The Age of a Salsa DJ

Well, I'm 73 and have two gigs coming up! I'll try and keep it short -

Retired (31 years major corporation) Vietnam Combat Veteran. Moved to Florida, joined the American Legion, VFW, etc., and decided instead of drinking myself to death, let me start DJ'ing - and DJ'ing real good. Since I got into it late, I had already gone to lots of functions and weddings (my children and their friends) as a guest, and vowed I would never have a horrible sounding system like many I had heard. I run to 12" tops over two 15" subs - and the subs go to EVERY gig - and please, do not confuse LOUD with GOOD FULL sound.

Also about the same time, I started to do Zumba for exercise. You can see where this is going!!

Have you listened to any new music? Black/Latin/Gringo - most of it IMHO is terrible. I had to find something else. Fortunately, through Zumba, I discovered 1970'ish Salsa Dura - also IMHO some of the finest music ever, and you can DANCE to it!! Started doing that, and joined our local Hispanic American Club.

So, now I was going to the HAC dances, listening to the Latin DJ's. Unfortunately, bad sound is not hampered by ethnicity. The straw that broke the camel's back is when someone showed up with ONE 15" two-way speaker on a tripod, and we typically have 150+ people at our events. I told the Club President that even though I can hardly speak Spanish, I can do better...and I did.

Keep yourself in good physical condition, be passionate about the music, and use good full range speaker systems that sound great without being excessively loud. End!
 
Watching the Buena Vista Social Club documentary might give you a few ideas for retirement plans.

Some members performed even into their 90s. Not quite djing but close enough.
Very inspiring!
 
As you age, you and your friends will start to have physical problems. Your body ages, there is very little you can do about it. I do believe exercise can help you to live better, but not necessarily longer.

The most significant difference you'll see is mental attitude. I'm not talking dementia or Alzheimer's, I'm talking turning into an old grouch that no longer enjoys life - some people just get old like that. Don't be one of them, act like a kid and Dance! I heard a great saying recently - "Live Life Lightly"
 
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Hanginon said:
Keep yourself in good physical condition, be passionate about the music, and use good full range speaker systems that sound great without being excessively loud. End!
Click to expand...

You are absolutely right about all of what you wrote!

I've been working for the physical condition part of it. I've hard some real challenges to overcome in that area, but I'm feeling very good right now!

What you describe about speakers is something called "punch." When the highs, lows, and mid-ranges, are all being heard as they should, you have punch, and the sound does not have to be so loud. I'll add to that, however, that the quality of the files (for DJs who are now using digital files; which I assume are most nowadays), should also be high. Even with speakers that have punch, they are no remedy for poor files. It's the famous, "junk in, junk out."
 
While you love what you do, age doesn't brings an issue. You may do small changes and care about your health to keep the pace but it doesn't have to be a reason to quit.

With time comes the experience and it would be a shame to loss it by quitting, even when you still prefer to stay active.

The key here is recognizing which activities can adjust to your comfort AND satisfaction levels.

In short, stay with what makes your heart happy.
 
My update is that I still feel GREAT!

The COVID situation affected me unexpectedly, but not heath-wise. I use my radio shows to screen music before playing them at a gig. It has been a great system and gives me a couple layers of screening. Keep in mind, that pro DJs (and I use the term lightly) listen to a lot of music in a sitting.

First, I listen to the beginning of a song and if I like it, I go to the next criterion

I then advance a bit into the track and listen for the "bridge," "break," solo(s), etcetera. If I still like it, I put it on the playlist for the radio show.

In most cases, if the song made it to the show, it is good enough for a gig, but there are times when after listening to the whole song it turns out that I don't like it for gigs, after all!

Without be able to do live radio shows for two years, I hadn't been able to use this system. So, when I returned to doing gigs, I literally felt that I lost the "edge" for a while.

The good news is that very shortly after resuming live radio shows and being able to use my system, I again feel like I have that edge. It's a great system that allows me to play very good new music at gigs!

So far, age has not been a factor!
 
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