[Question] Mistakes you shouldn't make at your first gig?

[Danek]

I got my first gig at a local club in August, pretty awesome!

Even though I've been DJ'ing for a few weeks only with a controller, I'm getting the hang of properly using EQ's, scratching, effects, relooping, etc.

But still with no experience, I want to know what mistakes I should avoid making at the gig.

Any advice is appreciated, thanks.

[Schalenberg]

Mistakes happen. You're human. But practice does make perfect(ish). Be prepared. One thing that really grinds my gears though is playing tracks with clashing keys. Shit drives me insane. Avoid that and you should be fine. Good luck!

[Patch]

A few weeks?!?

Crikey, you are brave. Best of luck to you, mate.

[Danek]

A few weeks?!?

Crikey, you are brave. Best of luck to you, mate.

I know, I'm only mixing for 30 minutes or an hour though I think.

I've been producing for half a year, and the owner liked my work more I suppose in comparison to other young DJ's he had at his club.

[sarasin]

Mistakes happen. You're human. But practice does make perfect(ish). Be prepared. One thing that really grinds my gears though is playing tracks with clashing keys. Shit drives me insane. Avoid that and you should be fine. Good luck!

LOL....you generally only really hear this once you have started doing Harmonic Mixing.
Drives me nuts too.

Tips:

Dont try and do anything real difficult right off the bat.
Let the first few transitions be simple and get into it. Then rock out.

Don't jam both tracks bass at the same time. It will sound like shit.

Once you are sure you are beatmatched and in phrase, listen to the mix outside the headphones. (or have both channels playing in the cans)

Don't let punters distract you when you about to mix. Ignore them until you are no longer transitioning.
Getting into a chat while DJing can let you lose focus and then look back to see you have 12 secs left of a track...

Move ALL drinks and liquids away from the DJ box before you setup.

Take spare USB cables.

Take spare RCA's.

Don't assume the venue will have enough power sockets for you. Take a power strip.

Have a backup CD with tracks in case of shit.

Make sure you have your cue points and grids done before hand. Else you will be looking and working on your laptop for most of the time.

Understand the gain stage and don't red light the VU meters. Even if the DJ before you did.

Good luck!

[pgtampa]

Biggest thing.. make sure you bring ALL the right cables.. if you are hooking into an installed sound system be sure you can go from your gear to it.

[Danek]

LOL....you generally only really hear this once you have started doing Harmonic Mixing.
Drives me nuts too.

Tips:

Dont try and do anything real difficult right off the bat.
Let the first few transitions be simple and get into it. Then rock out.

Don't jam both tracks bass at the same time. It will sound like shit.

Once you are sure you are beatmatched and in phrase, listen to the mix outside the headphones. (or have both channels playing in the cans)

Don't let punters distract you when you about to mix. Ignore them until you are no longer transitioning.
Getting into a chat while DJing can let you lose focus and then look back to see you have 12 secs left of a track...

Move ALL drinks and liquids away from the DJ box before you setup.

Take spare USB cables.

Take spare RCA's.

Don't assume the venue will have enough power sockets for you. Take a power strip.

Have a backup CD with tracks in case of shit.

Make sure you have your cue points and grids done before hand. Else you will be looking and working on your laptop for most of the time.

Understand the gain stage and don't red light the VU meters. Even if the DJ before you did.

Good luck!

This is definitely helpful, I wouldn't have thought to bring spare RCA's/USB's/bringing a power strip.

Thanks!

[sarasin]

This is definitely helpful, I wouldn't have thought to bring spare RCA's/USB's/bringing a power strip.

Thanks!

Pleasure mate.

[DISaS73R]

Don't drink more than a pint.

How long is the set?

[dripstep]

Only a few weeks??? Good luck dude, I recommend making sure all of your tracks are beatgridded properly so you can use that sync buttons when things go pear shaped. Hope this works out for you, and if it doesn't, don't get discouraged, take it as a lesson to practice for months instead of weeks.

good luck.