First time DJing last night!
Discussion
I was asked to DJ last night at a pre bar before a night club opened, I had no experience and had 2 hours to fill.
It was an indie/rock/alternative club night (average age: 18,19ish, I'm 18), people don't really dance downstairs, just want some nice stuff they know, and don't know to listen to, and take advantage of the cheap drinks!
It was awesome! I loved it! To make it easy I planned a set list, and burned tracks 1,3,5 etc onto 1 CD and 2,4,6 onto a second CD. And switched between them.
Although this is probably seen as cheating I loved it and would love to get into it more! It made me feel awesome to have people coming up and telling me I was doing a good job, asking about the songs and stuff.
And the guy who asked me to do it seemed pretty impressed!
Not sure if anyone is interested but here is my set.
Always like this – Bombay Bicycle Club
Love Lost – Temper Trap
Latchmere – Maccabees
Your English is good - Tokyo police club
Dance with somebody - Mando Diao
The Rat - The Walkmen
Islands - the xx
You’ll find a way - Santogold
Its working - MGMT
Hounds of love - Futureheads
Razorblade - Strokes
Darts of pleasure – Franz Ferdinand
Wasp’s Nest - Tellison
Domino - Van Morrison
Dancing in the moonlight - Toploader
Numb - Jay Z vs. Linkin Park
Are you gonna be my girl? - Jet
Me myself and I - De La Soul
Me and Mandy - Example
Lets go surfing - The Drums
You know I love you - Pigeon Detectives
Whats My Age again - Blink 182
Come Back Home - Two Door Cinema Club
Feeling Good - Muse
NYC Moves to the sound of LA - Funeral Party
The Captain - Biffy Clyro
Higher Ground - RHCP
I know the it loses flow a bit towards the end, thats because we started late so I didn't have 2 hours, and had to chop and change the set list at the last minute.
I've asked to do it again and he said I should be able to, but I really want to get into it more, how do I go about that?
It was an indie/rock/alternative club night (average age: 18,19ish, I'm 18), people don't really dance downstairs, just want some nice stuff they know, and don't know to listen to, and take advantage of the cheap drinks!
It was awesome! I loved it! To make it easy I planned a set list, and burned tracks 1,3,5 etc onto 1 CD and 2,4,6 onto a second CD. And switched between them.
Although this is probably seen as cheating I loved it and would love to get into it more! It made me feel awesome to have people coming up and telling me I was doing a good job, asking about the songs and stuff.
And the guy who asked me to do it seemed pretty impressed!
Not sure if anyone is interested but here is my set.
Always like this – Bombay Bicycle Club
Love Lost – Temper Trap
Latchmere – Maccabees
Your English is good - Tokyo police club
Dance with somebody - Mando Diao
The Rat - The Walkmen
Islands - the xx
You’ll find a way - Santogold
Its working - MGMT
Hounds of love - Futureheads
Razorblade - Strokes
Darts of pleasure – Franz Ferdinand
Wasp’s Nest - Tellison
Domino - Van Morrison
Dancing in the moonlight - Toploader
Numb - Jay Z vs. Linkin Park
Are you gonna be my girl? - Jet
Me myself and I - De La Soul
Me and Mandy - Example
Lets go surfing - The Drums
You know I love you - Pigeon Detectives
Whats My Age again - Blink 182
Come Back Home - Two Door Cinema Club
Feeling Good - Muse
NYC Moves to the sound of LA - Funeral Party
The Captain - Biffy Clyro
Higher Ground - RHCP
I know the it loses flow a bit towards the end, thats because we started late so I didn't have 2 hours, and had to chop and change the set list at the last minute.
I've asked to do it again and he said I should be able to, but I really want to get into it more, how do I go about that?
Sounds like you enjoyed your first gig (always a very nerve-wracking thing that goes far better than you'd ever expect if you're at all self-concious!) and understand the crowd well, so you've got every chance of success!..
Just my thoughts, speaking as a house DJ who used to be very much into his indie nights when I was your age, I'd keep pushing (without sounding too desperate) for another go soon - if the bloke gave you a chance and liked what he heard, there's absolutely no reason why he wouldn't be looking to get you back behind the decks before long!...
As for playing a pre-defined set, that could be considered 'cheating' to an extent (and it can set you up for a fall when you have to start chopping things around for whatever reason, as it puts you in the wrong frame of mind)BUT... It was your first time out - far better to be too organised and feel comfortable for your first few gigs than to not be organised enough!...
