Crap djs in my town

Ok just moved to what you would call a small city town like place in england only 30 mins from where i used to live

anyway been here 2 months now and every club i go to is the fucking same

the djs all play the same remix of top40 stuff i mean tonight i heard pitbull remix played 5 times in 3 clubs/bars and they are getting paid for it?

i only started djing last year and dont do top 40 remixes or stuff like that
i like playing stuff people aint heard with big drops that make you move 24/7

i have never played out my bedroom apart from a couple of partys
but i want to know how to break this town in to hearing new music that is just flowing instead of a dj playing a song then saying crap over the microphone about 2010 then dropping a crap remix from 2009

any tips on this would be great
this is just a drunken rant but i really wanna dj in clubs and bars and get people on there feet i mean if i am paying to get in a club i dont wanna hear the same crap i can hear on the radio for free

Sounds like you need to get yourself out there and blow the roof off your town dude! Put a disc together and go talk to some managers :p

Mate I know places like this; sometimes however this is what the people want to hear!

yeah i got my start playing live gigs and promoting events in a smalltown in the middle of dogfuck nowhere.
there were three bars, one played top40, one played classic rock and country and the other played a combination of classic rock and top40...you can look at it as a hurdle or you can look at it as an opportunity. it's a glass is half full or half empty situation; it's only bad if you don't take advantage of it.

look at it this way, the djs who are getting paid at the bars in your town are crap so you stand a good chance at taking their job if you have a good demo. if the bars/clubs don't like your sound, your other option is putting on the promoter hat and throwing your own parties - which will probably do alright since again the competition is non-existant. you may only make enough money to cover the costs of throwing the event if you have to rent your own venue and equipment, but atleast it will give you the proper experience so that your ready for gigs in the big city without making an ass out of yourself. i mean no offense but one year of bedroom dj experience isn't much, better to do your first shows in a town where nobody will know the difference between an experienced pro and someone who's never played a live gig in their life imo.

trust me mate, if you have the right attitude about it you can probably gain a lot of great experience out of this opportunity.

Yeah, @duerr - you've got the right idea about the attitude dude :) (Here comes a massive post...)

You have to take into account, there's a huge difference between being able to mix perfectly in your bedroom or at a party, and put together a killer mixtape - and actually playing out live in a club. Unfortunately, the fact of the matter is - if it's a small town scene - even if you think you're a gazillion times better at mixing than the residents that are on the job at the moment, if you don't have a good rep, you're not going to shift them in a hurry. No doubt, if they don't promote the nights themselves, then there's a good chance that they are the promoters really good buddies, and thus by trying to all out compete with them (as you would in a big city scene) you narrow/potentially ruin your chances of getting in there.

It's hugely important to understand that nothing in this industry happens over night, everything takes a while, and in that while - hard graft is required to make it happen. So, from my experience with this very same sort of scene - my advice to you would be to get to know the promoters, and importantly the DJs, and just get pally with them.

The most important thing is that you don't introduce yourself as a DJ, that would destroy your chances immediately - because we all know that 70% of guys get a pair of decks when they're 16, and half of them call themselves DJs at every opportunity until they get a life. Ok, this is a stereotypical view, but it has been made even worse now that everyone has a cracked copy of VDJ on their laptop. If you say, 'Hey, nice to meet you, I'm new here and i'm a DJ' - if they don't just dismiss you straight away, then they're gonna most definitely grill you on what you've done in the past - and houseys and bedroom mixes unfortunately just confirm your wannabe-DJ status to them. Thus, you wont get booked.

A better approach (and a much better approach to get into any scene really) is to just get to know everyone, and offer to get involved in the promotions, and basically get behind the scenes in the club scene in your town. This might be running the facebook side, or flyering or whatever, but you're likely to get paid for it anyway. While you're doing this, pick up tips from the other DJs about how they play out live, by all means let them know you're interested in their craft and that you much about a bit (because to them, that's all you do anyway - and the art of (british) understatement is always effective) Then, when you've built a rep with the promoters, you can start to ask them to see what they think of you're mix tapes (which you've obviously been perfecting all this time) and maybe suggest that there should be a more electro housey night (or whatever you play) and that you think it would be popular. Push for it, perhaps offer to promote it yourself with his help, and see what goes down. Also, chat to the DJs and ask them how they got into the scene - because not only will they then know that you're interested to take it further, but you'll learn the tricks.

