Aoki, proving that passion transcends the years. Whether you're picking up headphones in your prime or teaching the art to others, we share insights on affordable equipment and the power of online resources. Embrace the modern beat of learning and let the rhythm of our conversation guide you to DJing success. Tune in, turn up, and transform your skills with the wisdom from Digital DJ Tips and our shared experiences behind the decks.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ilia (00:18):
Welcome, welcome everyone, to another episode of the
Clever DJ with Ilya and Nino.
Nino (00:24):
This is episode number 21 number 21 now for this episode.
Ilia (00:30):
You may get some ambience noise uh, my, uh, balcony door
is open, the air purifier isrunning.
Yours truly is a little sick, alittle, really sick, yeah how
did that happen, man?
Nino (00:42):
how did you get sick I?
Ilia (00:43):
got back to the gym, I started a very strict diet and I
have a destination wedding soon.
Oh, yeah so, yeah, I gotta lookgood and also like I.
Just I was so unhealthy for solong lost my tooth too.
I'm like I need.
I need to change what's goingon.
Nino (01:02):
I'm in my 30s, not like so and this guy's generally
healthy right, but when he getssick, he gets sick it is 10 pm.
Ilia (01:12):
This guy, I've been waiting for me since 6 pm
outside.
I finally show up, uh, becauseI wasn't home and I've been
moping around like uh yeah.
Nino (01:21):
So this guy's, on top of being sick, he's sore from the
gym.
He can't, he can't like uh,bend down cough hurts.
Ilia (01:29):
Getting off the chair hurts yeah, so uh, so anyway,
the show must go on.
So we're, we're still here.
We love doing this, so thankyou for tuning in.
Today we have an episode.
Um, what's the episode?
That is actually informationcollected by digital dj tips.
(01:51):
So shout out to digital dj tips, shout out to you guys.
Uh, thank you very much for uhproviding amazing content yeah
being a resource to a beginnerand advanced djs we're big fans,
of course.
Yes, yes, very, very good guysthere.
Guys and girls, we spoke aboutthis stuff before, maybe not on
the same podcast, but it reallycaught our attention.
(02:12):
It's a really nice list.
You know, actually, you sent itto me, I believe.
Nino (02:16):
Yeah, I did.
Ilia (02:18):
Because some of those things were things you were
trying to drill into my head,right?
Nino (02:20):
Yeah, so the actual topic is like seven DJ myths that hold
new DJs back.
Ilia (02:27):
Yes, so things that you think will cause you to pretty
much, things that hold you backbecause you think about it one
way.
Nino (02:36):
But really it's not true.
It's not.
You're just thinking way toohard about it.
Ilia (02:40):
Yes, so let's start with number one.
You want to start it.
Nino (02:46):
Okay, myth number one you want, you want to start it?
Okay, myth number one yes, youneed years of practice before
playing in public.
Now what's?
The fact, I I've already saidthis ingrained this in your head
.
You don't uh need to practicethat much.
What you need to do is actuallyum, get out in public as soon
as you can play in front ofpeople, because that will teach
(03:08):
you immensely right, that'swhere, that's when I really
shined yeah, as a dj, yeah Imean, we wanted to start this
podcast earlier, when I was evenmore a beginner, more of a
beginner.
Ilia (03:23):
It was even funnier the things I was saying and, my god,
I don't think I would say themon this podcast but I was really
like a like.
Give me an example, man no no,right now I was like I was just
such a beginner things that youreally need to know.
If you want to be a dj, likeI'll fine, like I I don't know
names of songs that I shoulddefinitely know.
(03:44):
Yeah, lyrics, stuff like that,right.
But that's also because Ididn't grow up here, exactly
right.
I didn't grow up with thismusic and then I had like years
of a hiatus listening to certainmusic and listening to
something else, because I'm alsoa guitar player, a singer,
songwriter, right.
So I listened to, like edsheeran your background is more
ballad, ballad stuff right, yeah, or like old music, what do you
call it?
Nino (04:05):
More classic rock, I guess .
Ilia (04:09):
That genre.
You said that I really likeactually Contemporary Standards.
I think you said Standards, yes,yes, so that's the kind of
stuff I like and I actually knowthat stuff pretty well.
I know the oldies pretty well,but, like top 40, sometimes Nino
is like dude, you should knowthis.
Yeah, as a dj, you need to knowthis.
Yeah, so it's just I, I I tooka long break from listening to
this type of music and also, Idid not grow up with that type
(04:30):
of music either.
Um, but I'm working with thisnow.
Right, I'm working on learningeverything, catching up on
everything, but we wanted to, um, bring this list to you guys,
because this stuff is all thestuff that nino was telling me
when he was mentoring me.
He still mentors me, um, and hewas saying how one of the
(04:50):
things he said, illy, you got toget out there.
You got to get out there andand he would like he would give
me gigs when I wasn't ready evenjust to get me out there, like
he took a chance with me becauseI knew what he could do and I
wouldn't give him a gig if if Iknew he would bomb it right and
I knew what he was capable of.
Nino (05:08):
So I gave him gigs according to his level of of
expertise yeah, so harding.
We're not saying to notpractice at all.
Yeah, get the, get the basicsdown, but you need to get out as
soon as possible.
Just Just play for your friends, something that you're
comfortable with playing, andgetting some feedback like
(05:28):
positive well, positive ifyou're good.
Ilia (05:30):
But just getting feedback in general right, like honestly,
I was at a point where Ipracticed enough to go to my
first gig.
I wasn't so good that I'm I'mgood, I'm done.
I barely need to practice Likesome pros out there.
I mean you should practicestill, but when you know what
you're doing, you can wing awedding like nothing, because
(05:51):
it's such a natural thing foryou.
But I was at a point where, ifI don't go and have that gig,
I'm not going to develop.
That was the checkpoint which Iwas avoiding.
Nino (06:02):
And then, when you did your first gig, my eyes lit up,
I was taking videos and andsending them to you and like, yo
, you know, I just did this.
I learned so much.
Right, I loved it, they lovedit and then you.
Ilia (06:15):
Yeah, there's certain things that you cannot learn
from practicing on your own yeah, so it it was extremely
important, uh, to somethingthat's extremely important to do
.
It's almost crazy that weactually have to say this to you
guys, or that he had to tell methat.
And as much as I knew kind ofknew that that's true I thought
(06:35):
there's other ways, there's noother way.
Nino (06:37):
I knew in a way, it's scary to go on your own and do a
gig, especially on your own, ofcourse.
But, you know it's somethingthat you have to do.
It's easier if you go out anddo it for a friend's party.
That's where.
That's where you have to start.
You should start right.
Ilia (06:51):
But yeah, and like, at first, like, he gave me a few
gigs and then I started gettingmy own gigs back in september
2022 and I got several gigs likefive or six gigs or something
like that, right, uh, several ofthem were mine and the other
ones were return gigs that yougave me and they wanted me back,
right?
