Official Gig Report

[bAd]

***Sticky Please***
Use this thread to post feedback on events you have done. For example:
"I had a High School dance tonight. It went great til the football team decided to start moshing to House of Pain's-Jump Around."

I feel that we can learn alot from each others experience so post away and when I have more time, I'll put some up here of my gigs.

[bAd]

Ok. I'll try and kick start this thread. I had a gig last week. It was a graduation party for a college kid. Everything was going exceptionally well. Set-up took an hour and 45 mins(Alot faster than I had thought) and I was able to secure 3 seperate circuits (one for lighting, one for sound, and one for my booth) Anyways, set up a few hours early to make sure everything worked right.

I was getting hungry and wanted to change so I left to go do that. I was gone maybe an hour or so. (I didn't leave my stuff unattended. My cousin was there)I got back about 30 mins before the guests where to start arriving so I figured I would go ahead and start some music. So, I flipped the switches and fired up the PC. Started to play a track and I had sound in my monitors but none on the PA. (mind you, I did a complete sound and lighting check before I left and told my cousin to make sure no one touched anything)

So...I start thinking...check the amps..no power. I ask the owner of the place to check his circuit box. Flipped the circuit and tried to power the amps again...nothing. I'm like WTF!!! After standing there for a second and deciding if I should check the fuses on the amps or switch out the power cords, I noticed that they had put a beverage fountain on a table near a plug that I had been using.

Suddenly...WHAM!... I thought, they unplugged my cord and plugged in that freakin fountain. Sure enough that's what had happened. So, all that frustration just to find out they unplugged my gear was releived. Anyway...ALWAYS check your plugs and tell people to leave them the HELL alone!!

[Ohm8]

Solution to that problem is to tape your plugs onto the wall...tape the cord onto the wallwith a bit of slack before the actual connector part that plugs in and then tape from left to right over where its plugged it. Prevents and tripping and unplugging accidents too.


I was working at a wedding and i'm controlling the smoke machine for when the bride and groom come in. Well im fogging it up when suddenly the machine stops responding. I go inside and the first dance happens and w/e. It happened that the lights powered out too (plugged into the same circuit) ....the lights were pulling some heavy juice and then the damn videographer and his juice sucking lights got plugged into the same circuit so when it was all running the circuit blew or w/e. So ye moral of the story is tell the damn videographer to get rid of his oldschool equipment and get a portable light that connects to the camera!

[Mello]

done;)

[DJ Pyro]

Last gig I had was a college house party... like most parties I do,
party lasted about 1hr then the cops came and shut it down...
there was weed and liquor all over the place but they didn't say
anything about it. They came over to me and said if I turn my system
up loud again they will have to impound it... moral of the story........

IF YOU KNOW YOUR SYSTEM WILL BLOW A HOUSE DOWN
DO IT LOL

[bAd]

Thanks 2Mellow!! :spin:

[JGeffen]

Last night I did a house party for my landlord's b-day. There was a very wide variety of about 100 people from 18 - 50 years old. Essentially, everyone had a good time, as there was a LOT of alcohol...

http://students.oxy.edu/geffen/alcohol%20at%20party.jpg

But, I had a REALLY time getting people on the floor. I played stuff from top-40, to popular 80s, to hip-hop... I pretty much touched on every genre I could in this set, but NOTHING would get people on the floor. Later on, people commented that I was playing the right music, and why people weren't dancing was puzzling, etc. etc. Some of my "groupies" said that it was one of my best sets (although in the past I've gotten huge amounts of people out on the floor... see my other gig posts). I, however, think it was one of my worst sets b/c I couldn't keep people on the floor. Anyone else have this experience as DJs??? I really feel like a failure as a DJ after that set.

Interestingly, I played a really good house set for people that stuck around into the wee hours of the morning... they loved it. Anyway, at least I got this cool pic too.

http://students.oxy.edu/geffen/sick%20party%20pic.jpg

[Rabid Wombat]

ok i had my first gig last night... a house party for 50 or so people in a penthouse apt. so here's what i learned.

1. don't bring your gf when you have to spin... she will end up getting drunk, tripping over everything, accepting shots from strange guys and you end up spending most of your time looking out one eye to where she is to look after her, instead of mixing.

2. secure speakers as they tend to fall if just placed on elevated surfaces due to the vibration causing them to move.

3. most people at house parties don't give a rats ass whether you mix or are a human jukebox. i ended up having to cut in everything because nobody gave a crap and i couldn't do anything because i spent most of my time fending off people away from my decks and listening to their requests.

4. as soon as you take a request for one genre of music and start playing it to be nice and try to please the crowd (that says they will dance but raelly dont when you play it), another group or person comes up and requests something totally different.
SCREW REQUESTS!

5. Some crowds just wont dance to anything.

6. People will bring drinks around your area.

7.People will give you high fives and say "youre really good" and think you are cool no matter how good or bad you are playing (i wasn't even trying, mixing or anything--i was just pissed and cutting everything in)

8. There will be that one guy who comes up to you and wants you to teach him what you're doing in the matter of 5 minutes while you are trying to work. Then when you ask him if he is serious about getting into it, he will say no, but demand you teach him anyway.

9. Girls will come up and start asking to twist a knob or turn ur jog dial. When you ask them not to, they will do it anyway just to piss you off (they are drunk after all).

10. No matter how bad everyone treated you throughout the night, when you pack up and the music stops, everyone will still say "what happened to the DJ" and bitch about it.

11. People will request the same f'in genre up to 10 times a night, even though you said to them many times you don't have any of it.

SO there you have it--DJing... it is my gift, it is my curse.

[**DJSlipShot**]

:dj: Yeah... I have been a DJ for 7 years and i learned 1 thing:
The audience will think you're awesome just being "the DJ", so don't try to show off or impress them... its a waste of time
*~*~*DJ Slipshot*~*~*

[Dj Jag]

pretty said, ok just wait till tommorow coz am gonna post pics on the gig i was invited to last saturday

[DJ GloX]

My last gig was good.. cept it ended with me running from cops, ripping a gaping hole in my pants, and getting caught anyways.

[bAd]

Doing a family reunion tomorrow. Should be fun. It's for MY family soooo...of course it will be :uhoh: Anyway...tell you about it later

[bAd]

Reunion went well. Played all the old stuff with a little new. Next event is a wedding on the 13th of Aug and on the 20th I am doing a benefit for a kid with cancer. 10 hrs of music... :cry:

[DJNaviss]

10 Hour's? Ugh...

http://www.djnaviss.com/naviss.gif

[Hygro]

Reunion went well. Played all the old stuff with a little new. Next event is a wedding on the 13th of Aug and on the 20th I am doing a benefit for a kid with cancer. 10 hrs of music... :cry:

Heh 10 hours of music is tough eh? What about the kid with cancer ;)

[Method2125]

Played two great gigs this weekend. Two very, very different gigs, but both parties had a great time. First wedding was for some friends, they're first dance was Three Little Birds - Bob Marley, to give you an idea. There was some Marley, some Stevie Wonder, Otis Redding, lots of older stuff like that, some country and some hip-hop. Small crowd, but hardly anyone left once the dance started. We all had a great time and I got a lot of compliments when it was done.

Played another wedding last night. Pretty wide variety of music, but the dance floor was filled all night long. Got lots of compliments, talked to two potential clients about getting hired to do private parties for them. People were coming in from the wedding next door to dance at this party because the DJ over there was drunk and rude. Definitely a good party. They would have hired me to play late but the venue says everybody has to be out and the music off by 1 AM. If we had been at another hotel in town I could have easily played unil 2 or 3.

I would have some pictures from last night but the batteries in my flash died (film camera) and my digital is on backorder.

-Mike

[monoxide]

Heh 10 hours of music is tough eh? What about the kid with cancer ;)

yea that would make me appreciate being able to play 10 hours of music

[bAd]

I hope you guys didn't think I was complaining. Well, I guess it was kinda wrote that way... but in retrospect, I enjoy DJ'ing so doing it for 10 hrs is gonna be fun. I went and talked to the kid (Dakota) yesterday and he's going to be my guest DJ. I'm gonna show him how to use some of the equipment and let him spin a little.

[Method2125]

I went and talked to the kid (Dakota) yesterday and he's going to be my guest DJ. I'm gonna show him how to use some of the equipment and let him spin a little.

That's very cool. Massive props on that one. Kids with cancer is just heartbreaking, so that took a lot of nuts just to go see the kid and talk to him and letting him spin a bit. I did a benefit gig for the family of a kid with cancer a few years back. Tough stuff. Anyhow, mad props, man, mad props.

-Mike

[bAd]

Thanks. How close are you to the base?

[Method2125]

Thanks. How close are you to the base?

We're 13 miles south of the base. There's some guys that have been transplanted here from the base that do some great hip-hop and jungle shows, from what I've heard. Unfortunately, nearly every time they've had a show I've been booked for a gig and have been unable to attend. You have some friends there? Suggestions here is what makes it work.

[bAd]

I was in the Air Force before. Got a couple friends up there still. Not DJ's though.

[bAd]

Well, I did a wedding Saturday night. Went REALLY well. Only had one problem. The head table had a wireless mic for their speeches and they didn't signal me before turning it on and I got some really loud feedback but only for a sec. Other than that, everything went smooth. I got a couple more bookings out of it :) This Saturday I have the benefit. Should be fun. I'll have some pics on my site soon. Trying to get a video put together too.

[sleeper gm]

ok i had my first gig last night... a house party for 50 or so people in a penthouse apt. so here's what i learned.

1. don't bring your gf when you have to spin... she will end up getting drunk, tripping over everything, accepting shots from strange guys and you end up spending most of your time looking out one eye to where she is to look after her, instead of mixing.

2. secure speakers as they tend to fall if just placed on elevated surfaces due to the vibration causing them to move.

3. most people at house parties don't give a rats ass whether you mix or are a human jukebox. i ended up having to cut in everything because nobody gave a crap and i couldn't do anything because i spent most of my time fending off people away from my decks and listening to their requests.

4. as soon as you take a request for one genre of music and start playing it to be nice and try to please the crowd (that says they will dance but raelly dont when you play it), another group or person comes up and requests something totally different.
SCREW REQUESTS!

5. Some crowds just wont dance to anything.

6. People will bring drinks around your area.

7.People will give you high fives and say "youre really good" and think you are cool no matter how good or bad you are playing (i wasn't even trying, mixing or anything--i was just pissed and cutting everything in)

8. There will be that one guy who comes up to you and wants you to teach him what you're doing in the matter of 5 minutes while you are trying to work. Then when you ask him if he is serious about getting into it, he will say no, but demand you teach him anyway.

9. Girls will come up and start asking to twist a knob or turn ur jog dial. When you ask them not to, they will do it anyway just to piss you off (they are drunk after all).

10. No matter how bad everyone treated you throughout the night, when you pack up and the music stops, everyone will still say "what happened to the DJ" and bitch about it.

11. People will request the same f'in genre up to 10 times a night, even though you said to them many times you don't have any of it.

SO there you have it--DJing... it is my gift, it is my curse.

Experienced basically everything above ... I was actually laughing at how close it was to my first gig.

Anyway for my first gig I played at a friends after party in San Diego - was an afterparty for Cake. Everything went great other than the fact that I only brought 50 records and ran out of songs in the 6th hour. Everything above basically happened - so many people wanted to play and touch the equipment and I had to continuously remove drinks from the equipment area. Also I had the dance floor going crazy and dancing to "Beautiful Things". I can't wait to do another gig. Hopefully the next one I will get paid. :dance:

[DJ D3CIB3L]

Well- i had a recent gig last saturday. It was a family gig of sorts- dealing with a close family member's birthday party. People only danced for like 45mins out of the 5 hours i played- mainly because it was a house party. It wasnt a conventional party so you cant really expect people to dance all night.

And i tell you- not many people appreciate mixing skills- and my family and friends really didnt care weather i mixed or not. And peple were mostly eating and talking the whole time so i just played a kenny g cd and a few other love song cd's until they were ready to do line dances and whatnot.

Anyway- everything went well. The only thing we had a hard time with was the foldout stand i had and trying to balance it and make to sturdy in the grass since the party was a pool party outdoors. Aside from that- it was freakin blazin outside and was madd humid. I was sweatin everywhere while we setup. The gig went fine- but it just wasnt a good day to have the party. But- thats about it.

Schools about to open soon so i can look foward to doing some school dances in october. Anyway- its time to go have some breakfast :dance: :dance:

[Ohashi]

Experienced basically everything above ... I was actually laughing at how close it was to my first gig.

Anyway for my first gig I played at a friends after party in San Diego - was an afterparty for Cake.


i;ve had similar experiences too, no fun at all :cry:

but you played for Cake? the band right? or do you mean that cake was your payment?

Cake is a pretty big, I'm surprised you didn't get paid :shrug:

[Ray403]

So I djed a wedding yestarday 6PM-2AM. The gig itself went well. But it was held at some summer cap where, and the dance and dinner was held in this round shack which was quite small. This had the main entrance wide open the whole night, and within the first 15 minutes of playing dinner music I got 4 mosquito bites on the knuckes of my fingers, and it was annoying as hell. The mosquitos were pissing me off most of thenight. It wasn't till the midnight lunch at 12 where I inspected that everything to make sure was still in order. I looked at my black lights and there were about 50-70 small dead flies around and underneath it with a whole lot more crawling around it. I was like "holy shit" so I take the black lights down and put them away, and brush off all the dead insects. Later that night when I was tearing down, I found 2 huge dead moths behind the amp with their guts splattered all over themselves. So I figure they got sucked into the amp rack fans... So word of advice, no black lights when there is access for insects to come in.

[DJ D3CIB3L]

i hate bugs- yuck. Especially all over my stuff. Anyway- yeah you kno that bugs are attracted to light. just a heads up for next time- use either a tiki torch (maybe not well near your stuff because of the flame) or one of those sonic things- it looks like a flourscent bulb- more like a fancy camplight- but it really shoos away the mosquitos. I believe that Coleman makes one. Till next time- c ya

[Method2125]

Was on vacation last week camping and had to come back to do a wedding on Friday night. I honestly was hoping to check my voicemail and find out the wedding was cancelled, I really didn't feel like working. I got to the gig and it was small, maybe 75 people total at the reception. But, most everybody stayed until the very end and most everybody was dancing all night. I heard some members of the wedding party saying that they wished I'd stop playing good songs because they wanted to sit down and rest for a while!

