How to Find YOUR Sound as a DJ: Part 1 – The Music

Finding your signature sound as a DJ is no small feat. It requires time, patience, and experience, but there is an analytical, methodical approach that will speed up the process a bit. There are two key facets that determines a DJ’s audio fingerprint – the music they choose to play, and the way they choose to play it.

Here in part one, we will focus on developing your sound with the first aspect: the music you choose. In the forthcoming part two, we will examine the second aspect: the performance style.

I hope this two-part piece helps some new DJs out there find their voices!

Part One: The Music

A DJ is more than a living jukebox. Much more. A DJ is a curator of sounds – a keeper of vibes. Every DJ has the potential to express him or herself uniquely in each set they play. Sure, you might have to play the hits for a payday sometimes, but why did you really get into DJ in the first place?

To play what you like – to express yourself.

But there is just so much music out there. There is a virtually infinite amount of it available – from global pop hits to anonymously published underground gems. Somewhere within that spectrum is your sound.

New DJs are often overwhelmed by the breadth of options available to them, so they often split into two types: copy-cats and scatter-shots.

Copy-cats will play the top-ten of their favorite genre, often coming from a small handful of powerhouse labels. They are essentially just playing with pre-curated libraries.

Scatter-shots might play a bit of everything. Sets would struggle to be cohesive. They’d have interests in everything from drum and bass to Berlin techno, but you’d never quite know what to expect from them from set to set – sometimes even from track to track.

Sometimes, you might get away with these approaches. There is a time and place for everything. And if you just want to play Drumcode mega-hits, that’s fine too. But I’m going to guess that you want more out of DJ than that. You want to be able to express yourself. You want to curate a sound as unique as your fingerprints.

You can do it, but it will take time, dedication, and patience. And the first step is knowing where to look.

Know Your Resources

Deep dives into obscure styles where genres wantonly bleed into one another simply cannot be done on Apple Music or Spotify. Sure, you’ll find the behemoths of club music, maybe some mid-range labels, but you want to explore the depths. That’s where you’ll find your sound.

So before we dive into the process of honing a sound, it is important to know where to conduct research. This is hardly all there is, but here are a few good resources for you to explore:

BeatPort

This is the best-known digital music store online tailored to DJs, with a focus on electronic music suited for clubs and other gigs. It’s got a wide selection of music across the gamut of genres, and those genres are subdivided into a range of sub-genres. Another thing to note about BeatPort is that their content is gatekept – they will only allow music published by established and vetted record labels onto their platform. Artists cannot independently submit their music to sell there, so you won’t have to wade through un-vouched for music. Similar resources with slightly different slants include Traxsource, and Junodownload.

SoundCloud

Another platform everyone knows about, SoundCloud allows anybody to host their music there. SoundCloud is a major player in the underground music world for this reason. There is a lot of networking that goes on there, and you can find the titans of the industry as well as the amateur hobbyists. It is excellent for finding and following smaller artists and labels, and their recommendation engine will fill your feed with new releases by your followed accounts, as well as other music that matches your established likes. On top of that, the mobile app is great and allows you to peruse new music as you drive around town. It isn’t a storefront, but artists and labels often leave links to purchase tracks. And sometimes, they make tracks available for free download.

BandCamp

This is an excellent platform that spans genres and tastes well beyond the decks. They are a digital storefront that allows anyone to create an account and sell their music – regardless of genre or label affiliation. BandCamp is a hotspot for independent, underground artists and record labels, so it is more than worth it to explore your chosen genres there. They allow for following artists and labels, wishlisting music, and it also has a mobile app that allows you to listen from your phone. Finally, BandCamp takes the smallest cut of an artist or label’s sales, so buying music on BandCamp sends more of your dollar directly to the artists and labels you want to support.

Getting a Feel

The first order of business is finding a starting point. You won’t be a special little snowflake of a DJ out of the gate. Particularly with new DJs, you’re likely going to start as a copy-cat. And that’s perfectly okay! When learning a craft, you need to learn the basics and establish a foundation. And with any craft, you do that by copying those who are better than you; you do it by mimicking the masters.

The following process is for nailing down particular sounds within a single genre, so it will work best if you focus on one genre at a time. Versatility is excellent and keeps things fresh, so if you want to dial in sounds for multiple genres, go through these steps for each of those genres separately.

Step 1: Identify Your Genre

I’m guessing you already have some favorite artists and sets, so let’s pull one up.

Got it? Great.

What genre is it classified under?

Don’t get hung up on sub-genres – we will note those in a moment. Generally, what is the genre? Start very broad. Is it hip-hop? Is it EDM? Is it house or techno?

