Customer Reviews

How To Be A DJ: Your Guide to Becoming a Radio, Nightclub or Private Party Disc Jockey

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I remember hearing Chuck Fresh playing at some of the bigger clubs in the Philly area a few years ago. I used to ask him questions about what it was like to be a DJ, and he was pretty darn forthcoming with his answers. And his book pulls no punches either. I've bought and read five "how to DJ" books now, and I can honestly say that this is the most informative and up-to-date publication of them all. DJ Fresh teaches about the real DJ business, not just the Hollywood version everyone sees on TV. He's a pretty sneaky dude, and he's shared many of his sneaky tips in this book. Definitely recommend to anyone looking to break in to this business.

I just started to DJ about 3 weeks ago and I was looking for a book with techniques and guides. Although this book covers the overall issues of being a disc jockey, it doesn't satisfy my needs of information. I'd recommend it for DJs that already know what they're doing and are looking for further ways to make money or to improve even further. This is not for a true beginner!

I have read all the how to be a DJ books out there, but this one was the best of them. The other books cover the really basic things, but this one gets into the behind the scenes stuff that is very interesting. Chuck Fresh has a very colorful way of expressing himself which made this book fun! I have two years DJ experience and I still learned things about marketing and motivating people. This book is definitely worth it.

I got this book two weeks ago and I cannot put it down. It got all kinds of info that DJ's in my hood probably do not even know about. I have tryed to ask DJ's how to get spinnin and about music and about contracts and they told me some stuff about you can't learn it unless it is in your blood. This book showed me that is a bunch of bull. I just wanted to thank the author of this book for hooking me up with the 411 I need to get started making some green like those other DJ's/

OK - so I check Amazon.com every so often to see what else this nut has written. Maybe I'm addicted. Whatever. He has done it again! I have been a mobile and club jock for over 10 years, and I never thought of some of the things the author has put in this book, like some of those great marketing tips and his insights into people's behavior. Gets you thinking on a different level. This is another kick-*ss booklet that I highly recommend for beginners as well as seasoned pros like myself. It's got a neat section on beatmixing and scratching too! If you're really serious about being a real DJ and you're ready to make some money, invest a few dollars in this book. Can't wait for the next one!

This book is straight to the point. The author, Chuck Fresh, breaks it down in easy, non candy coated terms. The book is very informative from front to back. Whether you are a club, mobile or wedding jock, this book is a must for the beginner to the "old" pro. This book definitely points out or makes you aware that being a DJ is a serious, legit and can be a lucrative business provided you follow tips/ideas printed in this book. This is a book I wish I had many years ago. This book is by far superior to any other "How To DJ" type book I've purchased or read...just think of how many CDs you may have bought that you regret buying...this book, you won't regret having in your collection...it's simply a "fresh" approach to being a DJ.

This book blows all the other "so called" DJ books away. This author really knows his stuff. It has good information about being a club or a wedding DJ, plus it shows you all the behind the scenes stuff that most DJ's will not tell you. Overall, I found it fun to read and very informative. The price wasn't bad. I didn't think it was too expensive; maybe the exchange rate in Australia is bad? I think it was worth every cent. I highly recommend this book.

I picked this book up [...] a few weeks ago out of curiosity being that I work as a mobile DJ. I have worked in this field for 11 years- 10 years working for a DJ company and 1 year on my own starting my own company. The tips and marketing techniques found in this book are invaluable!! I cannot believe the positive feedback that I have gotten from my clients in the past few weeks!! Chuck Fresh describes these techniques in a very simple to follow format. So many small things that DJs take for granted but make a huge difference in the success of a party. This book is a must for the DJ who is just starting out AND the DJ who has been in the field for some time. ATTENTION ALL DJS!!!! BUY THIS BOOK!!! IT IS WORTH THE PRICE (and then some!!)

Out of all the DJ books I've read, this was the most "real". The author tells you exactly what's on his mind, which makes for some truly entertaining reading at times! This book covers all three of the major disciplines of being a disc jockey, namely the radio DJ, the bar DJ, and the wedding DJ. Having experience in all three, he not only explains how to start a career in each field, he includes a very detailed list of pros and cons. I've wanted to be a radio DJ since I was a teenager, but now I'm totally rethinking that one... The song lists are very comprehensive and incredibly helpful, although they appear to be slightly dated, with the newest ones from the very late '90s. But that's actually a plus, since most of my customers are late 20's/early 30's and grew up in the 80s and 90s, and can't stand that Britney Spears or InSync nonsense of today anyway. It's hard to find songs people will respond to on a dance floor, but this book does an excellent job of finding what I call "people movers." Finally, there are some very clever marketing techniques for all three DJ fields in this book that I've found to be priceless so far. They're incredibly simple, and amazingly effective, but I probably would not have thought of these on my own. Those tips by themselves were worth twice what I paid for this book. Totally recommend this book for new DJ wannabes, and even for experienced DJs who might have missed something along the way.

