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196 lines
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<html lang='en'><head><meta charset='utf-8' /><meta name='pinterest' content='nopin' /><link href='../../../../static/css/style.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' /><link href='../../../../static/css/print.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' media='print' /><title>How & Why I DJ / Steve Losh</title></head><body><header><a id='logo' href='https://stevelosh.com/'>Steve Losh</a><nav><a href='../../../index.html'>Blog</a> - <a href='https://stevelosh.com/projects/'>Projects</a> - <a href='https://stevelosh.com/photography/'>Photography</a> - <a href='https://stevelosh.com/links/'>Links</a> - <a href='https://stevelosh.com/rss.xml'>Feed</a></nav></header><hr class='main-separator' /><main id='page-blog-entry'><article><h1><a href='index.html'>How & Why I DJ</a></h1><p class='date'>Posted on February 6th, 2009.</p><p>I've been DJ'ing at swing and blues dances for a while now. It's extremely fun
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and rewarding. I've got a system that I use to keep myself sane while doing it
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and I felt like sharing. Let me know what you think!</p>
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<ol class="table-of-contents"><li><a href="index.html#s1-how-i-started">How I Started</a></li><li><a href="index.html#s2-where-do-i-find-music">Where Do I Find Music?</a></li><li><a href="index.html#s3-sorting-my-music">Sorting My Music</a><ol><li><a href="index.html#s4-danceable-music">"Danceable" Music</a></li><li><a href="index.html#s5-tempo">Tempo</a></li><li><a href="index.html#s6-rating-smartly">Rating (Smartly)</a></li></ol></li><li><a href="index.html#s7-at-a-dance">At a Dance</a><ol><li><a href="index.html#s8-previewing">Previewing</a></li><li><a href="index.html#s9-running-playlists">Running Playlists</a></li><li><a href="index.html#s10-sorting-on-the-fly">Sorting on the Fly</a></li></ol></li><li><a href="index.html#s11-and-so">And So...</a></li></ol>
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<h2 id="s1-how-i-started"><a href="index.html#s1-how-i-started">How I Started</a></h2>
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<p>When I was just starting to get really interested in dancing I didn't think
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I'd want to DJ much. I thought it would be a lot of work and that I'd hate
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having to stay near a computer during a dance. It just didn't seem like very
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much fun.</p>
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<p>The only reason I began to try my hand at it was because we needed to have
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good music to play at RIT Swing Dance Club when my old roommates and I started
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teaching there. I wanted the other people to have a good time and hear the
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awesome music that we love dancing to. I figured that it didn't need to be a
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big deal; I'd just find some cool music and play it at club.</p>
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<p>Once I started, I realized that I really like being able to play great music
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for other people to dance to. It sounds cliche, but it really <em>is</em> rewarding.
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There's something special about having a kind of control over an entire dance
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floor.</p>
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<p>After I became comfortable DJ'ing at club it was only a matter of time before
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I started <a href="http://lindyjam.com/schedule/">signing up to DJ</a> at <a href="http://lindyjam.com/">Lindy Jam</a> and then playing music at
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our little blues parties. I love it. DJ'ing is good for me — it forces
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me to look for interesting new music and really <em>listen</em> to it to hear how it
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works. Really listening (without dancing) closely to swing or blues music is
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something that I don't think enough dancers do.</p>
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<h2 id="s2-where-do-i-find-music"><a href="index.html#s2-where-do-i-find-music">Where Do I Find Music?</a></h2>
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<p>Most of the music I play comes from <a href="http://emusic.com/">eMusic</a>. It's a great site — you
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pay $15 and get about 40 tracks per month. That's far cheaper than iTunes and
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it's all DRM-free mp3 files. They have a great collection of jazz and blues
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(and a lot of indie and classical music too). I highly recommend them if
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you're looking for some awesome music.</p>
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<p>Previously I've wanted nothing to do with iTunes because of the DRM.