So that's when things reallystarted to change for me.
The, the light bulb lit up inyour head yeah like oh okay, I'm
(07:13):
getting, I'm getting this andever since we started the
podcast, you know I wasn't doingmuch of a like.
I wasn't doing much practicing,because this, this is a lot of
work.
I do a lot of the it stuff, alot of the tech stuff, but, um,
you always have to find time forpracticing.
You always have have to and youhave those checkpoints that you
have to meet.
You always have to go and playin front of a crowd.
(07:34):
You have to go and put yourselfout there.
Uh, if, if there's a party likeyou have a get together, take
out the controller.
Like you know, these are yourfriends, they won't mind.
Yeah, do it for free, right?
Nino (07:45):
right, it's, it's all experience, it's all part of
your journey, right so get outthere as much as you can at the
beginning and uh, yeah yeah,let's see what the digital dj
tips actually said.
Ilia (07:56):
They said you learn.
So the myth is you need yearsof practice before playing in
public, and the fact is youlearn by doing, and doing is
something you do in public.
You learn more at one public djevent of any size or type than
you will learn in a month ofpracticing at home.
You should be playing in frontof other, in front of other
(08:18):
people.
Sorry, you should be playing,yes, in front of other people in
some way or form, early and asoften as possible.
Couldn't sum it up better yeahexactly um number two.
Number two dj myth.
The myth is djing is all aboutmixing, and the fact is, mixing
(08:40):
is the final 20 at best.
Djing is about great musicplayed in the right order for
the people in front of you.
Right now, when you are doingthat, it's so small I can't read
it.
When you're doing that, themixing will come naturally,
because every two or threeminutes you'll be forced to make
(09:02):
a decision about how to playthe next record yeah.
Nino (09:06):
So what they're saying is literally it's djing, it's, it
is part of of it, right, butit's not everything.
And mixing it is is a part ofit, but it's mostly song
selection.
What you're gonna play next iswhat they're emphasizing, right,
and that's fact.
That's true.
Mostly, like djing is is whatwhat they want to hear.
(09:29):
So you're gonna figure out what, no matter what bpms they are,
you're gonna have to figure outhow to play them in a certain
order for them to enjoy thejourney that you're taking them
on, right yeah, I find that, uh,that's.
Ilia (09:45):
I don't know how true it is.
Maybe maybe that's just mebeing a beginner, but I find
it's from what I see.
This is true to me.
If you don't mix very well, ifit's just okay, you know, like
it's not the cleanest mix,people will still be happy
because you play the righttracks.
Yeah, yeah, if you also mixwell, people will be like, wow,
look at this, oh, when did thissong come in?
that's the difference betweenthe okay, that's decent to wow
(10:07):
this guy is amazing, yeah but ifyou don't play the right tracks
, it doesn't matter if you'remixing anyway, right?
Nino (10:14):
if you don't listen to them, you're just letting them
down.
Right, they might.
They could might as well justplay like a spotify playlist.
Even then, spotify might bedoing a better job than you.
Ilia (10:26):
Yeah, actually Spotify has this fader option.
Nino (10:29):
Yeah, that's crazy man.
Ilia (10:31):
It's incredible, it's crazy.
Nino (10:33):
But yeah, it's not all about mixing.
There's other things about it.
Myth number three.
Myth number three you need progear.
Ilia (10:43):
And the fact is, to DJ, you need four things A pair of
music playing devices of sometype, something to mix the two
of them together, someheadphones to listen to
something that's different towhat the audience is hearing,
and some speakers for theaudience.
That's it.
(11:03):
Don't let the gear hold youback.
And also, he didn't write itdown here, but it doesn't have
to be top of the line either.
Nino (11:09):
No, not at all.
Right, not at all.
You could be playing with oldgear.
Just as long as it does thefinal product right.
Final outcome you get peopledancing and they're having a
good time.
It doesn't matter what you playon new, old, busted up dirty.
Ilia (11:28):
Yeah, so as long as it's a clean sound, yes, of course
there's always something better,but you got to start somewhere.
Nino (11:37):
And technology always gets better and better.
But technically you can play onliterally anything that does
the same thing.
Yes, myth number four Mythnumber four you need a huge
record collection and the factis, lots of music can actually
be a hindrance.
So if you don't know that musicwell enough, how can you DJ
(12:01):
properly with it?
Far better to build your owncollection slowly.
Now, don't think you need tohave a huge collection to start
doing this, and I've told youthis so many, many times how?
Ilia (12:12):
much music did you give me .
Nino (12:13):
I gave you like 100,000 songs man More, I think.
Ilia (12:16):
And then another DJ gave me like a hundred thousand songs
more, I think.
And then another dj gave melike 50 000 songs.
Nino (12:20):
And then I found like uh, I discovered the record pulls
and I just like downloaded everyday, like downloading hundreds
of songs, and I was like okay,I'm good for the game, I'm good,
I'm good, there's no way Iwon't find something.
Ilia (12:32):
And then I'm like searching the tracks like this
doesn't work, this doesn't work.
Oh, what is this?
I never heard this before yeah,yeah.
Remixes like I don't know, Idon't like this.
Right, you get your 100 top 100200 tracks, most, most gigs.
You don't need more than like200 tracks right, but then it's
(12:52):
good to have extra yeah, thoseare the 200 out of the thousand
you have there that you play atdifferent gigs.
Right, I have like a quartermillion tracks by now.
Yeah, I don't know how many Ihave, I hundreds of thousands.
Nino (13:04):
So how did that help you?
I don't Right, you don't need.
Ilia (13:08):
You didn't even look at them.
I put on the cloud.
It's there.
I don't want case.
I need something, but I nevercarry it with me.
I only pick the ones I like themost.
I have a smaller hard drivewhich I take with me, um, so
let's say the thousand or twothousand that I that I like for
the types of gigs that I do, andthen on my laptop I have the
500 or 200 that I always use andyou learn this by doing gigs
(13:32):
like seeing the reactions, andyou're starting to build it up
that way, right?
yeah, and then I started likebuilding my uh crates and then
each crate like you look at it.
Oh, that uh christmas, uh party.
Yeah, that was good, lots of edmin that one you put that in the
crate, yeah or that umcorporate, uh, you know, back in
(13:53):
march, like that was, oh, thatwas a really good um, ethnic, uh
, ethnic mix, uh, for thisculture, or something right
there you go so and then youstart making notes, and then
that's how you realize that,okay, I don't need any other
music, and then you just add alittle bit at a time yeah, so
just build it up yourself, right?
Nino (14:10):
don't rely on big big um pools or libraries from other
DJs.
It's nice to have, but you gotto look through that stuff too
and it's very tedious too, ifyou don't have the time.
As DJs, we're always updatingand looking for music.
That's what we should be doingExactly.
Ilia (14:28):
Yeah, so number six, myth number six.
