I have got an opportunity to DJ at a nightclub in North Wales soon (On a thursday and probably for an hour) as I know a DJ that DJs there and he said there’s a slot. Thing is, all they play is house and cheese and I’m more of a DnB/Trance guy, so if I play at say 9-10 with banging drum and bass and then they come on and play house, wont everyone be like ‘meh’.
I also have a few questions…
I only have a X1 and Mixtrack, so I’d need to buy a soundcard, but I’m embarrassed to go and play a gig with them, I mean a mixtrack come on, is this something to worry about or am I being stupid? It’s not exactly the most reliable piece of kit ever and it looks like a toy.
Let’s say I get an hour slot, should I build it up and have ‘cold spots’ where I play less heavy stuff or just play bangers for the whole hour?
I don’t know how to say this but I don’t know how to ‘get better’ at Dj’ing as mixing tracks at the breakdowns is getting boring, I do have points where I layer tracks and get a really good mix going but most of the time it’s just TRACK A>fade out to TRACK B in some way.
Should I prepare my mix beforehand or just pick songs randomly? I’m thinking I need to prepare a playlist at least.
How do I keep focused on the mix and not get distracted because I’m nervous?
I’m sure there are many other questions that I’ve left out.
It would also help if you told your ‘first gig’ story.
first of all, dont be ashamed of your equipment, its not about your equipment but about what you do with it.
second: jeah probably rent/lend a soundcard as i heard the mixtracks isnt that good.
third: as you said you play 9-10, id rather go slow, 9-10 is not exactly the time where the dancefloors banging but rather the time people heat up and drink and stuff. so dont go too hard.
forth: as its more a house club i guess the crowd wont be really keen on hardcore dnb so try to go with some lighter dnb and mix it with house, i surely know id hate to hear dubstep or sth when i go to a club for electro.
dnb is not everyones favorite, so be carefull
as for mixing techniques: go to youtube theres a vid of ean golden that shows ‘5 basic transitions’ ( or sth like that ) its pretty good and shows easy, yet cool transitions.
So far, thats all i can tell you from my experience
edit:
From my experience i feel its good to have a neat selection of songs you prepare, like 100-150 songs, in a playlist and pick from these, fitting to how the crowd goes, if there doing nothing you might want to dish out a banger everyone knows thatll make people dance, so save these and dont line em all up.
but ofc bring all your music as people might have request or you might need a song thats not in your list
It’s not a ‘house club’ it’s just mostly house is played there, I was thinking a bit of DnB would freshen things up? seeing as there isn’t a local DnB DJ around
well, do you by chance have access to some house music? like a friend/ friend dj with an extensive house collection? you might ask him to ‘‘lend’’ cough you some of his tracks, maybe do that 100-150 song playlist with him. IF you do that, you might want to listen these tracks as much as possible until your gig so you learn them, what i also do with new tracks i dont know good: i set markers for good mixing points on them in traktor, that helps alot in the nervous parts.
if you get some house, you can drop some light trancey dnb or trance in and see how people react, if they like it you can play some more ( but not entirely the mix does it! ) if they dont like it, just stop it
edit: oh and if you say youve reached the pinnacle of whats possible for you atm youll wonder what a crowd makes you do, believe me. mixing with people banging to your music just puts it to another level, and as we say in germany ‘’ man wächst mit der aufgabe’’ youll grow with the task
you don´t have to be ashamed about your setup man! i started doing club gigs with just a keyboard and a fast track pro! and i know a lot of people who just use a x1 and a soundcard. don´t worry! proof for me doing clubgig with keyboard:
You give a sheet what the people want to hear / what they play at the club.
or
You just play house.
As its your first gig, id advise version 2. because you have to think, that this gig is what puts you on the screen. You can either be the nice opening dj or the ‘idiot that played some shit nobody wanted to hear’. you have to think about the people talking about it later
Sorry kidcolt but that’s not the point, I’m a DnB DJ, I play what I want to play, if people don’t like it then the club can decide that they don’t want me there again, and I’ll go and find somewhere where they like DnB, simple. I’m not gonna sell out and play a whole set of a genre I know nothing about and don’t even like.
If you despise house and the club plays mainly house/cheese then pick one of those and play it, if i was to turn up at a house club at say 9 and it was banging with D&B i would be out the door instantly! don’t get me wrong my musical are tastes are vast and i listed to all sorts not just EDM but if that’s what the night was that’s what i would go for..
as posted above your first gig try to impress, speak to your mate and see what he reckons
as i said, thats your thing, and its your decision what to play, ofc theres 2 types of djs, the ones who dj to please people and the ones because they like music, nothing wrong about that. Ofc you can play what you like. I was just warning you that this might cause negative feedback.