The next few times you play (I'm sure they will come) and you start to let your hair down more, observe the crowd to see what makes them tick (even in a venue with a very specific 'type' of crowd this can vary massively from week to week depending on exactly who's out and what state they're in!)... Then let these observations start to define what tunes you think of playing next.... It's at that point you start to really feel the crowd, people start to really notice you as a DJ rather than the bloke in the corner playing good tunes and you start to get asked to play at other nights and different places!
Just my thoughts, speaking as a house DJ who used to be very much into his indie nights when I was your age, I'd keep pushing (without sounding too desperate) for another go soon - if the bloke gave you a chance and liked what he heard, there's absolutely no reason why he wouldn't be looking to get you back behind the decks before long!...
As for playing a pre-defined set, that could be considered 'cheating' to an extent (and it can set you up for a fall when you have to start chopping things around for whatever reason, as it puts you in the wrong frame of mind)BUT... It was your first time out - far better to be too organised and feel comfortable for your first few gigs than to not be organised enough!...
The next few times you play (I'm sure they will come) and you start to let your hair down more, observe the crowd to see what makes them tick (even in a venue with a very specific 'type' of crowd this can vary massively from week to week depending on exactly who's out and what state they're in!)... Then let these observations start to define what tunes you think of playing next.... It's at that point you start to really feel the crowd, people start to really notice you as a DJ rather than the bloke in the corner playing good tunes and you start to get asked to play at other nights and different places!
Edited by Ultuous on Thursday 29th July 19:06
Thanks that was really helpful. I think next time I do it I might make a few CD's, with a lot more variation, and switch them around and have a bit more fun and like you said see what people want.
Last night someone actually requested Muse, luckily I had a track on my pre-made CD.
Looking at decks they're really expensive, but I guess I don't really need to buy my own anyway. Just hoping I get another chance to do it, although I doubt I'd get asked to play any bigger nights!
Last night someone actually requested Muse, luckily I had a track on my pre-made CD.
Looking at decks they're really expensive, but I guess I don't really need to buy my own anyway. Just hoping I get another chance to do it, although I doubt I'd get asked to play any bigger nights!
I haven't been in a booth for about 6-7 years now at least, but when I was - it was a case of read the crowd. If you get one or two people humming along, dancing etc - you can be pretty sure that more will follow.
I remember one of the strangest "crowd reading" moments I ever had, I was mixing myself into a corner - had done the 90s stuff, the 80s cheese, the requests - and thought "what the hell, we'll give it a go" - grabbed a CD I hadn't used for a while and put "Teenage Wedding" by Chuck Berry on (yes, the one out of Pulp Fiction - the Jack Rabbit Slims Twist Contest song) and it went down a total storm!
The place I was at was just a normal pub, so a varied mix of ages from teenagers to pensioners and everything in between, but every single person that I could see was either singing along, or dancing away. The older lot remembering it from the first time round, the younger lot remembering it from Pulp Fiction (and the associated dance that went with it). I was honestly gobsmacked!
Another good one, towards the end of the night (it used to be my wrap tune) was "Sit Down" by James. It's a tune that everyone knows the chorus to, having a pub singing "oh sit down next to me!" in unison is quite a thing to hear!
Another thing to do is learn some patter - I hated this, I was more of a dance-oriented beat matcher than a human jukebox, and I was scared of the mic. The bloke I worked with had more cheesy lines than someone snorting powdered edam! If it's a pub you're at, ask about drinks promos and after a few tunes, shout out a couple of promos - it breaks up the music and makes people take notice. The pub will probably be chuffed with the advertising too!!
The worst thing to do is go too far off the beaten track, if it was a chart hit, you'll be safe - if it's a specific type of night, you will be ok with leftfield choices, but if it's a mainstream night and you drop a track that is almost unheard of, you can kill the moment pretty easily. The only time I ever turned down a request was in the middle of a 90s cheesy dance mix (Culture Beat, The Real McCoy, that kind of thing), I was asked to put "Dry Your Eyes" by The Streets on.
It would have been a total buzzkill, so it got 'mislaid'!!
Best advice to give? Just have fun - if you like it, if people are dancing, singing or even just tapping their feet - then they're yours! Enjoy the jockey sluts too!!
I remember one of the strangest "crowd reading" moments I ever had, I was mixing myself into a corner - had done the 90s stuff, the 80s cheese, the requests - and thought "what the hell, we'll give it a go" - grabbed a CD I hadn't used for a while and put "Teenage Wedding" by Chuck Berry on (yes, the one out of Pulp Fiction - the Jack Rabbit Slims Twist Contest song) and it went down a total storm!
