my last session at dj4life academy in San Francisco

At my last session at the DJ4Life Academy in San Francisco, I asked my tutor Bjorn the remaining questions I had. I didn’t record my demo CD after all because one session is only about one and a half hour, but Bjorn still gave me a lot of useful information.

I learned a lot at the DJ4Life Academy. Now I know the real side of that business and how to deal with it. It was the right decision to visit the academy because for every question I asked I got the answer I was looking for.

In the three sessions I actually didn’t play any music because as I already mentioned in my first blog post, Bjorn Niclas told me that I already know how to mix and that no practice is needed.

As soon as I’m back in Europe, I will record my demo CD and represent myself in bars, lounges and clubs. Besides that, I will work on new beats, remixes and mash-ups.

So I’m done with DJ4Life now and I can say that it was a great, interesting and very helpful experience. Now the real work starts. 

My second session at dj4life academy in San Francisco

At my second session at the DJ4life Academy in San Francisco, my instructor Bjorn Niclas told me all the instructions I have to follow if I want to score a gig at a club.

I heard a lot of what he told me for the first time, but the good thing about it is that I know now exactly what to do and how to prepare myself. I know that it’s going to be hard and it will take some time, but the important thing is to keep working on it.

I showed him another remix and another mash-up I did a few months ago. He really liked both and gave me one more tip on how I can improve my remix. Then he suggested a few software programs that have lots of great instruments and are easier to use for mash-ups.

On my next but also last session at the DJ4life Academy, I will record a 60-minute demo CD that will include not only songs of famous artists but also a lot of my own music. According to Bjorn, mixing things up is really important. I’m excited about it and I can already tell that visiting the DJ4life Academy was not only the best but also a very important decision I made.

My first visit to the DJ4Life Academy in San Francisco

My first session at DJ4life Academy in San Francisco was really great. The academy uses the club Ruby Skye for their lessons. I didn’t play a lot of music there because I know already how to mix, so I had more like a talk with Bjorn Niclas, my instructor, who’s the resident DJ of the club Ruby Skye.

He was able to give me a lot of useful information because he’s been in that business for a long time and he’s also successful. Now I know how to prepare myself if I want to give a demo CD to a club. I only mixed twice during that lesson but according to him I did it well. He asked me later if I also produced songs. I showed him my latest House/Electro remix of Flo Rida’s “Low ,“ which he really liked even though it isn’t his style of music.

Bjorn told me that I could do tons of money with my remixes in Las Vegas. I was very happy to hear that because my dream is to become a successful DJ. I know that it will be a hard and a long way but the fact that such an experienced DJ told me that I could be successful makes me believe in myself even more.

At my next DJ session, Bjorn will give me more tips on how to make a great demo CD so I can give it to clubs in Luxembourg, Germany and even perhaps Switzerland. In that sense, I hope that I will soon get a few gigs.