I personally started djing because i liked the music, but then i got gigs and were asked to play this and that, so i started to mix it with the music i like. ofc electro/electrohouse/frenchhouse is easier to combine with commercial house. So i got more gigs, and now im mostly playing gigs where people listen to my music.
Its just that a mostly house club isnt the place to start out for a dnb dj. BUT! if you spin dnb there some people might like it and pass you on to play priv dnb partys or at dnb clubs.
Just go ahead, the only that might happen is neg. comments and that club not booking you again. but thats worst of the worst
Edit: as ^poster said: First gig is the chance to impress and get mouth-propaganda and leads to new bookings.
I understand what you’re both saying but it’s not what I’m about. I’ll have a word with him and I might end up playing in the middle of his set later on at 12 or something, if he says I can play DnB, I’ll play it, if not then I’ll decide what to do when that moment comes.
I want to bring a breath of fresh air to my local club scene, it’s just generic house/cheese played basically everywhere, with the odd dubstep night thrown in, It’s a student city (Bangor) and I’m sure there are many dnb fans around, it’s just died down as a genre lately so it’s not getting as much attention.
if your doing a warm up from 9-10, im sure that the place won’t be that busy anyway. also, as u mentioned and others have touched on, its a house/commercial venue, so id go for some well known funky house tracks, motoblanco remixes of stuff etc… stuff people know and can enjoy while having their first few drinks. deffo no dnb, although some of the lighter more ambient stuff might give a cool vibe, but personally id stay away until id played there a few times and thought the early crowd might appreciate it.
Also, at that time, its unlikely you’ll have many dancing, so don’t be put off or think your doing a crap job, because your probably doing well.
*** just read a post above about you not wanting to sell out… in that case, don’t do this gig, find a promotor and venue thats dnb friendly and try ur luck there
well if its later then 12 the chances are better people will bang to dnb even in a house/cheese club. and again if you want to ‘‘promote’’ dnb id do a ‘‘normal’’ set in and drop some really heavy dnb bangers inbetween to get people saying: wtf was that. that was amazing! we want that dude to come back.
edit: see its nice that you want to be true to your style, but in the worst case it will get you nowhere but rather out of the clubs, so all you can do then is play your bedroom, and thats not what you want i guess. its about the mix, to try to accustom the housers/cheesers to dnb
I agree with you, I wouldn’t play cheesy house in your position, either. Effing sell-out **** is getting en vogue on some sites unfortunately
But back on topic: You need to think about the mood of the people that are there between 9-10. My presumption would be it’s not gonna be busy. You might just have a few folks there which arrived early and now wanna grab a drink or two. So banging DnB is not gonna cut it. It doesn’t mean you can’t play DnB at all, just focus on slower and more melodic stuff. I’m not much into DnB myself, but I’m thinking something similar to Photek “Modus Operandi” or some of the more catchy LTJ Bukem stuff here.
If, for some reason, even the most liquid of all liquid d&b sets fails to get your Thursday night Welsh girls dancing; or god forbid if the owner/manager comes over after approximately 90 seconds and says ‘get this jungle shit off now and play the crowd something they may have vaguely heard of’, watcha gonna do?
Man, i have played in heaps of clubs across Australia… Just moved to europe… so basically im starting at square 1… when i started out doing gigs in AUS… i had to adapt my style to the clubs i was playing at… firstly youll impress the club owner/manager/the other DJ’s, and youll make some good contacts… theres no use pissing them off… alot of club owners, know alot of other club owners… and this can work against you… i had a mate who played a full blown electro set in a club that played deep house… even though he was a brilliant DJ… he didnt get a gig for like 3 or 4 months after that… not too great if ur relying on that to pay the bills.
Anyways like i was saying… i had to adapt to the particular clubs style… i still let the owners know that it wasnt really my style and i was more into this and that… but guess what… he was so impressed with my versatility that he decided to give me a Residency/My own club night… he told me… dude since its your night… you do what you want with it… so i played my own style and managed to get a very popular club night going… Playing MY style… But trust me… you dont impress club managers by playing the opposite of what their club is about…
Its like if you went to a sushi bar, and all they were serving were cheezeburgers… you wouldnt be too impressed if you went there for sushi…
Now that ive moved to europe… i have to start at square one again… ive already gotten 4 gigs in the 2 months ive been here but its only because i adapted my style again to suit the clubs general style…
However one of the club owners liked my set so much that he proposed me a club night where i could do what i want again… And so it begins… again (MUHAHAHA)
So you see… you gotta kiss their ass a bit before theyll let you do what you want… otherwise if you keep prancing around doing your own thing not caring what the club owners think… youll never get any regular gigs, let alone any residencies or club nights…
you dont want to be “that guy” that played a few times in the wrong clubs and is now confined to his bedroom… do you?
) its pretty good and shows easy, yet cool transitions.