Nino (14:33):
Myth number six DJing only happens in clubs, and the fact
is, the fact is, not everyonewants to be DJing in clubs, but
a generation ago, that wasbasically the only place you
could.
Now people expect to see DJs inall kinds of places.
You can also DJ online, shareyour mixes, play at private
(14:54):
parties, live stream and a wholelot more.
Yes, now we just whole lot more.
Ilia (14:57):
Yes, now, we just kind of spoke about it.
You have a get-together, youcan DJ.
Yeah, weddings, that's one ofthe biggest Weddings, yeah,
biggest.
What is it called?
What word am I thinking about?
One of the biggest industriesfor DJing, bar, mitzvahs, but
(15:20):
mitzvahs, mitzvahs.
Store openings Quinceañeras.
Nino (15:23):
Corporate parties.
Ilia (15:24):
Yes, corporate parties Like.
There's so many things.
Nino (15:27):
Anniversaries, birthday parties, anything Funerals, yes
celebration of life?
Ilia (15:33):
Yes, celebration of life.
Or just a beach party.
People just want to swim anddance and listen to music and
play volleyball and stuff.
Nino (15:42):
It's definitely not true, but DJing in clubs is yeah it is
there.
Ilia (15:47):
I can't believe anyone would think that DJing only
happens in clubs.
Don't people know that peopleneed a DJ at a wedding or any of
the other ones that we justmentioned?
Yeah, that's right, it's a myth.
In universities and collegesconvocations, Exactly Right.
Everything.
Frosh week I'm not going to bearound this June, so Nino
unfortunately had to get adifferent DJ.
(16:09):
I know it's hard for you, Nino,but you'll be fine.
Nino (16:12):
You know, we'll survive, you'll survive, you'll survive
Without you, honestly that wasone of the best ways for me to
get my confidence.
Ilia (16:20):
He gave me those gigs and I realized just how much more I
can do.
It's not like it was perfectfrom the start, but it was such
a gig where I could like, aslong as I was at a certain level
of professionalism, I could trydifferent things.
Nino (16:37):
No one was really like listening you more like it was
background music.
Ilia (16:40):
yeah, yeah, for ambience and then it became very direct
with the crowd because peoplestarted liking it and they
started dancing beside comingcloser and they're like oh, they
recognize, they like the musicthat you're playing, so they,
they like, like request stuffnow, and then it became not
background anymore.
More like lively the dancing andthey'll do their dance, they'll
(17:00):
do their thing, then they leaveand then the next class will
come in.
And it gave me the opportunityto actually play the same thing
three, four times in a dayBecause there was convocation.
It was like people were comingout in groups, right yeah.
Nino (17:14):
We did that for like a week and a half.
Ilia (17:16):
Yeah, that's good money too.
Yeah, it is.
Yeah, that was number five,right Number five.
Nino (17:23):
Yes, number six yes, the myth you need to be young to be
a DJ.
Come on now and the fact Goahead.
Ilia (17:32):
Djing has gone mainstream and is now as accepted as any
other way of playing music.
You shouldn't think that youfeel silly when you're doing oh,
I skipped it.
You shouldn't think that youneed to be 18 in order to not
feel silly when you're doing it.
It just isn't true anymore.
Nino (17:52):
Now, it is good if you started young, right, but
nowadays, how old is Tiesto likehe's like 60 or 70.
No, no, come on, he is man, noway I'm gonna check.
Yeah he is at most yeah, but 50still there's.
I know djs who are still djingalmost you're gonna kill him.
Ilia (18:11):
Are you kidding?
No, no, he's 100.
Nino (18:13):
He's listening to us right now.
He's like how dare you?
Ilia (18:16):
Tiesto age.
Nino (18:18):
I'm telling you, he's old?
Ilia (18:19):
No way, 55, dude, oh, 55.
Okay, he doesn't even look thatold either.
Okay, who's?
Nino (18:24):
Tiesto, I didn't say that.
Okay, I did.
Carl Cox Google him.
He's old too.
(18:44):
How's dj google him, carl cox?
Oh wow, 61 man, you're tryingto save yourself right, there's
a lot man I'm telling you arminvan buren.
Oh, come on, he's young man.
Ilia (18:49):
Yeah, he's 47, yeah, yeah.
But let me tell you somethingthe stuff that he does I gotta
find out, like his diet and hisroutine, because I watched that
documentary about Steve AokiMm-hmm, I think, don't quote me
on it Like I'll stop when I die,or something like that.
The guy has more gigs thanthere are days in the week and
(19:13):
in a year.
So he has, like in Europe, liketwo gigs in neighboring
countries.
Nino (19:18):
Yeah, yeah.
Ilia (19:19):
And like he sleeps, like takes pill, he sleeps on the
plane or on the bus or whereverthey are, and then he has to get
up after like two hours orwhatever.
Go to the next gig it's crazy,it's insane.
How do you do that at that age,when you're in your 40s, 50s,
right, like Armand Van Buren,he's a serious entrepreneur, he
has a lot of things going on andI wonder, just like he looks
(19:39):
pretty young for his age.
Yeah, he does, and he is such agood guy, he's such a nice guy,
man, uh, and he'll give peoplean opportunity.
Yeah, yeah and um, it'sbusiness after all, but yeah,
it's um like, look at that.
Hardwell is 36, still a little,quite, quite young.
Martin gears 28.
(20:00):
What does it say here?
Uh, david, david, yet at 56years old.
So most of these DJs areactually in the Steve Aoki 46,
afrojack 36.
Most of them are older.
Nino (20:13):
Yeah, most of them are older and a lot of them are
veterans.
They've been.
Ilia (20:15):
DJing for years, but that's the thing they made a
name for themselves over thepast five, 10, 20 years.
Nino (20:31):
Some it maybe like five years ago, but they've been
djing for like 30, 40 years.
Yeah, so technically, yes,obviously start start young if
you can, but if you didn'tdoesn't mean you can't do it.
Yeah, and I know this for afact that digital dj tips most
of their um clients or customersthat are learning are, are in
their mid 30s, 40s, in 50s aswell.
So well, so you can never.
You can never.
Ilia (20:46):
I'm teaching someone right now.
He is in his maybe not 50s,he's in his 40s.
And then the other one I'mteaching is in his 20s, I
believe.
Nino (20:56):
Yeah, so it's never, ever too late to DJ.
Yeah, by the way, I startedteaching.
Ilia (21:02):
Yeah, yeah.
So like you get to that levelalready, uh, where you know the
basics and you know how to teachothers because you learned
everything.
It ingrains, it gets ingrainedin your head.
I did it over and over and overagain to the point where I'm
like you know what I can teachsomeone?
Yeah, someone wants to do this.
(21:23):
It's also great practice for mebecause I always have to stay
on top of it.
On top of it because this.
It's also great practice for mebecause I always have to stay
on top of it because thisperson's going to come and
expect me to teach themsomething new.
