How to Create a DJ Promo Mix

Let’s suppose that you’ve really mastered the art of mixing, choosing your music, maybe played a few parties and can agree that your ability to DJ is ready to be pushed out into the world; it’s time get promoting baby! But hold your horses for a minute, you may want to do a few things (detailed in the post) to create your first DJ promo mix.

Step 1: Mix Your Ass Off!

The mix you plan to create for your promo needs to be the best of your ability; for this reason, you’ll need to give it your all – as if you’re performing in front of a crowd and everything is on the line.

Mix your ass off! The plan is to deliver the best of your ability because you’ll want to create something that people will remember, share and comment on.

You may want to keep your mix to around 20 minutes since most club and label owners are very busy but if you want to truly go for the fans – keep it around an hour.

To the point: Dig out all of your best tunes, try your best tricks (without being gimmicky) and create a mix that blows the socks off people.

Step 2: Give It A Listen

Much like any piece of work you create; you need to back and give it a few listens and be prepared to edit or redo the entire thing.

Much like a post (such as this one), pieces are rarely spot-on the first time through. You may pick up very little subtleties that you didn’t catch while mixing such as off-set beats, clicks, harmony and more.

You can bet that if you hear it – others will. You want to strive for perfection so keep your mind open about remixing your set to tighten it up.

Step 3: Packaging Your Mix

After your mix has been completed, it’s time to export it into a variety of formats so you can share it online and offline; here’s a few ways that I’d suggest:

• Creating a CD – Load up a program like Audacity and master out the sound, chop off the ends and then burn it off onto a bunch of CD’s so you can send out and hand out to people.

• Encoding an MP3 – While in Audacity, save the mix as a FLAC file but also encode it to MP3 so you can share it on sites like MixCloud and the various other websites that let you upload music.

• Create a YT Vid – Chop up your mix into 10 minute chunks and put it up on Youtube as well. YT gets a TON of traffic so you may as well take advantage of it. Throw in some great visuals and you’re game!

Try to get your mix into as many formats as possible so it can be shared and listened to on any number of players: computers, iPods, radios and more.

Step 4: Promoting Your Mix!

The next step in creating your promo mix is to promote the hell out of it. Your mix may be the most amazing piece of work in the world but if it doesn’t get heard than it doesn’t mean much; try some of these:

• Share it in Forums – Jump on forums that share your music and create a thread that talks about your mix; be open to feedback so you can touch up your mix and create a better one next time.

• Get on the social circuit – Use Twitter, Facebook and other social networks to share the hell out of your promo mix. Have your online friends do the same by telling as many people as possible online.

• Launch a blog – Start up a blog (or website) where you can upload your mix and talk about whatever you want (much like this one).

Like any piece of content, dig around into other websites and methods you’d normally use to share information; just this time it will be your mix.

Step 5: Making The Most Of It

Now let’s get down and dirty to make the most out of your DJ promo mix. Don’t just stop at creating and pushing it out there; leverage the hell out of your abilities to get it heard:

• Share it all the time - Every opportunity you get, try to share your mix. Talking to someone? Share the mix. On a forum? Share the mix. Promote the daylights out of it like everything is resting on its success; because it is!

• Ninja promote it – Every party you go to and people you run into – give out a CD, tell them about your mix or throw a few CD’s into people’s car. If they’re coming back from a party than they want something to listen to: let it be your mix.

• Point people back to you – Write your email on the CD, include a link in your mix and generally let it be known where people can find you; don’t expect them to magically discover you, make sure you’re known.

Think of your mix like a product you created for your business; don’t settle for a one-off promotion. Try to continually reference it whenever possible and make the most out of it until you either land a deal or create your next promo mix.

Where To Go From Here

The idea behind your promo mix is to create the best possible work you can. You realistically want to continue mixing during the creation and promotion but try to keep it as a definitive item to identify who you are.

Think of your DJ mix as your legacy; even if you don’t immediately land anything from the early promotion, people will still be able to find it later on especially if you share it online.

If you’re looking for a great set of videos, guides and tutorials for learning how to create an amazing mix, learning beyond the basics and even promoting yourself than I would recommend the following:

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