So for the under 21/over 18 crowd here, a night out involves a hookah bar usually. About a month ago I purchased my S2. I started calling around to see if any clubs or bars were looking for DJ’s. Obviously I wasnt ready to DJ yet, I was just curious on how hard it was going to be to get my foot in the door.
Back to the hookah bar. I called one of these places and talked to the owner. Turns out he was looking for someone right then. I explained that I wasn’t good enough to do a live set just yet and he told me to call back when I was. He just called me back three days ago, asked if I would be interested in playing this weekend. And gave me the opportunity to go by tonight and spin and get a feel for the place.
Here’s the question. After a month I feel I am obviously not ready for this…but I am considering it for a few reasons. I’ve read that you should take any chance you can get to DJ esp. when first starting out. Another thing that would be good is the information/education I would get from this first gig.
But what are your guys’ thoughts? The place plays mostly rap/hip-hop. I can get away with some house and a moderate amount of dubstep. In all honestly, a “packed” house at this joint might be 10-15 people tonight. And maybe 25-35 on the weekends.
The only real reason I’m worried is mostly because my mixing skills are sub-par. And of course I’m nervous of messing it up haha. I’ll probably end up doing it. I just downloaded the new S2 mapping though and my browsing knob is messing up.
Keep it simple. Use the default, reliable mappings and don’t try to go too crazy. Do some intro/outro transitions and some needle drops. What could go wrong? Focus on good music more than the mixing aspect.
I’d rather hear a DJ play awesome music all night and needle drop every transition, than hear a DJ play average music all night and have great mixing skills.
Thanks a bunch for the info guys! I actually went last night and here is how it went:
Showed up, set everything up with no problems. Didnt forget anything and no customers had showed up yet. Going by what other DJs spin at local joints like this one, I played mostly top 40 dance music. The way I transitioned from song to song was by just fading in and out, nothing too exciting.
After I was finished the owner showed me a “zumba workout song.” Not kidding. And told me he would like me to perform like that. The track wasnt horrible but the DJ who mixed it was def better than I am. Link to song here.
One thing that kind of pissed me off. When I got there and set up my speakers. (Behringer EUROLIVE B215D 550W 15" Powered Speaker | Guitar Center) They were worried that these would not be loud enough. The room is only 1400 square feet. The speakers could have been too loud given I turned them up all the way. They use a house stereo with about 4 house or “living room” speakers in their establishment currently, and wanted me to go through those as well. One of these speakers is already blown. I told them I would use my speakers only, luckily there was not a problem with this last night. They want to still try their speakers for weekends.
The biggest thing that irritated me was the fact that I had explained this is my FIRST gig. I’ve only had the equipment for about a month up to this point. They expected me to be a professional even after making it clear I was not. In addition to not only mixing like a professional they expect me to mix country, rock, hip-hop and dance music together flawlessly. Not sure how well country would ever fit in.
The best learning will happend while you are playing in front of a crowd. A few tips.
Keep your transitions safe for now until you know your music well. Also if you are playing top 40, i would recommend you join a record pool that has lots of intro’s. Clubkillers and DirectMusicService I think are the best. For you ClubK might work, since it’s 30 bucks and you have unlmitted downloads.
When in doubt — echo out. Or in Traktors case Delay-Freeze. I’d rather hear that, than a train wreck transition.
Now that you know the vibe of the place set up “crates” or playlists by timeframes and energys. I usually create crates for every two hours I’m playing and obvoulsy put the best tracks in my peak hour crate. It’s much easier sorting thru 100 peak hour songs than scrubbing thru an entire library.
Once you’ve played out enough, gotten request, etc. your crates will expand and you’ll know what works.
They said I will get about 30/night. which will be for about 3 hours. They did say though that if it gets busier in the summer they will kick me some more cash.
HUGE help, thanks for that post! I am going to go check out ClubK right now and see what it’s all about. I like the fact that its a monthly fee since I’ve already downloaded probably fifty dollars in music this month already
Last night there were a total of maybe 12 people there. Only two people bought hookah. They only made $20 or so during my time there. I’m honestly not too picky with the price at the moment. After I am better though I won’t be afraid to ask for more. I really just wanted to try it out last night to see how setting up and everything would be.
^ don’t worry about asking for more. Get some experience and when you feel comfortable than the other side to successful DJing (as shitty as it sounds) is promotion. Start inviting your friends, and work out deals with the bar. “If I bring in 10 heads you pay me an EXTRA 5 bucks a head” or something along those lines. Do that enough times, play some good music and people will continue to come and now you are more than just a guy who plays music. Word spreads and you get more gigs.
I listened to the "zumba mix"as well. It felt like more of a playlist, than anything. I’ve only been practicing for 4 months now, but with dedication, I don’t think it will take you very long to be able to do better than this… Anyway, I thought “zumba” was like, a dance-based workout? haha
