Old School Vs New School Disc Jockey – 25 Things That Have Changed

So much has changed in DJing in the last generation – so for a bit of fun, we thought we’d compile an “Old School vs New School Disc Jockey” list.

To be clear, here at Digital DJ Tips we think DJing is best as it’s done right here, right now – so we’re not judging modern DJs with this list, not by any means.

(Of course, some things will be seen as better or worse depending on who you are and where you stand, but there’s frankly little worse than having to listen to a “it was great in ’88!” bore – right?)

So anyway, have a look – we hope our list makes you smile, and we’d love you to share your “old school vs new school disc jockey” ideas in the comments!

Old school vs new school: 25 things that have changed…

Old school: Disc jockey
New school: DJ

Old school: Records
New school: Digital files

Old school: Manual beatmixing
New school: Sync

Old school: Music ownership
New school: Cloud & streaming

Old school: Pester DJ for title, locate vinyl at record store, practise mixing new track
New school: Shazam, Beatport, sync

Old school: Record crates
New school: USB drive

Old school: DJ flight case
New school: DJ backpack

Old school: Records in hold luggage
New school: Controller in hand luggage

Old school: DJing all night
New school: 45-minute set

Old school: Promo vinyl in the mail
New school: DJ edits from digital music pools

Old school: DJ hidden in corner
New school: DJ star of show

Old school: Jealously guarding record titles
New school: Everyone Shazam-ing your tracks

Old school: Mixtapes
New school: Spotify playlists

Old school: DJing was enough
New school: Have to produce music too

Old school: Club
New school: Festival

Old school: 2 copies of same track
New school: Own re-edits

Old school: Sorting out your crates
New school: Sorting out your playlists

Old school: Watching the record grooves
New school: Watching the waveforms

Old school: Needle skipping
New school: Software glitching

Old school: Badly pressed vinyl
New school: Low bitrate MP3s

Old school: “Sorry, I don’t have it”
New school: “No, I won’t play it from your phone!”

Old school: Lighters in the air
New school: Phones in the air

Old school: Smoking in clubs
New school: Social media sharing in clubs

Old school: Running out of music to play
New school: Too much music to play

Old school: Learning from a friend
New school: Learning from a video course

Have your say…

So that’s what we could come up with in the office. But do you agree? Disagree? Have you got something to add? Remember, we’d love you to share your “old school vs new school disc jockey” ideas in the comments!