The place I was at was just a normal pub, so a varied mix of ages from teenagers to pensioners and everything in between, but every single person that I could see was either singing along, or dancing away. The older lot remembering it from the first time round, the younger lot remembering it from Pulp Fiction (and the associated dance that went with it). I was honestly gobsmacked!
Another good one, towards the end of the night (it used to be my wrap tune) was "Sit Down" by James. It's a tune that everyone knows the chorus to, having a pub singing "oh sit down next to me!" in unison is quite a thing to hear!
Another thing to do is learn some patter - I hated this, I was more of a dance-oriented beat matcher than a human jukebox, and I was scared of the mic. The bloke I worked with had more cheesy lines than someone snorting powdered edam! If it's a pub you're at, ask about drinks promos and after a few tunes, shout out a couple of promos - it breaks up the music and makes people take notice. The pub will probably be chuffed with the advertising too!!
The worst thing to do is go too far off the beaten track, if it was a chart hit, you'll be safe - if it's a specific type of night, you will be ok with leftfield choices, but if it's a mainstream night and you drop a track that is almost unheard of, you can kill the moment pretty easily. The only time I ever turned down a request was in the middle of a 90s cheesy dance mix (Culture Beat, The Real McCoy, that kind of thing), I was asked to put "Dry Your Eyes" by The Streets on.
It would have been a total buzzkill, so it got 'mislaid'!!
Best advice to give? Just have fun - if you like it, if people are dancing, singing or even just tapping their feet - then they're yours! Enjoy the jockey sluts too!!
Edited by Frederick on Saturday 31st July 00:03
Dear timlongs,
feels good doesn't it?
When you get it right at least. There will be occasions when it doesn't but they'll be few and far between.
You had an advantage in that you knew your audience were music lovers and shared their taste. If you do carry on and broaden your audience (your first wedding that'll be the test!) you'll need to at least know the things to play from other genres even if you major on your indie preference.
Two CDs and no equipment to carry, [Monty Python] luxury [/Monty Python].
My first gig was at school. A tape deck and a hi-fi turntable with a home built mixer which didn't work. Still got 'em dancing though.
The largest gigs I did were about 600 people at university (Bath - the Osmium 186 Rock Roadshow, cringe, I was young
). Hundreds of singles and albums which I've still got. The kit (apart from the decks, well I just couldn't let them go could I) went a couple of years ago, it hadn't been used for about five years and that garage is needed for another four wheels now.
I did sell all of it - >1kW of amps, 3 way cabinets, projectors, strobe, bubble machines, sound/sequence to light. Carrying that lot up stairs or using a lift was no fun.
Anyway enough of this rose tinted nostalgia and may you always have a next tune cued up,
regards,
Jet
feels good doesn't it?
When you get it right at least. There will be occasions when it doesn't but they'll be few and far between.
You had an advantage in that you knew your audience were music lovers and shared their taste. If you do carry on and broaden your audience (your first wedding that'll be the test!) you'll need to at least know the things to play from other genres even if you major on your indie preference.
Two CDs and no equipment to carry, [Monty Python] luxury [/Monty Python].
My first gig was at school. A tape deck and a hi-fi turntable with a home built mixer which didn't work. Still got 'em dancing though
.The largest gigs I did were about 600 people at university (Bath - the Osmium 186 Rock Roadshow, cringe, I was young
). Hundreds of singles and albums which I've still got. The kit (apart from the decks, well I just couldn't let them go could I) went a couple of years ago, it hadn't been used for about five years and that garage is needed for another four wheels now.I did sell all of it - >1kW of amps, 3 way cabinets, projectors, strobe, bubble machines, sound/sequence to light. Carrying that lot up stairs or using a lift was no fun.
Anyway enough of this rose tinted nostalgia and may you always have a next tune cued up,
regards,
Jet
davepoth said:
Take a laptop with you, 10,000 tracks at the touch of a button.
Very sensible in this day and age..... however, two things you should do if going down this route.1. Take a few CDs with you - just in case. Laptops can crash or die without warning, and with no CDs as backup, the venue will go very quiet!
2. Make sure you have a valid digital DJ license. (£200/year IIRC) This allows you to legally play music from a digital device, and store up to 20,000 tracks for use in public performance.
davepoth said:
Did a bit of DJing with a mate a few years ago in a club in Innsbruck. It was '60s themed, and we were using vinyl 7" all night. Each one was 2 minutes long, so it was 30 records an hour. Hilarious.
