Some DJs get weirdly offended by the idea of other DJs practising. Falling back on set routines, rehearsing transitions, planning the run of a mix – apparently all of that makes you somehow less of a “real” DJ.
I think that’s nonsense, and so does our tutor James Hype. He recently posted this on social media, to – it must be said – a very mixed reaction (I’ve edited his words to the important parts for this conversation):
What James Hype said:
Some people get weirdly offended by the idea of DJs practising. No one is born with the confidence to do this stuff in front of thousands of people. You build that confidence on your own before anyone is watching.
Nobody would go and watch their favourite band and think, “I hope they haven’t rehearsed this.” Nobody would watch a football team walk out and think, “I hope they didn’t train too hard.” But somehow with DJs, practice gets mistaken for faking it.
For me, it’s the opposite. It means I care enough to prepare properly. It means I respect the people who bought a ticket. I respect the music. I respect the idea that if I’m going to put myself in a position where I’m expected to perform with precision, I should do the work before I get there.
Not every DJ set needs to be rehearsed. Not every moment should be planned. But when the goal is to push the technical side as far as I can, I’m not leaving that to chance. This is me trying to make sure my worst is still good enough when it matters.
I agree with every word. We can debate that, of course – feel free to join in under the video! But the two examples James gives – bands and football teams – are worth pulling apart a bit more, because they apply to DJing in slightly different ways.
The band analogy
With a band, the performance is mostly rehearsed. The setlist, the arrangements, the solos, even the between-song banter – all worked out in advance. But the human connection is still there. The musicianship is there. The crowd is there. It’s all happening in the same room, and it matters. Nobody calls that inauthentic.
Years ago I drove up the motorway from my home in Manchester to Lancaster University to watch Carl Cox play a 90-minute set on three record decks. It was one of the best DJs in the world doing some of the most technical mixing I’d ever seen. Was a lot of it rehearsed? Of course it was. Highly technical DJ sets are like that – they sit much closer to a live band’s show than to a freeform jam. A bit of improvisation, sure, but lots of it scripted. What’s wrong with that? Nothing.
The football team analogy
Football teams drill set plays. They learn overall tactics. Fitness, communication, muscle memory – all practised endlessly. Individual skills, drilled to perfection. But as soon as the whistle goes, what actually happens on the pitch can’t really be rehearsed.
That’s a lot of DJ sets too. Players still fall back on planned patterns, still use set plays, still go to the moves they trust. How different is that to a DJ with things they want to do in their set – and definitely will do at some point – while staying flexible to the crowd in front of them?
Whether you stick to planned material like a band, freestyle the whole thing, or do a bit of each (which is what most DJs actually do, the football team being the closest analogy), if you do what’s expected of you, and do it well, you’ve done a good job. And none of that is possible without practice.
My first ever set, Manchester 1991
The very first mixed DJ set I played in public was at a small club called Testarossa, round the corner from the famous Hacienda. A one-hour vinyl set. Of course it was – there was no such thing as anything else at that point.
I was so nervous I had the setlist and every transition written on a postcard hidden under the booth. My hands were trembling so much I could hardly get the needles into the record grooves without them jumping. Was I reading the crowd, reacting to the moment, lost in the reverie of being a DJ? Of course I wasn’t. I was shitting it.
Was it the best set I ever played? You know the answer.
But did I turn up and do the job? Yes I damn well did.
For me, for you, for every DJ who loves this craft, that’s always enough. It’s about right here, right now, and the people in the room with you. Doing your best, the best way you know how.
Finally…
If you can get a vibe going, make a human connection, learn from it, and come back and do it again next time, as far as I’m concerned you’re a hero. Doing it makes you right. Don’t let anyone tell you that practising as much or as little of that set as you need to to get you to that point makes you any less of a DJ.
