The history of DJing, or mixing music in real time evolved and changed over the course of the next 50 years. Loud PA speakers meant disc jockeys or “selectors” as they were called could blast music while hyping the crowd through a rhythmic vocal style called “toasting”. Though it wasn’t until the late 1950s and early 60s in the Jamaican ghettos did the art of DJing really take off. A few years later, artists began to try out new formats, some introducing live drummers to play between songs to keep club dancers moving to the pace. Remarkably, the first instance of what we recognize today as DJing occurred in 1947, when Jimmy Saville, an English radio DJ claimed he was the first person to ever live mix using twin turntables at a jazz club. As early as 1935, radio disc jockeys practiced live or “real time” mixing where they would select singles recorded on discs to play on broadcast. It’s never been easier to get into live music mixingīelieve it or not, the art of ‘DJing’ has some pretty deep-rooted history in American history.
