First club gig coming up…need help retaining my sanity
Im currently helping host an end of summer electro themed event and minus all the problems with the event itself that we’re running in to (our event is the night before the first day of school for some schools, this rival club company is trying to torpedo us, etc) im freaking out on the musical aspect because i have to coordinate all the other djs performing, and none of them are responding to me so far for some reason, and also this will be my largest performance yet (over 300 people) and so ive bee practicing my set list for the past week (and i till have several weeks to practice) and i just picked up the book “Last Night a DJ Saved My Life” to get a little history on my little hobby, and within the first few pages, i came across an interview with fatboy slim that states this:
“For me, its whether they look up or not while theyre playing…a good dj is always looking @ the crowd, seeing what they like, seeing whether its working, communicating with them, smilng at them. and a bad dj is always looking down at the decks and just doing whatever they practiced in their beroom, regardless of whether thercrowd are enjoying it or not”
after that i immediately found myself under this second catagory, because for the couple other gigs ive done, my eyes were glued to my computer or controller, making sure everything went the way i planned, not paying attention to the crowd at all (which is weird because all the djs thatve inspired me have alway been very crowd friendly and charismatic). and now i have a bad feeling about this pre-planned setlist, because its all full of its and it has a bit of room for flexebility, but now im just so stressed about everything thats going on that im just kinda mindblanking. so can anyone help point me in the right direction for any of the issues i have with this? all i really wanna do is just get up and spin some mixes and have a good first club performance, but at this point i think pretty much everythings gone to hell, at least in my mind
if the DJs are flaky, find new ones that aren’t. as for the date, i wouldn’t worry too much about it as long as the majority of the crowd won’t have school the next day. as for the torpedo, well, take it as a compliment really. they see you as competition, so you’re definitely doing something right. keep an eye on them, but act like you don’t even know they exist, and just do what you do.
try to stay away from pre-planned setlists as much as you can. learn as many tracks as you can backward and forward, to the point where you don’t have to rely on cues to know when something will fit. that, to me, is what DJing is all about. cuz i mean if you think about it, if all you’re going to do is follow cues, i could make the same set in ableton and play it back with one click of a mouse and they’d sound the same, you know? DJing is all about the moment, live in it, feel it, and mix it. it’s obviously in you somewhere, don’t let fear of failure hold you back from being the SHIT.
good luck, but i know you’ll kill it, because i see how dedicated you are.
drop a track. queue up the next one. watch the crowd. envision what you want the crowd to do next. pick your next track. mix. drop the incoming track. rinse. repeat.
my first “big” gig i was so nervous that I sucked. I’m not too big on playlists but when you freeze up like that you scramble to play the next track and it just doesn’t flow right.
not sure if you are a drinker but a few drinks before REALLY helps. Don’t go over board. Red bull or the green can of monster also helps me at times.
so i finally came to the realization that there was a reason why people were asking me to DJ bigger “places” than just house parties. It was because they liked what I did so now when I go out I just mentally think I’m just doing a house party and honestly it helps.
I had my first club gig last night. I had a set layed out but ended up playing some other stuff in the end. Just have a beer, relax and enjoy it as if you are a member of the crowd appreciating the music.
haha i was just about to when you posted this lol good timing
Much thanks man, sound advice
Okay so a LOTTA good news. #1 we got the date moved to saturday instead of sunday(yay!), the rival teen club and the owner of the venue got in this huge fight (over my event), and now that other teen club isnt going to get to do shows at our venue ever again! (they have to do it in this place like 3 cities over now lol) so basically we have a chance to do this again (and monopolize). also, the turnout is going well (200-ish confirmed attendees and around 400 maybes on fb) and we still have 2 weeks to go so we’ll have a gangload of people by the time the show rolls around lol.
As for the DJs, my friend whos also running the event (unbeknownst to me) has had a NS7 for several months and we just had a mix session last night and he’s a decent mixer so hes getting a 1/2 hour set, the main DJs gonna do 2 hours, and im doing the last hour/hour and a half (im just happy i didnt open lol) and i was concerned if the club could support both their standard setup along with my xponent if i brought it along, but apparently they can do pretty much anything so i think ill be okay. and as a bonus i get to go to the club this sunday (different event) for free and chill in the DJ booth and i get to play around with the equipment afterwards (its good to be the king).
Im still finalizing the DJ set, ive taken all your words into account and im trying to keep a little more flexible with my set (so i can keep my head on a swivel and adapt to the crowd) and im a huge fx whore so basically im trying to nail my timing down for the knobs, buttons, and cue points (SO MANY FRIGGEN CUE POINTS AGGGGGHHHHH)
oh and as a bonus i actually did a rough recording of the set list (about an hour long) would you guys want me to put it up so you guys can critique it?
definitely don’t forget to have fun, thats why we all started DJing in the first place. Playing in a club to 300 is the same as playing to 3 of your friends at your house, except at your house your friends will tell you that you screwed up. lol
also if you guys think i have any particularly good mashups on my soundcloud (in the sig) then lemme know and ill cirtique them and see if i can fit them in that night
also i wanted to maybe make a mix CD (maybe do it with my best friend who also DJs) and give it out at the event (i got 2 weeks so im assuming i could get one done by then) any particular tips on that?
hahaha i dunno bout that lol last friday me and a mate played to a crowd of 800 University students rofl some drunk came and turned off the soundsystem while we were djing haha the crowd started chanting “You fucked up” me and my mate just started cracking up and got the sound back up after 30 seconds then dropped a massive tune and the crowd went mental
Just have fun man even if you screw up just keep a cool head and look like your having the time of your life and everyone else will be too
me and my mate just started cracking up and got the sound back up after 30 seconds then dropped a massive tune and the crowd went mental