Chuck Fresh's book is a very good book on the DJing scene, although with a few caveats. The book's scope covers the three types of DJs (Radio DJs, Mobile/Private Party DJs, and Club/Bar DJs), the promotional aspects individual to each DJ type and common to all types, and information on valuable resources for any DJ (web sites, publications, trade shows).

Particularly valuable in this book are vital technical aspects of DJing that must be learned on the job and wouldn't just normally occur to a DJ. For instance, the 'Beatmixing 101' section is invaluable to the new DJ about how to link outgoing and incoming songs (mixing), appropriate and inappropriate songs to link together, and other technical must and should knows. Considering the topic, the book is appropriately written in a very colloquial, humourous tone, although there are enough spelling errors to detract from the book's professionalism somewhat.

Consider the multitude of music styles born in the last 50 years and the many different occasions for playing that music publicly or privately. In trying to authoritatively advise in so many areas of music, I think Chuck Fresh has bitten off way more than he can chew, despite his many years of experience in DJing. As other reviewers have mentioned, Chuck certainly is an authority on DJ/MCing weddings and private parties. In fact, I highly recommend this book to anyone planning a wedding or Bar/Bat Mitzvah just for that section because Fresh offers many insights into how a DJ/MC can make the DJed portion truly memorable, not just because it's hitched to a rite of passage.

However, when Fresh talks about DJing in a Club/Bar, my overall impression was he was pretty out of touch with that scene, at least that in Toronto, Canada. Certainly his technical insights seem to be accurate and valuable: knowing audio equipment, working with vinyl, maintaining lighting/sound systems, etc. Fresh's suggested playlists for bygone music genres seem pretty useful. But most of the things he suggests for stirring up the crowd seem silly, contrived, and often embarrassing. I think part of the reason is that Fresh wrote this book after many years of DJing, and club/popular music increasingly became a chore for him, not only to listen for and find but to have to shell out money for. Consequently, the closer you get to the present, the less he seems to be in touch with what's what musically. Hence, Fresh's many suggestions on using hype rather than music for generating excitement in a crowd. I've been to dozens of clubs regularly for about 8 years now, and very rarely does the DJ make a peep except to mention last calls for alcohol, much less offer banter between songs or outrageous contests. Granted, socially speaking Canadians are more conservative than Americans, and so maybe these tactics actually help American DJs. I also venture a contentious claim that the average Canadian is more intelligent than the average American, and so lowbrow banter which might delight the average American frat head wouldn't really appeal to the equivalent type of Canadian.

There is so much music out there, so many genres (past, present and emerging) and so much music within those genres that one absolutely CAN'T be a jack of all music trades and expect to speak with much credibility on many of them. For instance, Fresh gives only a passing, derogatory reference to Electronic music's significance. He says, "We accurately predicated that Latin music was going to be the next "big thing" over a couple years ago when everyone else was all wrapped up in that "electronica" thing that ended up fizzling quickly". This is bogus because time has proven Latin music to be just as ephemeral as electronic music, at least in the public spotlight. His statement also ignores that Electronic music is not a recent phenomena; it began with artists like Kraftwerk and Jean Michel Jarre in the 70's, has continually branched into subgenres since then, and many Electronic artists are now ignored who continue to put out the same quality of music that came out when Electronica was "hot" with groups like The Prodigy and Chemical Brothers "breaking" electronica to the mainstream.

I think a DJ will be losing most of the time, whether they know it or not, if they try to play the game of continually pandering to the audience, trying to play whatever genre or song seems to be `hot' and not playing (or knowing) songs solely for their merits. I recently heard Carlos Santana succinctly say a lot about musicians and the creative process: "If you don't feel it, they won't feel it". Over years of personal experience a true aficionado of a genre will unearth the gems in that genre the mainstream usually overlooked, and when that DJ plays those songs (many actually familiar to the club patrons) by and large I think the audience will feel and enjoy the music as much as the DJs. At the same time, if a DJ imposes heavily on a crowd with his own favorites, he must keep alert to crowd reactions, and Fresh gives several ways of recognizing attitudes to music in club patrons.

One thing I would have loved to have seen in the book or at least been given direction to is insight into the large question of how music affects people. For instance, how can a DJ develop a style, a pattern, a technique, which satisfies both audience and DJ? How could you effectively control a given crowd's energy over a 5 hour period (eg. 9PM to 2AM)? To do that, what sort of emotions would you want to evoke, when, and for how long, and how to fit that in with the rest of the programming? These sorts of questions are not addressed at all in the book, and although I'm sure most DJs have a few insights about this they keep to themselves, I'm betting that systematic inquiry about this sort of thing is virtually uncharted territory.