Lately my gigs have been a lot different. Not nearly as formulaic as most wedding dances seem to be. I did one that was pretty much a 3 hour long hip-hop set. I did one night where I played almost nothing but country for 4 hours. This last gig was a lot of 50's & 60's funtime music followed by rock, funk, & hiphop with only two country songs.

Anyhow, the gig was a lot of fun and everybody had a great time. :dance:

-Mike

[AssassiN]

I have a school dance coming up on Friday, sept. 23rd.

I'm in charge of promoting it (flyers, ect around campus)

its a senior class benifit gig, and they want me to provide my own security too, to run ticket checks at the door. Turnout is expected to be around 800-1000 people, and its right after a big football game against our school's biggest rival, so people are going to be in a hyped up mood anyway.

I'll update you guys on how it goes, i'm a bit nervous, as i have to depend on like 4 other friends that im bringing along to help me set up and do security, and i've never worked with any of them before, so a lot could go wrong. Also, if i make a good impression at this dance, i might land a contract to DJ at Homecoming, on stage at the football game and during the dance later that night.

[Ray403]

Had another wedding last night. It was suppose to be 6PM-2AM with dinner music from 6PM-8PM. I got there about 2 hours early which game me tonnes of time to prepare. I started some bakcground music about 40 minutes early while going through what I was going to have to announce and the first songs of the dance etc... They had a lot of speeches and the bride and groom were pretty laid back so things took longer than usual so the dance didn't start till after 9 (which makes it easier for me). So the dance itself went well, except there were 2 guests that really piss me off. One grandma who was piss drunk kept telling me to play polka and she didn't want to die from the music I was playing :uhoh: and some other person thought she knew everything and was critising the music I was playing even when I had the dancefloor pretty full with people dancing, she kept asking for Bon Jovi... I played one Bon Jovi song and she kept aksing for more of it. And lastly when the night was over all went super, but the company van I got almost didn't start, and the thing is one old beast... It's a 80's Ford Ecoline 150, and I had to do a 6 point turn just to get the van out of the place...

[bAd]

gotta love the drunk grandmas! :dance:

[AssassiN]

The School Dance gig went very well, i was able to actually set up the booth early in the afternoon, before school was out, and then i left and went to the football game and had dinner, and came back around 8:30 PM.

Heres a pic from early in the afternoon, right when the booth was set up.
http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/751/schooldance0094ft.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

The dance was supposed to start at 9, but the game carried over until nearly 10 PM, and the teachers didnt want to open the doors at the dance until the game was over, so i did final sound check, and started the music around 9:45. People came in pretty fast, and the dance floor was definitly packed. We exceeded maximum capacity by about 50 people, so they shut the doors at 10:30, and started turning people away.

As far as mixing, it went pretty well, i played almost nonstop crunk and hip hop, when i tried to put on a slower song, people got irritated, so then i just decided to keep the floor packed with "Drop it Like its Hot" "Gasolina" "Bring em Out" "Stand Up" among many other favorites. "Gasolina" was actually so popular, i ended up playing it three times, each time, people started screaming and rushed the dance floor, providing an amusing spectacle for me. The teachers shut it down around 1 am, and so i hung around and talked to some people and everyone was really happy with the dance.

The teacher sponsoring homecoming approached me about DJing for homecoming in 2 weeks, but im still undecided if i'm going to do it. I'd rather just go to homecoming and dance, instead of working. Anyhow, the only thing i think i could have improved was my music organization... i was constantly digging through CD cases, and crates of vinyl searching for the next song... couldnt seem to find anything i wanted.

otherwise, it went really great. :D

[Dj_Nalani]

I had a b-day party gig. I arrived about a hour early and no one was there so I chilled for a bit until someone came. Finally I think the guys mother came and I got all set up. I was having technical problems in the beginng and after I fixed that I was having trouble mixing. I was having a bad day. I was mixing reggaeton first and then got into hip hop.Soon I got old dj self together and was mixing flawlessly. I had a rough start but then I made up for it later. It turned out better than I thought.

[bAd]

Good Job assassin. nice clean set-up. Nalani, yes we all have thoes days...too bad we can never forget them. Learn from it. From your post, can't tell what might have been the problem, but i would say just to try and relax and have a good time. :)

[Method2125]

I've had three homecomings in the past two weekends. The first one was short, it was only a 2 hour dance. Dance went great, kids were all dancing. I wish we could've played longer, I was having a blast. Did one this past Friday night that was off the hook. Floor was packed for 3.5 hours. Lots of hands in the air, kids singing along, cheering, etc. Several of the students asked if I could do their prom and they're going to talk to the prom advisor about getting me hired. The one on Saturday night blew, however. The kids just didn't dance. They basically all stood on the floor talking with just a small ring of a few girls on the outside dancing. The advisor told me that they never really dance at homecomings, so I felt better after that. Just a tough crowd that night. I'll post some pics once I get the batteries for my camera recharged.

-Mike

[dj.t]

Hey Assassin,

Where are you located in Nor. Cali? If they need a DJ for the homecoming...help a brotha out! Hit me up if you would like to dance yourself.

www.djtproductions.biz

~dj.t

[AssassiN]

DJ t, we already had homecoming... i actually agreed to do it, and then the sophmore class president decided she wanted to do it herself.... ect ect, it went horribly.. check my thread "Interesting Situation" lower down on the Mobile DJ board for a detailed account.

also, i live way north, up in Humboldt county... Youve probably heard of the place..

but yeah, im lined up to do several more school dances the rest of this year. :dj:

[Dj_Nalani]

I did a middle school dance with my cousin last night. At first we had some problems with the equipment and my cousin was killing the grove. So he asked me to go on for the rest of the night. I went on and had these little kids go crazy. They were on the walls,floor and on each other.I couldn't believe the adults let these kids dance the way they did. Adults in clubs don't even dance like that. I had them wanting more. I talked on the mic for the first time and had them yelling at the top of the lungs. It went all well till I was just so tired I asked my cousin to go on. He keep messing with the mixer and the cd player. Soon the equipment started malfunctioning. They were booing and getting mad because we had 15 min left. So they had to end it early. But a lot of the students came up and gave me props. I had tons of fun I just got to remember my cuz likes underground hip hop and weird trance stuff. Not the right stuff to pay for rich picky kids. :banghead: :spank: :monkey: :dj:

[denno]

word. I'm kinda new to these parts, this is an awesome idea.

my most recent mobile gig was at an opening for a fitness centre. I played hip hop and breackbeats for 1.5 hours, they paid me $250. their clients loved it, but the bloke running the place was a rude cockhead, so I dont think i made any connections for future gigs.

anyway, I am huge on sampling, so i downloaded a few richard simmonds samplesa dn some lose weight hypnosis thing. Basically I was cutting beats with samples saying 'you love to exercise. you will exercise for at least 30 minutes each day.'

I am physical education teacher, so for me this gig was perfect. But I am a whore, i will work anywhere if the price is right.

previous to this i worked a party ont he top of a mountain in my hometown. took up a 15 inch woofer and my usual setup.. rocked the forest for a good 5 hours that night.

[djscrizzle]

I tag-teamed a school cance with another DJ. It went rather well - I didnt bring ANY of my gear:) I brought some CDs, though the Mobile DJ I worked with had ONE CD deck, he mainly uses MiniDiscs :| We hada bad right channel, so I took the school's powered mixer and dropped the right channel onto it, and the gig went on without a hitch after that:D i will be performing at a fundraiser on the Ninth, and another party at my college on the 12th, then a school dance in February, Feb 11th, 2006.

[Mike D]

We did a elementary school dance last week for a fundraiser for christmas presents for the Hurricane victims. Funny stuff to watch 3,4,5 graders doing the worm across the floor. We had one fight betwen some third graders, always funny to see. We didn't take any suggestions as they are very little, and the teachers didn't want any Laffy Taffy, or My Humps playing, so we stuck to non-sexual hip hop songs.

Funny thing though, I snuck in Jump Around by House of Pain and all the kids just looked at me like I was playing something from another century, made me feel old. Then I had kids telling me Welcome To the Jungle was their dad's favorite song... feeling old again. The Electric Slide was actually one of the biggest hits we played, which seemed odd.

[AssassiN]

Teen Center gig finally happened after a few weeks of promoting it. Worst possible weather, massive flooding happening locally, and winds up to 80 mph.. i was almost certain the gig would be cancelled, but the promotors decided to go ahead with it.

I packed up in the morning, and left the house amid insane amounts of heavy rain and wind, and arrived at the center nearly half an hour late, due to several downed trees and a section of highway that was flooded. Anyhow, another audio company was providing a PA system, so basically i only had CDJs and my new Rane TTM56, and some lights to set up. I got the decks up and running in 15 minutes flat, and realized i didnt have a 1/4-1/8 headphone connector adapter... stupid simple little mistake.

Anyways, the sound guy was running late, so i hopped in the car and drove 3 blocks to Radio Shack to pick up a new plug adapter. Got back to find the sound guy was finally there, and spent a while helping him hook everything up. He kept drooling over the Rane and so i let him play aorund on it a bit, and then we both went to get some food upstairs in the lounge room.

Around 4 pm, the promotor came and found us, and we both went back downstairs and ran final sound checks, and fired up the lights. People started arriving around 5, and the sound guy left. In total, around 150 kids showed up, which was less than half of the expected turnout, but the kids who did make it, had a blast.

Since there were so few kids there, and pretty much everyone was waiting for the power to die, i played as many requests as possible, and pretty much let the kids decide what they wanted to hear. Unfortunatly, this meant i played "Laffy Taffy" 3 times, and "My Humps" at least twice. >_<

Surprisingly, "Twisted Transistor" by Korn was another hot favorite, and considering its one of my personal favorites, i played that multiple times as well. All the while, i had my cell phone on the weather service internet update page, and kept checking the flood warnings all night to make sure the road was still open on the way home.

Anyways, the promotor was really happy, and wants me to play every other friday, on a regular basis. I have to go meet with her on thursday to discuss pricing and show dates.

I packed up around 11, and managed to get out of there before midnight. The weather hadnt changed, so the drive home sucked.

Anyhow, sorry for the incredibly long post, but thats what happened. One of the better gigs ive done recently, despite the weather.

[geeunit]

assassin...good read man...glad you had fun...

[DJ Pyro]

I had to DJ for this entertainment company I am in...NxLevel Entertainment (http://www.nxlevelent.com/index.htm) ... and wow it was packed. We let everyone in FREE from 10:30-12:30. It was sooooooo packed and I keep it crazy all night long along wit the other DJ who held down the 3rd floor. Check out the website for videos of our past events. Trust me when I say NxLevel Entertainment is the next level of entertainment.

[bAd]

Warning: Long Post
If you just want the point, scroll down to the bold type.
Long Version:
Last night I was working my primary job (police officer) and i got tasked with security detail at the High School for their Valentine's Dance. I had no idea this dance was going on until I arrived at work. Anyway, when I got there, I met up with the staff and asked them if they expected any problems. To my surprise, the only problem they thought they would have is with the DJ. Appaerntly, one of the teachers was gonna do it but backed out the night before, so they had a student who had graduated last year do it. I went in the gym to make contact with him. As soon as I walked in I was LMAO. He had a couple home stereo speakers and a surrond sound system as his audio. And the lighting...OMG, a strobe light from walmart and a neon sign that said "Open". He did have a projector aimed at a white wall with some videos and visualizations, but, this was his only monitor so you could see everything he was doing on the computer. Including the pot leaf icons and such. Anyway, he was showing downloaded videos with the MTV and BET logos in the corner. I went over to the guy and realized I had just pulled him over the previous night for speeding, loud exhaust, and loud stereo. I let him know the numerous violations he was comminting with the "DJ" set-up and warned him that I would be paying close attention to him throughout the night. He was doing good for about an hour. Then he started playing things like, We Be Burning by Sean Paul (totally against the schools policy) so I gave him a final warning. About 2 1/2 hrs into this 4 hr dance, the pricipal had enough and had me shut him down. After he started tearing down, i let him know that this would be his last public performance in this town and if he was really serious about doing it, I would help him get legit.

Reason for this post: I just get so irritated at these chumps who say they are DJ's yet don't pay a dime for their material nor do they respect the wishes of the people that hire them. All in all, it was a decent night only because I got the contract to DJ the rest of the dances at BOTH the high school and middle school.

Thanks for reading.

[djscrizzle]

I just get so irritated at these chumps who say they are DJ's yet don't pay a dime for their material nor do they respect the wishes of the people that hire them. All in all, it was a decent night only because I got the contract to DJ the rest of the dances at BOTH the high school and middle school.

Thats cool.
My gig
(2/11/2006 - School Dance) I used my setup plus the school's PA (all Carvin) I used my power distro as well.
It worked great (NO problems with it all night long)

Lights used: Chauvet ZX-15, Par-64 with a Midnight Blue gel (for a ceiling/ariel wash effect) Two 15-watt strobes. First ALL vinyl gig I've done (except country songs that the guests picked out)

Music Played: Hip-hop and Country. R&B tossed in as needed, Dance songs played: Two.

Overall Eval: Great, CHEST-POUNDING bass and crisp, clean highs out of the TWO PAs, great effect on the white foam-insulated ceiling via the par-64 can, Power was SUPER-CLEAN, 120 volts all night long, even under HEAVY loading (NO sags or even dipping below 120 for that matter) Crowd was great - Put up with Briguy's (Push My Humps) remix of "my humps/Push it" Loved some more obscure Purple Ribbon "Body Rock" and all I gotta say is an overall great crowd last night...
Re-hire at this venue is almost guaranteed.

Setup time: 55Minutes, Teardown time: 40 Minutes. Transport time ~10 minutes (round trip)

Notes: get another CDJ or atleast a Stanton S-250 (one deck doesn't cut it sometimes, like last night where TWO tracks on CDs gotta get spun)
Light tree would be great as well. Total Expected Cost: ~200.00

The school decided to slip me an extra 50$ bonus for my great service last night :D

[AssassiN]

ah this is a hell of a post, so beware the long read... i apologise.....

