Landed my first Gig!! Possible issues... tips?

What's up Tech Tools family?!


I am so happy to say I've landed my first PAID Dj'ing gig for next weekend. It's an after party at a new bar for a girl's roller derby team.

The stipulations were $100 plus free beer, and if all goes well they're going to pick me up as their "resident" DJ!

Crazy right?

I got the gig from going in to the bar (it was EMPTY as they've only been open a week or so) and chatting with the bartender and getting a feel for what their music situation was. I noticed they had a huge PA system but someone had an iPod plugged in only... chatted it up with them and found out the following:

Turns out they hired a "DJ" to come in and play an indie night a week or so ago, but the dude had no car, said he only wanted to play for beer, brought 1 friend, and played super loud dubstep the entire night ignoring the staff and ended up taking off his shirt and swinging it around etc etc.

So that's what I'm up against! Haha

The people I'm playing the party for are giving me a playlist of stuff they want to hear- plus I have around 300 songs of old school hip hop, indie dance, 80s, 90s, a handful of mashups, anthems, plus my PERSONAL music (hundreds more songs) selection which is way less traditional (psybreaks, psystep, down-tempo, nu-disco, etc.).

The only problem's I foresee are that

1) I'm getting an S2 in the mail on Tuesday- and the gig is Saturday! Till then I've been working on this ghetto-rig here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCAkKu1fCGg

2) Them getting their playlist to me in time (prob on a USB stick or something)....


So I was hoping to get some advice from you all- they want me to play from 7pm-2am- a super long set for my first time out I know, but I've got the tunes, and definitely feel confident that I can give them what they want (and probably a little bit more!)

Any tips appreciated!

PS: I'm already working on beat-gridding my indie playlist I've got set-up, and have everything analyzed with Mixed in Key for some creative mixing if I get ballsy ;]

$100 + beer is not bad for a first gig. Sounds like you'll have a pretty easy ride if they're gonna give you a playlist...

If I was you, I'd stick with your usual rig. BIG mistake taking a new piece of kit to a gig. ESPECIALLY your first gig.

Play it safe gear wise. Maybe get a little freaky with your mixing after a few drinks...

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Originally Posted by Patch

If I was you, I'd stick with your usual rig. BIG mistake taking a new piece of kit to a gig. ESPECIALLY your first gig.

Play it safe gear wise. Maybe get a little freaky with your mixing after a few drinks...

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Man... I hear you there loud and clear- Butttttttt I'd feel so much more professional using the S2 instead of this jerry rigged mess... Maybe I'll just see how comfortable I am day-of, and bring both set-ups.

Also, I've got "We are the champion" to play in the case that they win their match- any other tips on "Victory" type songs? Triumph by Wu Tang? haha Thanks for the reply!

Dude, just rock the S2. No offense, but I watched your video and you aren't kidding! That is quite a work around you have there. A lot less can go wrong with the S2. A few days is plenty of time to learn how to use the S2 for the functions you are currently using in Traktor and as you say, it is more professional. Good luck man - have fun!

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Originally Posted by DJ SB

and as you say, it is more professional

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"Professional" is getting the job done, not looking pretty.

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Originally Posted by Patch

$100 + beer is not bad for a first gig. Sounds like you'll have a pretty easy ride if they're gonna give you a playlist...

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Tip #1: Gig first....beer later. Seriously. Stone cold sober until AFTER you are done. Then hang out and have a beer to celebrate. If that means no beer on the first gig...that's still OK.

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Originally Posted by Patch

If I was you, I'd stick with your usual rig. BIG mistake taking a new piece of kit to a gig. ESPECIALLY your first gig.

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KISS. I would take the S2, but only really use it as a sound card. Plug in your headphones and use that to monitor.

Being in front of the audience is not the time to experiment and practice. The S2 is pretty easy to understand, but it is also pretty easy to get in over your head on your first trip out. I like to have 20-ish hours of practice on ANY new kit before I use it at a gig. That helps me to make sure that it is stable, reliable, and to learn about some of the quirks. (I am not talking about a patch cable here...but really anything major...a new software update, new sound card, new mixer, new controller, etc.)

Show up early. There is nothing like 30 minutes of having nothing to do because you are setup and ready to roll. Being even 1 minute late is just stress you do NOT need on your first event....I don't need that stress at my events, and my first time was almost 20 years ago!