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Thankfully Apple has announced that they've convinced the record labels to
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allow DRM-free downloads of everything. I'll still get most of my music from
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eMusic (it's cheaper) but if they don't have a song I want I'll definitely
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look on iTunes.</p>
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<p>As for CDs and vinyl, I do occasionally buy and rip some, but for the most
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part digital music is simply faster, easier, and cheaper to use.</p>
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<h2 id="s3-sorting-my-music"><a href="index.html#s3-sorting-my-music">Sorting My Music</a></h2>
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<p>Over the past couple of years I've turned into a pretty organized person. If I
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don't have a good method of sorting and organizing my music I'll go crazy when
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I try to DJ. I've developed a way of organizing everything over the years I've
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been DJ'ing which seems to work pretty well for me.</p>
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<h3 id="s4-danceable-music"><a href="index.html#s4-danceable-music">"Danceable" Music</a></h3>
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<p>The first thing I do when I download a new CD from eMusic is skim each track
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and decide if it's even remotely danceable. If it's got a beat I can dance to
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at all, it goes into my "Lindy & Blues" playlist in iTunes. I don't worry
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about how good the song is — the important part for me is getting the
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decent songs into that playlist so I don't forget about them.</p>
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<h3 id="s5-tempo"><a href="index.html#s5-tempo">Tempo</a></h3>
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<p>My next step is tagging danceable songs with BPM (beats per minute)
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information. This is really nice to know when you're out at a dane and
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thinking: "I should play a song that's a bit faster than that last one."</p>
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<p>I've experimented with a couple of different methods in the past but they all
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seemed pretty cumbersome. The solution came in the form of this <a href="http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Dashboard-Widgets/Music/Tempo-Widget.shtml">Tempo
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Widget</a> for my Mac's dashboard. Click the button on each beat, double click
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the numbers to save the BPM to the currently playing iTunes song.</p>
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<p>That's nice, but it's not enough for a nerd like me. The mouse is so slow;
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what I really needed was a way to use the keyboard for everything so I could
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fly through tagging my songs in less than 15 seconds each. I opened up the
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code for the widget and added a couple things. I can press any key on a beat
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instead of clicking the button, and I can hit Cmd+S to save the BPM to the
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iTunes song instead of double clicking the numbers.</p>
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<p>I also use <a href="http://www.blacktree.com/">Quicksilver</a> to add keyboard shortcuts to move to the
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next/previous song in iTunes. Now that I've got all that done, when I want to
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tag a bunch of new songs with BPMs I can do this:</p>
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<ol>
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<li>Start playing the first song and open up the dashboard.</li>
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<li>Press any key on each beat until I have a consistent BPM displaying.</li>
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<li>Press Cmd+S to save the BPM to the song.</li>
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<li>Press Cmd+Option+Ctrl+Right Arrow to move to the next song.</li>
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<li>Repeat steps 2-5 for each song.</li>
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</ol>
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<p>It usually takes me 15 seconds or less per song and saves me a ton of time (I
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have about 900 songs tagged with BPMs right now!). If you're interested in my
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modified version of the Tempo Widget let me know.</p>
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<h3 id="s6-rating-smartly"><a href="index.html#s6-rating-smartly">Rating (Smartly)</a></h3>
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<p>Let's face it: some songs are better than others. Some songs are fun to dance
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to, but others almost <em>force</em> you out of your seat. I like to be able to
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glance at my playlist and have a rough idea of which <em>really awesome</em> songs
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I've got at a specific tempo.</p>
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<p>Some people might say: "You should know all of your music by heart and
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shouldn't need to rely on ratings." I disagree — maybe I'm just not as
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diligent in studying but there's no way I could remember every single song in
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my playlist. Of course you should know your music, but that doesn't mean you
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can't use whatever tools you like to make your DJ'ing even more effective.
