You would not believe the journey I have been on since I started being a d.j. I have seen it all, o.k. maybe not everything but dam near close. The changes in equipment to the formats which d.j.’s use to play music. There are a few things that never change is ego & events. Events stay the same because guests don’t see behind the curtain & are just there for the party. Wedding days because the bride & groom are all about when things happen. You could even say the d.j. really has not changed either as the format of all events seems to stay the same also. I would say the change is all in the d.j. booth.
When I started, it was necessary to buy, buy, buy all the full l.p.’s as you never knew if there going to be more than one hit that would hit the Hot 100. As time went on any die hard d.j. in the market would spend all their hard earned cash in this way. Then we would also have to re-buy music as it would wear out over time. Theft was another issue as people would not think twice about walking off with the music. Other issue would be how much music you would need to bring to an event. There was always the question if you really needed too. Music was very heavy back then.
Next cd’s started and the equipment down sized as well. It made it easier to set up & rock the house. Your collection in the cases were easier to go through. This was a short lived idea as downloads were just around the corner. The evolution of music continued. The rage in music now is in subscriptions from services.
The change came in many ways from the mixer to using a hard drive to house all your music. My back is now loving the set up time & the amount of things to set up. The collection is just a key board away. This is cool but also has convinced almost everybody that d.j. work is simple “Just push Play!” If the equipment is doing all the work then anybody can do it. Really the true d.j. that understands that programing & reading a crowd is where it’s at are the ones that show this is work. Fun but work. It is just amazing how far things have come. And my journey continues…..