Through my STEP project I learned the technical skills of mixing music. I was able to purchase DJ mixing board as well as 10 lessons through Scratch DJ Academy. With these lessons, we covered parts of music theory and different ways of blending music.

My understanding of different genres of music drastically changed throughout this project. From mixing hip-hop and rap to dance and even country music I was able to explore many different genres of music and how they blend or why they don’t. I was able to play in front of a few crowds during my project and networking was a large part of my experience. Planning what music to play in front of different crowds is difficult because you never really know what type of music each crowd will like. Venues that focus on country and western crowds don’t really stray far from the country genre. Other venues that don’t have a specific crowd they cater to can be more difficult to plan for. Having a large catalog of music that is composed of different genres is important for these crowd because I rely on what the crowd responds to best to lead me to the next songs. This experience taught me a lot about my preconceived notions and how they could often times be completely wrong when mixing songs and planning for different crowds.

My instructor from Scratch DJ Academy was very experienced and really helped me a lot through this project. During our sessions we discussed specific set lists and transitions. A main point in our lessons revolved around the key of music and how blended songs out of key can really effect the resulting transition. Hearing two songs and thinking they can mix is just the start. Actually sitting down and mixing the songs can lead to different results. My instructor and I discussed how sometimes, some songs just don’t sound good together. As I compiled my song collection and mixed them more often, I got know my catalog of songs better and was able to better know off the top of my head what would sound good and what to avoid. This made mixing music in front of crowds on the spot, much easier to handle as well as making the transition sound much nicer.

We also discussed situations in front of a crowd when the transition doesn’t go as expected of flow as nicely as I may have thought it would. The main piece of advice he had for me in these situations is to just keep the music playing. While I may know it isn’t how I wanted it to go, the crowd doesn’t pay attention to every detail. Keeping the music going and taking note for the next time is the best I can do in the situation. Adding or taking away from the different songs can help these situations but the main idea is to just keep the music going.

Choosing music for a crowd can start with one idea and end up in a completely different situation. Having a playlist picked out in advance can help get me started, but you never really know what will get a good response until the event happens. Watching reactions to different genres or artists helps me understand what the next best option could be. Even then, the response may not be what I hoped for. If the song is less widely known, the reaction may not be what I expect, but if there is still dancing and enjoyment of the sound, I’ll keep playing it. The different moods of songs affect the crowds as well. An upbeat song can hype a crowd up, but a musically similar song with a different mood can take all that excitement away. Perceptions of moods and energy is a large part of DJing, but I can never be too sure about what the crowd will be like, so preparing a large amount of music before hand is important for live success.

This idea of perceptions and change is valuable in my life in so many different aspects. Meetings and interviews are just one example. Going in with a positive attitude and some idea of what will be talked about is important, but it is also important to be prepared for situations that I may not expect. Being able to handle attitudes or questions that I may not expect can help interactions go much smoother. Preparing and reacting in an appropriate way are the two most important ideas that I can bring into my academic and professional life here at Ohio State. This project helped me gain this experience in a unique way and gave me a different perspective about how to handle situations of all types.