Since my last post in this thread, ive moved on from doing mobile work, and focused more on turntablism, and performing as a tour DJ at concerts and bigger clubs. I performed at a few local big-name concerts recently, including Tech N9ne, Kottonmouth Kings, Vinlawdin, Subliminal Sabotage, and Potluck (semi-local hip hop groups/bands)

Anyhow, last night i had another show, (Vinlawdin, Subliminal Sabotage, and others) and i was billed as the top DJ on the flyer. Everything with the promotion went well, i got the sponsorship packs a few weeks ago, had my entire set roughly planned out, everything was cool. Yesterday, i packed everything up, called the promotor, arranged to be at the concert hall for sound check, drove over there, stepped out of the car, and the trouble started... Immediatly some guy walks over and introduces himself as the DJ for Vinlawdin, and tells me not to bother unloading my gear because im spinning on his decks... so i said alright, and then walked inside to talk to the sound guy. He confirmed that there wasnt enough room for me to set up, and the other guy had already set his gear up in the booth, so i was going to need to use his stuff. By this time i was a little pissed because i'm kinda particular about using my own gear. I unloaded everything anyways, and loaded it into the backstage area, and went up to the booth to check out the gear. The other DJ was running the most ancient pair of techs ive ever seen, and a DJM-600. I offered to swap out his decks with my relativly newer Tech 1210 mk5s, and he declined, and brushed me off, saying he had to go back to his hotel room to relax, and i could get comfortable on the decks, and he would be back later. After some further negotiations, he agreed to let me use my own mixer (Rane ttm-56) during my set, because of the fader preference.

Anyhow, he left, and i took my crates up to the booth and started my sound check. He was running ortofons, and they were rather worn, and skipped a lot, so i swapped them out for my m447s. I also swapped out his stock slipmats for some Flying Carpets, and rebalanced both tonearms. After all this, plus changing the mixer, i still managed to get sound checked in less than 30 minutes. A while later, another DJ showed up, Selecta Prime, the other guy that was billed on the flyer as an independant DJ. I introduced myself to him, and told him the situation about the booth, because he had brought his own gear as well. He wasnt really happy with the situation either, but was happy that i had brought my Rane mixer, and he played around with it for a while, and we compared break records, and did a little Q&A session. By this time, the other groups were showing up and sound checking, and so me and the other DJ went upstairs to get drinks and chill. We got to talking, and decided to share our records for the night, because he had a lot of break samples i wanted to scratch with, and i had a lot of the newer club hit singles.

Anyhow, we went back to the booth a while later to make sure everything was cool, and discovered one of the other bands had their own DJ, and he had brought along one of the Technics CD players, with the active platter, and all the fun bells and whistles. However, there was no power cord for it, so we had to go around asking for the other DJ to get the power cord, so we could sound check the CD player and get it hooked into my mixer. Anyways, eventually we got everything sorted out, and i went on to open the concert for the first hour. As soon as i get behind the decks, and cue up the first song, i realize somethings wrong, there was absolutly nothing in the moniters. I signalled the sound tech, and he went to check it out, and so i kept going with my set. After a few minutes of poor mixing, due to no moniters, i lost all sound entirely... nothing .. not even out on the floor... So i stopped, and recued, and waited. After 20 minutes of dicking around by the sound guy, and myself and the three other DJs checking all the wiring in the booth, the sound tech tried to tell me it was a short in my mixer, and i needed to swap it out... which irritated me, because i had perfect sound in my headphones, and its a brand new Rane... so i argued for a while, and then the sound guy went back to his booth and twisted some knobs, and eventually we got sound back.. but it was full of static, and sounded horrible. I played a few songs like this, and then suddenly the floor speakers popped really loudly, and i got full sound everywhere, at full volume... and my mixer volume was hardly at 1/2 up. SO by the time i got to concentrate on mixing, i had less than 10 minutes of my set left, and was pretty irritated. I did manage to close out the set with some insane scratching, and got a very loud round of applause when i ended.

The next group came on and performed for 45 minutes, and then i was back on the decks. The second set went flawlessly, and i had the crowd going insane. I did a nice little beat juggle with "Mobb Deep - Have a Party" while using the technics CD player to scratch in "Tupac - Who Do You Love" and then closed the set with some Jurassic 5, Ozomatli, and Talib Kweli. Anyhow, i closed the set on a good vibe, and then the next group came on to perform. I went backstage and talked to Selecta Prime, and we agreed he was going to take over and spin for the other two stage breaks for the night, and he wanted to use the Rane mixer, so i told him go ahead.

I went outside to get some air, and came back a few minutes later to find the DJ from earlier, up in the booth swapping out the mixers. So i was confused, and went up to talk to him, and he again brushed me off, and gave me my mixer back and said he would handle the decks for the rest of the night.. I decided to ignore him, and put my mixer back in its case, and went to get a drink. The show went for another hour, and then it was time for Selecta Prime to go spin for the intermission, and so i look up at the stage, and everything is silent, and he is in the booth switching knobs and trying to get sound... so i watch while both DJs are trying to get the mixer running, and finally it gets sound, just in time for one song before the next band.... I went backstage and talked to Selecta ( i think his name was John) after he got done, and he said he was pissed as hell, because the other guy insisted on swapping mixers and he had to use an anciant vestax with a bleeding fader and a left channel that failed if it spiked into the red on the meter. We discussed it and had some good laughs at the other DJ;s expense, and watched the rest of the show. Around midnight, the final band went on to set up, and John went to spin for the break, but the DJ from the band wanted to take his mixer back, since he was done spinning, and the DJ for the upcoming band needed to soundcheck his mixer, so once again, there was a silent intermission, and a lot of frusterated people backstage... At that point i decided to pack all my gear back up since i was done for the night, and getting irritated. John decided to do the same, and say the hell with spinning for the rest of the night. I went back up to the booth and collected my carts and slipmats, and took all my gear out to the car, and came back in to watch the last performers. The DJ with the last band was actually pretty good, and we met after the show and talked a little bit while i was helping tear down. I ended up going to the afterparty at the hotel where all the performers were staying, and hung out with John and some of the people from one of the bands until around 5 am, when i passed out and woke up at 9 am to drive myself home....

All in all, i guess it was a positive night.... despite the problems i had, i must say that was the best set ive done in a while, and i think people really appreciated it.

Sorry for the long read... im too tired to make a condensed version, so if you read the whole thing, then thanks, if not, then i understand... haha..

[Hygro]

cool story. I read the whole thing

[Mike D]

We had our first Basketball Skills contest this weekend that we dj'd at a local AAU venue. Our current speaker setup is just a Matrix 1000 system (10" satellites and 15" woofer). When we set up the owner (who has deeeeeeeep pockets) came over and asked if that was all we had (all music is on laptops), he was slightly skeptical having never heard us before.

We plugged in and turned on Thuderstruck as people were wandering in. Keep in mind this is a gymnasium with 8 full sized basketball courts. We had the volume at about 1/4 to make sure everything was working right and they waited about 2 seconds before walking over and asking if that's all the louder it got, which prompted us to crank the system up to about 75% and blast him away. We (and especially they) were impressed with how loud AND clear our speakers were, I love these things more and more everyday.

Anyway, the owner loved that we didn't have tons of CD's and records around, and we were able to use his wireless network and log onto our Napster account to download any music he wanted. For future reference, anyone playing a basketball tournament, get the theme to Hoosiers... big hit with the crowd, of course we also live in Indiana, so that might ahve something to do with it.

Overall the gig was great, once the players came out for the three point contest we got them all rockin' and the crowd was even dancing around while the players were shooting. Overall it was a great gig, and the best part was that we only played for 2 hour, didn't do any talking/announcing, and made the same that we do on a 4 hour wedding. Plus we didn't have any of our lighting gear, which means setup/breakdown was only about 20 minutes total.

[bAd]

Wow Mike. I'm surprised the Matrix 1000 was up to par in a room that size. I have one myself but I haven't had the pleasure of using it in a venue that large. Makes me appreciate my system a bit more.

[Mr Blobby]

DJ Assassin - Shame about the guy, but sounds like it rocks, good read.

[Mike D]

bAd.. I was seriously questioning the equipment when we first got there... the place is basically a huge warehouse, it has 8 basketball courts, a large fitness center (with a indoor track running on the upper level) and a clothing store all under one roof. It's huuuuge. But that system is amazing, we had our inputs at about 75% and the master about about 60-75% and it was plenty.

I feel completely comfortable using that system anywhere now. Outdoors will be the next big test.

[michael k]

So this past Saturday, I had a gig for an MC battle. Have you guys seen/heard of Jin the MC? He was hosting a battle in sunny San Diego State and I just gotta first say: He is the real deal.

So anyway, started out the afternoon, took the DVC (UCSD DJ club) equipment. Sound checked at four thirty and we were just chilling, playing some ill hip hop instrumentals to get ready, practicing some scratching and juggling for fun. All of a sudden Jin walks up and goes "Hey I'm Jin, you the DJs?" And my friend and I said we were.

So we introduce ourselves, have a quick chat, and we give him a wireless mic to soundcheck. So we play some instrumentals and he starts freestyling . . . and the track is almost over so I queue the next one and throw it on. And he's still freestyling. And then some eighty+ minutes later, he stops, because they're getting ready to open the doors. EIGHTY MINUTES OF FREESTYLING!

Anyway, I get on the decks and start playing some funk, underground hip hop, pop, random stuff waiting for doors to open. The turnout wasn't so great, so they keep waiting to start the battle and I keep playing tracks for about two hours. And then the battle starts.

For those of you that've never djed for an mc battle before, let me tell you it's really stressful! Especially on vinyl. I was cueing and recueing tracks every thirty seconds- Thank goodness I didn't have to beatmatch.

Anyway, the last battle the winner "Chosen" or something and Jin have a championship round. It was nuts! They were both pretty good, but I have to say, Jin is a lot more witty with his rhymes.

Overall, a good night, but very tiring.

[DBLAZE]

I just saw Jin get his ass RIPPED by this dude on MTV2 last night. I know he is the real deal, but he got messed up all 5 rounds!!! I mean; the worst i have ever seen in an MC battle...worse than 8-mile...

[DJ Pyro]

well I did a teen party last night and the party was great... til the end
once I had stopped playing music completely these guys start fighting
they get a little too close to my equipment and bump into one of my
stands. Nothing fell but I did go over there and slam one of the little
boys and hold him down while the police handcuffed him. Then the
cops had to mase all the other boys that were fighting. There were
10 boys total. I was so mad at the promoter for not making the kids
start to leave a little early in the 1st place. But on a good note I did get
my money plus I am charging him an $50 for the next party due to me
having to act as security.

[Mike D]

$50 sounds nice on your part... glad nothing happened to your stuff.

[pionear]

ok i had my first gig last night... a house party for 50 or so people in a penthouse apt. so here's what i learned.

1. don't bring your gf when you have to spin... she will end up getting drunk, tripping over everything, accepting shots from strange guys and you end up spending most of your time looking out one eye to where she is to look after her, instead of mixing.

2. secure speakers as they tend to fall if just placed on elevated surfaces due to the vibration causing them to move.

3. most people at house parties don't give a rats ass whether you mix or are a human jukebox. i ended up having to cut in everything because nobody gave a crap and i couldn't do anything because i spent most of my time fending off people away from my decks and listening to their requests.

4. as soon as you take a request for one genre of music and start playing it to be nice and try to please the crowd (that says they will dance but raelly dont when you play it), another group or person comes up and requests something totally different.
SCREW REQUESTS!

5. Some crowds just wont dance to anything.

6. People will bring drinks around your area.

7.People will give you high fives and say "youre really good" and think you are cool no matter how good or bad you are playing (i wasn't even trying, mixing or anything--i was just pissed and cutting everything in)

8. There will be that one guy who comes up to you and wants you to teach him what you're doing in the matter of 5 minutes while you are trying to work. Then when you ask him if he is serious about getting into it, he will say no, but demand you teach him anyway.
9. Girls will come up and start asking to twist a knob or turn ur jog dial. When you ask them not to, they will do it anyway just to piss you off (they are drunk after all).

10. No matter how bad everyone treated you throughout the night, when you pack up and the music stops, everyone will still say "what happened to the DJ" and bitch about it.

11. People will request the same f'in genre up to 10 times a night, even though you said to them many times you don't have any of it.

SO there you have it--DJing... it is my gift, it is my curse.

TAG ON THAT ONE!!!:banghead:

I remember one show a few years ago, i had about 6 or 7 ppl doing the same thing!
like i'm suppose to teach them what took me 5 years to learn in 5 min!!!!

[Vertekal]

Just a quick blurb .. I had my first gig after not playing for a few years, and it was pretty uneventful. I picked it up to make a few extra bucks, and the bar had a house system so I didn't have to go buy anything (I sold all my old equipment a while ago).

I mostly play from my PC using PCDJ, but they had two 100S and a DNX100 mixer, which was nice to see. I carry a couple of CD's as backup in case (or i should say WHEN) Windows crashes. Luckily, the PC was great and didn't give me any problems.

The only major issue is the sound... they have two self-powered JBL's (15's) mounted on poles, and there isn't much bass at all. Sound is good, but no bass.

There wasn't a lot of people, since they hadn't had a regular DJ in a few months. Next time one of the beer distributors comes in, they're gonna get some signs made up for me. They have karaoke a few nights a week, and he gets a decent crowd. Hopefully a few of them show up for my nights =)

And in my one moment of glory, some dude came up towards the end of the night and requested a song. The funny part is that I had premade a 3 song mix in Sony Acid, which runs for about 12 minutes, in case I need a bathroom break or whatever. The song he wanted was the 2nd one in that mix, and the transition from one song to the next is pretty flawless. So after the first song ended (it was playing when I was talking to him) it sounded like I mixed his song in right away.

Other than that, all I really got was a few people singing along, or dancing in their seats or whatever. My next gig there is Friday, which is normally a good night even without entertainment.

[michael k]

I had an outdoor gig last night for some high school kids. Some science camp thing, but geez, kids these days are so freaky! And what's up with the hyphy interest? The second ghettofication movement?

Well anyway, here are some pics:

http://static.flickr.com/64/195517498_8a37c25b24.jpg?v=0
That's my partner.

http://static.flickr.com/75/195517501_3a9daea380.jpg?v=0

http://static.flickr.com/58/195517499_725eab8453.jpg?v=0

http://static.flickr.com/77/195517500_27a901f1c6.jpg?v=0

So that's the night. Didn't make any money though- I found out that one of our speakers blew, so all the money goes towards fixing that. Any idea how much it takes to fix a cracked cone?