I apologise for this being a massively long post - but I know this area fairly well. I'm 18, and been in this game for 2 years. Luckily, I'd been in a fairly successful band for 3 years before that, and I had been managing and promoting it myself - so not only have I got a fair bit of performance experience under my belt, but I've also gained a lot of experience in promoting, and a lot of contacts in the music industry in my area.

I have to stress the most important thing is to build good relationships. That's the downfall of many DJs who get given a chance and think they're the shit. When you meet the DJs who you think are crap, playing their pitbull remixes and all that, you might actually find out that they're sound DJs, but just have to play that stuff because that's what the guys like on the floor.

if you build a good rapport with all of those people mentioned - you're 80% there... I hope other guys can agree with me on this..? :)

Unfortunately you could land a gig at the same clubs those guys are playing, and the audience might end up hating you for not stopping your set to play a hall & oates song.

I know a few of the guys who do that. They get paid pretty well to do karaoke and things of that nature. People want stuff like that.

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Originally Posted by CassoIVchoon

Ok just moved to what you would call a small city town like place in england only 30 mins from where i used to live

anyway been here 2 months now and every club i go to is the fucking same

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Where did you move to?

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Originally Posted by ohmyjosh

Where did you move to?

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actually yeah, I only just realised you said england :)

@epsy thats what i think is stopping me the most

i mean all these clubs and bars i go to people are dancing away and they must like the tunes hell even i do,but they might as well be just playing itunes as there is no mixing or juggleing etc.. just record to record and its done really bad i mean some place last night would go from a drum and bass hit to the spice girls it just really grinds my gears

and if i was to go in to a club got a gig and played all this unknown banging electro that i love i might find that other people wont get down to it cus they dont know the words or have never heard the song before.some people are just narrow minded and wont let what they have not heard in before

for me there is nothing better than going to a bar or a club and hearing fresh music
that i can go omg wow this is a tunei gottta find out what it is.

i just think there are too many people getting paid to much money to sit and press play and crossfade on a pair of mk3's

i aint amazing at what i do but what i do do is keep the energy up and make people wanna keep danceing instead of slipping in some cheezy pop song it just ruins the mood when there aint a flow

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Originally Posted by CassoIVchoon

i just think there are too many people getting paid to much money to sit and press play and crossfade on a pair of mk3's

i aint amazing at what i do but what i do do is keep the energy up and make people wanna keep danceing instead of slipping in some cheezy pop song it just ruins the mood when there aint a flow

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I thought you said you weren't spinning anywhere? If not, and you want people to dance to what you spin....then go to a club/bar that plays that type of music and try to get on. You can't roll into a top40 joint and expect to throw on some obscure shit. People mostly came to that top40 spot to hear top40. I can't stand most of the stuff I play out, but as long as the ladies are dancing, everyone is happy.

or you could always start remixing top40 vocals with your beats...sometimes it sounds dope. Good luck.

where are you located?

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Originally Posted by belchman

I have to stress the most important thing is to build good relationships. That's the downfall of many DJs who get given a chance and think they're the shit. When you meet the DJs who you think are crap, playing their pitbull remixes and all that, you might actually find out that they're sound DJs, but just have to play that stuff because that's what the guys like on the floor.

if you build a good rapport with all of those people mentioned - you're 80% there... I hope other guys can agree with me on this..? :)

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+1

the dj scene in towns is usually a pretty small community where everybody kind of knows or atleast knows of the other guys who are into it; this is especially true for smalltowns.

be nice, make friends. don't be a primadonna, don't be a drama queen and don't make enemies; behaving like a fool and referring to others as "crap djs" is not the right attitude to have, definitely not when you're new to town.