A bit of background first. I am 15, have been Djing with Traktor for 3 or 4 months now. I normally play Progressive House, Big room, Electro House and some Dubstep.I am competent at mixing, I watch my levels as I mix and use EQs for better blends. I come from a musical family and I am decent at phreasing my mixes. I DO USE SYNC, simply because it would be illogical and very time consuming to beatmatch with my current equipment, and it allows me to focus on phrasing and blending more.
So my good friend messaged me on Facebook asking if I was free saturday night. Turns out he wanted me to DJ his sister's boyfriend's 18th birthday party. A smallish thing with 40 people max.
I don't actually have my own laptop yet, so I will be using either his sister's or her boyfriend's. This is the part I'm stressing about.
1)I want to know if I've forgotten anything I need to bring on an external harddrive to have things working flawlessly.
My list (so far):
- Traktor Installer
- Native Instruments folder from my PC
- Music
- ASIO4ALL driver
- External Soundcard drivers
- BCF 2000 drivers
I will also be bringing with me:
- BFC 2000, not the best controller, but the only thing I have
- M-Audio Jamlab external soundcard
- AKG K240 Studio headphones
- Spare iPod headphones as backup
- iPod
- Spare 1/4" lead
- 2x 1/4" > RCA adaptors
- Stereo splitter
- RCA > 1/4" adaptor
2)Am I right in thinking this will be all I need to plug into an external amplifier?
My setup will go:
Laptop ---> Amplifier ---> Speakers
---> BCF 2000
---> External soundcard ---> Headphones
I will have prerecorded mixes on my iPod ready to swap in should the laptop fail for any reason.
My next question is about song selection as the night progresses.
My plan is a load of Pretty Lights type chillout music for the first hour while people arrive, then moving into some Deep House while people are still drinking and whatnot.
When the girls start wanting to dance I'll start playing some of the slower top 40, no remixes yet. Then when nearly everyone is on the floor some of the more upbeat stuff with maybe a few remixes.
When most are on the floor, the real singalong stuff like T.G.I.F and others.
Then, and only if It's asked for I might play some Dubstep.
I'll finish it off with some clubbier songs and some Progressive House to finish.
3) From people's past experiences in Djing 18ths, will this plan go down well?
4) Judging from what I have read and heard from others, mixing technique does not matter with this type of croud and song selection is key. So I am assuming I should stay away from long blends and improvised build ups and cue point juggling. Am I correct?
Sorry for the wall of text :P
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