Jamaica DJ

A person who is selecting and playing music that is previously recorded to an audience is normally referred to as a Disc Jockey, Jamaica DJ or Deejay. This has a long and interesting history that dates way back to African traditions. Today, this is widely done in all sectors of music from a source that maybe in a compact disc format to do playbacks.

Deejaying has several techniques that can be utilized to assist them with blending and creating mix for the recorded music. They could use techniques such as audio mixing, equalization and cuing of more than one sound source. But all this will depend on the setting that the DJ would be working in, for example, Radio Jamaica DJ would rely less on these techniques and rely more on having the transition between songs going over smoothly.

To select and play music for the different audiences, the role is the same for all disc jockey. What actually differentiates them is the setting, the chosen medium, the chosen music and the skills that they have in doing manipulating the sounds.

Disc jockeys are classified in a variety of ways and can be found in a various sectors in the music industry. The disc jockey for reggae is a person who chats or toasts over a tracks that was previously recorded and the person who choose and plays these different tracks is called the selector. This selector’s role would be creating the vibe, controlling the tone and energy of the crowd. In Jamaica, persons usually say if you are well received by the crowd then you are a big hit, as the crowd reaction to the DJ can decide the fate of the sound systems performance. The selector had to know his audience and settle in to the music, the tempo and the tone for the songs that he would be selecting.

Some selectors study their audience, you know what kind of a mood they are in and they would test this by playing little sections of a song like a teaser or they are playing a big hit and then they just “haul and pull up”, this means they interrupt the playing and start from the beginning. These techniques along with good song selection will help the DJ get the responses that would make him a success.

But numerous Jamaica DJ’s can be found on radios, they will do introductions of a song and play the music, this then broadcast to persons through FM, AM, Digital, Internet or shortwave radio stations. Often times they are made popular for their personalities, they would create a listening audience using a combination of strong personality traits and choosing the nature of the songs they were playing.

Then there is the DJ’s for clubs who would select and then play the music in discotheques, bars, nightclub, raves and even center or stadium. The DJ’s will use techniques on the turntable such as phrasing, beat matching and slip cueing to conserve the energy on the dance floor. These Jamaica DJs have to use skills and creativity to master the art of juggling, cutting, scratching, phase shifting, needle drops, back spinning to add to their performance.

There are those persons who would travel to various events with the sound systems and play the music from prerecorded tracks; you call them mobile DJ’s. In America there are the DJ’s for hip hop selecting and playing from many turntables with more than one Mc’s and they sometimes do scratching to create jolting sounds.