Potentially two gigs coming up, I’v never played live before. Thoughts, suggestions?
Hey guys
I’v been DJ’ing for approximately 4 months, all bedroom (kitchen) practice and I’v been doing a lot of music production too (but that’s neither here nor there.)
I have two potential gigs coming up: a 16th birthday party, but it’s not til June. and the big one: New years eve at a pub.
I’v said yes because I think I would be stupid to turn them down, I want to start a DJ career really quite ferociously. Do you guys have any suggestions or helpful words or basically anything for me? I’m obviously a tad nervous, I should go for it though, right? Are there songs that I should have nomatter what? any techniques I need to be using etc? any help at all will be GREATLY appreciated!
Never take a gig you can’t handle. You can do more damage than good to your reputation very easily.
Never turn down an opportunity.
If you play a pub for new years you need to be versed in 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s, 10s, popular dance music. This includes some classic rock, disco, rap classics, 80s euro pop, 80s and 90s “old school” dance…its not easy…yes no mixing…but it’s not easy…
and you better have every record known to man…or atleast most of them…
Thanks buddy, I’l probably spend the next 2 weeks compiling masses and masses of music, from the 60’s right up to 2015. Truth be told I don’t know if I can handle it as I’v never played live, I’m hoping to get a small party together first to make sure people like what they hear.
My thinking is a good place to start is by compiling every “Now #” collection there ever has been. I’m well versed in 80’s rock and I don’t really have any problems bringing in tracks I don’t know so hopefully that’l help.
SO definitely no mixing? Just play track, play track, play track?
Best thing you can do for yourself is becoming a member of a dj pool. you can start with a month. Suggestion to get a lot of music from different genres with intro’s and outro’s is DMS POOL take the highest plan with unlimited downloads. Bit expensive for 1 month but worth it. It will give you a full arsenal of all kind of music. And you can mix the different genres pretty easy.
For New Years at a pub, it’s likely not going to be straight dance music. You’re more like a mobile DJ in that scenario. You need to be across the board music-wise, don’t worry about transitions, just keep the music that keeps people interested, or what little dance floor there is packed. So, you’re going to have to probably do some work to find out what’s working at that particular time, then keeping music of the same era/genre once you find the sweet spot - which will change as people get more drinks in their system.
Thanks for all the advice, I’m deep in a practice session now (shouldn’t be typing i know) and I’m imagining the night and my crowd, I’ved picture really old people, people on the dance floor, people not feeling it, people feeling it, and I’v come to the conclusion that hotcuing is the best bet, chorus to chorus sorta thing. I know a few of the classics that everyone should dance to too, I’m a lot more confident now, I get the not mixing thing, especially if it’s a dancefloor scenario, gotta keep the dancefloor going, and the drinks flowing
Practice session over, I’m pretty sure I got this, don’t wanna speak too soon, but gotta be confident. I’v mixed for over 12 hours today, definitely gained some more experience, just betting on that party to ensure all is well
Thanks again guys, bedtime.
For a little inspriration, here’s a mix I did for a NYE party a few years ago… all mixed and the right side of cheesy (imo):
Mr Scruff - Get A Move On
Wiseguys - Oh La La
Stardust - Music Sounds Better With You
Dizee Rascal - Fix Up, Look Sharp
Michael Jackson vs Q-Tip - Breathe And Stop
A-Skills & Krafty Kuts - Gimme The Breaks
Lou Reed - Satelite Of Love (white label remix)
Daft Punk - Da Funk
Freestylers - Don’t Stop
Leftfield - Phat Planet
Slyde - Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Fat Boy Slim - First Down
Basement Jaxx - Red Alert
Annie - Chewing Gum (Mylo remix)
Stephen Lavery - Bumpy Ride
Gramophonedzie - Why Don’t You
Unknown Artist - Torpedo (white mash up)
De La Soul - Three
US3 - Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)
Prince - 1999
Mo’ Horizons - Gonna Be (Ben Human remix)
Chemical Brothers - Dig Your Own Hole
Fat Boy Slim - Everybody Needs A 303
LCD Soundsystem - Disco Infiltrator (Stanton Warriors remix)
Basement Jaxx - Right Here’s The Spot (Switch remix) [Milo re-edit]
Les Rythmes Digitales - (Hey You) What’s That Sound?
Deee-Lite - Groove Is In The Heart
Jean Jacques Perrey - E.V.A (Fat Boy Slim remix)
Fat Boy Slim - Gangster Tripping
A Tribe Called Quest - Can I Kick It
Wiseguys - Start The Commotion
Plump Dj’s - Rocket Soul
Freeform Five - What Do I Want From You (Paul Woolford remix)
Kraak & Smaak - Money In The Bag
Busta Rhymes - Fire It Up
Mylo - Drop The Pressure
always keep a library full of a diverse set of music! That way if someone comes and requests a song and you don’t have it you could at least try to play something similar. It’s all about the people!
congrats on landing a NYE and glad to hear your prep’s going well
Some very good advice already but I’d also add, if the party’s going well, the build up to Midnight can get particularly crazy with random requests/drunken party goers/other things too
I’d recommend planning about 10-15mins of the build up to midnight, and also have in mind some great party tracks for after midnight for about 10-15mins just as these can be pretty hectic if it’s (hopefully) going well. You can always chop and change your plans and don’t have to be set in stone, but just to have a good idea of some things that’ll work well can be a real livesaver and hopefully keep people partying along after midnight (sometimes whole loads of people can leave to go to other parties etc after midnight, so having some great tracks to keep them dancing for 30 mins/hour after midnight can really help keeping the energy up, and even bring passing people in too - especially if they’re not having a great NYE).
Hi mate, good to see ya grabbing bull by horns. That’s got potential to be a great gig. How are you with using a Mic? It’s not like a club where you don’t need to say anything. A pub especially in UK is a slightly different affair, you’ll need to engage, interact, with your audience and dancefloor, and remind em of the countdown, as midnight approaches, then the 10,9,8 bla de bla, welcome to 2016 etc..
You got a PM btw. Check it out.
