First actual ‘Gig’, some questions for all you veterans
So this upcoming week I’m getting the opportunity to play my first actual gig at a rather large club. It will be during the weekday and I was informed that the music styles typically include a variety of: house, progressive house, funky-house (???), electro-house, minimalist type tracks, and a bit of dub. That’s for Mon-Thurs and on the weekends I guess it’s mainly top 40 Dj’s
SO a couple questions for all you veterans of the club scene, I have NEVER used a CDJ in my life. I know how to operate a standard midi-controller (I own an S2+F1 along with traktor) but have no experience with CDJ’s. I’ve been watching videos on youtube to get the basic idea of how they operate/how to set them up properly, but my question is are there any things people recommend I should be doing in order to prepare myself for CDJ use besides just watching vids and reading the manual or mixing with my controller?
ALSO for track selection I’ll be playing a pretty early set and was curious as to if anyone could recommend me some minimal/house/progressive house tracks that would be appropriate for the time and vibe of the venue. There’s an open bar and a bunch of bottle-service tables, so I want to keep the vibe going strong but not blasting off with Quintino’s Epic of course I have the ‘House Ambassadors’ collection off of beatport along with numerous similar sounding tracks, curious as to whether that would be appropriate? I’m thinking tracks similar to Fedde Le Grand’s ‘Metrum’ would constitute as being played during the “peak” of my set if I’m not mistaken?
Last but not least, I’m looking to purchase USB’s for the event so I can just plug in and import my mp3’s into the CDJ’s. Any recommendations or should I take a different approach to doing this?
Honestly, if I were you, I would just bring my S2 with me and plug straight into the mixer that way. Considering that you’ve never used a CDJ before, you might be fine, but you might also crash and burn with no backup. Nerves are hard enough to deal with with your first time performing, so why not work with what you’re comfortable with?
Is there any reason you can’t run straight off your S2?
Hey thanks for the reply! Naw I should be able to use my S2’s, I was going to ask on Monday whether or not they’ll be allowing me to use them. I wanted to just get an idea of how to use CDJ’s anyways since they seem to be the industry standard…probably not the best idea at my first gig lol. And I have a bunch of extra time this weekend so I was thinking it might be good to make use of it just incase they for whatever reason don’t allow me to use my controller.
Are the CDJ’s difficult to operate for the first time, I’m pretty tech saavy but I’m sure they’ll be assuming I know how to operate them and will be looking at me confused if I have no clue ask to what I’m doing as I try to figure stuff out lol.
Cue/Play Tempo range, master Pitch and display are really the only ones you need to play a set… dont even bother looking at the rest of the features if its your first night, perhaps dabble a bit in the headphones on the cue’d deck to get familiar with other bits and bobs.
And Agree With Chris - if you are allowed to bring your S2, do it!
I have only ever used Traktor alongside my S2+F1 so that is honestly all I know, I was just curious about how to use the CDJ’s in the event that I wouldn’t be allowed to bring my controller. In regards to what music to play, I typically find myself playing a lot of parties in college with rather younger crowds (150-250 people) and it’s easier for me to get away with just playing what I like because I’m comfortable in that environment and setting. At this first gig I’ll be on my own and I really feel like catering to the crowd is priority and with such a particular time (around 11 p.m.) the mood will be different than if I were playing a college campus party. I just want to make sure what I’m choosing to play would go over well with a club crowd and that I have all of the appropriate tracks available at my disposal–that’s why I was wondering if there we’re any recommendations.
And as to how I got the gig, someone in my family knows the owner lol. This is essentially a 30min - 1 hour “audition” to see if I am able to play a full set on a busier night.
Typically I play progressive house/electro/house. Similar to Max Vangeli or Alesso’s style (not the best example)
Ahh, sorry reading that back it came across aggressive.
I just wondered because if they had heard you play before then i presumed thats the kind of music they would be expecting.
New equipment is always daunting first time you use something, even more if its infront of anybody.
Practice on your S2 but turn off the BPM readout and phase meter off screen and turn off quantize and snap. Try not too look at the screen and only use the loop in and loop out buttons.
Close as you’ll get to emulating CDJ’s i think with an S2
Don’t worry I didn’t take it as aggressive at all!
Good advice here, it’s funny cause I don’t make use of Traktors features all too often (I know.. I know..) and find myself using the loop in’s and out’s quiet often. I’ll practice with what you mentioned above on my S2’s to get a ‘feel’ for the CDJ’s in the event I have to use them
If you plan on doing this more, I say don’t do what everyone else is saying. Use the club equipment, and get used to it. Just because it’s there doesn’t mean you have to use extra options. CDJ’s are capable of only having the play, cue, and tempo sliders used. The reason I say this is because you don’t always have the luxury of falling back on your own equipment. If you have the opportunity to use new things and broaden your base of experience, why wouldn’t you use that chance to get experience under your belt instead of staying comfortable?
don´t want to trainwreck, but why would one not be allowed to bring controllers to a club? i´ve played in a lot of clubs and never was asked to use cdj´s or tt´s and not bring my own stuff.
ps: cdj´s are pretty easy to master. it´s no magic and not really different from a controller, except for the fact, that you don´t have fancy colored waveforms
Use your S2 for now but defo learn to beatmatch on it in future. (turn off sync, bpm readout etc). if you cant beatmatch this may take a little while to learn.
Once you can beatmatch then hire some cdjs one weekend and practise on them.
Then next time you play a gig you can decide to use the cdjs
Alternatively, if you know the owner, ask if you can go down before the club opens to get a feel for the equipment and have a practice… you’ll soon see if they are easy or not for you.
Sound advice! Getting a lot of great feedback from everyone thank you
I know how to beatmatch by ear and manually, it’s just that I’ve never used the CDJ’s before Like I said in my previous post I’m going to talk to the owner on monday about equipment and possibly come down during the week to check it out/get a feel for the gear. Anyone recommend using USB’s for the CDJ’s?
If they have CDJ1000’s or 800’s there is no USB slot to use on them so you’d need to burn the MP3’s to CD - 350/400/850/900/2000 and you’ll be fine check what gear they have first.
Oh and I’ve used PNY Lovely Attache drives for ages with no issues and they are pretty robust as well - just don’t forget them after the gig and burn a few CD’s as well just in case.
As I was reading the first page I realized that no one said something, then everyone said it on the second page! I recently switched from my S4 (I started my DJ’ing with an S4) to CDJ’s. And the only big difference for me is the waveforms. You actually have to feel and pay attention to the music that you are spinning. I use CDJ 850’s and FUCK watching waveforms on that thing, just gotta REALLY KNOW YOUR TRACKS!
I have the ‘House Ambassadors’ collection off of beatport along with numerous similar sounding tracks, curious as to whether that would be appropriate? I’m thinking tracks similar to Fedde Le Grand’s ‘Metrum’ would constitute as being played during the “peak” of my set if I’m not mistaken?
Like I said in my previous post I’m going to talk to the owner on monday about equipment and possibly come down during the week to check it out/get a feel for the gear. Anyone recommend using USB’s for the CDJ’s?