Nino (21:32):
So you got to make sure you know it too In and out.
Ilia (21:35):
By the way, that was just a tactic of mine to learn and be
better, right, that's why Idon't charge a lot and yeah,
we're just kind of hanging outand yes, obviously I chart
something, but uh, it was moreof a hey, this is gonna force me
to practice.
Yeah, that's true, and they'regreat.
They learned so fast.
Wait, they learned faster thanI did.
Nino (21:53):
Yeah, there you go nothing against you but oh yeah, I was
teaching you like a differentway too.
Yeah, you're I you're.
Ilia (22:01):
That's the thing.
I had to figure out what youwere telling me in a way that I
understand, and I was was likeyou know what A beginner would
need it this way.
That's why this podcast is socool in our opinions, because
you could be such a professional, you know how to do everything
so well, but you might forgetwhat it's like for a beginner.
You might forget how a beginnerwould understand it better,
(22:22):
whereas my perspective would bebetter for somebody who's never
done it.
Yeah, exactly.
Nino (22:26):
So we're unique in that way.
Ilia (22:29):
That's why we that's from a beginner point of view and a
professional yeah, right, and Itold them when you get to a
certain level where I myselfwouldn't agree to teach you
because I'm still not confidentenough to teach at that level, I
have contacts where I can sendyou if you want to do it.
But I told them that once youlearn the basics, you shouldn't
pay anyone.
(22:49):
You should just go and learn onyour own.
Some people need guidance, somepeople need you to take their
hand and teach them, which isfine, and I kind of needed that
because I couldn't figure it outfor the life of me in the
beginning.
Lucky for me, it was free.
Lucky for me it was free.
Nino (23:05):
We had a thing going right .
You'd help me out in gigs.
Ilia (23:08):
It wasn't free at all.
Really, when you think about it, it wasn't free Slave work.
Come on, bro, slave work.
I can't believe I stuck it outtoo with you for that long.
I remember you sitting in yourspecial leading chair.
Every time he leans in thatchair, I thought he was going to
make a backflip leaning thechair.
Every time he leans that chair,I thought he's going to make a
backflip and just sits therewith his phone, like this guy is
(23:29):
not getting it.
Nino (23:30):
He's still not getting it.
Ilia (23:32):
And he's like do you get it?
I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah, Letme do it.
Nino (23:36):
So he's a prime example.
You don't have to start at 18.
Ilia (23:39):
I started at like 32.
I'm 34 now.
Nino (23:48):
And I find a lot of uh.
Older people are just trying toget it as a hobby too as well,
some a little bit more serious,but the most people who want to
learn right now are mid 30s, 40s, 50s right, yeah because it's
so easy, so accessible, themusic and stuff it's not that
expensive.
Ilia (24:00):
You know, like, as a 30, 40 year old, you can.
You have a thousand, twothousand dollars to buy the gear
you need.
Right, because you, yeah,because you're working Right.
So yeah, and so many options.
Now, if you don't want to buy alaptop, fine, get a normal one,
a cheaper one, or like whichone?
Is it the one that my buddy got?
And then returned the.
Numark Mixtreme.
Nino (24:20):
Pro, is that the name go or something pro, go, go, yeah.
And then there's the, the um,the denon prime go, yeah.
So so there's a lot of options,a lot of options out there yeah
, and not that expensive, right?
Ilia (24:33):
if you want to save on getting the laptop and the one I
was telling you, like they'reboth, I think yeah, they're
portable yeah, and they'recoming up with softwares that
you can work off of your phonenow, too, and iPad, yeah.
So yeah, that was number six.
Number seven, Number seven, thelast one.
Nino (24:54):
DJing is hard.
Ilia (24:56):
Is it really?
Nino (24:57):
And the fact is no, it's not.
You need a passion for musicand you need to have seen a DJ
somewhere along the line andthought I could do better than
that.
As long as you got those twothings, you've got what it takes
to be.
You need to have seen a djsomewhere along the line and
thought I could do better thanthat.
Ilia (25:06):
As long as you got those two things, you've got what it
takes to be a dj, and that, yeah, that's, that's, that is true,
yeah I um, I couldn't uh say itbetter because, uh, many times
where I was, when I waslistening to somebody dj uh at
an event, I was, hmm, that's nothow I was going to do it.
(25:27):
I would do it this way.
Nino (25:28):
I've thought of that a lot , especially because before I
wasn't a DJ, I would think thatat a party I was like that was
okay, but I would have playedthis, so I was already thinking
like a.
Ilia (25:39):
DJ, and mostly what I was thinking about was once I met
Nino.
That's not how Nino does it.
That's not how Nino does it,and I would record it Like yo
Nino, check out this transition.
Nino (25:50):
He sends it to me.
Ilia (25:51):
Yo, this guy is supposed to be a pro, but, like, listen
to this transition and I had tolearn.
Nino (25:57):
I was very much a beginner and Nino was like everyone has
their own way.
Ilia (26:00):
I'm like, yeah, but your way is better, better.
You gotta hear this guy.
Nino (26:04):
His transitions are flawless, oh man come on your
song selection, but like that's,you're buttering me up like
that's like 15, 20 years ofexperience yeah, yeah, that too
right, but everybody has theirown way of doing things.
Ilia (26:15):
No, there's no wrong way you know, started when he was uh
10 years old, so he's uh 25 to30 right now.
Shush, shush, wow, wow.
You locked yourself in a roomand you just I'm going to get it
.
Nino (26:29):
Yeah, I learned it.
The best way to learn somethingis through a broken heart,
literally right.
So I was heartbroken at thetime and I locked myself in a
room just so I wouldn't thinkabout it, and I said I'm going
to learn how to DJ.
And literally two weeks of justmixing.
I didn't mean to hurt you, bro.
Ilia (26:50):
All the memories are just coming back to my head.
I'm like, oh my God, yeah, wedefinitely did not know each
other back then.
Nino (26:57):
But yeah, you couldn't even say it better.
You need to have passion formusic, and that's the thing For
me.
I've been in music all my life.
Ever since high school, I'vebeen singing, producing, writing
.
Same with you, man, you've been.
It's an easy transition, right,and yeah, I love music as
musicians.
Ilia (27:15):
It's not a hard thing to get into.
You have to adapt.
It's a different set of skills.
But in this modern age I findit very difficult to believe
that anything is hard to learnor impossible.
Everything's available online,yes, or there's a teacher who'll
teach you, uh, or you know,there's just courses everywhere.
(27:38):
You can go to school.
It's just impossible to notlearn something you love
especially when it's a skilllike that.
Nino (27:43):
Yeah, yeah, exactly if you love it, if you go for it,
right?
Ilia (27:47):
yeah, so um that was djing is not hard at all yes, that
was the seven dj myths that holdyou back, uh, by digital dj
tips.
Thank you again.
Shout out to you guys.
Thank you guys.
Um, yeah, that's it, I thinkthat's it right?
