How do you recover a crowd?
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  1. #1
    Tech Guru Damien1138's Avatar
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    Default How do you recover a crowd?

    So at the valentines party i gigged at, I had a painful experience. The line up went like this. (changing names to protect the innocent)

    DJ1 - electro with a heavy 808 influence
    DJ2 - electro bangers
    DJ3 - Bangers and classics
    DJ4 - DOWNTEMPO BREAKS!!!!!!!!!!
    ME - Electro garage fidget
    DJ6 - Electro

    The party was going great for the first 3 acts, but when the fourth guy came on, the entire vibe of the party changed and half the people left. The people remaining used this time to bitch and complain about the music. Now, I wasn't the promoter and it was out of my control at this point, but i did kindly ask the guy to guage the party a little better. Understandably, he was insulted, but then proceeded to tell me that there is nothing anyone can do about it... IT'S HIS FUCKING JOB TO CONTROL THE PARTY!!!!! But that's besides the point.
    Needless to say, I had a hefty task of getting a sunken audience back into the party out of some really downtempo breaks... I tried with mixing in hip hop into some dub step and tried to get the party back on track. Anyways, my question is, If you are slotted to play after a booking/promoting fail, what can you do to get people dancing again?

  2. #2
    Tech Mentor Phil R's Avatar
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    I like to get on the mic

  3. #3
    DJTT Dominator JesC's Avatar
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    If the previous dj's killed the vibe, what I do is play some electro tracks that they havent played. What works for me is 80s electro, nothing gets the crowd going again like some Personal Jesus by DM. If that doesnt work I would try some classic house if it hasnt been played already.
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  4. #4
    DJTT Ninja Mod tekki's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Phil R View Post
    I like to get on the mic
    Used to do that too.

    If a DJ needs support, try uplifting them with proper MC skills.

    (i.e. knowing when to shut up, and when to add. )
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  5. #5
    Tech Mentor alien2k's Avatar
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    In your case the problem seemed to be caused because of the wrong order in which the djs played. That is why it is good idea to arrange the djs playing in order according to their skill. Let the best guys and the most experience play at the peak hour, and there will be little risk of loosing the crowd.

    But in your case Mr Dj4 went with one music idea on his mind, and was not able to change it on the fly eventhough he must had notice that he was loosing the crowd... (That is not a good Dj)... In that case when you start noticing that people is leaving you need to try and fix it..


    just go and talk to the guy and let him know that his music choice is wrong and that people are leaving... If he does not have any other music just get the next Dj ready to go up and save the night. Make sure that the next guy hits them with the proper tunes! Usually if people are not liking the music but if they see that they are changing the dj they might stay to check if the next one has something better to do before they leave.

    One other thing that you can do if you are able... is to arrange any promotion - discount - or free drinks during a bad set...

    But the best thing to do is trying to reduce the suffering time for the crowd. Just change the dj, and let him know in a polite way why you took 40 minutes out of his set. Its better to get 1 person angry (Mr Dj4) than houndreds...

  6. #6
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    im inclined to say it was a promoter problem. for instance, i was once booked to play at a small event and basically, it was a gospel house DJ, then trance, then me with electro. it wasnt exactly the best choice to go to 128ish from 140.

  7. #7
    Retired DJTT Moderator DvlsAdvct's Avatar
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    This was really a line up fail. If a DJ is being slated to play downtempo breaks I would never put him after the highest energy acts in the middle of the night. If he's willing to do a progression from the electro to the downtempo/breaks and back up that could be really cool and give people the opportunity to drink, sway, and relax for a bit before the next high energy DJ comes up.

    But, well, the best thing you can do is talk to the promoter, tell him/her what's going on and try to work your ass off to get them back.

    Something I've realized is that a bad DJ can be bad for many reasons. To get the crowd back I just do the exact opposite of the bad one. The DJ doesn't know how to control levels and everything sounds terrible? I make sure my levels are crystal clear and the sound is beautiful. He has played the same style for an hour and people are tired of it? I try to play completely different stuff, and do a progression of sound to keep their ears hearing different stuff. *shrug* You can only do what you know, man.
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  8. #8
    Tech Guru B33SON's Avatar
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    That's a promoter fail. If I were you, I wouldn't say anything to the DJ. Stay out of drama. You never know that guy might have gotten that spot cuz he's a promoter of some sort. Just play your set the best you can and you'll get credit and look great for rockin the party after that dude's failure.
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  9. #9
    Tech Guru Damien1138's Avatar
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    Thanks guys.

  10. #10
    Tech Mentor de_stilj's Avatar
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    It's not a promoter trick to put a really bad dj in middle, so everybody can go buy themselves a drink???

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