30 per hour?Pah! You're not even trying!
I recall the days of jocking in nightclubs before decent CD players were commonplace.... doing a cheesy party set using 7" vinyl where you play 2 mins of some tracks and about 30 seconds of others, it was easy to get through records at a rate of nearer 45 an hour!
And without cue points and pre-edited CDs, it was a masterclass in cueing, decent fader control, and absolute instant start from a turntable (hold the record with your finger, start the deck, and let the record go on cue!)
They were the days.......
davepoth said:
Take a laptop with you, 10,000 tracks at the touch of a button.
Nooo.... really? I wouldnt.Personally I prefer to hold music, yes its swopping CDs around, or bits of vinyl, but you lose the feel and never learn the skills (imo.) If you do go down that route get something like Virtual Vinyl, Serato or similar and emulate the feel of decks. The only good thing with digital DJing is that if you do use auto-cue or the sync button it allows you more time to work on the clever bits, but if your still learning the sync button is a recipe for disaster.
Well done! I've never used it in a 'professional' sense but I have a copy (proper, bought!) of virtual DJ pro, which is a fantastic bit of software.
I have used it with a basic Numark mixer, an old Technics 1200 and a time coded vinyl, which is a lot of fun (and confuses people!).
Currently I used a little Behringer piece of kit, which uses MIDI control and gives me a little fake set of platters for backspins and cueing, loads of control of effects, EQ etc etc.
Yes, Its nothing like the quality from a proper Pro level set of CD decks and a nice mixer, but, its very very clever and a lot of fun - Throughout Uni I used to take this setup along and it worked really well.
The software is brill too, great for me playing house music as you have brilliant control and can do endless loops of tracks, live cutting and pasting, all sorts.
I have used it with a basic Numark mixer, an old Technics 1200 and a time coded vinyl, which is a lot of fun (and confuses people!).
Currently I used a little Behringer piece of kit, which uses MIDI control and gives me a little fake set of platters for backspins and cueing, loads of control of effects, EQ etc etc.
Yes, Its nothing like the quality from a proper Pro level set of CD decks and a nice mixer, but, its very very clever and a lot of fun - Throughout Uni I used to take this setup along and it worked really well.
The software is brill too, great for me playing house music as you have brilliant control and can do endless loops of tracks, live cutting and pasting, all sorts.
What's everyone using now then?
When i started i was trying to build my vinyl collection up, i was spending in excess of £40 a week on vinyl, all of which i pretty much don't use anymore!
I also used to do Motown / Funk sets @ the end of the night to keep people in so i bought job lots of 60/70/80s vinyl.
I'm using Serato now & a laptop.
I have about 60GB of music on there from Indie-Motown & from Electro to hiphop, a bit of everything for any eventuality.
Although i also carry a wallet of about 150 CD's or so just in case the c
laptop goes tits up!
When i started i was trying to build my vinyl collection up, i was spending in excess of £40 a week on vinyl, all of which i pretty much don't use anymore!
I also used to do Motown / Funk sets @ the end of the night to keep people in so i bought job lots of 60/70/80s vinyl.
I'm using Serato now & a laptop.
I have about 60GB of music on there from Indie-Motown & from Electro to hiphop, a bit of everything for any eventuality.
Although i also carry a wallet of about 150 CD's or so just in case the c
laptop goes tits up!
lawrence567 said:
When i started i was trying to build my vinyl collection up, i was spending in excess of £40 a week on vinyl, all of which i pretty much don't use anymore!
I was the same - I've got vinyl hidden away all around the house that I never use!... I think I'm going to sell/ give away/ throw out a lot of my vinyl collection soon, but I couldn't bare to part with the rarities or my trusty 1210s, even though they seldom see the light of day!It's CDJs all the way for me... I can completely see the point of laptop DJing both for very eclectic sets (requiring vasts volumes of music to hand) and for doing live 're-edits' with Ableton/ syncing old tracks with wavering tempos, but the CDJ is still king of the clubs for me, as the amount of control they give over mixing house-based genres tightly is phenomenal, whilst being standard kit in most venues and letting the crowd see someone 'DJ' in a comprehendable manner... I do think the medium of CD is ready to die a death though - I can see a move towards most clubs consisting of CDJ-like controllers with most DJs plugging their own portable hard drives into them (not had a chance to play with the CDJ2000s yet but look like they do this very well indeed!)
