Creating a demo tape

[fellis]

So I want to make a "demo tape" to give to event managers etc if they're looking to hire a DJ. Never really done anything like it before and was wondering how I would go about putting it together. A few things I'm not too sure on are

What sort of music I should have on it. I usually play energetic electro house stuff so would that be what I put on it? or should i keep it a bit more chilled out?

Also how long a mix do you put on it? 15 mins, 1 hour?

Any advice would be handy cheers.

[Audio Aerosol]

Your demos should always reflect the type of music you play. personally I play a lot of styles so I have a number of demos to give out to different promoters depending on the type of night they put on.

I like to do 1 hour mixes just because that is the average length of a guest Dj slot. For competitions I cram as much as i can in 20-30mins as judges rarely listen to a full 1 hour mix.

hope this helps

[Bassline Brine]

I've been trying to promote a couple of my buddies recently (my skills are not up to the task yet).

I tell them to put a 10 minute competition mix as the first track on the CD, and then do an hour long mix as the rest of the CD. I've been helping them edit the mix (which both of my buddies use SSL) in Ableton to just cut it into tracks (no real sound editing, just track cutting only, you could probably get away with this in other programs but I just like using ableton).

IMO it gives someone a mix they can quickly listen to, and then lets people jump around later in the disk to listen to your transitions and track selection.

Also having it look "professional" is a plus. I've gotten mix cd's from DJ's trying to promote themselves that just look like a kid burned a cd, and I've gotten some that were professionally done. You definitely give the professional looking ones a second look.

Also having a business card/CD cover with a link to your soundcloud with other examples of your mixing never hurts IMO.

[Gryz]

This is something I am also interested in and have a question if the OP doesn't mind...maybe it will help him as well too.

When you are making a tape to give to a club owner, can you just use the record feature of Traktor and record directly onto a CD? Now I believe the answer is yes, but would it have to be altered in any way for it to be able to be played in a CD player?

[JelaniRobot]

All my recording is done with Audio Hijack Pro. It's defiantly the best way for a digital DJ to save their work down. As far as the length and music selection, 30 minutes of the energetic party music is best if you are looking at the club scene. If you can't get hyped in the first 2 minutes they probably won't continue to listen.

[LanceBlaise]

1 hour, and it should be the style you play since that's what you want to be hired for...