The Top DJ Goals For 2022!

It’s that time of year where you’ll be stacking up your achievements and working toward new goals. Growth is key to progress your DJ career and to give you something to work toward. Skilling up is high on every DJs agenda along with gaining more experience behind the decks. Here are our top ten DJ goals for inspiration in 2022. 
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1. Skill Up

The top of every DJs goal list in 2022 is going to be further their DJ skills. Practice makes perfect but you also need to push yourself out of your comfort zone and learn new skills that require more dexterity and more training. Many DJs have learnt the basic skills but lack anything exceptional. It’s important to really push your skill set to stand out from the crowd. Different genres of music and styles of DJing offer different skill sets but here are some popular ones that you can consider learning in 2022. 

Acapella Mixing - One of the most fun DJ skills and one that give your DJ sets a massive boost is learning how to mix acapella correctly into your DJ sets. There is nothing better than finding a popular acapella and mixing it onto of a new beat and creating a spontaneous remix. It will set the crowd on fire! Learn how to mix acapella in our Intermediate DJ Course or take your acapella mixing to the next level in our Elite DJ Course. 

If you'd like to know where to download free acapella samples click here.

Learning How To Use A Sampler - If you want to go beyond mixing from A to B in the predictable ways you can learn how to incorporate samples into your mix. These could be simple samples like drum sounds or vocal chops or they can be longer loops or even stems. Some of the most powerful tools for this are the Pioneer RMX1000 and the DJS1000 sampler. Both of these are taught in our Elite DJ Course. 

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Learning How To Beatmatch Blindfolded - One of the key advanced skills any DJ should work toward is being able to beatmatch blindfolded, like vinyl DJs do. If you can determine the BPM with no screen or counters you can truly beatmatch on your own with no computer needed. This will build your confidence and help you become a great performer. It’s a crucial skill for all DJs and something not to be ignored. We teach style of beat-matching in our Advanced DJ Course but you can also book single one to one classes to learn this skill. 

Learning How To Scratch - Many DJs also like to learn how to scratch. Turntablism is the art of using the turntable or your DJ decks like an instrument. It can include many skills but scratching is the best know. You can book scratch DJ lessons at LSA with our turntablism tutor Olmo. 

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Learning How To Mix Commercial Music - Many DJs want to learn how to mix commercial music and perform open-format sets. And open format set is one that includes many genres of music with are normally radio edit format. It’s much harder to perform this kind of set versus one that is just a single genre of music like House. However, open format DJs can make money playing commercial DJ gigs and there’s a huge market for this especially in London. 

2. Learn How To Produce

DJs know that in order to succeed as a DJ in terms of building a career you need to learn how to produce your own music. DJs who have their own tracks and remixes will get bigger and better paid DJ bookings. Of course, it’s not guaranteed but it is more unlikely that you’ll get booked as a DJ unless you’re stepping up and producing your own music. If you want to establish yourself as an artist in your own right, learn how to produce. 

We teach production one-to-one so you can learn at your own speed. You can learn on Ableton, Logic and FL studio. You will be amazed at how fast you can learn how to make your own music. Join the course and see how fast you can progress. 

Click here for our production courses or click here to contact us with any questions.

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3. Get More Gigs

Getting DJ gigs can be one of the hardest things for new DJs. Luckily we organise DJ gigs for all our DJ course graduates. We work with some of the UK’s best clubs including Ministry of Sound and Egg! We also organise DJ gigs once a summer in Ibiza and also work with Amsterdam Spring Break. If you’d like to get DJ gigs join our DJ course, work your way to graduation and get out there and start playing. If you can’t make it to our studios you should read this blog giving you 42 ideas on how to find DJ gigs. 

If you're looking for inspirations on how to find more DJ gigs click here for our other popular blog on how to get DJ work.

