DJing : How should I proceed
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  1. #1
    Tech Wizard
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    Default DJing : How should I proceed

    So I'm trying to make some money off my music by getting DJ gigs. I live by NYC and I see DJ's all over my town at some of the outdoor restaurants.

    Admittedly I'm an amateur and only been trying djing for a few months (plz don't post any nonsense about it requiring 20 years of masterful practive). I've been doing music since I was 6 and all things electronic since early in highschool.

    My setup up is Traktor 2.5 w/ two xone k2's and maschine mikro. That serves all my purposes for mixing, effects, and cueing, looping, loading decks and all that good stuff. I guess where I am now is trying to decide how to proceed. I enjoy doing the whole housy/electro/minimal techno thing. All of those beats sort of flow into each other and they work really well with effects and looping and doing youre own thing. So thats one way to go I guess thats fun and somewhat creative. I don't really know ttoo many artists. But I don't have a problem mixing house stuff and I even throw in my own beats on maschine like richie hawton.

    The other way I could go is maybe check out the top 200 itunes for hiphop rnb, pop, electronic and just play out all those mainstream songs. That I could do easily and people want to hear that at clubs and parties so I feel it would be an easy way to make money.

    I got all the digital stuff (minus a serious sound system - don't know if I should save up for that being that many venues have their own)

    So I guess if there are any working dj's making enough money to afford a shit apartment in brooklyn or something. Could you lend me some advice on how to proceed. And please no discouraging statements about how it takes a lifetime of mastery to make 50 bucks a night. This isn't Tabla playing. (that shit takes ten years to be a beginner haha)


    BTW, does anyone know when remix decks are gonna be open for any midi controller.

  2. #2
    Tech Mentor rdale's Avatar
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    I say just approach venues with a mix CD and your contact info, see who calls, and check back up with them if they don't. Even if the venue owner doesn't listen to your mix if you follow up, they might give you a spot. Outdoor restaurants, coffee shops, and the like are probably going to be good choices for letting you do your own thing more than having you play Top 40. I suspect that you are going to be playing for at least 4 hours at this type of gig, so that might be the challenge to over come.

  3. #3
    Tech Guru botstein's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by phloston View Post

    BTW, does anyone know when remix decks are gonna be open for any midi controller.
    I don't think NI plans to do this.

  4. #4
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    i heard that they plan but not for a while

    I demand! and a lotta ppl do too


    wouldn't you like to be able to drop a buildup and then a splash of white noise all by yourself all with traktor with a shitty midi keybboard

  5. #5
    Tech Mentor Bhajan's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by phloston View Post
    wouldn't you like to be able to drop a buildup and then a splash of white noise all by yourself all with traktor with a shitty midi keybboard
    I had assumed this was already possible just using the sample decks.
    Vestax VCI-400 EGE, Traktor Pro 2.5 + flashflooders' .tsi, Lenovo Y580 IdeaPad: 3rd Gen i7, 8 GB DDR3, 7200rpm 500 GB HDD, 1920x1080

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  6. #6
    Tech Mentor Emery's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by phloston View Post

    wouldn't you like to be able to drop a buildup and then a splash of white noise all by yourself all with traktor with a shitty midi keybboard
    Yes, Yes I would.
    13" Mbp i7 | TMA-1 | Tech 1200's | RANE TTM-57 | NI Audio 4 | Kontrol S4 | F1 | KrK Rokit 5s


  7. #7
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    Well, you said not to be discouraging but I don't want anyone giving you false hope so here goes...

    You sound pretty wishy-washy about music and you're pretty hung up on money so I'd recommend not getting into it.

    It actually does take a lot of work to get hired, even more work to "make money". Especially in New fucking York. To put in that work you have to really love DJing. I'm not convinced even a little bit that this is the case.

    It sounds like you were looking at the Classifieds and saw a DJ job in the middle of a bunch of delivery and restaurant jobs and thought "Hm... I guess that would be a fun way to pay the rent. I wonder if it's hard."

    That I could do easily and people want to hear that at clubs and parties so I feel it would be an easy way to make money.
    This is like, the worst attitude you can have going into it. You obviously enjoy it a little bit or else you wouldn't have bought the gear. Why not just mix in your bedroom a few times a week to scratch that itch and find some other way to make money.