Nino (28:01):
yeah, episode number 21 number 21 books we'll see you
guys in the next one.
All right, see you guys in thenext one.
All right, see you then.
All right yeah.
Welcome, welcome everyone, to another episode of the
Clever DJ with Ilya and Nino.
Nino (00:24):
This is episode number 21 number 21 now for this episode.
Ilia (00:30):
You may get some ambience noise uh, my, uh, balcony door
is open, the air purifier isrunning.
Yours truly is a little sick, alittle, really sick, yeah how
did that happen, man?
Nino (00:42):
how did you get sick I?
Ilia (00:43):
got back to the gym, I started a very strict diet and I
have a destination wedding soon.
Oh, yeah so, yeah, I gotta lookgood and also like I.
Just I was so unhealthy for solong lost my tooth too.
I'm like I need.
I need to change what's goingon.
Nino (01:02):
I'm in my 30s, not like so and this guy's generally
healthy right, but when he getssick, he gets sick it is 10 pm.
Ilia (01:12):
This guy, I've been waiting for me since 6 pm
outside.
I finally show up, uh, becauseI wasn't home and I've been
moping around like uh yeah.
Nino (01:21):
So this guy's, on top of being sick, he's sore from the
gym.
He can't, he can't like uh,bend down cough hurts.
Ilia (01:29):
Getting off the chair hurts yeah, so uh, so anyway,
the show must go on.
So we're, we're still here.
We love doing this, so thankyou for tuning in.
Today we have an episode.
Um, what's the episode?
That is actually informationcollected by digital dj tips.
(01:51):
So shout out to digital dj tips, shout out to you guys.
Uh, thank you very much for uhproviding amazing content yeah
being a resource to a beginnerand advanced djs we're big fans,
of course.
Yes, yes, very, very good guysthere.
Guys and girls, we spoke aboutthis stuff before, maybe not on
the same podcast, but it reallycaught our attention.
(02:12):
It's a really nice list.
You know, actually, you sent itto me, I believe.
Nino (02:16):
Yeah, I did.
Ilia (02:18):
Because some of those things were things you were
trying to drill into my head,right?
Nino (02:20):
Yeah, so the actual topic is like seven DJ myths that hold
new DJs back.
Ilia (02:27):
Yes, so things that you think will cause you to pretty
much, things that hold you backbecause you think about it one
way.
Nino (02:36):
But really it's not true.
It's not.
You're just thinking way toohard about it.
Ilia (02:40):
Yes, so let's start with number one.
You want to start it.
Nino (02:46):
Okay, myth number one you want, you want to start it?
Okay, myth number one yes, youneed years of practice before
playing in public.
Now what's?
The fact, I I've already saidthis ingrained this in your head
.
You don't uh need to practicethat much.
What you need to do is actuallyum, get out in public as soon
as you can play in front ofpeople, because that will teach
(03:08):
you immensely right, that'swhere, that's when I really
shined yeah, as a dj, yeah Imean, we wanted to start this
podcast earlier, when I was evenmore a beginner, more of a
beginner.
Ilia (03:23):
It was even funnier the things I was saying and, my god,
I don't think I would say themon this podcast but I was really
like a like.
Give me an example, man no no,right now I was like I was just
such a beginner things that youreally need to know.
If you want to be a dj, likeI'll fine, like I I don't know
names of songs that I shoulddefinitely know.
(03:44):
Yeah, lyrics, stuff like that,right.
But that's also because Ididn't grow up here, exactly
right.
I didn't grow up with thismusic and then I had like years
of a hiatus listening to certainmusic and listening to
something else, because I'm alsoa guitar player, a singer,
songwriter, right.
So I listened to, like edsheeran your background is more
ballad, ballad stuff right, yeah, or like old music, what do you
call it?
Nino (04:05):
More classic rock, I guess .
Ilia (04:09):
That genre.
You said that I really likeactually Contemporary Standards.
I think you said Standards, yes,yes, so that's the kind of
stuff I like and I actually knowthat stuff pretty well.
I know the oldies pretty well,but, like top 40, sometimes Nino
is like dude, you should knowthis.
Yeah, as a dj, you need to knowthis.
Yeah, so it's just I, I I tooka long break from listening to
this type of music and also, Idid not grow up with that type
(04:30):
of music either.
Um, but I'm working with thisnow.
Right, I'm working on learningeverything, catching up on
everything, but we wanted to, um, bring this list to you guys,
because this stuff is all thestuff that nino was telling me
when he was mentoring me.
He still mentors me, um, and hewas saying how one of the
(04:50):
things he said, illy, you got toget out there.
You got to get out there andand he would like he would give
me gigs when I wasn't ready evenjust to get me out there, like
he took a chance with me becauseI knew what he could do and I
wouldn't give him a gig if if Iknew he would bomb it right and
I knew what he was capable of.
Nino (05:08):
So I gave him gigs according to his level of of
expertise yeah, so harding.
We're not saying to notpractice at all.
Yeah, get the, get the basicsdown, but you need to get out as
soon as possible.
Just Just play for your friends, something that you're
comfortable with playing, andgetting some feedback like
(05:28):
positive well, positive ifyou're good.
Ilia (05:30):
But just getting feedback in general right, like honestly,
I was at a point where Ipracticed enough to go to my
first gig.
I wasn't so good that I'm I'mgood, I'm done.
I barely need to practice Likesome pros out there.
I mean you should practicestill, but when you know what
you're doing, you can wing awedding like nothing, because
(05:51):
it's such a natural thing foryou.
But I was at a point where, ifI don't go and have that gig,
I'm not going to develop.
That was the checkpoint which Iwas avoiding.
Nino (06:02):
And then, when you did your first gig, my eyes lit up,
I was taking videos and andsending them to you and like, yo
, you know, I just did this.
I learned so much.
Right, I loved it, they lovedit and then you.
Ilia (06:15):
Yeah, there's certain things that you cannot learn
from practicing on your own yeah, so it it was extremely
important, uh, to somethingthat's extremely important to do
.
It's almost crazy that weactually have to say this to you
guys, or that he had to tell methat.
And as much as I knew kind ofknew that that's true I thought
(06:35):
there's other ways, there's noother way.
Nino (06:37):
I knew in a way, it's scary to go on your own and do a
gig, especially on your own, ofcourse.
But, you know it's somethingthat you have to do.
It's easier if you go out anddo it for a friend's party.
That's where.
That's where you have to start.
You should start right.
Ilia (06:51):
But yeah, and like, at first, like, he gave me a few
gigs and then I started gettingmy own gigs back in september
2022 and I got several gigs likefive or six gigs or something
like that, right, uh, several ofthem were mine and the other
ones were return gigs that yougave me and they wanted me back,
right?
So that's when things reallystarted to change for me.
The, the light bulb lit up inyour head yeah like oh okay, I'm
(07:13):
getting, I'm getting this andever since we started the
podcast, you know I wasn't doingmuch of a like.
