Hi,
I’m relatively new to the DJ scene (started using Traktor a couple of months ago) and will have my first ‘proper’ gig coming up in a month or two.
I have played at a couple of house parties but I have never been able to do a proper set as the houses have been small and most people just want to socialise, not dance/listen to music.
I have contacted a local events organiser and enquired to see if there would be a place for me in the future at their events, he said they are actually looking for DJs at the moment and I told him I would send him a mix soon.
The thing is, I am still very unexperienced, I am good, but I haven’t used Traktor enough to feel 100% comfortable with it (I still need to play around with the effects a bit more and learn about beatgridding etc). The mix is going to be around 1 hour long and a ‘showcase’ of my abilities so I will include most genres including; trance, drum n bass, house, dance.
I don’t know how I’m going to do it in terms of BPM, maybe just start at 70 and end at 190? I haven’t experimented mixing songs with a difference of more than 10/20 bpm.
I am serious about Dj’ing as I love music, I have recently bought a new laptop, a kontrol X1 and a Numark Mixtrack. I feel the Mixtrack has to go before I start gigging because it doesn’t have gain+filter knobs and it looks a bit like a toy. I am seriously considering selling my Mixtrack and X1 and putting the money towards an S4, which has everything I need including a built-in soundcard.
There is also the ‘DJ name’ issue. My initials are D.J.W. so I thought DJ Williams would be good but I would have to let people know that that is MY NAME rather than just simply ‘he’s a dj and his surname is Williams’.
I also like the name ‘Vendetta’ and there are web domains etc available for this.
I am going to create a Facebook page etc but do you think this would be premature as I have not exactly played a gig anywhere yet and people might perceive me as being a bit egotistical creating a page about my ‘dj alter-ego’.
Can anyone recommend me a cheap amp+speaker package as I am just using my standard pc speakers at the moment and would need amp+speakers to do bigger house parties in the future.
That’s all my questions… for now.
Thanks in advance!
I don’t like ‘Williams’ on its own unfortunately, I think ‘Vendetta’ will be good although if I play a Trance set it will be a bit weird, it’s good for DnB though.
[quote=“DJWilliams, post:8, topic:14895, username:DJWilliams”]
I like it too, but it ‘sounds’ a bit stupid and it would be impossible to get a good domain
[/quote]LOL. Build the site in drupal & word press. make sure the .php, mysequel & forums are working correctly, THEN think of the domain.
I don’t think the avalibility of a domain name should have anything to do with your DJ name. Can’t host a facebook, myspace, or twitter page on your domain, you know? For a couple weeks I was DJ Percocet, can you guess where that came from?
As far as your mix, why don’t you put something on soundcloud so we can give you better feedback? I’d just do a 30 min or two 15 min sets, don’t let songs play very far, just mix songs back-to-back. The promoter or whoever doesn’t have time to listen to an hour of music he may not even like. Also, practice but don’t script your mix too much. You want it to sound like you would live, not some DMC routine you couldn’t pull off twice.
DJ Nada has got it right. I’ve just entered the scene and you get the best response when you bust out something awesome on accident rather than something you thought was cool at home.
Just know your music and know your most recent/hottest tunes. Annnnnd as far as DJ names go, the name won’t make you, you make your name. Many Djs have changed their names and their skill shows through, just gotta rock on AKA for a little bit.
As for speakers and amps I’d opt for a pair of Mackie Thump th15a speakers, they are active meaning you don’t need an amp, it is built in, and the price is great on those, a pair would set you back around $600 or so.
not to be discouraging, but personally i think you’re jumping the gun with the dj monikers, domain names and gigging if you only have 8 weeks of experience.
you’re setting yourself up to be one of those guys who people don’t take seriously.
hey mate, my advice would be to get a good mix up first, it’s your primary marketing tool. Once that’s done you can send it to managers etc and start getting gigs. As for learning how to use Trkator, this site (and youtube) is your friend! Theres plenty to be discovered on the net so just spend some time browsing and mucking around with Traktor and you should be able to work most stuff out
Without going too much into mixing technique, you usually don’t want to mix straight from a low bpm song into a high bpm in one mix, slowly work your way up over the mix with each track being just a bit faster then the one before. Having said that, don’t choose songs simply because they match the key/bpm for your mix. Get a good tracklist first and then think about how you’ll arrange it.
And as for the speakers, you may want to be a bit careful before you blow a large amount of money on them. Maybe try hiring speakers a couple of times first (you can even charge the people having the party for this) and then once you’ve got some more experience and rep in the community and are getting more gigs you can grab your own. Having said that, it can be rank trying to dj on computer monitors. Maybe try and grab some second hand speakers cheapish speakers (like from those cd players speaker things) that will at least get you some louder clearer sound.
Promoters want to know if you’re gonna bring people in, so start up a soundcloud if you don’t already have one, post a mix here, and you’ll end up getting page views. You wanna show you can create a following.
Secondly, just keep up the practice.
Lastly, dont try to play everything. Play what they mostly play anyway. Its pretty difficult to mix from 90bpm (dubstep) into 140bpm territory or above without some proper practice.
Speakers? I have Harbingers. Not “JBL” in terms of recognition, but i like them. Definitely check out Behringer Eurolive series (Powered) and get a sub later when you can spend money on a really good one.
The thing is, it’s only been a band-only event so far, so (if they want me) I’ll be one of the first DJs to play, he said as long as Im good, then variety is great.
Thanks mate.
I was hoping to pay around £200, guess I’ll just try to rent a PA system or something.
I didn’t come here for my ‘talent’ to be disputed, I just asked some questions, thanks for the criticism.
That’s great advice, thanks mate. What’s the biggest bpm gap you’d mix with, 10bpm? e.g. 120 to 130?
I’ll keep that in mind, thanks.
I think I’m going to stick with ‘Vendetta’. I’ll have a mix up soon, thanks.
I have confidence in my ability, and I understand that I have to ‘earn’ it, but then again, I have to start somewhere.
