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Topic: first gig this friday

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I have been DJing for a few months now and I have my first gig comming up. 200 people for a college club/rave style party. I know the music i'm going to play, been practicing different transitions into other songs, etc. so I got all that down. I also have a reminder list of all the gear and stuff I need to bring. Does anyone have any last minute advice or tips? I am just afraid of having a bad show, kind of like a stage fright thing lol.
 
Posted Mon 28 Mar 11 @ 6:14 pm
its a small venue but here is what I have for equipment:
Toshiba Satelite L655 w/ VDJ pro 7.02 (did not want the upgrade in case it messed up something for the party lol)
Hercules RMX

and for lights i'm using (2) Revo Burst lights and (1) mini galaxian with a fog machine. I figured that would be good enough because they have black lights and stuff in the venue as well.
 
Ah yes, the 'new venue jitters" is what I like to call it. It used to happen to me every week as I would only play on Saturdays and it was in a different location every week. It doesn't even faze me anymore, but I also play 3+ shows a week now.

Tips:
- play to your crowd - if a song isn't working don't be afraid to cut it off for something that is a real crowd pleaser
- don't use up all your good tracks early
- play to the ladies first - they are less self-conscious of being the first ones dancing (and of course the guys will follow!)

And most importantly:
- have fun! - After all, it is the best job in the world.

Best of luck on your gig.
AC
 
thanx :) yea I have the first hour and 1/2 dedicated to songs they would hear on the radio, or techno remixes of radio songs with a few house and dubstep songs thrown in. The 2nd and 3rd hour will be house and dubstep songs with fewer radio remixes. I did it this way bc i was told it was a dubstep heavy crowd but not everyone will like it, so I figured make it comfortable first before going risky
 
Back-up CD player/Ipod/Iphone that you could play instantly in case your laptop freezes. It happened to me several times when I was still using PC(Windows) and learned the lesson. I am using Imac and MacbookPro now and never had any freezing problems so far.

Goodluck!
 
i recorded a 1 hr and 1/2 mix of slower tempo rap/hip hop/radio stuff and a 3 hour mix of techno radio mixes and dubstep and they will both be on my phone as of tomorrow. thanx for the reminder though lol
 
If it's a hardcore dubstep crowd, I wouldn't play radio crap, you will prob lose them at the start, I would be playing breaks (same speed as dubstep) or drum n bass (similar sounds used, but a lot more variety). But the main thing i would try to do is keep the beats broken and not play 4/4 house
 
thanx, i know its not a hardcore dub crowd, but they def want to hear some techno and dubstep. they like the main stuff like skrillex and deadmau5, so i have a bunch of that and other stuff i plan to mix too. and most of the "radio" songs have a techno or dub remix to it anyways so i thought that would make the girls comfortable since most of them don't know that much about dub
 
^ in case people read that wrong lol I didn't mean "girls" in general wont know anything about dubstep, i mean I know a lot of the people for this party, and the girls dont care whats on, they just want to dance, and the guys want to rage out to good music
 
Oh nah that's cool. I thought you meant ke$ha and britney "that's all they play on the radio in Australia :(", as for starting out don't smash it straight away let the music build, If it was me, to do the transition from electro I would do something like play the original version of animale let it build then smash it with the datsik remix after the first break, play a bit of commercial dub then get darker and harder. just make sure you have way too many bass bins!
 
do your thang.
 
I have been doing this for about 16 years now and I still get nervous once in a while. Its ok to feel that way because when you stop it means you don't care any more. After a while you'll get confident in your skills. Play to the crowd not to what you like or what you feel is safe. That is what a true Dj does. Djing is a selfless act of pleasing your crowd. Make sure pay attention to the crowd and see how they react to different music. Feed off the crowd. Requests are good and can inspire or give you ideas but don't let one person's request kill it for everyone else. Don't try to please one person over the majority unless it is the person paying you. Try to work things in cycles. Don't switch from one style of music to another so randomly.

As far as equipment goes; make sure you do system maintenance on your laptop prior to the gig. Do a scan disc and a defrag is necessary. When setting up at the gig shut down your anti-virus and your wireless card if you are not going to use it. U never know when those things try to start up when you are djing that can slow your system down. Its ok to go in there with a game plan but you have to be flexible because no 2 gigs are alike.

Bring business cards and don't be shy about passing them out. I never advertised, all of my business has come from word of mouth or business cards.

Good luck to you and stay in th mix!

Dj VooDoo
 
Great advise from all, thank you! I already had my computer optimised for top perfomance and shut off everything not needed since i only usethe laptop for djing. I'llbe running another disk cleanup and defrag tomorrow. I wish it was fridayalready! Im excitedto see what people think of me as a dj lol
 
Welcome to the fraternity!

Be sure to have fun and here's to many more gigs to come for you in the future!


Happy Mixing,
DJ COACH K aka THE MIX MONSTER
 
I forgot to mention: Be friendly and polite to everyone you encounter while at your gig. Your mixing will be transparent to most except critics and fellow DJs (you guys know what I'm talking about). Song selection and personality will sell you as a DJ in the future, so make sure you're respectful to everyone you encounter.

You're eager to get into the mix, so I'm sure you'll rock the house.

AC
 
thank you all again for the advise. I now have a playlist backed up on my phone and seperate mp3 player so hopefully nothing will go wrong. i'll be sure to post up pics of the event so you all can see how east cost college girls party lol
 


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