1st Gig Wisdom

[Kupujte_Pytle]

Even better, set up a Facebook page and get them to Like you there, you get access to their friends too. You can put a Soundcloud mix on a Facebook PAge easy enough as a bit of bait.

NAH FACEBOOK doesnt work... in my cz area, FB is overspammed with events, so nobody pays attention to invites anymore.

[rvltion909]

If clubbers ask about your music, get their email addresses and send them a quick "thank you" with a link to a mix on SoundCloud or something similar. That way you start to gather a ready-made list of people you can email when you pay again - anywhere.

Get just 5 or 6 emails from every gig and play once a week and you have a few hundred people within 12 months who you can keep happy with mixes etc and who will hopefully come to your gigs when you inform them of them.

The more aggressively you can collect these email addresses, the better for your career...

Phil is it? Very simple idea that I think I will be doing! Thanks man...why didnt I think of this (I remember hearing it on one of the articles here)

And Hoodless...shit man that mp3 pin looks insane! Perhaps I may go that route soon but for the time being I think I have to do the poor-mans version.

Excellent stuff guys, thanks!

(side note: just heard there will be no mixer in the booth...guess you have to bring your own and I dont have one anymore. so.....my gear *better* work. I think they've got tables and CDJs though...dont think that would do me any good without a mixer however)

I will definitely post how it goes.

[JesC]

where are you doing this opening set? If its local Ill go support.

BTW if you want to make CDs...let me know. I gots a cd duplicator

[rvltion909]

where are you doing this opening set? If its local Ill go support.

BTW if you want to make CDs...let me know. I gots a cd duplicator

Thanks Jess, appreciate that man! Its in Surf City OC ( http://www.flightoc.com/ ). Its a sort of 3 friend bday combo. They rented the place and I get to open. Im being asked to play a HipHop playlist for just a bit then I can do EDM (since I dont have or play HipHop). If enough people show then they get to open an other room at the place.

Im getting super excited but my pessimistic nature is warning me against doing so.

[Phil Morse]

To rvltion909 - yeah, bad form to post under my blog name so I re-registered under my real name. The new Roots album is great upfront warm-up hiphop by the way, I'm hammering it. I'd be getting excited if I were you, too. What's the worst that could happen?

[rvltion909]

Whats up folks!

So as promised Im back to post a little run down of the night and how it went. Hopefully any other 1st timers can benefit from anything I learned and what better place to list it than here at DJTT.

After being in too much of a rush to take the right direction freeway...I got there on time (sort of). Everybody was still setting up.

I got to the empty booth and saw only XLR plugs. (SHIT!!!). My setup consists of laptop/Traktor, NI Audio 4DJ, VCI-100, LPD8 & a CRANE. Per the advice of DJTT I brought along all the audio cables I could think of but I dont have any XLR plugs. Luckily the club Mgr was super cool and helpful and had a DJ800/CDJs on hand. He hooked it up and gave me some spare RCA's to use too.

I fumbled around and eventually started getting sound. I'll be honest and tell you I really dont understand fully how it worked but I think it was something like taking channels 1/2 & 3/4 out of the Audio 4DJ and plugging them into the line-in for channels 1 & 4 on the DJ800 mixer. The Mgr then explained how the "booth" monitor levels worked and how they usually keep the master level at 75%

He then said something that Im not sure if I misheard or just didnt understand. "I need it at 75% to feed my house". Im not sure if this meant he needed it loud to bring people into the club, or if it was an electricity issue or what.

Anyway...I started playing at around 9 (which was what my friend told me would happen). The the master level was at 40%...because...I was still sort of figuring things out. The Mgr came back shortly after and asked if we were playing yet. I said yes and so he told me to turn it up. I turned it up to like 60%

About 20minutes into my set the HipHop DJ came in (he had a N7, laptop/Serrato setup). Here's where all the "etiquette" you've been a nice good boy to learn and practice goes out the window.

He proceeds to talk to me about his setup and how he is going to make it work and where to place everything, etc.

**note...booths are pretty damn crowded**

This booth consisted of DJ800 mixer, 2 CDJs, my setup mentioned above, 2 1200's a Rane mixer and an other laptop. Anyhow...he gets himself setup (asking me to hold wires and shit during the process of me playing) and proceeds to soundcheck over me.