Often, sets posted online are labeled or tagged with genres so they can more easily be found, so you can start there. Take note of your favorite set’s genre, as well as other sub-genre tags that may be associated with it.

Repeat this with another couple favorite sets by different artists and examine your findings. What genre has repeatedly come up? Have you noticed the same sub-genres popping up?

Next, we’re going zero in on that sound you like.

Step 2: Identify Your Likes and Dislikes

Let’s return to that set you selected. Listen to it again, but with a pen and paper. When you hear passages, tracks, or sounds that impact you, write down the timestamp, whether you like or dislike it, and a word to describe what you liked or didn’t like. Maybe it’s a vocal sample or a diva. Maybe it’s a certain synth or effect. Maybe a type of mix. Anything that moves you one way or another.

Try to identify the individual tracks that you liked, if possible. Some sets have setlists posted with them, some even with timestamps. That information is GOLD for DJs!

However, many will not have such information posted. In those cases, you can give Shazam or SoundHound a shot. Sometimes, they will work with more distinctive, popular tracks. Most of the time, though, especially with more underground styles, they just get confused. Still, they’re free tools – so it’s worth a shot. You might get lucky.

Keep these notes – they will help you home in on what will become your signature sound. And don’t hesitate to add to or modify them!

DISCOVERING THE PLAYERS

Step 3: Identify Artists

Once you’ve figured out your genre, a couple sub-genres, and some likes / dislikes, it’s time to find who has what you want. This is the fun part!

Take one of your favorite artists and find a specific track that exemplifies at least some – if not most – of your likes, while at the same time avoiding most – if not all – of your dislikes. If you have identified any of your liked tracks in the set you’ve been referring to, use those as well.

If you don’t already know the record, find the record that track was published on and listen to it. Make note of any other artists on that record – whether it be a remixer or another artist on a compilation record. Also – and for DJs, this is a very important bit – find the name of the record label that put the record out.

Step 4: Identify Record Labels

Labels are, like DJs, curators of sound. They find artists and records that fit the sound or sounds they push, and they publish that work. Smaller, independent labels, however, generally operate a little differently than pop culture would have you believe.

Rather than signing an artist for a period of time during which the artist publishes exclusively through them, like major pop/rock music labels often do, independent labels will usually sign individual records. Depending on an artist’s output volume, they may publish records on several labels in a short time.

Check out the label that published the record with the track you like by the artist you like. What other records have they put out? Time to listen to some more records!

Step 5: Repeat steps 3 and 4

You will surely find another record you like listening to the label’s releases. Save that record in a cart or on a list (you have been saving all the tracks and records that you like, right?). What artist made the record?

Now, it’s just a matter of hopping back and forth from artist to label and listening to music until you realize it’s 3 in the morning and you have to work the next day so you should probably go to bed.

Making a Habit

Spending time doing this regularly is key to developing your sound and keenly expanding your library, but don’t make it a chore. This is one of the most fun, most personal parts of the craft. If it’s a drag for you, it may be time to rethink why you want to get into DJ in the first place.

Of course, there are only so many hours in the day. We also have a litany of responsibilities, relationships, and other interests that also need time and attention. You don’t have to detract from those in order to explore new music.

Taking the time to focus on the previous exercise is required the first couple times around, but you once you get it, you don’t have to pause your life to do it. Instead of focusing singularly on listening to new music (though that is fun to do sometimes), look for ways to incorporate this process into your daily life. You can be listening to new music while you drive, while you cook or clean, while you do other chores… some of you may even have jobs that would permit you to listen to music – in that case, you can even listen while you work!

This is when the mobile apps come in clutch. Personally, driving is my favorite time to listen to new music. I drive to work every day, I often go places throughout the week, and my SoundCloud and BandCamp apps are always playing something new. It’s a quick tap to mark any track as a favorite, and when “new music day” comes around, it’s all saved and ready to review – which brings me to the final segment of this process: busting out that wallet!

Purchasing New Music

If you’re just starting your journey into DJ, you may be tempted to vacuum up gigs of music off the bat. I’m here to tell you:

DON’T DO IT!

You do not have to go out and spend hundreds of dollars to jumpstart a collection – in fact, it is highly advisable NOT to do that! The reason being that as you continue this process of identifying likes, dislikes, labels, and artists, your tastes will change; they will become more discerning and refined. This is especially true for new DJs looking to get into the craft. It’s best to avoid buying a boatload of tracks you THOUGHT you liked, only to discover six months later, you’ll never touch them again.

The better option – although slower to start – is to go bit by bit. Listen as much as you want. The more you listen, the better – and listening is free! But when it comes time to break out the wallet, be discerning. Be picky.

