How to prepare a gig?

[djalexlaine]

every DJ needs to prepare for his set.
i generally hit the club a week before on the same night (or talk with people who know the club) and get an idea of what the crowd is generally up to. i then make a playlist that has twice the amount of music i need. keeps my options open while keeping me on track with what i want to play.
double check all my gear, make sure i have all materials and make sure i am there early to setup and hangout with the staff.

[Kaon]

How exactly do you prepare for a gig?

Do you make a certain playlist and write down which effects and so on, you are going to use?

what kinda music do you play?

[lsmith]

I am probably as newbie as can be .. I have my first "real" gig this weekend. For now I will not really be "mixing" .. instead I will focus on choosing the right set of music. As I will be playing at an event in the french speaking part of Switzerland, I am asking a few friends from over there to give me a list of popular club songs in french. This should be useful to get the dance floor going as the french love to sing along.

Aside from this I am working hard on rating my favorite songs into a playlist. Eventually I will also try to follow Ean's advice on adding "relations" between songs in the comments, but atm I have this in my head for the 100-200 favorite songs I like to play.

I am probably going to plan out the first 2 songs and 2 possible directions from there (hip-hop or electronic). Knowing the crowd a bit I know I can probably always also fall back to disco classics for a bit.

In the few occasions where I have stepped in as a backup DJ I have always tried to stick with a similar style for about 3-5 songs until I move on usually with a track that is a bit of a crossover between the current and the next style. So far this has served me well.

As for effects .. I generally think that they are mostly useful for transitions .. though they should be used sparingly. I think most people react irritated if you mess with their songs too much and its easy to get carried away. But if you are going to use effects make sure that you know 100% how the perform.

[DvlsAdvct]

It depends on my mood. Sometimes I just show up and spin, sometimes I make a whole set list and try to stick to it. Lately I've just shown up and rock out.

What I used to do, though, is have a list of 20 songs I WANTED to spin, especially new songs that I might not default to, and then try and throw those into it.

[silver fox]

i jus rock up n play. but ofcourse make sure iv bought all me gear lol
but other than that not much prep. a few beers and maybe a doobie but thats about it

[Kaon]

intoxication

[Cliffm]

Preparing a gig for me is grabbing my gear after work and getting in the elevator!

(The lounge I play at is right below me in my building)

[alien2k]

I usually make playlist of music that I play all the time, Indie, Electro New School, Electro Old School, HiNrg, Rock En Español, Hip Hop, Top 40, New Wave 110 - 130 BPM, New Wave 135 - 150 BPM, New Wave 155 - 200 BPM, and so on. Everything is already beatgrid, and all the load markers, and loop points are in place. I have a gig bag and I make sure everything is in there. IE laptop, power supply x2, rca cables x3, Usb cables x4, iPod w/power adapter, CDs, headphones x2 plus ipod headphones just in case, Soundcard and VCI is in a flight case.

+1 with JesC

Having several playlist for diferent genres with everything processed inside is my best advice also. And the gig bag double checked would be also my advice. I use traktor and a good help is to reset the played state from the tracks on the playlists.

[mpetersen3]

+1 with JesC
a good help is to reset the played state from the tracks on the playlists.

+2 I have forgot to reset played state a few times, especially if you are checking some tracks or warming up right before you start. Then you start and after a few hours can't remember if you played a track during the gig or before.