When it comes to remaining inspired and motivated, collaboration is key. Making beats on your own is fun, but having other people able to get involved is where it’s really at. Keep moving forward into your career as a DJ by getting others on board with what you’re doing. Here are a few tools designed to keep you collaborating.
Realtime beat jams
Endless is an iOS app created by Tim Exile, the DJ and software engineer who brought us performance tools like Flesh. Endless allows you to collaborate with others wherever they are in the world by recording loops and interacting with each other's recording - in realtime. Strictly speaking, it’s not fully realtime - there’s still the bandwidth latency problem - but being able to stack layers and effect each other’s loops looks like way too much fun.
Submitting your tunes for collab
Soundstorming is a place where “musicians, artists, and songwriters can instantly record ideas, share in a global community, and collaborate easily.” It’s not particularly aimed at DJs per se, but offers opportunities to meet like-minded music creators with a view to collaboration. Download the free app. Record or upload a piece of your music. Share it with the community. Collaborate with the takers.
Finding acapellas
Sourcing good acapellas is always a chore for those among us looking to do live remix sets. Get original by finding rappers and singers looking for their own break by scouring sites like HitRecord. HitRecord was founded by actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt and hosts a friendly community of artists open for the business of collaboration. Search ‘acapella’ on HitRecord to get started.
It takes an openness to others to make it in the DJ game. Start by linking up with others - regardless of how many followers they have - and build something of your own. The pride you take in your work is the reason that people share it. Go for it! And while you’re at it, check out some of the online DJ courses that are going to help you get there.
John Bartmann is a music producer and DJ