Be VERY picky!

Remember, you’re not just buying tracks in bulk. You’re not hoarding toilet paper during a pandemic – you’re curating a sound!

Compilations

That said, most labels will periodically put out compilation records. (This especially happens around summertime, the end/beginning of the year, and world-class music festivals). One or two compilation records are a great way to fill out your brand-new music collection. They won’t all be hits – some may never see the light of day in your sets – but many will. And oftentimes, these compilations are priced at a steal. Some will deliver upwards of twenty tracks for just a few bucks.

But be careful not to rely on compilations for expanding your library. Compilations are curated picks made by the label, so while you are getting some good stuff, you’ll be missing out on the deep cuts. Personally, I will usually buy individual records – collections of 3 to 5 or 6 tracks. Occasionally, I’ll pick up a compilation if I really like enough of the tracks to justify other tracks that I may or may not play in my sets. If I only like a handful of tracks on the compilation, I’ll either hunt down the original record (if there is one), or buy the single track.

Refresh Yourself Regularly

Once you get going – and ESPECIALLY when you start performing – it is a good idea to regularly inject some fresh tracks into the collection. A great way to do this is to give yourself an allowance. For example, I get paid from my day job every other week. So every paycheck, I allow myself about 15 bucks to pick up a few new records. I’m always listening to new music and always adding to carts and wishlists, but every payday is exciting because I get to pull the trigger on some new music!

Set your allowance according to your wants and needs. DJs that perform often should refresh their collections more often than hobbyists who play now and then for friends or for themselves. But even hobbyists should set a “refresh schedule,” lest they get bored playing the same old tracks.

If you gig, maybe set some portion of your earnings aside for new music. If you have a day job, set aside some scratch every other paycheck for a couple new records. You will have been listening and marking favorites, so when your “new music day” rolls around, you can spend a little time listening and deciding what new music to buy.

Regularly refreshing the collection is also key to refining and evolving your signature sound. Without new music, your sound doesn’t change. So, whether it’s every couple weeks or every couple months, make a habit of regularly bringing new music into your collection.

A Note on Piracy

Piracy is rampant, and it’s not going away any time soon. There’s no stopping it. But still – DON’T DO IT.

Not only is it shitty for independent artists and labels who invest time and money into creating and purveying new music, but you also can’t be sure of the quality of the tracks you’re getting. Try playing a 192 kbps mp3 (or God forbid, a YouTube rip) file into a 320 kbps mp3 or a legit wav, and it’s going to sound really bad. And that will make you sound like amateur hour. (Want to learn more about digital audio and bitrates as they pertain to DJ? Check out this article)

If you’re moving into DJ – especially if you intend on playing out – you are in the game. You wouldn’t want to get shafted on a payout for a gig – don’t shaft the artists and labels you love! Creating music is costs money. Pushing music is costs money. Some may not realize it, but oftentimes, smaller labels and artists operate at a loss. And even then, they often put out freebies themselves. Do your part in keeping the music alive by contributing to them and showing support!

Organizing Your Library

Finally, organizing the library is last part of firming up your sounds. You may play deep house, but there are certainly different flavors of deep house that you like to play. Music management and performance software like Rekordbox, Serato, or Engine have several tools built in just for that reason.

I wrote an in-depth article on library organization and management (and you can read it here), but the short of it for the purposes of this article is this:

Tag your tracks according to:

Sub-genre
Vibe
Energy Level

Identifying these three things for each of your tracks will help you parse out the sounds you like to play. It will help you put together more cohesively themed sets, and it will help solidify your likes into distinct sounds.

Once you have collections of particular sounds in your library, you can further analyze those tracks to pick out more likes or dislikes, and standout artists and labels. With that new information, you repeat the steps outlined earlier, but with sharper focus and purpose. Mark new favorites, buy new music, import/tag, and in a few months, take another look and do it all again.

It’s a never-ending process, but that’s what makes it fun! It’s open-ended with limitless potential for discovery and self-expression. How wonderful!

Conclusion

At its heart, DJ is about expression. And it’s a lot more fun when you get to express who you are rather than pretending to be someone else. The music you choose to play is the heart of DJ. Be discerning. Be picky. Choose your music according to what moves you; what speaks to you. Don’t worry about whether others will like it; not everyone will. They are not important. Someone will resonate with your sounds. Those are the ones who matter.

And I bet that more people will like it than you realize.

Stay tuned for part two, where we will examine the second aspect of your signature sound: Performance Style.

Until then, happy hunting!

-AudioMunk

How to Find YOUR Sound as a DJ: Part 1 – The Music

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