DJ Academy - Ministry of Sound

Waaaay back in May last year, Dingo sneaked into an internet cafe on a beach in Ibiza and arranged a gift for me.  We were in the middle of a holiday in Ibiza, renting out a villa and enjoying the food, beaches and clubs that the island had to offer.  I had my DJ gear and was mucking about on the decks a couple of the nights - and Dingo got the idea for a gift.

She presented it to me and I fell over with surprise and excitement.  The gift: a 5 hour DJ Academy session at Ministry of Sound.  Booyah!  The Dingo rocks!

Fast forward to today and there I was, behind the decks in the main room (The Box), mixing a couple of CDs in front of seventeen other budding DJs and five cool as piss pros.  What a blast!  What a buzz!  They even had the lasers and smoke going to make it feel authentico.

At the start of the DJ Academy session, the "students" were split into four groups and allocated a professional DJ to show them the basics, using the real equipment in one of the four rooms of MoS.  We rotated once and then once again into one of the four rooms - The Box, The Loft, Room 103 and BabyBox.

The DJ went through the basics of beatmatching and gave all of us a go, using the music from our own collections.  It was so good to get some hands on guidance on how to beatmatch - even though I have been mucking around on the decks for some time now, I still learnt a hell of a lot - practical "experience" counts for so much.

The final part of the session was to move into the main room and as a group of four, put together a 15 minute mix to play for the other students.  Our group was kicking it and we did really well - enjoying the music and clapping the transitions.  So much fun!

It was the perfect present: lots of fun, lots of learning, and a chance to do what all DJs worth their salt have done - play at Ministry of Sound.

As I loaded the next track and cued in the music, I thought - this one's going out to the Dingo.  Kick it!!

the warm up

Back from the holiday season and looking forward to a hot 2011! Potentially not hot weather, but we are definitely going to turn up the heat with some good tunes, a bit of mixing and plenty of big parties!

Since I was last here in November, not a lot has happened on my own DJ development, but that will be rectified ASAP. Need to practice, practice, practice for a couple of upcoming mock gigs - more on that later.

Elsewhere though, things are hotting up!

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Christmas was spent in Australia with the family and I had a great time. A big delight was to be able to take my sister to see D Guetta at Summadayze at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne on New Years Day. It rocked out and the sis loved Mr G - I think she is hooked now!

Photos and vid are up on Facebook but I might add them here later.

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I signed up to a couple of DJ resources for my own education and enjoyment.

I signed up to Beatport, the number one place to get cool dance music and to find out what's hot and exclusive. This is where I find out first what new music is out there and where I discover new artists. It is a very handy tool to use and it gives you a good couple of minutes preview of each song, as opposed to a measly 30 seconds. Perfect for finding that right tune. To be honest though, it is a bit more expensive than iTunes.

I've also got a subscription to MixMag now - the number one DJ/Dance magazine in the country. Spotted it while I was in Amsterdam in the local library, bought an issue (see earlier post) and subscribed on the spot. Perfect coverage of all things that groove and bounce and a free mixed CD to boot - perfect for populating the tune library.

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The year is looking great for partying! Have a few things lined up already and a few ideas as well. Tickets booked for Guetta at Brixton Academy in early May and I have been keeping my eye out on plenty of other artists to see when they are in town - like Afrojack, Swedish House Mafia and Deadmau5.

The biggest party of them all though is . . .

IBIZA! Yes, we are back! And this time for a two week stint. Should be loads of sun, sand, sea and shenanigans. Keeping our eyes out for opening dates of the clubs - FMIF for sure (will be the third or possibly fourth time I see D Guetta in 2011), Space Opening Fiesta, DC 10 opening party, and many more!

And the big news I am excited about is being resident DJ at the villa we are renting. Sounds a lot cooler than it actually is, but with a villa full of party animals for the two weeks, I will be dishing out the tunes as warm ups for hitting the clubs. Will be a small exclusive crowd of great friends each night, but damn, they're going to lift the roof.

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That's the update at the moment - plenty going on and plenty to do. Hoping to be more regular on the blog with news about my DJ development, Ibiza opening parties and all round good times!

HyD