Last Night a DJ Saved My Life

Great DJing is not just about tricksy mixing, it’s much more about finding amazing new songs and being able to pull them out at just the right moment. More than anything else, it’s how sensitively a DJ can interact with a crowd.

he greatest DJs have always been driven by a burning need to share their music. As one DJ puts it, ‘DJing is two hours of you showing people what’s good.’

To really pull it off you need to understand records in terms of their precise effects on an audience – you need to hear music in terms of its energy and feeling. All good DJs can distinguish fine nuances in music; they are sensitive to the complex set of emotions and associations that each song inspires, and they know exactly how each record’s style and tempo will impact on the room. This understanding is the foundation of the DJs’ improvisation, as they choose which record to play next.