My first gig experience

Hello DJTT my name is Francisco and I'm a DJ and a producer. I'm writing this post to tell you my experience on my first gig that happened a couple of weeks ago.
I was told to prepare some deep house and tech house tracks for a warm up performance on the local bar with a DJ that I know for some time. I proceeded to download rekordbox (the bar had the pioneer CDJs 900) and prepared my tracks on some pen drives. The night kicked off and the bar was almost full after 30 minutes of the set. After some time we started raising the energy and when it was my turn to play a track I played deep house again. The guy who played with me started telling me off because of this and kept talking to me and not trusting on the tracks I was going to play.
Anyway, when we ended the bar was full and we took off. The next day I ask the organizer via facebook if he liked what we played and he never answered back. Whats your opinion guys? Success or big fail?

(Sorry for the bad english, its not my first language:D)

I've never had any experience with what goes on at gigs etc.

But if you where told to prepare deep house, and you did. Well that seems ok .... you prepared what you were told to.

But.

If the genre progressed to a higher energy, and you brought the tempo back down to deep house. That's not cool either.

If you get no reply after a few days, personally I would make it clear to the promoter you played what you where told to prepare, as requested. Unless you don't want to play there again ... in that case, f**k it. lol

but for the price of Pen drives, I would seriously consider having a spare with various variations of house with a higher tempo to save any similar problems in the future.

again, I really don't know, never had any experience with gigs etc. Just my 2c

First for all congrats on your first event.

You was asked by the venue to play a type of music which you did, so you have done what they have asked.

You will find that when working along other DJ's they sometimes get a bit hostile as if you end up better than them then they could lose the gig and you could gain the gig.

You may also find that the other DJ planned to play the same track you used in their set, again this is not your problem as you was doing what was asked of you.

Was the dancefloor jumping during your tracks? If so then bring this up when you talk to the venue.

I would avoid using Facebook as communication as many people don't use it as an official communication channel. I would head down to the venue and speak to the manager directly. Discuss with them about the music you played and offer them some advice about what you could do in your next set. Whatever you do don't keep sending messages via facebook as the venue won't like being bombarded with messages. Do it all in person it is far more professional and you will get the response you need right away.

Its also worth remembering that December is a busy time with venues so they may not have time to reply via Facebook or Email.

Remember that if you are working back to back with another dj you need to keep your sets consistent, if he plays a deep house track you follow with a deep house track, if he plays a trance track you follow with a trance track. Talk with the dj your working with so you can come up with a good set between you.

Most of the time djs should really play at least 30 minutes each when going back to back as this will really show off each of the dj's skills.

Next time you head out take both CD's and your Pen Drives. Plan your sets carefully so each track flows try to keep:

The Same Speed

The Same Key

The Same Style

DJing can be a rough business and you will experience that some venues will love you, others not so much. Whatever you do keep at it and don't get dishearten about it.

Send me your email address if you need anymore advice.

Well, as someone in that position you should have caught on to the fact that the energy sped up.. The key is to listen to the music and not just think about "ok, I have to play these 8 songs in this order"

No. I understand you're new so it's ok... I would talk to the guy you DJ'd with and have a beer, tell him why you did what you did and I'm pretty sure you'll get another shot.

Given the situation, A deep house track is always elegant in the mix. Since you were in a situation that you only had lower energy tracks. You could have told him to play 2-3 maybe 4 before you dropped 1-2, leaving more high energy then low.

I mean. It's your first gig man, if the guy can't see it for what it is then he is probably just a waste of your time.

Nobody is perfect & if you arranged for what you were told , it shouldn't be expected that you bring more... but you should have anyway.

Always show up to gigs loaded and ready for whatever comes your way (as long as its mildly in your comfort zone) if it something that is 100% foreign to you.. it probably won't go great.


If I am going to play a night i usually try and check it out a weekend before I play (if possible) to get an idea of how things will go so I can better prepare myself.

Doesn't sound like you did anything wrong though , if the guy is a douche.. he's a douche & nobody can save him from himself.

Of course the guy is a douche but you have to remember a lot of the people who can help your careers in this industry are douches. Sometimes you have to bite your tongue when you are a entry level dj in a market that is over saturated.

Thanks for the replies guys! That was kinda what I thought :001_unsure: .

^^ that is fair. I guess I am lucky where I live.. no real cut throat going on around here. Everyone has their chance to play new or veteran people are accepting and respectful.

We're all just one big group of friends at the end of the day. PLUR without the candy & backrubs though. :p.

People stick around at the end of the party & help with tear down & party till the sun comes up (it usually is up by the time tear down is finished anyway :D)

I think your fist gig went pretty good to tell you the truth. You ran into situation that you handled well and got the job done. If the promoter didnt return a message oh well Facebook isn't a great source for communications.

I wouldn't say fail on your part. You were asked to play deep house for warmups--and you did. Nothing wrong with that. I am sure you can bump it up a notch if you wanted to, or were asked to. From the gigs I've done, I do get a lot of people leaving the dance floor when I start taking in requests or changing the energy of the floor (e.g. high energy music to something slow, or vice--very bad thing to do). It depends on how you transition it though. I know I still need work on that.