:banghead:

[djboganofbeatz]

Hey guys, Well last night i dj'd for the after party for our schools musical "guys and dolls"
which i was also in.
We got to the place where the party was being held at about 11pm, and the party finished up at around 3:30am
As you can imagine alot of the people there would have been tired but i managed to get them dancing with some old disco choons.
This was my first night using my RCF art 300s.... Best speakers i have ever heard i tell you.
And i even had a few responses from the crowd saying how amazing they were.
It was a god night all up, until around 2:30 where the party died down so we started to pack up then spent the rest of the night around the fire outside.
Ive got a gig next week that i shall post pics of.

[Mike D]

Played the basketball skills contest again last night... we play the theme from "Hoosiers" before it all gets started after most of the people have filed into the seats (Yes... Indiana is really like that movie, EVERYONE has a basketball hoop). This time we lowered the volume a little and ran a clip of Coach Dale's inspirational speech overtop of it and at the end of it in the speech they start the slow clap (cheesy.. I know) well, the crowd started doing the clap with them... pretty cool stuff. And the organizer loved it, so we locked in about 6 annual gigs during the weekdays that are great money and great work.

Plus we played Rock N Roll Pt 2 right before the start and got the crowd (about 4,000) all cheering and clapping, pretty cool stuff.

[Mike D]

We played the same event again on Friday the 28th. Older group of kids, more attention to the contests than the music. But we had a problem setting up. We went to hook up into their system and I had to get a RCA to XLR converter jack, as soon as I plugged the converter into their XLR wire the entire system started humming really loud. I didn't even connect it to my system, just plugged the adapter in, and instant humming. Anyone know what could have caused this? I tried to get into their sound control room but he claimed everything was directly wired from the XLR input to the speakers. He was the P.E. teacher, so he probably had no clue.

We ended up having to run the wires directly from our mixer XLR outputs. We were hoping to be able to use the XLR outs for our speakers, and the RCA's for theirs, this way we could control the volume on each system seperatly. As it was set up the house system was set about 10 times louder than ours, so we couldn't even power up our system loud enough or we would have blown their speakers.

Once we reconnected everything we lost the humming noise and were able to get through the night without any problems.

[Mike D]

I also attended a wedding in Cincinnati this weekend as a guest (not DJ). So, of course the first thing I do once we get to the hall is check out the equipment. It was a slightly more upscale event so the lighting was minimal. Actually, I think it was all the clubs lights, and it was basically just spots on the tables and two Cans on the floor that never shut off. The DJ had a Bose system for speakers (the ones with the two holes sticking out of the speakers) and a sub. Sounded clear, but I'm not a huge fan of Bose. Looked like he was using 4 disc changes and a computer and iPod.

I didn't get a chance to talk to him before he started playing because of my wife and her friends needing stuff or wanting to talk to me for unknown reasons. Once things got underway it was all downhill. The guy couldn't keep people on the dance floor for two songs in a row because he had no flow. We went from oldies to usher to country to the Village People. And it wasn't on the bride's request, this guy just stunk. I lost any interest in talking to him because I was worried he'd take what little DJ'ing talents I have from me by osmosis. It was almost painful to sit through the wedding and not be able to dance because he wasn't playing anything good.

Plus he felt the need to talk about every 3rd song telling people to get onto the dance floor, or recaping something and giving us updates on how long it'd be before the bride and groom left. And if that wasn't enough, he didn't even fade between songs. A song would end, there'd be about 3-5 seconds of silence, then the next song would start off quiet and get louder. While we don't really try and beatmatch at weddings, we at least keep the music going without allowing silence. anyway... just wanted to share with the class.

[DavesDJ]

I don't normal Bash on other DJ's, but I attended a Wedding last Saturday night and the DJ was absolutely horrible. Being that I'm starting up my own Mobile DJ Business I'm always learning and watching other DJ's to pick up tricks and technics used by them at Weddings, parties etc.
Anyways back to the story. This DJ (I've never heard of him before) seemed to have alot of problems with his gear. There was a good 5 Seconds between each song that he played...very little interaction at all. As a matter of fact the only time he used the Mic was when he introduced the Bridal Party. After that nothing but music. His equipment appeared to be all low end. He had 2 small speakers placed in two corners of the room and a Gemini XTR 500 Sub and Sattellite speakers which actually sounded half way decent. I'm sure the B-52 would sound alot better but this setup actually had a decent sound to it.
As for his gear, he had 3 DVD/CD players on the table and a Mixer (Numark I think) and a older Crown amp under the table.
His biggest problem was just his performance, He played songs that no one wanted to dance to and even though the Bride was on the floor for the whole thing ,very few other people got up and danced. Most of the songs he played were cut off or stopped before they were finished...then there was silence for a couple seconds and another song would start up...
I have not DJ'd a Wedding yet...But I would never think of showing up at someones Wedding and giving this kind of a performance....

Dave

[bAd]

It's sad but that happens all the time. Learn from that guys mistakes. MAybe he will be calling you someday for a job!!

[DJFuzzy]

I am DJing a wedding this Friday and here's what I'm taking with me:

B52 Matrix 1000V2
Behringer VMX 1000 mixer
Stanton C.500 CD Decks
Toshiba Satellite A105-S4084 Laptop
Creative Labs USB Soundblaster Sound Card with 24 bit audio

2 - American DJ Mini Mace lights
2 - American DJ LS-50/A Portable Lighting Package with Chrome PAR-38
8 - Mini Strobe lights
1 - Fog machine
1 - Blue police beacon
1 - Black light

I'll take pictures (although I can't host them) perhaps someone would do that for me so that I can show you my setup.

Wish me luck.

[bAd]

Fuzzy...you can email them to me. Look on my profile for the address.

[N.O.C]

Wish me luck.

good luck :tup:

[DJFuzzy]

I'll give you a scenereo from start to finish:

#1 - There was MAJOR road contruction while on the way to the event (which the bride later said, "Yeah, I should have mentioned that to you"). I arrived later than I wanted to but the music still started on time...the lights didn't.

#2 - There was only one outlet where I was stationed. I had to run a 100 foot extension cord to another outlet for the lights.

#3 - The bride added some people to the bridal party that she did not make me aware of. So, I didn't have names for some people. UGH!!!

#4 - The bride expevted 70-80 people at the reception...only 34 arrived the whole evening and that included me and my partner.

#5 - While everyone was eating, I set up the lights and ran into a MAJOR problem! Two nights before, I bought all of the extension cords I would need. It turns out that only three of the 9 that I bought had grounded female ends!!! They all came out of the same box at the store and I didn't think to look at every cord. Lesson learned. Anyway, I sent my partner out to get some adapters...he brought back the wrong kind. Then someone else went to get some and they couldn't find any. I ended up calling my best friend who went and bought some and brought them up to me.

#6 - The bride chaged up the order of EVERY SINGLE special dance, i.e, she decided to do the Bridal dance BEFORE her first dance with her husband...etc... Then she switched the time that she wanted to cut the cake so that she could accommodate the photographer.

#7- Half of the people left after the cake was cut, leaving less than a dozen people to play for.

#8 - I MUST MUST MUST invest in a velvet rope or employ some kind of strongly-worded sign. Kids and drunk folks were coming behind the DJ booth at will and cramping my space....even after politely asking them to remain some distance away from me.

#9 - The endless request for the same song by a drunk uncle, even after telling him I didn't have it. Someone had a CD in their car and later brought it to me to play.

#10 - The endless request by the kids (and some adults) to play the Cha Cha slide AGAIN and AGAIN!!! These people would not take NO for an answer and we ended up playing it three times!!! UGH!

#11 - Some folks with, let me be polite, ample "back" brushing up into and bumping my speaker and light stands evertime they had to jump to the left, or "bring it down". UGH!!! Made me very nervous as I was waiting to see if I had to leap over the DJ table to catch a wayward stand.

#12 - The continuation of kids (and adults) coming behind the DJ booth to awe at the system..."Oh that's so cool", and "You fit all those songs into that little laptop?"

All in all the very small crowd enjoyed the music and there were some folks up on the dnacefloor for nearly every song. I was pleased and ultimately had a good time.

Having done this wedding reception where everything that could go wrong did, I hope any upcoming ones will run a lot smoother.

I handed out a few business cards last night and some of these folks were VERY interested in having me DJ a function for them.

We'll see!! :rolleyes:

[Mike D]

Gotta love those people who want to come check out your stuff. We try and position our stuff around us so no one can get back to us. Just leave an opening for us to get in and out, that way we can stand there and block people from coming back there.

We don't worry so much about people breaking our stuff anymore since we put in our contract that if anything happens the couple is buying us replacement equipment. Plus if anything gets broke by someone we have in our contract that it is our choice whether or not to keep playing.

Sounds like an interesting time... those weddings make you appreciate the smooth ones.

[bkhalterman]

I was doing a New years party at a resort.. Not easy to do in the first place b/c noone at the resort knows anyone but their family.. and there are so many different kinds of people... no real common intrests in music.. Anyway, everything was goig fine and it was getting near 12:00 so I was cueing up old lang remix and just as I went to mix it in everything shut OFF!!! I got the boooo of my lifetime... I started freaking out... I knew noone tripped over my cord b/c I always tape them down if I have to run infront of a doorway.. I look over my right shoulder and I saw an employee standing rigt next to the outlet were I was plugged in.. WAS pluged in... He was leaning on te wall and his freaking leg knocked my cord out... Guess there was nothing I could do... just one more lazzy waiter leaning on shit!!!!

[bkhalterman]

I'll give you a scenereo from start to finish:

#1 - There was MAJOR road contruction while on the way to the event (which the bride later said, "Yeah, I should have mentioned that to you"). I arrived later than I wanted to but the music still started on time...the lights didn't.

#2 - There was only one outlet where I was stationed. I had to run a 100 foot extension cord to another outlet for the lights.

#3 - The bride added some people to the bridal party that she did not make me aware of. So, I didn't have names for some people. UGH!!!

#4 - The bride expevted 70-80 people at the reception...only 34 arrived the whole evening and that included me and my partner.

#5 - While everyone was eating, I set up the lights and ran into a MAJOR problem! Two nights before, I bought all of the extension cords I would need. It turns out that only three of the 9 that I bought had grounded female ends!!! They all came out of the same box at the store and I didn't think to look at every cord. Lesson learned. Anyway, I sent my partner out to get some adapters...he brought back the wrong kind. Then someone else went to get some and they couldn't find any. I ended up calling my best friend who went and bought some and brought them up to me.

#6 - The bride chaged up the order of EVERY SINGLE special dance, i.e, she decided to do the Bridal dance BEFORE her first dance with her husband...etc... Then she switched the time that she wanted to cut the cake so that she could accommodate the photographer.

#7- Half of the people left after the cake was cut, leaving less than a dozen people to play for.

#8 - I MUST MUST MUST invest in a velvet rope or employ some kind of strongly-worded sign. Kids and drunk folks were coming behind the DJ booth at will and cramping my space....even after politely asking them to remain some distance away from me.

#9 - The endless request for the same song by a drunk uncle, even after telling him I didn't have it. Someone had a CD in their car and later brought it to me to play.

#10 - The endless request by the kids (and some adults) to play the Cha Cha slide AGAIN and AGAIN!!! These people would not take NO for an answer and we ended up playing it three times!!! UGH!

#11 - Some folks with, let me be polite, ample "back" brushing up into and bumping my speaker and light stands evertime they had to jump to the left, or "bring it down". UGH!!! Made me very nervous as I was waiting to see if I had to leap over the DJ table to catch a wayward stand.

#12 - The continuation of kids (and adults) coming behind the DJ booth to awe at the system..."Oh that's so cool", and "You fit all those songs into that little laptop?"

All in all the very small crowd enjoyed the music and there were some folks up on the dnacefloor for nearly every song. I was pleased and ultimately had a good time.

Having done this wedding reception where everything that could go wrong did, I hope any upcoming ones will run a lot smoother.

I handed out a few business cards last night and some of these folks were VERY interested in having me DJ a function for them.

We'll see!! :rolleyes:
all i can say to that is Bless you dude, bless you....

[bAd]

Fuzzy...did u need me to host those pics still? Check your PM box for my addy or get it off my contact page on my site.

[DJFuzzy]

Fuzzy...did u need me to host those pics still? Check your PM box for my addy or get it off my contact page on my site.

Hello bAd,

Yes, I do need you to host them. I have the email addy but the pictures I took were kinda crappy. I'm gonna take some more this weekend.

:-)

[bAd]

Cool. Look forward to seeing them.

[djscrizzle]

Well, I took a fundraiser gig for a friends kid who has cancer.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v243/djscrizzle/Mobile%20DJ%20Pix/IMG_0174.jpg
The setup.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v243/djscrizzle/Mobile%20DJ%20Pix/IMG_0195.jpg
A few random people dancing...

[DJ Pyro]

lol tonight was fun, I got paid to practice. A fight broke out b4 everybody
even got in the house... Next thing you know there are a bunch of girls
coming inside while the guys are outside fighting. I mixed for maybe
one strong hour then just stopped since everybody went back outside to
watch another fight. I swear 1st week back to college and fighting already.

[djscrizzle]

lol tonight was fun, I got paid to practice. A fight broke out b4 everybody
even got in the house... Next thing you know there are a bunch of girls
coming inside while the guys are outside fighting. I mixed for maybe
one strong hour then just stopped since everybody went back outside to
watch another fight. I swear 1st week back to college and fighting already.
Welcome to the world of Frat Party DJing my young grasshopper.

[bAd]

Only thing I can say scrizzle is get some table skirts to cover up all the wiring. I'm by no means one who is perfect at the wiring, but I try to cover up as much as I can. I have done a few fundraisers myself. They are almost like a wedding as far as catering to many different tastes in music. Kudos to you for doing it.

