Last Friday, I was DJing at my regular spot, and things were starting to warm up on the dance floor. I recently bought a LPD8 (My first MIDI controller!) so I plugged that in and mapped it really quick for the cue points in Serato. Between tracks I set cue points and basically turned SSL into a drum machine. (Set one cue at a bass, hat, snare, etc.) It all sounded really sick in my headphones, so the next transition I went live with it, banging out what I thought was a hella tight beat. Now, my head was down this entire time, and I glanced up after about 10-15 seconds and the room had FROZEN and was staring at me like "dude, wtf?!!?" I panicked, hit the cue for the beginning of the song, and ducked behind the booth in anticipation of a beer cup flying my way. I tried it again a little later, but it was a lot more subtle, the outgoing track was still playing, and the instrument tracks were similar enough so it just sounded like a blend. The other DJ there thought it was great and told me people were feeling it, but I think HE thought it was great and was just trying to make me feel better...
So my question: Did I punk out? Should I have kept playing to see if they would dance to the new sound or get the pitchforks? This is probably the first time any of them have experienced/seen a DJ do this, the talent pool around here is terrible. Have any of you broken out something shockingly unexpected on your home crowd? Can it ever go right? Should I try this again?
I did have a guy come up to me at the end of the night wanting to play on the pads, I let him. I think people are intrigued, they can see exactly what I'm doing, but what I don't know is if the like it and are willing to dance to my live remixes...
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