I wasn't doing much practicing,because this, this is a lot of
work.
I do a lot of the it stuff, alot of the tech stuff, but, um,
you always have to find time forpracticing.
You always have have to and youhave those checkpoints that you
have to meet.
You always have to go and playin front of a crowd.
(07:34):
You have to go and put yourselfout there.
Uh, if, if there's a party likeyou have a get together, take
out the controller.
Like you know, these are yourfriends, they won't mind.
Yeah, do it for free, right?
Nino (07:45):
right, it's, it's all experience, it's all part of
your journey, right so get outthere as much as you can at the
beginning and uh, yeah yeah,let's see what the digital dj
tips actually said.
Ilia (07:56):
They said you learn.
So the myth is you need yearsof practice before playing in
public, and the fact is youlearn by doing, and doing is
something you do in public.
You learn more at one public djevent of any size or type than
you will learn in a month ofpracticing at home.
You should be playing in frontof other, in front of other
(08:18):
people.
Sorry, you should be playing,yes, in front of other people in
some way or form, early and asoften as possible.
Couldn't sum it up better yeahexactly um number two.
Number two dj myth.
The myth is djing is all aboutmixing, and the fact is, mixing
(08:40):
is the final 20 at best.
Djing is about great musicplayed in the right order for
the people in front of you.
Right now, when you are doingthat, it's so small I can't read
it.
When you're doing that, themixing will come naturally,
because every two or threeminutes you'll be forced to make
(09:02):
a decision about how to playthe next record yeah.
Nino (09:06):
So what they're saying is literally it's djing, it's, it
is part of of it, right, butit's not everything.
And mixing it is is a part ofit, but it's mostly song
selection.
What you're gonna play next iswhat they're emphasizing, right,
and that's fact.
That's true.
Mostly, like djing is is whatwhat they want to hear.
(09:29):
So you're gonna figure out what, no matter what bpms they are,
you're gonna have to figure outhow to play them in a certain
order for them to enjoy thejourney that you're taking them
on, right yeah, I find that, uh,that's.
Ilia (09:45):
I don't know how true it is.
Maybe maybe that's just mebeing a beginner, but I find
it's from what I see.
This is true to me.
If you don't mix very well, ifit's just okay, you know, like
it's not the cleanest mix,people will still be happy
because you play the righttracks.
Yeah, yeah, if you also mixwell, people will be like, wow,
look at this, oh, when did thissong come in?
that's the difference betweenthe okay, that's decent to wow
(10:07):
this guy is amazing, yeah but ifyou don't play the right tracks
, it doesn't matter if you'remixing anyway, right?
Nino (10:14):
if you don't listen to them, you're just letting them
down.
Right, they might.
They could might as well justplay like a spotify playlist.
Even then, spotify might bedoing a better job than you.
Ilia (10:26):
Yeah, actually Spotify has this fader option.
Nino (10:29):
Yeah, that's crazy man.
Ilia (10:31):
It's incredible, it's crazy.
Nino (10:33):
But yeah, it's not all about mixing.
There's other things about it.
Myth number three.
Myth number three you need progear.
Ilia (10:43):
And the fact is, to DJ, you need four things A pair of
music playing devices of sometype, something to mix the two
of them together, someheadphones to listen to
something that's different towhat the audience is hearing,
and some speakers for theaudience.
That's it.
(11:03):
Don't let the gear hold youback.
And also, he didn't write itdown here, but it doesn't have
to be top of the line either.
Nino (11:09):
No, not at all.
Right, not at all.
You could be playing with oldgear.
Just as long as it does thefinal product right.
Final outcome you get peopledancing and they're having a
good time.
It doesn't matter what you playon new, old, busted up dirty.
Ilia (11:28):
Yeah, so as long as it's a clean sound, yes, of course
there's always something better,but you got to start somewhere.
Nino (11:37):
And technology always gets better and better.
But technically you can play onliterally anything that does
the same thing.
Yes, myth number four Mythnumber four you need a huge
record collection and the factis, lots of music can actually
be a hindrance.
So if you don't know that musicwell enough, how can you DJ
(12:01):
properly with it?
Far better to build your owncollection slowly.
Now, don't think you need tohave a huge collection to start
doing this, and I've told youthis so many, many times how?
Ilia (12:12):
much music did you give me .
Nino (12:13):
I gave you like 100,000 songs man More, I think.
Ilia (12:16):
And then another DJ gave me like a hundred thousand songs
more, I think.
And then another dj gave melike 50 000 songs.
Nino (12:20):
And then I found like uh, I discovered the record pulls
and I just like downloaded everyday, like downloading hundreds
of songs, and I was like okay,I'm good for the game, I'm good,
I'm good, there's no way Iwon't find something.
Ilia (12:32):
And then I'm like searching the tracks like this
doesn't work, this doesn't work.
Oh, what is this?
I never heard this before yeah,yeah.
Remixes like I don't know, Idon't like this.
Right, you get your 100 top 100200 tracks, most, most gigs.
You don't need more than like200 tracks right, but then it's
(12:52):
good to have extra yeah, thoseare the 200 out of the thousand
you have there that you play atdifferent gigs.
Right, I have like a quartermillion tracks by now.
Yeah, I don't know how many Ihave, I hundreds of thousands.
Nino (13:04):
So how did that help you?
I don't Right, you don't need.
Ilia (13:08):
You didn't even look at them.
I put on the cloud.
It's there.
I don't want case.
I need something, but I nevercarry it with me.
I only pick the ones I like themost.
I have a smaller hard drivewhich I take with me, um, so
let's say the thousand or twothousand that I that I like for
the types of gigs that I do, andthen on my laptop I have the
500 or 200 that I always use andyou learn this by doing gigs
(13:32):
like seeing the reactions, andyou're starting to build it up
that way, right?
yeah, and then I started likebuilding my uh crates and then
each crate like you look at it.
Oh, that uh christmas, uh party.
Yeah, that was good, lots of edmin that one you put that in the
crate, yeah or that umcorporate, uh, you know, back in
(13:53):
march, like that was, oh, thatwas a really good um, ethnic, uh
, ethnic mix, uh, for thisculture, or something right
there you go so and then youstart making notes, and then
that's how you realize that,okay, I don't need any other
music, and then you just add alittle bit at a time yeah, so
just build it up yourself, right?
Nino (14:10):
don't rely on big big um pools or libraries from other
DJs.
It's nice to have, but you gotto look through that stuff too
and it's very tedious too, ifyou don't have the time.
As DJs, we're always updatingand looking for music.
That's what we should be doingExactly.
Ilia (14:28):
Yeah, so number six, myth number six.
Nino (14:33):
Myth number six DJing only happens in clubs, and the fact
is, the fact is, not everyonewants to be DJing in clubs, but
a generation ago, that wasbasically the only place you
could.