[bkhalterman]

I just got back from my gig at Florida southern college in lakeland Florida.. I had a blast!! I will put pictures up tomorrow morning.... I got there about 2 hours early because I had a two hour drive and didn't know about traffic.. I waited around for a while and then started setting my gear up... I got everything but the lights set up and it starts pouring down rain out of nowhere!! I had to scramble to get everything under cover.. Luckily nothing was damaged. I was kinda pissed though. After that incident I only had 30 min. to set up again. I cleaned everything up and just as I turned my system on people started showing up on the deck... I started playing some music.. After that it was great! I played the Mississippi stomp for them and showed them how the steps went... They liked it... I tried to throw some techno on and they didn't seem to be very receptive to that so i mixed it out.. I got a gig with Alpha Delta Phi though for some Christmas thing they are doing.. Kinda far off but still cool. I have actually done things for them in the past.. It was kinda cool how everyone was.. I mean I told everyone to request music, I maybe got 4 requests. Not too bad. I like when they like what I am playing.:slayer: Anyway like I said I will post some pics tomorrow.. And will also be updating my web site.. www.brandonhalterman.com

[Y-town DJ]

My last gig saturday 19th was a class 10 year reunion... .mine... you can IMAGINE how that went. I was pleasently suprised at how well the equipment was working being it is soooo ancient and needs rebuilding. (look on mobile DJ's threads to see that and what is is going to be) Not one problem with equipment and about 30 minutes to set up being they had everything ready for me when i got there. (not including driving and loading) but oh my freakin... NOONE all night danced... floor stayed empty.. completely. :confused: As I asked the coordinator and a few others i knew there, they said nothing was wrong at all, they just wanted to talk. Then the hall got really hot as the swamp cooler broke down.. everyone moved outside. I was playing to about 5 people left... 3 eating and 2 just die hard talkers. At about 2 1/2 hours I tore down and got out of there. Many compliments though, and nothing wrong.

On the whole, I HATE REUNIONS!!!.. so boring :banghead:

[DJ Pyro]

Welcome to the world of Frat Party DJing my young grasshopper.

actually all the frat parties I do fights have not broken out... only the
freshman and high school parties. I love doing parties for the greeks
on my campus b/c I get a bunch of biz from them.

[muck2k6]

I think a mobile dj isnt as fun as a club dj as a mobile dj is more about the taste of music from the audience and not of your own

[bAd]

Thanks for your opinion Muck, but wasted our time considering it had nothing to do with a gig you or someone else did. To each his own.

[DJ Pyro]

I think a mobile dj isnt as fun as a club dj as a mobile dj is more about the taste of music from the audience and not of your own

:hammer::hammer:::hammer:

[N.O.C]

I think a mobile dj isnt as fun as a club dj as a mobile dj is more about the taste of music from the audience and not of your own
:rolleyes:
you have no idea what you're talking about, you feed off the crowd as a club DJ as well :wack:

anyways, back on topic....got a wedding this Saturday. I'll post up a review and try to get some pictures up after :tup:

[Jimanee]

I'm a club DJ trying to incorparate a bit of mobile work. It is not an easy option, I roadied with a proffessional Mobile DJ, did about 15 weddings and 8 Xmass office parties. He could get a completely random crowd dancing everytime, he couldn't beatmix but could do a mean drop.

I've been mixing DnB and a lot more for eight years, I played an engagement party. I managed to piss off three groups by actually playing their requests :confused:

But the moment you get a mixed crowd from 10 - 80 years old, having it to beatmixed rock, yours is the Earth and everything that's in it.

And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

:tup:

[DJLazarus**]

had my first gig last night for a friends 18th b-day party, in what can only be described as a freaking huge house. so there must've been at least anywhere from 50-100 people there. The setup didnt take long, as my buddy Nova (fellow DJ) also came down to spin. Everything was goin great until 11:30pm when another party from down the block decided to come and join cause ours was still bumpin.

We played everything from hardhouse, trance, happy hardcore, progressive, drum & bass.

Everyone was either dancing or enjoying the party in one way or another. To be honest with you. being in the booth in front of of all those people for my first gig was the most amazing thing ever. Cant wait to do it again.

[Jimanee]

Nice one mate, fair play for rocking people through the different genres.

[Jimanee]

My gig report: http://djforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=80649

Warning: a bit long and detailed

[bAd]

Bad link Jimanee...heres the good one.

http://www.djforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=80649

[bAd]

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l228/serioussound/IMG_2232.jpg
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l228/serioussound/IMG_2233.jpg
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l228/serioussound/IMG_2234.jpg
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l228/serioussound/IMG_2235.jpg
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l228/serioussound/IMG_2236.jpg
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l228/serioussound/IMG_2237.jpg
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l228/serioussound/IMG_2238.jpg
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l228/serioussound/IMG_2239.jpg
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l228/serioussound/IMG_2240.jpg
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l228/serioussound/IMG_2241.jpg

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l228/serioussound/IMG_2242.jpg
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l228/serioussound/IMG_2243.jpg
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l228/serioussound/IMG_2244.jpg
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l228/serioussound/IMG_2245.jpg

[bAd]

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l228/serioussound/IMG_2246.jpg
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l228/serioussound/IMG_2247.jpg
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l228/serioussound/IMG_2248.jpg
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l228/serioussound/IMG_2250.jpg
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l228/serioussound/IMG_2249.jpg
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l228/serioussound/IMG_2251.jpg
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l228/serioussound/IMG_2252.jpg
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l228/serioussound/IMG_2253.jpg
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l228/serioussound/IMG_2254.jpg
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l228/serioussound/IMG_2255.jpg
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l228/serioussound/IMG_2268-1.jpg
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l228/serioussound/IMG_2269-1.jpg
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l228/serioussound/IMG_2270-1.jpg
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l228/serioussound/IMG_2271-1.jpg
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l228/serioussound/IMG_2272-1.jpg
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l228/serioussound/IMG_2262.jpg
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l228/serioussound/crewpic.jpg

[DJ Brian B]

Looks like a success good job! :slayer:

[DJHolmz]

Man that truss looks loaded down. Does it creak under the weight? :-)
I see your tubas in the pics. how did you like em?
I like the polo shirts with your logo.
Is that you and the wife in the last pic?

[bAd]

Man that truss looks loaded down. Does it creak under the weight? :-)
I see your tubas in the pics. how did you like em?
I like the polo shirts with your logo.
Is that you and the wife in the last pic?
Yes the truss is loaded but no where near it's 200lb capacity. There is maybe 125 on there. Those par cans are light but fill out the truss very well. The tuba's....well, they didn't do well. I think there is a problem somewhere. I had them working very well in the garage a day prior, then when I get to the event, nothing. Back to the drawing board with them. Yes that is my (future) wife. And as for the shirts...I think the polo's look better than T-shirts.

[Mike D]

I forgot the camera for our Homecoming Dance... so no pics. I got there two hours early, only took an hour to setup (alone basically) which was awesome that I got done that quickly, then the game went long so I didn't start playing till 9:30 or so (which was awesome because i still got paid).

I asked them to allow students to request songs when they purchased their tickets that week, so I got a short list to start. They wanted Metallica, Avenged Sevefold, Chingy, Chris Brown, Ludacris, Dixie Chicks, Joan Jett, and Wham! to name a few. Very interesting mix, which fit this school.

I started off with top 40 hip hop, played some slow songs, and then some metal for the goth kids. It kills me how many girls wanted to hear "Hinder - Lips of an Angel" I asked one of them if they knew the song was about a guy who wanted "the other woman" and not his g/f. She just looked at me like I had weeds growing out of my head... excuse me for expecting you to listen to lyrics.

Anyway... Some weird albino looking kid wanted to hear all sorts of weid death metal bands, never heard of them before. He didn't like my response telling him basically that his choice in music sucks and I won't play it.

On a side note, last year for Semi-Formal I found out that the girls all took off their underwear and threw them into a pile IN THE GYM (where the dance is). We didn't DJ that dance, and nothing exciting happened this time around. The teachers told us about it... and the janitor who had to sweep them into the trash using tongs because he didn't want to touch them. Funny stuff.

[DJ Brian B]

Anyway... Some weird albino looking kid wanted to hear all sorts of weid death metal bands, never heard of them before. He didn't like my response telling him basically that his choice in music sucks and I won't play it.


haha at every gig you always get at least one of those kids. pretty funny :lol:

[zwaigh]

I had my first two jobs last weekend, a BD party for a 12 y/o girl on Friday and a house/pool party the next day. All I have to say is that I wasn't prepared musically for them. On the first party the kids begun requesting songs that I thought were inappropriate for their age. Here I am preparing teen pop songs for this party and all they just wanted to hear was explicit lyrics material. I was able to play clean versions of some of them but they kept hitting me with stuff I didn't have. The snow machine (foam) drove them crazy though. I played for 4 hours.
The following day was a little better. I got there a couple of hours earlier to set up. I was using a combination of my medium and large set ups but had nobody to help me. I was able to start playing on time but couldn't finished hanging all the lights and connecting the subwoofer but the sound was good. Again they started hitting me with requests I didn't have, only this time there was wireless in the house and I could DL'd most of their requests from iTunes. Everyone wanted to hear something different; I've played a little of everything from Neil Diamond to Snoop Dog. About two hours after I had started playing the sprinkler system went on for about one full minute before the owner turned it off. The speakers and the lights that I couldn't hang were all wet, water was dripping out of them. Fortunatelly everything is working fine. I played for 5 hours until the police came and ask the owner to turn it off.

Greetings!

zwaigh

[bAd]

Oh hell no!! Sue for damages

[Mike D]

Got any equipment you were wanting to replace? Sounds like they were water damanged to me.

[DJDancer5678]

For all it's worth, here's my first real gig report!

OK...I know I'm really, really new at this...only done maybe a dozen parties...most of 'em small backyard grads, b-days, etc. I had a gig last nite at a local Veteran's Hall (Oktoberfest), approximately 100 people...and I found out real quick that everybody's idea of "play something I can dance to" IS DIFFERENT!!!!

Dinner music's over...catering tables are moved off the dance floor and I start playing, IMO, some "stuff you can dance to"...varied music, throwing in some oldies, all the music that I know gets me moving on a dance floor (I'm also a line dance instructor....so I can generally get a hang of what's GOOD TO DANCE TO!!!)

Young woman (late 20s...maybe) comes up to me and asks THE question...OK...sure..but since there's a definite generation gap here...just to make sure we're on the same page...what kind of "music I can dance to" are you referring to? She has to check with her friends...comes back and tells me "Umm...do you have any stuff like the Electric Slide and The Twist"!!! Certainly not the "top 40" answer I was expecting...but OK...no problem.

Then this half-blized woman, also in her 20s, asks me THE question. OK..I'm starting to catch on quick here...I haven't been around for 56 years for nothin'...I ask the same question...her idea of "dance" music is
"oh, I don't know...maybe something from the 90s"....thank goodness for laptop search engines...found something to keep her happy.

Chick# 3 comes along later in the evening, her first question is "What are you doing?" (Not to be nasty, but, what does it LOOK like I'm doing????)...or...maybe she was asking "What ARE you DOING????", who knows :shrug: ...I give the same response....she's looking for "well...you know....something from the 50s...or maybe 80s....or maybe something by Pink..." Alrighty then...now we're really narrowing it down....

Does this go on ALL THE TIME???? Apparently mind-reading also is in the job description?????

Thanks for listening! :lol:

[bAd]

You didn't get the memo?? You have to be a certified mind reader to do this job. Haha. Yeah, we all run into that crap. Usually I'll just tell them to write down some songs that they ".

[Mike D]

We had our first "bogus" reception this weekend. It was a second reception, the couple was married in another state, had a second reception here for the groom's family and friends, only about 100 people.

It was in a WWII Air museum that was fairly small, and lots of stuff from the war. We got their 2 hours early, setup, took about an hour. Ran through our checklist to make sure everything was working good, no problems. Had a friend stop by and check out the setup, he liked it (was amazed by the Matrix). I turn it up, turn off the house lights, turn on our lights, pump out the fog, old guy comes barreling across the floor... "hey hey hey.. no smoke, no smoke, shut that off now!" So that was interesting.. there for an hour, pissed off the manager already, but oh well.

People show up, very laid back, no formal wear, we were in our polo shirts. played jazz for about an hour while they ate and mingled about. Then they only had the couple's first dance, and father/daughter dance, so that was nice. Then we start playing our 70's music, no one dances. Go to 80's, no one dances, play the Electric slide, 3 people come out. Play old rock for the parents, no one dances. Play country, no one dances. Play slow songs, no one dances. Play hip hop, one drunk guy dances. The chicken dance got the most reaction (about 10 people).

By far, it was the most lame reception I've ever been to (working or attending). We asked for requests, got nothing, and even when we played their requests maybe 2 people would dance. We spent more time telling the little kids to get away from our stuff so they wouldn't break anything (or get hurt).

Afterwards they said we did good, they just don't like to dance.... which is fine.. but why hire a DJ if you don't like to dance, and have no intention of doing so?

[bAd]

That has happened to me almost exactly. Mount back up on that horse...the next event will bring the joy back :)

[DJ uNo]

Same thing happened to me. I did a reception where the bride and groom (in their late 20s early 30s) gave me a box af cds (late 70s early 80s rock and ballads) and a play list to follow. I followed the play list and at one time, maybe 20 of the 150+ people were on the floor at the same time. At 9pm when it was supposed to end, the grooms asks me to stay an extra 1/2 hour while people leave to play whatever I feel. I start playing some late 80s, early 90 mainstream hip hop (hammer, young mc, tone loc) I look down from the bacony where I'm set up and see everyone that was still there (about half) on the floor dancing. Go figure. Next day I get a email thanking me, saying everyone enjoyed themselves, but the people that stayed for the last 1/2 hour were really praising me. They went on to say that they should have let me use my judgement throughout the entire evening. I guess they figured that a black dj wouldn't know how to cater to a reception of middle class white people. It happens that way sometimes.

[Jimanee]

Phew Mike, I thought it was just me. Though probably in your case it was the lack of smoke.

IMO it plays a very important part in filling the floor as it :

1) Sorts the lightshow out
2) Makes an empty dancefloor look occupied
3) Makes those less confident people feel that people can't see them.

IMO doing a reception where people know each other and them getting them to dance whilst everyone is staring at them, is nigh on immpossible.