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Ratings help me remember to play a song that I might otherwise have forgotten
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about and let me see what my options are if I really need a fantastic song
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<em>right now</em>.</p>
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<p>Unfortunately I didn't start rating my danceable songs until a month or two
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ago and so I'm only about halfway through. One thing that helps is iTunes'
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Smart Playlists. I can create a smart playlist that only shows me songs that
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are in my "Lindy & Blues" playlist but aren't yet rated.</p>
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<p><img src="../../../../static/images/blog/2009/02/dj-playlist-unrated.png" alt="Unrated Smart Playlist Screenshot" title="Unrated Smart Playlist"></p>
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<p>I have an iPod as well, so when I'm out and listening to my music I can set
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the rating right on the iPod. When I get back to my computer I plug in the
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iPod and it syncs the ratings back to iTunes for me.</p>
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<h2 id="s7-at-a-dance"><a href="index.html#s7-at-a-dance">At a Dance</a></h2>
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<p>All of the steps I've talked about so far have one goal: to make playing great
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music at an actual dance easier.</p>
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<h3 id="s8-previewing"><a href="index.html#s8-previewing">Previewing</a></h3>
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<p>I rarely preview songs before I play them; I know my collection pretty well
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and usually have a good idea whether or not a song will fit. Still, it's
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definitely nice to be able to hear a song now and then.</p>
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<p>Some DJ's really love external sound cards which let you have two music
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players open on your machine; one plays the music going to the room speakers
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and the other plays into a set of headphones. I don't use this setup for a few
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reasons:</p>
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<ul>
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<li>I can't be bothered to buy an external sound card. I know, I'm lazy.</li>
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<li>Computers are tricky, and adding another sound card into the mix makes
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things trickier. Having another audio interface often causes some headaches
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when you're ready to DJ and no sound is coming out of one port because
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there's a configuration option messed up somewhere.</li>
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<li>I don't trust myself. I can easily see myself accidentally trying to preview
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on the music player that's going to the room.</li>
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</ul>
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<p>What do I do instead? I use my iPod. Sure, the interface isn't as easy to
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navigate as a music player on a laptop, but it doesn't cost any extra money (I
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have it anyway) and there's no chance of accidentally messing up the currently
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playing song.</p>
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<h3 id="s9-running-playlists"><a href="index.html#s9-running-playlists">Running Playlists</a></h3>
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<p>Throughout the night as I decide which songs I want to play I put them in two
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separate lists. First they go into my "Short List" which is usually around
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five to ten songs that I think I'll want to play fairly soon. That gives me
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easy access to songs I'll probably play soon.</p>
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<p>The "Running" playlist is the one that's actually playing through the
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speakers. I usually have one or two songs queued up ahead of time in case I
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get distracted from my laptop for a bit.</p>
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<h3 id="s10-sorting-on-the-fly"><a href="index.html#s10-sorting-on-the-fly">Sorting on the Fly</a></h3>
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<p>All the work I put into tagging and rating my music pays off when I'm actually
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trying to decide what to play next. When I'm looking through my collection my
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iTunes window will usually look like this (except for being slightly bigger
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and having the sidebar showing):</p>
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<p><img src="../../../../static/images/blog/2009/02/dj-playlist-sorting.png" alt="Sorted Danceable Playlist Screenshot" title="Sorted Danceable Playlist"></p>
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<p>I can use the search bar in the upper right if I'm looking for something
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specific. I can sort by BPM if I know I want a song at a rough tempo. The
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ratings draw my eyes to the songs that I love the most. The comments are there
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to remind me about songs that have long intro/outros, double timed sections,
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etc. Having all of that at my fingers makes it much easier for me to find
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exactly what I want and get it to the speakers.</p>
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<h2 id="s11-and-so"><a href="index.html#s11-and-so">And So...</a></h2>
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<p>I wrote this because I wanted to share how and why I DJ for dancers. If you're
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a DJ, I hope I've given you a couple of ideas for new tricks to make your job
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easier. <strong>Let me know what you think on <a href="http://twitter.com/stevelosh/">Twitter</a>!</strong></p>
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<p>If you don't DJ but think you might want to, great! Please don't be scared off
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by my absurdly organized workflow — just because it works for me doesn't
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mean you have to do it. Find some good music and <a href="http://lindyjam.com/schedule/">sign up to DJ at Lindy
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Jam</a>! If you think two hours is too long for you as when you're first
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learning to DJ just ask myself, Matt, Jesse, Mike or Beth if we'll share the
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night half & half with you. If you have any questions please let me know!</p>
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</article></main><hr class='main-separator' /><footer><nav><a href='https://github.com/sjl/'>GitHub</a> ・ <a href='https://twitter.com/stevelosh/'>Twitter</a> ・ <a href='https://instagram.com/thirtytwobirds/'>Instagram</a> ・ <a href='https://hg.stevelosh.com/.plan/'>.plan</a></nav></footer></body></html>
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