People where just arriving and at 10 he was supposed to be on. I kept this schedule. He played until 12 which is when I was supposed to go on and open for and closing DJ. I got him a drink during his set which took him by surprise it looked like. He set me up to mix into the 4/4 hiphop closing track he had playing. Considering the the setup process I had a couple hours ago I told him to just let it play out then I'd start a long track to let play while he broke down before I started.......(so I could actually play without focus on his breakdown process).

I played the song, he broke down and the closing DJ arrived...about an hour early so I didnt get to play at 12. The closing DJ gave the sound system a good workout and had a great set. He's very established and has a following. Not sure what the agreement was for his timeslot but he let me have the last 45min to close out. He again setup a track to mixout for me (I told him to just let it play out). I had a little intro I made that I wanted to use. Is this considered bad form...I've seen it done both ways...mix in and pause to start your own thing.

Anyhow...about 75% of the crowd was a HipHop crowd so I got to try to play the last 45min to a crowd who was under the impression that I was going to change it up again and play HipHop. I was asked at least 5-10 times by different people (most drunk) if I was going to play HipHop. An interesting response I came across when telling them I dont play or have HipHop was "why????!!!". This was accompanied by a facial expression response as if I had just told them I dont drink alcohol...

I played about 3 tracks (each of them I was asked if HipHop was going to be played) then the club then said they were closing.

So overall great learning experience (not-so-much of a good time). I was able to pass out a couple cards and get some education.

Interesting points of the night:

-drunk girl coming INTO the booth and dancing for the whole set of the closing DJ

-drunk girl almost throwing up...leaving the booth and closing DJ then asking me "who the fuck was that" ( I thought HE knew her)

- drunk girl coming back INTO the booth to dance some more...falling all over the place and me unpluging my gear, moving it and watching her like a hawk

-drunk girl being told to leave by my friend (birthday girl and event organizer)

- drunk girl getting inches from a fight with my friend...my friend taking my advice and getting a bouncer

-drunk guy hating the 1hour+ of EDM, telling the DJ to "cut it out" while the dance floor was going off....then angrily asking me to play "Billy Jean" (I guess he was pissed that he came dressed in a black&white suite with a hat and not being able to bust out "Billy Jean" moves)

Lessons learned:

-come prepared with common cables (including XLR)

-things DO get spilled.... (while breaking down for the night my bags were soaked......with something). Store your gear carefully *inside booth storage compartments if available*

- my VCI would NOT stop "un-syncing" from the vibrations of the booth monitors (even after turning the sensitivity to the minimum).

- last but not least for me...If I had to choose....Id rather be around a bunch of drugged up EDM fans than a bunch of drunk (anything). Ideally...a crowd of EDM music lovers.

Again though...good learning experience.

[Phil Morse]

Sounds like a great start to a career, with lots learned and lots to think about.

The manager would definitely have been telling you about how loud to start (I always start too quietly, that's cost I'm a natural warm-up DJ I think...)

Just because other DJs don't have etiquette, doesn't mean you can't!

For me it isn't bad form to stop another person's record. If you stop a 4/4 130BPM tune and then start another 4/4 130BPM tune that could easily have been crisply mixed it's a bit pointless, but if you've got an intro ready, why not?

You're right about drunk people and trying to keep your geat protected in the DJ booth. This might make you smile: Dealing with unwanted people in the DJ booth.

The number of times that "I though you knew him/her!" conversation goes on is unbelievable. It's kind of not such a big deal... until things get stolen/broken.

Thanks for the tale!

[rvltion909]

@ Phil

lol nice link! Yea the club owner had the bouncers come over a couple times telling the last DJ to turn down.

I also just remembered an other thing. A kid coming up asking to play his demo and saying he'd pay me. Thats a 1st.

Any ideas on the VCI and the platter sensitivity with the monitors issue? anybody? I know Ean and many others gig in big clubs with these so there's got to be a solution?

[lethal_pizzle]

Two options:

1) Put the VCI on something to absorb the shock. Foam, a folded up hoodie.
2) Press both Scratch buttons together. This disables the jog wheels.

[photojojo]

- my VCI would NOT stop "un-syncing" from the vibrations of the booth monitors (even after turning the sensitivity to the minimum).

So the vibrations cause the jog wheels to move and that causes it to get unsynced? Foam would probably be the easiest thing, but you can adjust the tension on the jog wheels by adjusting the collar on the shaft inside the jog wheel assembly. This will cause the jog wheels not to spin as easily though.