Now people expect to see DJs inall kinds of places.
You can also DJ online, shareyour mixes, play at private
(14:54):
parties, live stream and a wholelot more.
Yes, now we just whole lot more.
Ilia (14:57):
Yes, now, we just kind of spoke about it.
You have a get-together, youcan DJ.
Yeah, weddings, that's one ofthe biggest Weddings, yeah,
biggest.
What is it called?
What word am I thinking about?
One of the biggest industriesfor DJing, bar, mitzvahs, but
(15:20):
mitzvahs, mitzvahs.
Store openings Quinceañeras.
Nino (15:23):
Corporate parties.
Ilia (15:24):
Yes, corporate parties Like.
There's so many things.
Nino (15:27):
Anniversaries, birthday parties, anything Funerals, yes
celebration of life?
Ilia (15:33):
Yes, celebration of life.
Or just a beach party.
People just want to swim anddance and listen to music and
play volleyball and stuff.
Nino (15:42):
It's definitely not true, but DJing in clubs is yeah it is
there.
Ilia (15:47):
I can't believe anyone would think that DJing only
happens in clubs.
Don't people know that peopleneed a DJ at a wedding or any of
the other ones that we justmentioned?
Yeah, that's right, it's a myth.
In universities and collegesconvocations, Exactly Right.
Everything.
Frosh week I'm not going to bearound this June, so Nino
unfortunately had to get adifferent DJ.
(16:09):
I know it's hard for you, Nino,but you'll be fine.
Nino (16:12):
You know, we'll survive, you'll survive, you'll survive
Without you, honestly that wasone of the best ways for me to
get my confidence.
Ilia (16:20):
He gave me those gigs and I realized just how much more I
can do.
It's not like it was perfectfrom the start, but it was such
a gig where I could like, aslong as I was at a certain level
of professionalism, I could trydifferent things.
Nino (16:37):
No one was really like listening you more like it was
background music.
Ilia (16:40):
yeah, yeah, for ambience and then it became very direct
with the crowd because peoplestarted liking it and they
started dancing beside comingcloser and they're like oh, they
recognize, they like the musicthat you're playing, so they,
they like, like request stuffnow, and then it became not
background anymore.
More like lively the dancing andthey'll do their dance, they'll
(17:00):
do their thing, then they leaveand then the next class will
come in.
And it gave me the opportunityto actually play the same thing
three, four times in a dayBecause there was convocation.
It was like people were comingout in groups, right yeah.
Nino (17:14):
We did that for like a week and a half.
Ilia (17:16):
Yeah, that's good money too.
Yeah, it is.
Yeah, that was number five,right Number five.
Nino (17:23):
Yes, number six yes, the myth you need to be young to be
a DJ.
Come on now and the fact Goahead.
Ilia (17:32):
Djing has gone mainstream and is now as accepted as any
other way of playing music.
You shouldn't think that youfeel silly when you're doing oh,
I skipped it.
You shouldn't think that youneed to be 18 in order to not
feel silly when you're doing it.
It just isn't true anymore.
Nino (17:52):
Now, it is good if you started young, right, but
nowadays, how old is Tiesto likehe's like 60 or 70.
No, no, come on, he is man, noway I'm gonna check.
Yeah he is at most yeah, but 50still there's.
I know djs who are still djingalmost you're gonna kill him.
Ilia (18:11):
Are you kidding?
No, no, he's 100.
Nino (18:13):
He's listening to us right now.
He's like how dare you?
Ilia (18:16):
Tiesto age.
Nino (18:18):
I'm telling you, he's old?
Ilia (18:19):
No way, 55, dude, oh, 55.
Okay, he doesn't even look thatold either.
Okay, who's?
Nino (18:24):
Tiesto, I didn't say that.
Okay, I did.
Carl Cox Google him.
He's old too.
(18:44):
How's dj google him, carl cox?
Oh wow, 61 man, you're tryingto save yourself right, there's
a lot man I'm telling you arminvan buren.
Oh, come on, he's young man.
Ilia (18:49):
Yeah, he's 47, yeah, yeah.
But let me tell you somethingthe stuff that he does I gotta
find out, like his diet and hisroutine, because I watched that
documentary about Steve AokiMm-hmm, I think, don't quote me
on it Like I'll stop when I die,or something like that.
The guy has more gigs thanthere are days in the week and
(19:13):
in a year.
So he has, like in Europe, liketwo gigs in neighboring
countries.
Nino (19:18):
Yeah, yeah.
Ilia (19:19):
And like he sleeps, like takes pill, he sleeps on the
plane or on the bus or whereverthey are, and then he has to get
up after like two hours orwhatever.
Go to the next gig it's crazy,it's insane.
How do you do that at that age,when you're in your 40s, 50s,
right, like Armand Van Buren,he's a serious entrepreneur, he
has a lot of things going on andI wonder, just like he looks
(19:39):
pretty young for his age.
Yeah, he does, and he is such agood guy, he's such a nice guy,
man, uh, and he'll give peoplean opportunity.
Yeah, yeah and um, it'sbusiness after all, but yeah,
it's um like, look at that.
Hardwell is 36, still a little,quite, quite young.
Martin gears 28.
(20:00):
What does it say here?
Uh, david, david, yet at 56years old.
So most of these DJs areactually in the Steve Aoki 46,
afrojack 36.
Most of them are older.
Nino (20:13):
Yeah, most of them are older and a lot of them are
veterans.
They've been.
Ilia (20:15):
DJing for years, but that's the thing they made a
name for themselves over thepast five, 10, 20 years.
Nino (20:31):
Some it maybe like five years ago, but they've been
djing for like 30, 40 years.
Yeah, so technically, yes,obviously start start young if
you can, but if you didn'tdoesn't mean you can't do it.
Yeah, and I know this for afact that digital dj tips most
of their um clients or customersthat are learning are, are in
their mid 30s, 40s, in 50s aswell.
So well, so you can never.
You can never.
Ilia (20:46):
I'm teaching someone right now.
He is in his maybe not 50s,he's in his 40s.
And then the other one I'mteaching is in his 20s, I
believe.
Nino (20:56):
Yeah, so it's never, ever too late to DJ.
Yeah, by the way, I startedteaching.
Ilia (21:02):
Yeah, yeah.
So like you get to that levelalready, uh, where you know the
basics and you know how to teachothers because you learned
everything.
It ingrains, it gets ingrainedin your head.
I did it over and over and overagain to the point where I'm
like you know what I can teachsomeone?
Yeah, someone wants to do this.
(21:23):
It's also great practice for mebecause I always have to stay
on top of it.
On top of it because this.
It's also great practice for mebecause I always have to stay
on top of it because thisperson's going to come and
expect me to teach themsomething new.
Nino (21:32):
So you got to make sure you know it too In and out.
Ilia (21:35):
By the way, that was just a tactic of mine to learn and be
better, right, that's why Idon't charge a lot and yeah,
we're just kind of hanging outand yes, obviously I chart
something, but uh, it was moreof a hey, this is gonna force me
to practice.