Have some backup music to play in case something goes wrong. An iPhone with a playlist is fine...provided you put it in airplane mode...no taking calls or texts or app updates while it's playing music. A mix CD is also good.

Finally....YOU should come up with some tips that you figure out would have been helpful for you during your first event, and post those as a reply to this thread.

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Originally Posted by soundinmotiondj

Tip #1: Gig first....beer later. Seriously. Stone cold sober until AFTER you are done. Then hang out and have a beer to celebrate. If that means no beer on the first gig...that's still OK.



KISS. I would take the S2, but only really use it as a sound card. Plug in your headphones and use that to monitor.

Being in front of the audience is not the time to experiment and practice. The S2 is pretty easy to understand, but it is also pretty easy to get in over your head on your first trip out. I like to have 20-ish hours of practice on ANY new kit before I use it at a gig. That helps me to make sure that it is stable, reliable, and to learn about some of the quirks. (I am not talking about a patch cable here...but really anything major...a new software update, new sound card, new mixer, new controller, etc.)

Show up early. There is nothing like 30 minutes of having nothing to do because you are setup and ready to roll. Being even 1 minute late is just stress you do NOT need on your first event....I don't need that stress at my events, and my first time was almost 20 years ago!

Have some backup music to play in case something goes wrong. An iPhone with a playlist is fine...provided you put it in airplane mode...no taking calls or texts or app updates while it's playing music. A mix CD is also good.

Finally....YOU should come up with some tips that you figure out would have been helpful for you during your first event, and post those as a reply to this thread.

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DJ Sober: Definitely. No issues there but always good to keep in mind :D

S2: I plan to have WAY over 20 hours of practice on that thing prior to my gig- so all good there ^-^

Punctuality: Plan to get there around 6 so should be good there. Also going to bring some spare cords/connections/etc.

Back-up Music: Awesome advice! Will definitely do that- and pro-tip on the Airplane mode- that would be an utter fail.


I will DEFINITELY be sharing my lessons learned with the Forum. Hopefully this is the start of me being a contributing member in a valuable way!

Ean and the DJTT site/forum has been such a huge help already... it's really incredible.

You should be ok with the S2 by Saturday. Read the online manual front to back until you receive it.

Kill it!

Sounds to me like you are ready. Do your best, be professional and remember.... have some fun.

Learning to use the S2 shouldn't be a problem, faders, eq, cue/play, its the same as any other mixing setup. I would only be worried about making sure that the hardware, the audio interface, etc., work flawlessly. Having your software stutter, or your latency spike because the cpu load is different with your new setup would be something to look out for.

congrats man! Yeah dep DON'T DRINK unles syou're just sipping a beer on your first gig =)

a long time ago a friend recommended me to bring a fish bowl and some sticky notes with a pen (so people can write down requests instead of distracting you asking you to play the latest bieber) and i added a sign that said
"Remember, Drugs are expensive....... "

would make an extra like 50 bucks or so a night in tips from requests when i first started out =)

yeah.. your old kit is a spiders nest of bad.. use the S2.. rock the party.
stay pretty sober.. you might need 1 for nerves at first..
rock the S2 as much as you can before your party. at least you have a mac to help with the normal windows s2/s4 latency issues.

make sure to read the crowd.. dont bust into an all skrillex set (for example) if they are not digging it.. by the sounds of the playlist, you will need to keep changing up the music all night. keep in mind what is pulling them onto the floor and visit that genre often. the requests should give you an idea ahead of time..

Besides the post-its for requests.. leave some business cards there.. land your next gig..

Grats..

Thanks again for the tips everyone! Stoked to get so much support :]

Only thing that I can add that hasn't been mentioned is - to look at their playlist before you play it - check levels, bitrates, etc. Also try and not have Traktor read it from the stick. I am not advocating "sharing" music, but not only will the read/write speeds be at the mercy of the USB stick, but it adds another variable of failure.

Have a extra long track or a mini-mix on hand for break periods. I've never gigged out, but for a 7 hour gig it would make sense, obviously :)

Good luck! KILL IT!

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Originally Posted by DarioJ

Have a extra long track or a mini-mix on hand for break periods. I've never gigged out, but for a 7 hour gig it would make sense,

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Soft Cell "tainted Love / Where did our love go" is good for a 9 min break at most gigs..

