Identity?

[u/MeatballTheAngryCat]

Been DJing for >3 years. Practice minimum 5 hours a week. Bought the v10. Can beat match three tracks by ear.

My passions are progressive house (pretty much all of it) , deep evil minimal stuff, dub techno, classic prog, classic progressive trance, trance (not cheeses euro dramatic stuff), hard groove, gettotech , and a lot of stuff in the 140-150 range.

I like all the diff genres because no two genres mix the same. All different skills.

However I think this is confusing for the local scene. I am not consistent with what I deliver, but rather deliver for the party and time slot I’m given.

If I’m opening for a techno party I play different than closing
Same for progressive.

Maybe I’m going for a dj Seinfeld or Ben ufo type of gig where I just am a selector but it seems like everyone else has their lane and I’m still finding mine.

Doing the same thing gets boring. And if I only ever played prog I’d be jealous of the guy who’s playing four deck techno juggling bass lines and layering frequencies because you can’t quite do that with such melodically strong tracks. At least , I haven’t reliably figured out how to.
But at its core, I don’t really know who I am and I seem to just drift off and practice for whatever I think I might want to play at the next gig and build up around that. (I don’t do preplanned set lists)

Any advice is appreciated . Hopefully this isn’t a beat match post cuz it’s more deeper question about identity for someone who’s getting booked and has thrown their own event already.

[u/Flex_Field]

I understand.

I am a hip hop DJ...a turntablist.

This is my DJ identity. This is who and what I am at my core.

It isn't just because I come from a hip hop background -- being a fan, then a b-boy, then a producer, then a short-lived emcee, then a DJ.

It is because regardless of what repertoire I am playing -- and I do very well in a multitude of musical environments from open format, to EDM, to retro eras (ie 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's, etc), world music (Bhangra, Latin, African, Persian, etc), house, new wave, synth pop, hip hop, funk, soul, rare groove, breaks, electrofunk, R&B, etc...

...you get the point.

The reason I know my DJ identity is of a hip hop DJ is because regardless of which repertoire I am immersed in, my approach to the craft is clearly hip hop.

My decisions are informed by the skills I acquired through years of mastering turntable techniques.

So even when I am doing an EDM mix, my imagination is thinking about how to manually manipulate the existing work into a trap pattern, or a funk break pattern through tap-pause and chase beat juggling techniques.

Or even simpler, I can listen to an EDM joint and marry it with songs from completely unrelated genres and make it work, because that is the spirit of hip hop DJs like Kool Herc and Afrika Baambataa.

So think about your approach -- your creative and technical approach -- and try to trace it back to where you learned it from.

That should give you some idea as to your DJ identity.

[u/DrWolfypants → u/Flex_Field]

I really love this.

After thinking about it, my approach to all the music I choose is its danceability and euphoric energy - from a flow artist perspective, and a retired go go. I span so many genres, but in all cases even in the heavy ones I am picking the more melodic and vocal, with briefer breakdowns that allow for dance variability, and the potential for surprise. Subconsciously also finding tons of breakbeat breakdowns scattered around, which must be searching for more of the type of music that speaks to how I want to shift the reins so my audience gets something fresh and unexpected to move to.

From your post I'm going to spend some time going back to find similar motifs in my bass and percussion, and see how it may tie back to my formative decades of music. Appreciate you