IMO you should have given out free shots of Stroh Inlander Rum 80% or spiked the punch with e*stacy

[tophat-dj]

Mike D you'll have that. Ive done a string of class reunions lately and its pure torture. People just want to talk and catchup from the last reunion. The only request I get is to turn down the music. This past weekend I had a good wedding though. Right from the start the dance floor was full. I actually had a older woman come up as the dance floor was full and ask for the music to be turned down so they could talk. I pretty much ignored her and I thought it was rather rude since the bride and groom were having so much fun.

[Mike D]

lol... nice to know most everyone else has been here too... it was more boring than disappointing. I had a feeling based on early talks that this was more of a meet/greet than a big party. We did have mom and dad dancing and singing to each other with "Why Don't We Get Drunk (And Screw", so that was fun.

The smoke didn't really bother me, I understood where he was coming from, lots of old antiques and clothing and whatnot, didn't want residue on them (even though our fog is water based). But oh well.

Jimanee.. funny you should say that... about halfway through I grabbed the mic after a slow song..... "I don't know if everyone has realized this yet, but the bar AND dancefloor are open for your enjoyment, it's time for everyone to get drunk and make some bad decisions". Great line to use btw... feel free to use it at your events as well.

[JBentertains]

We had our first "bogus" reception this weekend. It was a second reception, the couple was married in another state, had a second reception here for the groom's family and friends, only about 100 people.

It was in a WWII Air museum that was fairly small, and lots of stuff from the war. We got their 2 hours early, setup, took about an hour. Ran through our checklist to make sure everything was working good, no problems. Had a friend stop by and check out the setup, he liked it (was amazed by the Matrix). I turn it up, turn off the house lights, turn on our lights, pump out the fog, old guy comes barreling across the floor... "hey hey hey.. no smoke, no smoke, shut that off now!" So that was interesting.. there for an hour, pissed off the manager already, but oh well.

People show up, very laid back, no formal wear, we were in our polo shirts. played jazz for about an hour while they ate and mingled about. Then they only had the couple's first dance, and father/daughter dance, so that was nice. Then we start playing our 70's music, no one dances. Go to 80's, no one dances, play the Electric slide, 3 people come out. Play old rock for the parents, no one dances. Play country, no one dances. Play slow songs, no one dances. Play hip hop, one drunk guy dances. The chicken dance got the most reaction (about 10 people).

By far, it was the most lame reception I've ever been to (working or attending). We asked for requests, got nothing, and even when we played their requests maybe 2 people would dance. We spent more time telling the little kids to get away from our stuff so they wouldn't break anything (or get hurt).

Afterwards they said we did good, they just don't like to dance.... which is fine.. but why hire a DJ if you don't like to dance, and have no intention of doing so?

Alot of them hire DJs just because it's the thing to do. When I get meet & greets like that one sounded, I usually turn down the music just a tad and then I start crusing the room. Talk to some old people, see how they are enjoying things, introduce myself, and ask if there is something they really want to hear. I get a few, and then I become a request machine. "Hey, here's some Dean Martin for Uncle Joe!"

...it passes the time.

[JBentertains]

Same thing happened to me. I did a reception where the bride and groom (in their late 20s early 30s) gave me a box af cds (late 70s early 80s rock and ballads) and a play list to follow. I followed the play list and at one time, maybe 20 of the 150+ people were on the floor at the same time. At 9pm when it was supposed to end, the grooms asks me to stay an extra 1/2 hour while people leave to play whatever I feel. I start playing some late 80s, early 90 mainstream hip hop (hammer, young mc, tone loc) I look down from the bacony where I'm set up and see everyone that was still there (about half) on the floor dancing. Go figure. Next day I get a email thanking me, saying everyone enjoyed themselves, but the people that stayed for the last 1/2 hour were really praising me. They went on to say that they should have let me use my judgement throughout the entire evening. I guess they figured that a black dj wouldn't know how to cater to a reception of middle class white people. It happens that way sometimes.


I very rarely play cd's given to me by the bride and groom. "I'm the DJ, and I know more than you when it comes to the party." I did have one groom who was really into house, so I said, "yeah, bring me a cd." Don't usually keep a lot house on hand for weddings. Ethnic stuff, I let them bring some cds.

I kept running into that problem, people were giving me 100 song lists and asking if they could just bring their own cds. I told them to get a boombox if that's what you want. I now tell them that based on our consultations, I will know what's appropriate, and I will know what you will like and what you won't. But I let them pick 10 songs of their own, and will make sure those get played during the night.

Servicing your client is one thing, you know, making sure that the event is completely catered to them, etc. But being a jukebox is another.

I'm a professional wedding entertainer, DJ, and emcee...trust me...I know what I'm doing.

[kidxicarus]

I just want to say thank you to all of you for this bulletin.

I am about to do my FIRST ever set tomorrow night and for the past three days have been rackin' myself over how to effectively do it. I guess I'm pushing myself too hard to be like a DJ that's been at the craft for years as opposed to the few months I've been at it.

I was doggin' myself horribly for not knowing the proper transition approaches to all the different styles I have collected for this gig. (Hip/Hop, Breaks, DnB, House, IDM, Mathcore (I found a mathcore vinyl on accident, that blew my mind) Remixes, BattleBeats, some classic rock, some classic rap, a little of everything that I and my friends liked listening to growing up, plus some shit that gets radio play now, cuz I know that shit will get the girls dancin', so just a little of whatever....)

BTW, this is my friend's wedding and the crowd is aged approx. 18-25 (plus some parents and kids).

BUT, after reading through all the stories in this bulletin, I have realized that I'm just stressing myself out, I shouldn't attempt anything I know I can't do (like trying to be another DeiselBoy from the get go), and I should just have fun. Cuz all in all, even if I end up being a JukeBox with random AquaTeenHungerForce or Monty Python cuts to break between records, it's going to be a fun experience.

Oh and I have some Brak songs that I thought would be hillarious to cut in between transitions.

So far, what I've learned:
- be myself
- have fun
- ride the crowd
- and stop stressin', it'll be allright

Again, thanks to you all. I feel a hell of a lot less stressed over tomorrow.

[Mike D]

Couldn't have put it better myself. Glad we helped and good luck, let us know how it goes.

[MvPrior22]

I'm going to sum up my first mobile DJ gig in as few words as possible...

We get to the party :slayer:
Partner spins:music:
I spin :dj:
He leaves :tdown:
And turns into this :puke:
While :hump:
And Im stuck calling my dad while he is :hump:
I wait for my dad :jerk:
This is how I feel about my partner now :biteme:

[C-Rus]

This his how my first mobile gig went...
We set up, i spin.:dj: ..for 4.5 hours..
My partner finally comes back from beer pong then takes over.
I go get drunk and :hbanana: in a hottub
and my wallet and keys get stolen.
My buddy called his dad
So i go :hbanana: some more.
I spun for 4.5 hours so i dont care.

Eat it MVprior.

[Darkrobe]

Did my first subcontract job when I was 17 for a wedding in small town northern Alberta.
Groom asks me for the mic after supper speeches and I of course oblige.
He then thanks his Best Man for screwing his wife the night before when he went to go see her and seen them through the window.
His brothers and family take Best Man outside and break his legs.
The guy I am subcontracting for is one of the town cops, he shows up and asks me what the $%& did I do to his gig as he wraps up his police reports.
In stunned expressions, all I could muster was "I only gave him the mic boss."
I played 2hrs of background music. Every event since then has been wonderful.

[DJ Brian B]

I did a Halloween Fair for small kids today. Overall went ok, it wasn't a dancing type of party, I was just brought in to play background music, mostly halloween. No top 40 or anything, and after getting complaints from people I had to lower the volume quite a bit. Overall it went pretty good though, some people danced, and alot commented on the music I played, and how much they liked it. I even had two grandmas dancing! The fair lasted from 1 to 3, and I got there at 11 to setup. I got home at about 4. I don't know how you guys do it, lugging those huge cabs, and lighting trusses all the time. I just about broke my back lugging everything from my car.

Here is a pic i took. The wind was pretty bad, and the table cloth I was using kept getting messed up.


http://pic40.picturetrail.com/VOL361/7016069/13436254/199709196.jpg

[boarder]

Nice setup. Moving all that stuff yourself must suck, but just ask a few of your friends to help you out, then buy em' dinner in the near future. That's what I do.

Last night I did my first job for my friend's aunt's b-day/costume party. About 50+ people showed up, all over 21, so my "clean playlist" wasn't even an option. I had to play out from 8p-1am, so I was pretty nervous. Probably the hardest part was setting up before the crowd came, but as soon as I got everything hooked up, everything went smooth. People really didn't start arriving til' 9, so I killed the first hour just playing random stuff (hip hop, latin, dance). People started to arrive, so the host requested I play Halloween stuff. I was lucky to stumble across Thriller and Monster Mash, so I played those.

The next couple of hours many people requested 80s and Funk, Salsa, and other types of Latin dance music. There was a costume contest, dance contest, etc, which killed about an extra 30 mins.

My friends were there to watch me, and they were cheering me on as I started to fill the dance floor with top 40 and 80's songs. I couldn't really mix those different genres, so I'd just fade in and fade out of songs. When I snuck in some hip hop, they wanted me to switch it up immediately. It's funny because alot of the 21-25 yr olds filled the floor when I mixed hip hop, then when I went to funk and 80, 35+ filled immediately.

In the end, the five hours I had to mix for went a lot faster than I expected. I've been practicing spinning for a two-hour set of hip hop, and at that costume party I was lucky enough to mix for 20 minutes before the host requested different music to be played. After the party the birthday girl thanked me and I did the same. After I told her it was my first time, she called me a liar. She said I "lie like a rug". It was probably the best compliment I've received. She said that the party would have been a lot larger had she had planned it a few weeks earlier. I played for about 50+ people, but had she done it earlier, she said it would have been over 100.

Anyways, I made a great impression on her, and was told that she's gonna be coming to me for future gigs. Also some of her friends asked me to leave December open for future gigs. It was probably the easiest 200 bucks I've ever made.

[bAd]

Brian...why did you set-up the whole truss if all you had was the par cans? you could have just used the T-bars and been fine. I'm sure you had a reason, but I had to ask.

[DJ Brian B]

Brian...why did you set-up the whole truss if all you had was the par cans? you could have just used the T-bars and been fine. I'm sure you had a reason, but I had to ask.

Ya, the original plan was to use my friend's mushroom and two of his strobes on the truss, but he never showed!:mad: In the future I'm thinking of dropping the T-Bars and mounting the par cans on the truss.

[bAd]

Ahh, I see. That clears it up. I did a halloween dance at a high school on saturday. didn't get any pics of the crowd due to it being VERY small. I put my screen up to see what it would look like although we didn't use it this time.

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l228/serioussound/DSCF0006.jpg
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l228/serioussound/DSCF0008.jpg
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l228/serioussound/DSCF0005.jpg
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l228/serioussound/DSCF0007.jpg

[DJ Brian B]

Thats pretty nice bAd, I like how you have incooperated the matrix speakers with the big cabs. Are those your tubas under the big cabs? If so how did they perform? I'm seriously considering building a 24, seriously meaning I already bought the plans.

[Mike D]

This past weekend we had an elementary school dance on Friday night and a charity auction on Saturday. The Elem. School dance was more of a night for parents to drop their kids off so they could go out on a date. We were in one end of the gym, the other end has the basketball goal up (until the 5th graders started tripping the younger kids) and the cafeteria was open with food. We played a lot of 80's and other stuff for the kids. Mainly we were there to be background music. It was funny to watch 2nd graders dance though. One asked for the "Big Butt Song" which is just funny to hear. We played Chain Hang Low but only after clearing it with the teachers because it was requested.

The next night was a charity auction we did for a former co-worker of mine. Great setup. We were to be there from 6:30-11:30 to play. But we played from 6:30-8:00, then at 8 they held an auction where the auctioneer had all his own equipment, so we just sat behind our sign and drank (because they gave us beer). Then at 8:45 we started playing again till about 9:30. Then another auction round till 10, then we played again at till about 10:30, followed by a third auction round, then played from 11-11:30.

No one really danced, but we got 3 paying gigs out of it, plus we donated a 3 hour block to the auction that was auctioned off in a silent auction. My partner played all christian rock during one of our 'sets" if you can call it that, and they loved it. We didn't get a ton of money for it, just our old standard wedding rate, but for how little we did it was great, plus we got enough jobs to more than make up for it.

I'd highly suggest trying to get into the church rackets if you can, they have money and they aren't afraid to spend it. And if you can get into just one of them the door flies open for more opportunities. Just another idea for you guys if you haven't looked into yet. Of course it helps to know christian rock songs, which I know nothing of, but my partner does!

[bAd]

Mike, it would be great if you could get with your partner and get a list for me. Or maybe a site with the top christian rock stuff.

[Dj Kari]

Th smoke machines will set off smoke detectors/fire alarms, but I agree with your benefits, go for a haze machine instead, same benefits but no problems with safety.

[bAd]

Alas, but haze can do the same with alarm systems. It's best to ask janitors/custodians what type of fire system they have. If it's a heat sensor, usually you are good. Always check before you start fogging/hazing the place up.

[kidxicarus]

Ok so it's been while since I've been back here. And holy shit am I amazed.

So my FIRST gig ever, anything and everything that I could think of going wrong, DID!

I found that I was missing the power cord for the PA, half my speakers were borrowed and blown, so I had to resource it with some surround sound speakers from Wal-Mart, I fucked up every intro and transition for the first hour or so, and I stuttered like a fool on the mic.

So I let my friend who used to DJ back in the day take over for a few minutes while I stepped out, smoked a few stoags, chugged a few beers, got pissed at myself and kicked him off my set.

Then I plugged in PainKiller followed by Tarantula by Pendelum and from there found my groove.

A few plugs of randomness here and there (Safety Dance, some MSI, some Gorillaz, Charmillion, whatever) and I had the kids dancin' and everyone was havin' a good time.

It turned out pretty good and the bar owner asked me if I wanted to audition for a friday night DJ gig.

FUCK YEAH! My first paid DJ gig (well, this coming weekend).

But that was one hell of a push there.

See what had happened, I came into the bar on Thursday, after having spent a week and a half not talking to the owner and I wanted to make sure I still had my audition. Well, the owner wasn't there, but this cook that supposedly was the one who convinced the owner to hire a DJ was and he was tellin' me to fill the house with Reggaeton and Hip/Hop.