Ive never dj'ed sober and I probably wont ever lol. A couple brews before you play always helps me fit in the groove a little better.

I can't wait to get to that point!,good luck and like nubz said have fun

echo freeze, fades, get a mic, intro's over outro's, don't get drunk before you play lol have fun good luck champ and if you need a smoke or bathroom break or the dance floor is popping feel free to throw in my mix :P

https://soundcloud.com/djpaulson/dj-...ears-party-set

The only problem i have with tossing in a quick premade mix and stepping out is, people then question if the rest of the mix was live or all premix.

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Originally Posted by johnm

The only problem i have with tossing in a quick premade mix and stepping out is, people then question if the rest of the mix was live or all premix.

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that, 1000x times...
just have a handful of really long ass songs (epic trance in a lounge is sooo amazing for long breaks lol)
with as few effects built into them as possible so haters won't hate as hard, otherwise bring along an audio guard who can throw down for like 15-20mins

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Originally Posted by DJMichaelHavok

that, 1000x times...
otherwise bring along an audio guard who can throw down for like 15-20mins

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Actually that is what I do a lot. I pretty much always have a few of my regular mix buddies at my sets and my "want to be DJ" friends hanging out in the booth.. I give them their 10 of fame.. that or put on a long ass track.. ..
They usually don't expect much in return other maybe one of your free beers, one of you mix CD's, or the bragging rights that they got to play a for a few min.
This gives you a bit of time to hit the head or lock in that hotties phone number...

Its been a while since I have done 7-10 hour sets.. good times.

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Originally Posted by DJMichaelHavok

that, 1000x times...
just have a handful of really long ass songs (epic trance in a lounge is sooo amazing for long breaks lol)
with as few effects built into them as possible so haters won't hate as hard, otherwise bring along an audio guard who can throw down for like 15-20mins

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True that. I'm in Florida so I could always toss in Free Bird and blame it on a request ..... HA

Well I survived!

It was definitely a challenge trying to keep everyone happy. The requests for music I got from the audience prior was practically all "booty shaking"/rap music so I filled my play list with a lot of that. But as I played in that genre (trying to mix in some alternative as best I could), I found myself getting a lot of requests for Punk, Rock, and 80s. So in my mind half the room was miserable at any given point of time. It's hard to please everyone eh?

Using my headphones as a mic was soooo useful! An awesome trick that I couldn't believe worked. I announced songs that were going out as requests often, and tried to play for people who came up and made in-person requests immediately.

I made some mistakes of course. Mostly though I think I concentrated on mixing WAY too much. I was trying to keep the beat rolling the whole night, when in all honesty the crowd was just not a dancing type of group. Being hung up on mixing perfectly restricted what BPM and key songs I was playing next and got in the way of me playing the right tune for the right moment.

Something I did that ended up being a good idea was that I brought my analog 2-channel mixer and plugged my Macbook's headphone jack into the Line A, my Traktor S2 into Line B, then bought some RCA male-to-1/4" female converters so I could plug the house PA into my mixer's Master Out. This gave me a fall-back in case something crashed (I had my ipod there as well), and also later into the night this girl REALLY wanted to hear some song that her and her friends knew a dance to, so I was able to plug her phone directly into the mixer and play a song that made the girls happy.

One thing I wish I could have done was have access to a WiFi signal so I could buy tracks off iTunes that people requested and work them into the set. 10-15 bucks would be well spend out of my night's pay to be able to hit everyone's requests without having to say no. I'm thinking I may jailbreak my phone so I can use it as a WiFi hotspot for next time.

I wrote a list down of people's requests this morning but should have had people write them down on a clipboard so I had a hard copy for finding stuff to add to my collection.

I guess that's about it! Thanks again everyone for chiming in with your advice :]

good to hear you got through. Don't worry about the few hiccups, you'll be able to sort that out eventually.

As for the Jailbreaking your phone bit. If you've got an iPhone as far back as the 3Gs I believe you can tether it to your mac without having to jailbreak. It'll run up your data, but hey like you said, it may be worth it to keep everyone happy.

gratz on the success man, i remember the days when i took requests, now i don't unless i get greased a fifty spot....

once you have a sat mix you like to run and an order you play in, you'll hate requests more than cancer