Brolic Army DJ School by DJ Rob Swift

  Although your audience isn’t inside the DJ booth with you selecting the music you play and the order in which you play it, they’re still a part of your set. So the deeper the synchronization between you and them, the better the experience of DJing. Here are my five tips for commanding the attention of your audience as a DJ. 1. QUESTION TACTIC The first words you speak into the microphone set the tone for the exchange of energy between you and the people in front of you. Asking a question is a great way to warm up any crowd but asking THE RIGHT question is an art so depending on the situation and the environment, ask something everyone is collectively passionate about. 2. ACTIVE VS PASSIVE VOICE As a listener, I know I’m more inclined to focus my attention on a speaker who sounds excited to talk. So be active as a speaker, you want the intonation in your speech to project power. If you’re passive or soft spoken, it will hamper your ability to get and keep people’s attention. 3. BE...

  If you think mixing is “THE” optimal way to navigate through your music while you’re DJing for people, you’re thinking about this wrong. Transitions can be just as effective as mixing by relying on simple drops on the “one”, drum roll throw-ins and rhythmic scratches that help connect musical sections together like the chorus from song A to the introduction of song B. DROPPING ON THE ONE This is the most basic way to introduce a song to your audience during a set. Avoid using this rudimentary style of swapping as a crutch though. Otherwise, it will make the way you switch between tracks sound redundant, fast! DRUM ROLL THROW-INS If you don’t possess a sound sense of rhythm or timing, this can be difficult. That said, DJing revolves around music theory. Much in the same way playing the drum or guitar does. Any DJ that doesn’t have a grasp of Music Theory is essentially DJing all of their sets at a disadvantage! RHYTHMIC SCRATCHING Next to timing, what matters most as you progress ...

  As DJs we all have access to the same popular songs. So how can we avoid emulating each other and better manage the process of building creative sets that inspire our listeners. The best way to not fall into the imitation trap is to diversify your intake of music. The more blended your music knowledge is, the more varied your creative output can be. Combining many different styles of music rather than sittin’ in front of your laptop and curating your playlist so that it’s on par with what everyone else is playing is crucial to keeping your DJing style unique. “Do you have in your Brolic Army curriculum, tutorials on scratching out of songs?” Second, practice! Solely relying on tutorials that aim to show you how to scratch, beat juggle or accomplish a task as basic as scratching out of a song means the “creative choices” you’re making when you DJ aren’t really yours, or all that creative for that matter. By all means, seek DJ tips from as many DJ schools as you like, but there com...

  Although your audience isn’t inside the DJ booth with you selecting the music you play and the order in which you play it, they’re still a part of your set. So the deeper the synchronization between you and them, the better the experience of DJing. Here are my five tips for commanding the attention of your audience as a DJ. 1. QUESTION TACTIC The first words you speak into the microphone set the tone for the exchange of energy between you and the people in front of you. Asking a question is a great way to warm up any crowd but asking THE RIGHT question is an art so depending on the situation and the environment, ask something everyone is collectively passionate about. 2. ACTIVE VS PASSIVE VOICE As a listener, I know I’m more inclined to focus my attention on a speaker who sounds excited to talk. So be active as a speaker, you want the intonation in your speech to project power. If you’re passive or soft spoken, it will hamper your ability to get and keep people’s attention. 3. BE...

  The Covid-Lockdown is officially over and nightclubs are open again. This means DJs are back in the DJ booth playing music for people worldwide, and as happy as that makes us all, with that also comes experiences that can be aggravating for DJs. By now, we’re all familiar with Request Culture, club goers who frequent night clubs with the intention to micromanage what DJs play. But the most recent incident at Poppy Night Club in LA speaks to a more serious problem that DJs have had to deal with for decades, entitled Rap artists publicly humiliating the house DJs for lack of preparedness. Let me explain. This past weekend, Whiz Khalifa made an appearance at Poppy to promote an upcoming release. On the afternoon of his performance, the house DJs (Mike Danger and MC Tron) were sent the MP3s of the songs Khalifa would be performing and they were asked to have them ready to be played that night. According to a video of Khalifa physically and verbally attacking the DJs, things did not g...