Playing this weekend and not sure if I'll know how to get my equipment set up...help!

[Jester]

Just one advice: Before you destroy the Bars gear, they should have a Person in charge of the euquipment at the bar...ask which channel you can use, try to get in touch with that nerdy guy and he might be a good help.

Absolutely. Our first few gigs we were in the same situation, always good to have a soundtech handy.

[DubluW]

Not to be a dick mate, but you cant beatmatch and don't know how to setup equipment?!

If it were me i'd let the resident do his thing and you concentrate on running the party and watch how he does everything. You'll probably get more from watching him work than trainwrecking your way through a set and having your confidence seriously knocked. If you get in there early before everyone shows up to practice purely because you've spent the money then i'd do that.

[dolcem]

Not to be a dick mate, but you cant beatmatch and don't know how to setup equipment?!

If it were me i'd let the resident do his thing and you concentrate on running the party and watch how he does everything. You'll probably get more from watching him work than trainwrecking your way through a set and having your confidence seriously knocked. If you get in there early before everyone shows up to practice purely because you've spent the money then i'd do that.

How else am I supposed to learn how to set up equipment other than actually do it? If I let the resident do his thing, I won't learn anything because everything there is already plugged in.

I haven't perfected beatmatching yet, but I don't ever plan on beatmatching in public unless the sync button is broken. Sure, I'll finish learning it at some point soon (just in case I end up having to play on equipment without a sync button), but since it doesn't offer you the precision that syncing does, it's not something I plan on using away from home. So I don't see why I have to learn it before Saturday.

As far as the set goes, first of all, I'm only playing at the beginning, before most people have arrived. Second, it's an invite-only party, so everyone there is a friend or acquaintance. They aren't people I'd feel embarrassed in front of. That's mostly because third, none of these people listen to electronic music. I could completely fuck up the beatmatching (which won't happen, because I'm going to use the sync button) and they probably wouldn't even notice. The idea is to try and introduce some progressive house to people from a non-electronic background to try and convince them that not all electronic music is bad. How about this though, I'm going to record it and put it on Soundcloud, so I'll post the link here and then you can tell me what I'm doing wrong.

[DJAdeSands]

Get the resident to set up, and ask him to explain what he is doing, watch and learn. If you set it up yourself without a half decent knowledge of what goes where, you run the risk of damaging something by setting it up wrong, or at least having serious issues with your sound or setup, and running the gig and trying to compensate for a fault or error during the gig really is a pain in the arse, and if that's you at the beginning, you may ruin it for those who follow. Sound systems are generally the same, in respect of their component parts ie.. (simple setup) - Music source - Mixer - Amp - Speakers, and if one of those is missing or faulty, then no gig.
Up to you though. The experience here says do your party, ask the resident to set up for you, he will have a better idea of what the sound system is capable of, and there's really less to go wrong.

Unless the speakers are powered (built in amp) there's no way you'll be able to plug your mixtrack into the speeks.
Run through the supplied mixer as previously mentioned by your RCA Master Out. Keep the mixer channel EQ's flat, and keep the levels in the green. Adjust your Trim/Gain to keep the EQ levels out of the red.

Without sounding harsh, are you really ready for DJ'ing to an audience?

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

[Timbo21]

Go for it Dolcem. As you say, it's a private party, you're amongst friends.

I think it will be great experience. It's so different playing out, and the sooner you get the feel for it the better, and this is the perfect environment for your first time. Mine was in the early 90's warming up at a well known underground club. It was daunting as hell and first time on a big system. Thankfully I didn't do a 'sack of potatoes falling downstairs' train-wreck mix

[keithace]

Thankfully I didn't do a 'sack of potatoes falling downstairs' train-wreck mix

Ha!...we call it "shoes in the dryer"

[DubluW]

How else am I supposed to learn how to set up equipment other than actually do it? If I let the resident do his thing, I won't learn anything because everything there is already plugged in.

I haven't perfected beatmatching yet, but I don't ever plan on beatmatching in public unless the sync button is broken. Sure, I'll finish learning it at some point soon (just in case I end up having to play on equipment without a sync button), but since it doesn't offer you the precision that syncing does, it's not something I plan on using away from home. So I don't see why I have to learn it before Saturday.

