First time cdj's in a club (no experience with it)

Hey all,

I've been DJ'ing for about a year now. So far it's mostly in my bedroom, with a few gigs outside my room. Those were either (smaller) parties from friends or at friday drinks at my work (+/- 50 people).

I feel like I'm ready for more. I am confident about my mixing skills and song selection. A friend of mine knows some people, and he might get me a smaller gig. However, there's one "problem".

I've never DJ'ed before in a club, so I'm afraid I'll screw up. The main reason is that I'm not familiar with the gear (Nexus CDJ's). I only have experience with a Traktor S2 together with a Macbook. I've played with cdj's together with Serato once a while back in a shop, which was way harder then I imagined because the controls were so different.

To be clear: I don't have the gig yet so I'm not in a HUGE hurry.

tl:dr: I wan to play in a club soon and I would love to get some experience in preparation, however I only have a Traktor S2 and Macbook

Any tips or advice on addressing this issue? Did anyone here have this "issue"?

Can you beatmatch?

Go to the club owner and ask if you can practise before taking the gig. Then you can both see wether or not you're ready for it. If you're not, pay attention to which parts you struggle with and practise those skills at home. Beatmatching is not 100% necessary on nexi (nexuses?), but very highly recommended nontheless. If only for the confidence you get from the knowledge that you can do it yourself if needed. The part I've struggled with using CDJ's is the waveforms. Track preparation becomes even more important when playing on CDJ's. So get out your rekordbox and start placing those beatgrids, cuepoints and hotcues. They'll be a big help.

Read up here, they give some proper advice in that topic.

My local guitar center allows you to play with equipment. If they dont have it setup try to go by a slow day and ask them too.

When I started on CDJs I chose to only use the basics. Like someone already mentioned....beatmatching. I love to loop but I even avoided that until I got real familiar. Going old school allows to you still take the gig, play music, and slowly learn. It will be basic intro and outro mixing until you get comfortable. People wont really see your style until then but atleast you have the gig and you can show promoters that you can handle the gig and potentially get another chance to play again.

Dont be overwhelmed at trying to show all your skills and potential your first time around. There will be many more gigs in the future if you look for it. The key is getting the first couple of gigs under your belt and build from there.

see if you can play with your s2 by partially closing your computer screen. Set up your cue points and see if you can drop it in by listening to music.

like djsrone said, you'll be fine. just practice a little and dont worry about fx.

dude, just hook up those CDJs via USB cable to your macbook and use Traktor HID on them. It's exactly like using an S2, what's the big deal?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by despo

dude, just hook up those CDJs via USB cable to your macbook and use Traktor HID on them. It's exactly like using an S2, what's the big deal?

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No big deal except for the fact he's never used them enough to understand them let alone set them up via HID mode in a club environment.

I'm with @kwal. I do know how that works and think it's kind of incredible. I'd still just bring a USB key instead of futzing with it unless I had a good bit of time before the club opened to play with them like that.

Plus, they might not let him bring the laptop.