Yeah, that's true, and they'regreat.
They learned so fast.
Wait, they learned faster thanI did.
Nino (21:53):
Yeah, there you go nothing against you but oh yeah, I was
teaching you like a differentway too.
Yeah, you're I you're.
Ilia (22:01):
That's the thing.
I had to figure out what youwere telling me in a way that I
understand, and I was was likeyou know what A beginner would
need it this way.
That's why this podcast is socool in our opinions, because
you could be such a professional, you know how to do everything
so well, but you might forgetwhat it's like for a beginner.
You might forget how a beginnerwould understand it better,
(22:22):
whereas my perspective would bebetter for somebody who's never
done it.
Yeah, exactly.
Nino (22:26):
So we're unique in that way.
Ilia (22:29):
That's why we that's from a beginner point of view and a
professional yeah, right, and Itold them when you get to a
certain level where I myselfwouldn't agree to teach you
because I'm still not confidentenough to teach at that level, I
have contacts where I can sendyou if you want to do it.
But I told them that once youlearn the basics, you shouldn't
pay anyone.
(22:49):
You should just go and learn onyour own.
Some people need guidance, somepeople need you to take their
hand and teach them, which isfine, and I kind of needed that
because I couldn't figure it outfor the life of me in the
beginning.
Lucky for me, it was free.
Lucky for me it was free.
Nino (23:05):
We had a thing going right .
You'd help me out in gigs.
Ilia (23:08):
It wasn't free at all.
Really, when you think about it, it wasn't free Slave work.
Come on, bro, slave work.
I can't believe I stuck it outtoo with you for that long.
I remember you sitting in yourspecial leading chair.
Every time he leans in thatchair, I thought he was going to
make a backflip leaning thechair.
Every time he leans that chair,I thought he's going to make a
backflip and just sits therewith his phone, like this guy is
(23:29):
not getting it.
Nino (23:30):
He's still not getting it.
Ilia (23:32):
And he's like do you get it?
I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah, Letme do it.
Nino (23:36):
So he's a prime example.
You don't have to start at 18.
Ilia (23:39):
I started at like 32.
I'm 34 now.
Nino (23:48):
And I find a lot of uh.
Older people are just trying toget it as a hobby too as well,
some a little bit more serious,but the most people who want to
learn right now are mid 30s, 40s, 50s right, yeah because it's
so easy, so accessible, themusic and stuff it's not that
expensive.
Ilia (24:00):
You know, like, as a 30, 40 year old, you can.
You have a thousand, twothousand dollars to buy the gear
you need.
Right, because you, yeah,because you're working Right.
So yeah, and so many options.
Now, if you don't want to buy alaptop, fine, get a normal one,
a cheaper one, or like whichone?
Is it the one that my buddy got?
And then returned the.
Numark Mixtreme.
Nino (24:20):
Pro, is that the name go or something pro, go, go, yeah.
And then there's the, the um,the denon prime go, yeah.
So so there's a lot of options,a lot of options out there yeah
, and not that expensive, right?
Ilia (24:33):
if you want to save on getting the laptop and the one I
was telling you, like they'reboth, I think yeah, they're
portable yeah, and they'recoming up with softwares that
you can work off of your phonenow, too, and iPad, yeah.
So yeah, that was number six.
Number seven, Number seven, thelast one.
Nino (24:54):
DJing is hard.
Ilia (24:56):
Is it really?
Nino (24:57):
And the fact is no, it's not.
You need a passion for musicand you need to have seen a DJ
somewhere along the line andthought I could do better than
that.
As long as you got those twothings, you've got what it takes
to be.
You need to have seen a djsomewhere along the line and
thought I could do better thanthat.
Ilia (25:06):
As long as you got those two things, you've got what it
takes to be a dj, and that, yeah, that's, that's, that is true,
yeah I um, I couldn't uh say itbetter because, uh, many times
where I was, when I waslistening to somebody dj uh at
an event, I was, hmm, that's nothow I was going to do it.
(25:27):
I would do it this way.
Nino (25:28):
I've thought of that a lot , especially because before I
wasn't a DJ, I would think thatat a party I was like that was
okay, but I would have playedthis, so I was already thinking
like a.
Ilia (25:39):
DJ, and mostly what I was thinking about was once I met
Nino.
That's not how Nino does it.
That's not how Nino does it,and I would record it Like yo
Nino, check out this transition.
Nino (25:50):
He sends it to me.
Ilia (25:51):
Yo, this guy is supposed to be a pro, but, like, listen
to this transition and I had tolearn.
Nino (25:57):
I was very much a beginner and Nino was like everyone has
their own way.
Ilia (26:00):
I'm like, yeah, but your way is better, better.
You gotta hear this guy.
Nino (26:04):
His transitions are flawless, oh man come on your
song selection, but like that's,you're buttering me up like
that's like 15, 20 years ofexperience yeah, yeah, that too
right, but everybody has theirown way of doing things.
Ilia (26:15):
No, there's no wrong way you know, started when he was uh
10 years old, so he's uh 25 to30 right now.
Shush, shush, wow, wow.
You locked yourself in a roomand you just I'm going to get it
.
Nino (26:29):
Yeah, I learned it.
The best way to learn somethingis through a broken heart,
literally right.
So I was heartbroken at thetime and I locked myself in a
room just so I wouldn't thinkabout it, and I said I'm going
to learn how to DJ.
And literally two weeks of justmixing.
I didn't mean to hurt you, bro.
Ilia (26:50):
All the memories are just coming back to my head.
I'm like, oh my God, yeah, wedefinitely did not know each
other back then.
Nino (26:57):
But yeah, you couldn't even say it better.
You need to have passion formusic, and that's the thing For
me.
I've been in music all my life.
Ever since high school, I'vebeen singing, producing, writing
.
Same with you, man, you've been.
It's an easy transition, right,and yeah, I love music as
musicians.
Ilia (27:15):
It's not a hard thing to get into.
You have to adapt.
It's a different set of skills.
But in this modern age I findit very difficult to believe
that anything is hard to learnor impossible.
Everything's available online,yes, or there's a teacher who'll
teach you, uh, or you know,there's just courses everywhere.
(27:38):
You can go to school.
It's just impossible to notlearn something you love
especially when it's a skilllike that.
Nino (27:43):
Yeah, yeah, exactly if you love it, if you go for it,
right?
Ilia (27:47):
yeah, so um that was djing is not hard at all yes, that
was the seven dj myths that holdyou back, uh, by digital dj
tips.
Thank you again.
Shout out to you guys.
Thank you guys.
Um, yeah, that's it, I thinkthat's it right?
Nino (28:01):
yeah, episode number 21 number 21 books we'll see you
guys in the next one.
All right, see you guys in thenext one.
All right, see you then.
All right yeah.
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