I want to start Dj'ing myself. I've been roadying for a mate for a couple of years now, doing things like 18, 21st birthday parties, weddings etc. Now he has a monthly slot in one of our local pubs.
Nothing too big, usually attracts a crowd of about 30-40 odd people in the pub so an ideal start venue and he's said the next one I can basically do the djing with the help from him.
He's recently started using virtual DJ v6 and so he's been letting me have a play around with it.
I was thinking of getting one of these setups so I can start practicing on my own, also using the virtual DJ V6 software.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/HERCULES-4780583-DJ-CONTROL-...
Has anyone got any experience with this setup?
Nothing too big, usually attracts a crowd of about 30-40 odd people in the pub so an ideal start venue and he's said the next one I can basically do the djing with the help from him.
He's recently started using virtual DJ v6 and so he's been letting me have a play around with it.
I was thinking of getting one of these setups so I can start practicing on my own, also using the virtual DJ V6 software.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/HERCULES-4780583-DJ-CONTROL-...
Has anyone got any experience with this setup?
If you enjoyed it, you’re 90% there!
It’s something I’ve been doing increasingly more of over the past 5 years and love it! Starting to earn a nice few extra beer tokens to boot!
Lots of very good tips here, chief amongst which is:
1. Arrival – people want to chat so just decent background stuff
2. Foot tapping – Second, maybe third drink of the night – starting to loosen
3. Girls round the handbag – one song (nomally ABBA) that gets the girls on the floor
4. Party – everyone dances!
Common mistake I’ve seen many times is to try to keep phase 4 going for a couple of hours. Will never work. Need to deliberately (but not obviously) break this up into 20 min segments.
For the record, I use a Mac Book Pro with Djay running off iTunes. (£45!). Have a twin deck Numark as well.
A good bit advice I got from a pro sound engineer was to leave all the mixer settings at neutral. Sounds “tinny” when your sound checking an empty room but very different when full of soft squidgy sound absorbing people.
The only thing I dislike are ‘requests’. People often ask for the most innappropriate song at the worst time and when you do find a way of getting it in, they’re outside having a fag then demand that you play it again.
It’s something I’ve been doing increasingly more of over the past 5 years and love it! Starting to earn a nice few extra beer tokens to boot!
Lots of very good tips here, chief amongst which is:
Frederick said:
it was a case of read the crowd.
Knowing what to play and when is, I think, the art of DJing. There’s four phases of a party:1. Arrival – people want to chat so just decent background stuff
2. Foot tapping – Second, maybe third drink of the night – starting to loosen
3. Girls round the handbag – one song (nomally ABBA) that gets the girls on the floor
4. Party – everyone dances!
Common mistake I’ve seen many times is to try to keep phase 4 going for a couple of hours. Will never work. Need to deliberately (but not obviously) break this up into 20 min segments.
For the record, I use a Mac Book Pro with Djay running off iTunes. (£45!). Have a twin deck Numark as well.
A good bit advice I got from a pro sound engineer was to leave all the mixer settings at neutral. Sounds “tinny” when your sound checking an empty room but very different when full of soft squidgy sound absorbing people.
Meeja said:
Make sure you have a valid digital DJ license. (£200/year IIRC) This allows you to legally play music from a digital device, and store up to 20,000 tracks for use in public performance
I looked into this a few years ago and there are (or was?) some exclusions. If the owner of the venue (such as a pub landlord) hires the DJ and the owner owns the licence, rights are extended to the DJ, or if you are playing at a private party (defined if invitations have been issued and there is no cost of entry).The only thing I dislike are ‘requests’. People often ask for the most innappropriate song at the worst time and when you do find a way of getting it in, they’re outside having a fag then demand that you play it again.
I just had my first proper DJ'ing experience.
Mate of mine has a regular spot (usually monthly) at a local pub to us. He gave me about an hours time towards the end of the night to DJ. Really enjoyed it and was getting so good mixes going using virtual DJ and the Hercules controller.
My friends off traveling for 3 months now and the pub have agreed to let me take over while he's away! Also got a new years eve spot at my local where I work! Time to get practising.
Mate of mine has a regular spot (usually monthly) at a local pub to us. He gave me about an hours time towards the end of the night to DJ. Really enjoyed it and was getting so good mixes going using virtual DJ and the Hercules controller.
My friends off traveling for 3 months now and the pub have agreed to let me take over while he's away! Also got a new years eve spot at my local where I work! Time to get practising.
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