Well FUCK! I'm thinkin'. I have a few records, but nothing that's gonna last more than half an hour tops. Most of my shit is DnB, albumbs, and assorted breaks. A few Rasta meshes but that wasn't what he was askin' for.

So I go and find a classmate who is a hip/hop DJ and get her to come in on my set.

I start off my set, now partnered with the DJ from the two weeks prior (he does a little Digibox undertoning to help smooth the transitions and to help battle/rmx songs, like Prince's When Doves Cry, I know it's a little cheap in the skill aspect, but it sounds damn good). NO ONE is moving. I even got my two sisters and their stripper friend to come as Go-Go dancers and even they wouldn't get outta their seats.

This went on for about half an hour, till people started requesting the Hip/Hop and whatnot.

So whatever, I let Starline go on and she started pumpin' the booty beats. Only thing was, NO ONE would get up and move. It was odd.

So I started getting that look from the bar owner, you know the one, "Why the fuck are you here?! You aren't doing shit for my business!" and I started stressin'.

As you might've caught earlier, stressin' leads to drinkin' which leads to "FUCK THIS I'MMA MAKE YOU JUMP!"

So after Starline was on for about an hour, I kicked her off reset up my gear and immediately plugged in a Pokemon Sex Toy commercial I found online (CD-Players can be your friend too). This had everyone's attention. I followed it up with some Death Metal / DnB with some Street Fighter II clips cut in and all the kids in the crowd started hollerin' and gettin' up and dancing.

Nerd-core it was from there.

So then it was some MSI, some Beasty Boys, some random upbeat DnB, some House of Pain, Cruel Angel Thesis, Aqua Teen Hunger Force Theme Song, MC Chris, hell I even threw on the Star Wars Gansta Rap just for the fuck of it, and I had even the cooks out dancing and battling to my shit. (Especially the rmx of When Doves Cry).

So yeah, I scored the job.

Moral of the story? Beer is good!

[DJ Brian B]

I even got my two sisters and their stripper friend to come as Go-Go dancers and even they wouldn't get outta their seats.



:lol: :lol: scarred for life!

Desperate times call for desperate measures!:lol: :tup:

[DJ ColinMichael]

New to the forum, I played twice in 12 hours once at night for a frat, and in the morning for a cook out before our fortball game. Both went resonablly well, and i think I am getting better, I need to start trying to acyually scratch more instead of beat match.

[DJImmersion]

the last gig i did wasnt even mine to begin with, i work with another bloke who got his first gig using my equipment in this really run down house that looked nice but creepy on the outside and redneck central on the inside. given the total mess of the place the space in the courtyard in the front of the house was perfect for a dance party, there was even a good area for the dj booth in front of an ourside fireplace, but anyway moving on. when we get to the location the host of the party was already drunk and asking to make out with both of us, she admitted that she had started drinking seince 10 in the morning and it was 8pm by now. so my partner sets up and plays a few tracks when this guy on a dirt bike holding some form of hard alcahol speeds into the courtyard and nearly runs down people who were arriving at the party and even those people were too drunk to care. pretty soon people started going inside to finnish the alcahol off and a fight broke out and I ended up abandoning my jacket beacouse of beer spills, then i find that one of my speakers is distorted beacuse my partner put too much power through the amp, and then the dual CD player doesnt want to give back a CD, so my partner decides to join the other party goers while i get things working again, he tells me to go ahead and take over for the rest of the night, and at this point im really pissed off, so im happy to get back on the decks and out of the chaos, untill some sane sober person called it a night befor everyone else arrived. this all happend in the space of an hour and a half and it is the worst party i have been to and ended up DJ'ing at

[DJ-Rome 1989]

My first gig wasn't that long ago, probably a few months ago from now. I had kind of wanted to get into DJing since last year, but never got round to it. Then I started premixing music on Acid Pro 4 to just listen to randomnly. Unfortunately (or fortunately now that everythings been played out) one of my premixes was heard at a "piss-up" party just played off the stereo and a girl heard it and went mental, and did everything in her power to find out who I was.

Then she offered me 300 dollars (Australian Dollars) ....An offer I couldn't refuse. As I wasn't fully into DJing yet I had NO EQUIPMENT. So I borrowed my uncles amp and speakers, and a 4 channel light box as well as a tortoise party light.

Uh-oh....what about the cd drives and mixer?? So I rang up the girl and asked if it was ok to run the party through laptop. A-OK from her meant that I downloaded Traktor to DJ off. As some of you may know, you need a dual-slot sound card or something like that to mix properly so you can monitor what you're about to mix. So I had to resort to premixing the party on Acid Pro. So my first gig ever was run off a laptop and wasn't even done live :(

I did have some technical difficulties as well...the laptop kept distorting the bass through the speakers and it was really annoying. I called up my uncle and he drove over and plugged everything into his mixer (DJM-300) so I could control the EQ. Problem solved and KILLER party. I understand what people have previously said about people loving you just because you are the "DJ". I didn't do anything flashy with the mixing, it was all smooth transitions and blended cos it was pre-done, and everyone loved it and thought I was the best.

As it turns out that first party was my platform because I DJ'd five 18th's after that party in the space of 2 months and earnt enough money to buy my first mixer: a DJM-300S :D

[Jimanee]

last gig I did: A friend who's into breaks askes me to play RnB to girls at a bar, ok says me, I get there and slapped on some R Kelly.

Two thugs walk up one starts rifling through some other DJs records, the other walks past me, he says he is the off duty bouncer for this place.

he starts asking me what it's like to use CDJs and that he DJs and is an MC. And start touching the decks.

I dropped the friendly act, "sorry, I don't let anybody use my CD decks" with some firm eyecontact, he's cool and leaves. His mate's nicked my fresh pint.

20 seconds later, this girl comes over and says that they asked for RnB and that I have to play this CD and that she is the bar manager's daughter so there.

Fine, I'm a pro, I mix track 1 in flawlessly. "Oh we want track 2". OK: apply echo, pause track, play track 2, remove echo, crowd goes woo.

I played 4 tracks of this CD the same way, t'was Justin Timberlake.

My disgust/ contempt meter had broken and I was comfortably numb.

All I could think of where the lyrics of Private dancer

Still later when I played my old classics, had the ladies do the filthiest stuff...

[Mike D]

Gotta love it when people pull the "I'm the daughter.. or i work here" crap on you. Usually whenever someone tells me that I tell them that's great, I'm the DJ and I'll play what I think people want and intentionally not play what they want. If the want to be an ass about it I'll return the favor.

[DCMike]

Check this crap -

Did a gig last night. Gear was my standard stuff:

- American VP1500 amp (VERY solid and pretty cheap - 500/ch@8 ohms - $240)
- Pyramid mixer
- PCDJ-FX VRM with DAC-2
- Set of loaner speakers (Peavey PR15's - CRAP) - my Wharfedales were in the shop

It was a company Xmas party. We had cocktail/dinner stuff for over 2 of the 4 hours, with Santa giving presents to 6 year olds for 25 minutes. Finally got rolling and the hubby of the boss immediately demands that I play no hip-hop/top 100 stuff and that I play - get this - BLUES TRAVELER for his wife every 30 damned minutes!

After 40 minutes of a DEAD dancefloor, I decided to ignore the dude. In comes Sean Paul to the rescue - and oh they danced. Then, Sexyback, Crazy, Hips Don't Lie, and Akon. Packed floor - literally, packed. Then I was ordered to play goddammed Run Around from Blues Traveler again. Dead floor. The Whitney Houston. Dead.

Then, 20 minutes before the end, I'm ordered to start winding folks up again. So, off with YMCA and some wedding standards only to wind everyone up and then have to literally kill it since they wouldn't extend the contract.

WHEN WILL PEOPLE LEARN THEY DON'T KNOW SHIT ABOUT MANAGING A ROOM! LEAVE IT TO THE DJ - THAT'S WHAT YOU PAY ME FOR!

[DJ-Rome 1989]

It's true, that's why many DJ's in this forum don't really listen to requests :tup:

[DCMike]

I don't in the bar. But when the dude who's writing the checks does it, you kinda have no real choice.

[JKryp]

I tend to ignore requests also. If it's something that I think will work, I'll play it, but I get so many where you know the only person who will be feeling the song is the person who requested it.

I played a party this weekend where I got a constant stream of those. I had been playing mostly top 40 hip hop and I got one guy begging for some country and then another asking for Pantera?!? Pantera? Are you kidding me? One guy was asking if he could hook up his iPod to my setup because he had a whopping 1,000 songs on there! Hahahahaha! 1,000? I told him that my external hard drive had 30,000 songs on it and he kinda left me alone after that. :)

[Mike D]

We played an elementary school dance last week (my DJ partner is a teacher there), great gig. A little over an hour long, no bad words allowed, no requests taken, and this year we were up on the stage so no kids were hanging on our equipment or bugging us.

We basically played all the cheesy group songs (Hokey Pokey, YMCA, Cha Cha Slide). There is a definate generation gap though between Cha Cha and Electric Slide. The mom's wanted to do the Electric Slide so we played it, they were trying to teach their kids how to do it, funny stuff.

Only down point was that a local news station and a local paper covered the event. The newspaper article commented about that the event was DJ'd, listed some of our songs, and mentioned my partner by name (since he's a teacher there) yet didn't mention our name. Sort of pissed me off since their photographer was clamping his flashes on our speaker stands and then they can't even give us a blurb with our name. We missed the news station story, didn't get home in time, but haven't heard anyone mention that they saw us. Oh.. they were both there because it was a dance to donate toys for kids who don't get a lot.

[Jimanee]

"WHEN WILL PEOPLE LEARN THEY DON'T KNOW SHIT ABOUT MANAGING A ROOM! LEAVE IT TO THE DJ - THAT'S WHAT YOU PAY ME FOR!"

F*#king scum, I'm taking a far more hardcore stance these days, when I realised that some people deliberatly request party wrecking songs, because they think it's funny.

[DCMike]

"WHEN WILL PEOPLE LEARN THEY DON'T KNOW SHIT ABOUT MANAGING A ROOM! LEAVE IT TO THE DJ - THAT'S WHAT YOU PAY ME FOR!"

F*#king scum, I'm taking a far more hardcore stance these days, when I realised that some people deliberatly request party wrecking songs, because they think it's funny.

And that's why DJ's should be allowed to beat people with microphone stands.

[N.O.C]

WHEN WILL PEOPLE LEARN THEY DON'T KNOW SHIT ABOUT MANAGING A ROOM! LEAVE IT TO THE DJ - THAT'S WHAT YOU PAY ME FOR!

That's why you include in your contract that you, the DJ, run the show and have complete control over the playlist for the event. You can sit down with your client before the event and discuss the kind of music they would like and listen to their suggestions. Ask them what they would definitely like to hear and things they definitely do not want to hear. This will give you a feel for the taste in music of the people paying you. If they suggest songs that just won't work, explain to them that it may ruin a good time people are having at their event and they normally will understand that different people have different tastes when it comes to music. Taking these steps prior to the event will prevent these types of things happening.:tup:

[DCMike]

My agent handles most of that for me, but in general, he who writes the checks calls the songs at the end of the day.

I usually tell them pretty gently, however, that they're paying me to have the experience to pick the music. If they trust in my experience, they'll have a great gig, and they always do...

[Mike D]

F*#king scum, I'm taking a far more hardcore stance these days, when I realised that some people deliberatly request party wrecking songs, because they think it's funny.

I had this happen to me. We were DJ'ing a local High School Homecoming dance, they gave us some requested songs before they showed up, which was great. One of them was Rick Astley "She Wants To Dance With Me". I requested them to come forward and talk to me first, 3 girls, admitted they wanted to see everyone's reaction to the song because they thought it'd be funny. Bitches. I told them it'd be funny when I send all the pissed off people their way instead of to me.

[Dj Invizible]

Lol

[DCMike]

OK, NYE gig report...

Got into the joint at about 2PM - a LARGE bar/restaurant with 6 rooms on a multiplexed Rane house system (6 zones -3 bars, an outside patio, the bathrooms, and a dining room).

Got into the place and the three (yes, three) managers had to debate on my location in the joint. Initially I was going to buried in a hole in the back bar. Finally, they decided that in fact the best place to put a DJ was (hold your breath folks) in the DJ booth...

Got into the booth and found the house cables to the main rack. Stuck on a CD to figure out which of the unlabeled zone controllers had my signal on it. After switching through all 24 settings (6 distribution units, 4 switches each) and not hearing my CD, I got in behind the rack. Well, nothing there was really labeled either. But, there was this odd little thing - a pair of RCA jacks hanging in the air... Plugged them in and nearly blew the main bar out with The Cars "Heartbeat City". Mystery solved.

Back to the booth. Got the gear up and running, decks dialed in, PC set, mixer on, etc... All is good. So I head home for a couple hours to grab S-S-S and a meal. I come back at 8:30 (9:00 show) and get horrified. As I come through the parking lot, all I'm seeing is Town Car, Seville, Brougham, etc... Land yacht after land yacht. And then I see the front of the place. As my booker phrased it, there were more walkers at the bar than in Empire Strikes Back. Average age was about 102.

So, as I'm now reworking my set list and hoping to all that is holy I don't run out of Benny Goodman songs, I look at the barkeep. Even he said he'd never seen the joint so old. As show time approaches, I'm literally asked if I'm a big band DJ. Holy shit! Kill me now! 5 damned hours of making granny gush!

Well, the brown hair starts coming in about 5 minutes before the show, but it's still like 55 year olds. So, now I'm digging out all the damned Streisand, Billy Ocean, and Whitney Houston in the library. I'm wondering how many times I can get away playing Carribean Queen in a single gig. I'm having Blues Brothers "Rawhide" flashbacks.

I lead in with some Motown and 50's/60's stuff since it's palatable to pretty much everyone. 40 minutes of this punishment later, and the oldsters are paying their tabs, a very metrosexual dude comes up and asks if there's going to be anything less than 50 years old played tonight. I told him when the people in the place are less than 50, the music will be...

Well, the floodgates opened about 10 minutes later. The oldsters hit the road with few exceptions, and within 10-15 minutes there were close to 400 people in the main room, 250 in the back bar, another 100 or so eating in the dining room, and a handful of smokers on the patio. They were getting progressively younger, so off to "Come On Eileen" we went. The joint erupted. Game on.