  8. #8
    Tech Guru deevey's Avatar
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    Q: What do YOU want to hear mixed up on a night out ?

    Whatever the answer is; its the type of music you should be playing and looking to play in clubs - not what everyone else happens to be playing.

    Thats what i'd be suggesting unless you decide to try for the chart/top40 gigs, which are IMHO even harder to get than the speciality gigs as there is more competition for those commercial resident slots.

    There's no point in being just another mediocre DJ who plays <insert genre here> or you are bound to fail miserably. Strive to be the best at whatever style you are actually into, its not all about how many tracks you can fit into 30 seconds or how many genres can you fit in a set, or how you feel that you are as good as <insert good top notch jock>.


    The other way I could go is maybe check out the top 200 itunes for hiphop rnb, pop, electronic and just play out all those mainstream songs. That I could do easily and people want to hear that at clubs and parties so I feel it would be an easy way to make money.
    plz don't post any nonsense about it requiring 20 years of masterful practive
    Are you so confident that you Could or would play those 200 songs in an order that makes sense of the night as a whole and won't kill it halfway through ?

    Your right, it doesn't take 20 years of experience to PLAY some freaking records or even mix them in time (an iPod could do that). However it can take years to learn how to read a crowd properly or recover the crowd from a cleared dance floor because you dropped a crappy track mid-set.

    You need alot of Love for the music that you love, guts, preparation for lots broken egos and dreams and above all NEVER believe you are the best DJ in the room (even if you are).

    and thought "Hm... I guess that would be a fun way to pay the rent. I wonder if it's hard."
    You know - i couldn't knock that as a starting point I did it, I thought i could play commercial/mobile, but after my first 20 mins trying to beatmatch 2 house tracks I knew that my calling was elsewhere and there was no way I was cut out for commercial DJ'ing

    Knowing your limitations is part of the process as well.

  9. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by phloston View Post
    So I'm trying to make some money off my music by getting DJ gigs. I live by NYC and I see DJ's all over my town at some of the outdoor restaurants.

    Admittedly I'm an amateur and only been trying djing for a few months (plz don't post any nonsense about it requiring 20 years of masterful practive). I've been doing music since I was 6 and all things electronic since early in highschool.

    My setup up is Traktor 2.5 w/ two xone k2's and maschine mikro. That serves all my purposes for mixing, effects, and cueing, looping, loading decks and all that good stuff. I guess where I am now is trying to decide how to proceed. I enjoy doing the whole housy/electro/minimal techno thing. All of those beats sort of flow into each other and they work really well with effects and looping and doing youre own thing. So thats one way to go I guess thats fun and somewhat creative. I don't really know ttoo many artists. But I don't have a problem mixing house stuff and I even throw in my own beats on maschine like richie hawton.

    The other way I could go is maybe check out the top 200 itunes for hiphop rnb, pop, electronic and just play out all those mainstream songs. That I could do easily and people want to hear that at clubs and parties so I feel it would be an easy way to make money.

    I got all the digital stuff (minus a serious sound system - don't know if I should save up for that being that many venues have their own)

    So I guess if there are any working dj's making enough money to afford a shit apartment in brooklyn or something. Could you lend me some advice on how to proceed. And please no discouraging statements about how it takes a lifetime of mastery to make 50 bucks a night. This isn't Tabla playing. (that shit takes ten years to be a beginner haha)


    BTW, does anyone know when remix decks are gonna be open for any midi controller.
    I think the first thing to do is figure out what kind of DJ'ing you want to do.

    Around here mobile DJ'ing is the easiest way of making money and getting into it quick.

    If you want to DJ in the clubs, well then, as mentioned already, be prepared to do a lot of work for minimal, or possibly no results. Around here, it's a boys club. It's more about who you know as opposed to what you can do.

    Same with the restaurant/bar scene. Except that even in the restaurant/bar scene some venues still expect you to bring your own speakers because they're not set up for that kind of stuff.

    Getting speakers is no problem since you can probably rent, getting the gigs is the hard part.

    Compiling the music is the hard part too, especially if you want to do weddings. Ideally you'll want to have everything that anyone could possibly ask for.

  10. #10
    Tech Guru JasonBay's Avatar
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    Not even going to get into this as I'm getting angry just thinking about it. Deevey and Toontown pretty much sums up how I feel, just in a nicer, friendlier way.

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