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4. Learn How To Mix Vinyl

Nowadays you don’t need to learn how to mix on vinyl but it will 100% improve your DJ skills overall if you do. Learning how to beatmatch blindfolded will make you a much better faster and more accurate beat matcher, even for when you’re using digital decks. It also means you won’t have to spend so much time beat-gridding your tracks or looking at the screens. When you free yourself from the screens you’ll feel the music on a deeper level and become a much better performer on stage. Your new confidence in DJing will really shine. 

Learning how to mix on vinyl is really enjoyable. The feel of the records and the touch factor just really sparks pure joy for vinyl DJs. We love the whole culture surrounding vinyl DJing including visiting record stores and buying some limited editions! We even have vinyl for sale in our Camden Studios! You can learn how to mix and pick up some records at the same time! Click here to contact us and book vinyl DJ lessons. 

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5. Network More

In order top progress your DJ career in 2022 you need to step out of the bedroom and into the action. It’s no good waiting for the phone to ring, if you want to go places you have to step off the couch! Networking is a great goal to include on your goal list for 2022. The best place to start is our alumni community group with more than 1000 prior alumni who have taken our courses. There is an international community there at your fingertips. We love how many alumni often organise their own events and book other alumni to DJ. 

Another great way of networking is to go to some music conferences. One of our favourites is Brighton Music Conference, or BMC for short. It’s one of the most popular and fun DJ conferences in the UK with a range of superstar DJs and seminars to visit. Don’t forget to check out the after parties too! 

Make sure that you have some business cards at the ready! Click here for more information on BMC. 

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6. Establish a Bigger Presence in the Industry

One of the best ways to get more gigs and progress your DJ career in 2022 is to further your reach by starting a few side hustles. In order to help grow your network it’s often better to cultivate another dimension to your actives. For example, running your own events or record label can really help you reach new people. Having more strings to your bow will help you establish more authority in the music industry and also give you a way to meet new people and make connections that may translate into more work. Try starting a new DJ side hustle in 2022! 

7. Party More! 

Let’s face it, we’ve had a boring couple of years with covid. It’s now time to get out there have some more fun and party! Music and DJing should always be rooted in enjoyment so make sure you’re enjoying the best the scene can offer. Go party and really immerse yourself in the culture. Having a positive attitude will also help you attract more work as a DJ. 

Click here to follow us on Facebook and find out about our events, when we are playing and what DJ gigs are available.

8. DJ Internationally

Djing internationally is a massive goal for DJs. It’s fun and a great way to see the world. It’s also not so far out of reach as you might expect. One of the best ways to get international DJ gigs is to find DJs in other countries and suggest a gig swap. This is where you organise a gig for them in your country and in exchange they organise one for you in their country. This swap will allow you to grow your reach and experience the international DJ life.

Click here to find out more about our annual Ibiza DJ Tour.

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9. DJ at a Festival

Another huge goal for most DJs is to one day play at a music festival. There are festivals of all sizes and more than ever. Just be warned that festival promoters often book the acts up to a year in advance so start planning now for later in 2022 or 2023. Reach out to as many as possible and get used to rejection, it’s just part of the game. Make sure you have a nice EPK (electronic press kit) press photos, mixes and a presence on social media. 

In 2022 we are working with Flesh festival and providing a DJ scholarship and a chance to DJ at the festival. Follow Flesh for more info on how to apply.

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10. Get More Done

Productivity is key to progressing your DJ career. Those who work harder, network smarter and commit more time to their careers will grow as artists. The best advice is to increase your productivity by ditching time wasting habits like endless scrolling and binge watching TV and replace them with tasks that will help you reach a higher level in your career. The most successful DJs will have a calendar and plan their day with lists and some kind of system to keep them on track. It’s a good idea to look into getting an accountability buddy, this is someone who is in the same boat who you can report your progress back to. Having someone to report progress to will encourage you to get off the couch and get productive! 

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Thanks for reading this blog on popular DJ goals for 2022! We hope you find these ideas inspirational and they help you process as a DJ and artist in 2022. 

If you are interested in joining our community, learning some new DJ or production skills and getting out there to DJ we’d love to hear from you. Click here to contact us.