As far as the set goes, first of all, I'm only playing at the beginning, before most people have arrived. Second, it's an invite-only party, so everyone there is a friend or acquaintance. They aren't people I'd feel embarrassed in front of. That's mostly because third, none of these people listen to electronic music. I could completely fuck up the beatmatching (which won't happen, because I'm going to use the sync button) and they probably wouldn't even notice. The idea is to try and introduce some progressive house to people from a non-electronic background to try and convince them that not all electronic music is bad. How about this though, I'm going to record it and put it on Soundcloud, so I'll post the link here and then you can tell me what I'm doing wrong.

Thats why i said watch the resident. He can show you how to setup your kit, show you the house kit works and watching him DJ will do you a world of good, believe me. Even if you do the initial mix, watching him do his thing will be beneficial. Its why he's a resident after all. Personally i'd learn to beatmatch as best you can, but that's a whole different kettle of fish.

[Stephen Nawlins]

Hey Dolcem,

Why does the Pilot learn to fly if he has a Computer aided Autopilot function on his plane???

IDK what you call precision, but I would bet a pair of balls, that even with your SYNC-Button you will never do such a precise Set as some DJs made with Turntables back in the 80's or 90's. Sure a Software can synchronise 2 beats to perfection but Beatmatching is more than just Synchronisation Dude.
You totally Forget the Colour of a beat...you can have a beat sounding like a Snare or a Heavy Drum.
The art of Beatmatching is to make the heavy Drum Sound like a Snare and then to synchronise them softly so that the Audience doesn't realise the Transition, to make some noises diasappear during the Transition to reveal them at the right Moment...probably what some in here call harmonic mixing And for this there is no SYNC-Button Dude.
Maybe your use of the SYNC-Button Sounds harmonic to you but for sure it isn't difficult nowadays that every Dance track is produced to fit to the others.
Beatmatching 2 Songs, which been produced totally another way to eachother is a real DJ Challenge and every one of us is really proud when this Kind of Mix succeeds.
So it's up to you, you decide what you wanna be: a SYNC-Button Pusher or a DJ but do not pretend your button has a better precision...Please.

[SlvrDragon50]

Hey Dolcem,

Why does the Pilot learn to fly if he has a Computer aided Autopilot function on his plane???

IDK what you call precision, but I would bet a pair of balls, that even with your SYNC-Button you will never do such a precise Set as some DJs made with Turntables back in the 80's or 90's. Sure a Software can synchronise 2 beats to perfection but Beatmatching is more than just Synchronisation Dude.
You totally Forget the Colour of a beat...you can have a beat sounding like a Snare or a Heavy Drum.
The art of Beatmatching is to make the heavy Drum Sound like a Snare and then to synchronise them softly so that the Audience doesn't realise the Transition, to make some noises diasappear during the Transition to reveal them at the right Moment...probably what some in here call harmonic mixing And for this there is no SYNC-Button Dude.
Maybe your use of the SYNC-Button Sounds harmonic to you but for sure it isn't difficult nowadays that every Dance track is produced to fit to the others.
Beatmatching 2 Songs, which been produced totally another way to eachother is a real DJ Challenge and every one of us is really proud when this Kind of Mix succeeds.
So it's up to you, you decide what you wanna be: a SYNC-Button Pusher or a DJ but do not pretend your button has a better precision...Please.

This is completely unnecessary.

Go have a fun time dolcem. It sounds like it's just with friends so even if you mess up, I'm sure your friends will still have a great time.

I don't know why people are so salty about the existence of sync. Some people might be able to find great tracks to go together but struggle to get the perfect beat match. Sync is great for that. It's also a great tool to teach you what the track should sound like when matched up.

[MaxOne]

Yeah go for it, dolcem.

Plug your controller into a spare line in on the house mixer. Try and find a spare and not pull anything out.

Ask the resident for a hand or a techie or whoever... a dj pal maybe.

If you can't find someone, plug in to the DJ mixer as above, put the gain and all the EQs to 0 and the fader up full. To test the volume of the system, turn your own controller master volume down to zero, before playing a song. With the song playing fade up your controller master volume to find a volume that is right.

Hope that makes sense.

Good luck



Learn by doing, sounds like a safe environment. Your not getting paid so you're not conning anyone.

Get stuck in!