Kept them rolling until 1157. Then they got the cheese - Neil Diamond's Sweet Caroline. 3:57 of pure cheesy bliss in a sequined silk package, baby. Ran the countdown at 11:59:50 and then, in grand punish your audience tradition, they got Auld Lang Syne followed by the timless classic - What Is Love, 7 minute extended remix. One dude was knocking his head sideways so hard he literally tweaked it. His girlfriend had to actually massage his neck. I almost fell out of the booth laughing at his ass.

Managed to keep them rolling through last with PO mainstream club remixes and 80's reworks. GM came by and told me to run last call. That means they get 11 minutes of music - Ray Charles "Georgia", Bob Marley's "No Woman No Cry" and finally, Red Peters "Closing Song." They were so amped up, about 40-50 people WOULDNT LEAVE and were actually singing "So get the fuck out" along with the Red Peters tune! I had to use the obnoxious siren effect for over a minute to get people out of the damned bar! One dude came over and offered me $100 to play "Safety Dance" for his g/f right then and there. The girlfriend offered something better than the C-note, but alas, the night was meant to end and I'm not the whore I used to be.

Best of all, they haven't had a resident there for a couple years - long story - but after the gig they're talking about bringing the DJ's back... Life is good...

How'd the rest of your gigs go?

[kidxicarus]

Disaster after disaster has followed since my last post.

Ahh let's see where we begin.

So the first show was amazing, compared to everything else. Like I mentioned up above, I did manage to get the crowd dancing and everyone was having a good time.

So I figured me and my friend would repeat the show the next week with the same expectation. 'Cept the manager of the place kept buttin' in every 15 mins to request some Reggaeton and Hip/hop. I can deal with this, not too bad, plus my partner had an entire collection of CD's with him from Three Six to Tupac to whatever, both old and new. So we complied, but most of the crowd that we had been gathering walked off and noone cared that we were DJing the same shit that was just played on the jukebox a few hours prior.

So I switched it back up to some more DnB and mixed in some metal/rock/punk stuff and that got alot of positive attention from everyone BUT the manager, who wanted us to go back to his stuff.

Pain in my ass.

On top of that, he didn't even pay us. Said he was just gonna cover the meager $30 tab we racked up and call it even.

So I told him to fuck off and have a good night.

Next week he calls me up and asks me why I'm not there to DJ. *SHOCK!!!!* "Cuz you didn't fuckin' pay me you douche."

So of course in desperate times, he offers to pay upfront and did. But thing was, he shoved me in the "other" room where noone can do normal bar things cuz it's the restaurant part of the bar. But at least we got to do what we wanted and even brought in a GameCube and PSII for some gaming action while we spinned.

So I call my friends out and they come and support us in our attempts to make something out of our situation. Thank you very much friends of mine. And of course, noone can touch my Seung Mina in SCIII, but that's not here nor there.

This went on like this for about a month plus half until the "last show".

Somehow, someone caught wind of our act and said they would pay good money (undisclosed, but quoted as "BIG TIP!!!") if we would DJ a b-day party for them on our normal play night. Only thing was, I was told they wanted junglemassive stuff and some islander stuff, like Marley and Anthem. No probs, I can do this, I got some, and if I'm gettin' this nice pay for it, then I can splurge a little on some more records.

So I blew about $100 on more Marley and massive and things that I was told would fit in nicely to what we already had going.

This sounded like easy money and a fun time.....

Hell was I misinformed.

What they meant by junglemassive and islander was striaght up New Orleans Big Band stuff. I didn't have ANY of that. And also that they would provide their own vinyl and CDs, which worked pretty good in our favor. Oh and that "BIG TIP", was actually $20 for our time.

So I took it up with the manager about my loss in the deal, and before I could say anything he started with, "As soon as you are done with the party, you can go." WHAT?!?!! I have about 50 regulars I've been pullin' in that fuckin' hate your place waiting outside for this party to end and you're just gonna kill it like that?!?!

So in due justice, we performed a few acts unto the place that kinda left us banned from every going there again. No real loss, cept the money I risked.

Note: If you're offered a job for some bar or club who you're not previously friends with, get everything in writing and don't wing shit. You'll end up getting screwed.

Thanks for all the support along the way.

[hbklive]

OK, NYE gig report...

Got into the joint at about 2PM - a LARGE bar/restaurant with 6 rooms on a multiplexed Rane house system (6 zones -3 bars, an outside patio, the bathrooms, and a dining room).

Got into the place and the three (yes, three) managers had to debate on my location in the joint. Initially I was going to buried in a hole in the back bar. Finally, they decided that in fact the best place to put a DJ was (hold your breath folks) in the DJ booth...

Got into the booth and found the house cables to the main rack. Stuck on a CD to figure out which of the unlabeled zone controllers had my signal on it. After switching through all 24 settings (6 distribution units, 4 switches each) and not hearing my CD, I got in behind the rack. Well, nothing there was really labeled either. But, there was this odd little thing - a pair of RCA jacks hanging in the air... Plugged them in and nearly blew the main bar out with The Cars "Heartbeat City". Mystery solved.

Back to the booth. Got the gear up and running, decks dialed in, PC set, mixer on, etc... All is good. So I head home for a couple hours to grab S-S-S and a meal. I come back at 8:30 (9:00 show) and get horrified. As I come through the parking lot, all I'm seeing is Town Car, Seville, Brougham, etc... Land yacht after land yacht. And then I see the front of the place. As my booker phrased it, there were more walkers at the bar than in Empire Strikes Back. Average age was about 102.

So, as I'm now reworking my set list and hoping to all that is holy I don't run out of Benny Goodman songs, I look at the barkeep. Even he said he'd never seen the joint so old. As show time approaches, I'm literally asked if I'm a big band DJ. Holy shit! Kill me now! 5 damned hours of making granny gush!

Well, the brown hair starts coming in about 5 minutes before the show, but it's still like 55 year olds. So, now I'm digging out all the damned Streisand, Billy Ocean, and Whitney Houston in the library. I'm wondering how many times I can get away playing Carribean Queen in a single gig. I'm having Blues Brothers "Rawhide" flashbacks.

I lead in with some Motown and 50's/60's stuff since it's palatable to pretty much everyone. 40 minutes of this punishment later, and the oldsters are paying their tabs, a very metrosexual dude comes up and asks if there's going to be anything less than 50 years old played tonight. I told him when the people in the place are less than 50, the music will be...

Well, the floodgates opened about 10 minutes later. The oldsters hit the road with few exceptions, and within 10-15 minutes there were close to 400 people in the main room, 250 in the back bar, another 100 or so eating in the dining room, and a handful of smokers on the patio. They were getting progressively younger, so off to "Come On Eileen" we went. The joint erupted. Game on.

Kept them rolling until 1157. Then they got the cheese - Neil Diamond's Sweet Caroline. 3:57 of pure cheesy bliss in a sequined silk package, baby. Ran the countdown at 11:59:50 and then, in grand punish your audience tradition, they got Auld Lang Syne followed by the timless classic - What Is Love, 7 minute extended remix. One dude was knocking his head sideways so hard he literally tweaked it. His girlfriend had to actually massage his neck. I almost fell out of the booth laughing at his ass.

Managed to keep them rolling through last with PO mainstream club remixes and 80's reworks. GM came by and told me to run last call. That means they get 11 minutes of music - Ray Charles "Georgia", Bob Marley's "No Woman No Cry" and finally, Red Peters "Closing Song." They were so amped up, about 40-50 people WOULDNT LEAVE and were actually singing "So get the fuck out" along with the Red Peters tune! I had to use the obnoxious siren effect for over a minute to get people out of the damned bar! One dude came over and offered me $100 to play "Safety Dance" for his g/f right then and there. The girlfriend offered something better than the C-note, but alas, the night was meant to end and I'm not the whore I used to be.

Best of all, they haven't had a resident there for a couple years - long story - but after the gig they're talking about bringing the DJ's back... Life is good...

How'd the rest of your gigs go?

sounds awesome!! wished i could have been there.:bing:

[buttybarn]

here is a story of one of those floor killer moments i was DJin NYE and the room was at max capacity 1200 people and these 3 hot chicks come up to me and request "U2 & Mary J Blige - One" i just laughed and said nah sorry not the right place so few songs later there boyfriends come over to me tell me if i don't play the song there were gunna get my gear off the stage and make sure the night was over, thankfully the club i was at had 5 security guards in the room and told me at the start of the night if there was any trouble to just turn the music off for a second and they would be straight over so i told the guys i would put there song on turned the music off and the guards came and took them outside, people need to relise that in a club ya can't play slow songs its not right and if they want to listen to it play it in the car on the way to the club or sumthin....

[DJ Brian B]

here is a story of one of those floor killer moments i was DJin NYE and the room was at max capacity 1200 people and these 3 hot chicks come up to me and request "U2 & Mary J Blige - One" i just laughed and said nah sorry not the right place so few songs later there boyfriends come over to me tell me if i don't play the song there were gunna get my gear off the stage and make sure the night was over, thankfully the club i was at had 5 security guards in the room and told me at the start of the night if there was any trouble to just turn the music off for a second and they would be straight over so i told the guys i would put there song on turned the music off and the guards came and took them outside, people need to relise that in a club ya can't play slow songs its not right and if they want to listen to it play it in the car on the way to the club or sumthin....

I wish I had security guards...lol

[Gate Galvanized]

here is a story of one of those floor killer moments i was DJin NYE and the room was at max capacity 1200 people and these 3 hot chicks come up to me and request "U2 & Mary J Blige - One" i just laughed and said nah sorry not the right place so few songs later there boyfriends come over to me tell me if i don't play the song there were gunna get my gear off the stage and make sure the night was over, thankfully the club i was at had 5 security guards in the room and told me at the start of the night if there was any trouble to just turn the music off for a second and they would be straight over so i told the guys i would put there song on turned the music off and the guards came and took them outside, people need to relise that in a club ya can't play slow songs its not right and if they want to listen to it play it in the car on the way to the club or sumthin....

Omg. Wtf is wrong with over-hormonal guys zealously "protecting" their girl friends. Hahaha.

I've only had to step in for my girlfriend three times. 1.) Some guy grabbed her scarf and choked her while we were walking down the street. Kicked his ass... 2.) She and this street vendor got into an argument and he kicked her! Kicked his ass... 3rd time, I forget.. But he kicked my ass :S

[DCMike]

No doubt, dude. I've got a great doorman - Bam Bam - at my resident gig and I think I've only had to call him like 1x for some big Nigerian dude that insisted I play hip-hop (it's a rock and CHR only format).

[Jimanee]

I love this thread!

I have to be my own security guard most of the time, it's tricky I have the build of a malnourished 16 year old. I've spent 6 years doing the most brutal martial art I've ever come accross (stabing people with their own broken bones anyone).

I get alot of threats, that all go away once they see the death in my eyes.

But what can you do when an Irish Granmother threatens to "Feckin Kill" you if you don't play Irish folk music. Smashing her skull to shards is not an option.

[Mike D]

lol.. gotta watch out for the Irish.. we're crazy. lol.

[Jimanee]

I'm only half crazy then!

[Mr Blobby]

I love this thread!

I have to be my own security guard most of the time, it's tricky I have the build of a malnourished 16 year old. I've spent 6 years doing the most brutal martial art I've ever come accross (stabing people with their own broken bones anyone).

I get alot of threats, that all go away once they see the death in my eyes.

But what can you do when an Irish Granmother threatens to "Feckin Kill" you if you don't play Irish folk music. Smashing her skull to shards is not an option.

haha, yer i can imagien that being a bit of a bitch

[DCMike]

Screw it. Granny gets her ass beat with the rest of 'em. I'm an equal opportunity asshole. You get in my shi'ite, you get smacked.

[buttybarn]

Did a gig at our main beach here in yamba just thought i would give ya's a look at the view
http://www.ycproductions.com.au/Pictures/Beach Turntable.jpg
http://www.ycproductions.com.au/Pictures/turntable 2.jpg

[DCMike]

You suck, dude. I'd love to DJ on a beach...

[AssassiN]

Did a gig at our main beach here in yamba just thought i would give ya's a look at the view
http://www.ycproductions.com.au/Pictures/Beach Turntable.jpg
http://www.ycproductions.com.au/Pictures/turntable 2.jpg

haha thats sexy...

ive done outdoor gigs... wind really sucks... i actually had a gust of wind pick up a 12' and the slipmat uderneath, and send them flying out into the crowd.... thankfully i was playing a track off a CD at the time..

[longducdong]

hello all...i've never been in this thread....i guess because as a rank amateur noobie i didn't think "mobile dj" was "sexy" enough...but reading your stories were great..not to get emo...but there's a lot of humanity in there..laughs, fun, hardship, triump..awesome stuff...so just wanted to post a thank you for sharing your stories and to say ........cheers for the stories :tup: respect!!!

[Darkrobe]

Buttybarn, that's a sweet view dude; don't ever take that for granted.
If I showed you our view up here you'd all have your gonads shrivel up and freeze.
Though it's been a mild winter most of it, we did have -38C for one gig in November.
Here's a pic on the way back from a gig.
http://www.questsend.ca/portal/snowmuch.JPG

Oh, wait till I tell ya about my New Year's party this year; what a disaster!
The community hall I dj'd for did their first family event; usually its an adult party but they went with family this year. Turns out that instead of having 200+ people, they have 60 people show up, with about 40 children b/w 3yrs to 15yrs old. So, we did a bunch of family participation stuff (chicken dance, musical chairs, hokey pokey, etc) and did a count-down at 10pm for the kids. We had a blast but at 10:30pm it was bed-time so EVERYONE went home! We had no one left but the association staff at 11pm so we got told to go home!
We were like... OMG! Never in 22yrs of DJ'ing for New Years did I not do a countdown!
So, we ended early and they want us back next year but it won't be a family event that's for sure, they lost their shirts on the dance.
Oh well, we still had fun :)
Here's a pic from the night before the kids showed up.
http://www.questsend.ca/portal/LightQuest.jpg

[DjonDemand]

Great idea! I always hate it when I get to a Wedding and they want to put me in the corner far away from the Dance floor.

Or you get there and they have a "Slide show" or someone with a guitar and want to plug into your gear? Hello? Hello? Thanks for letting me know.

I don't let people plug their "Instruments" into my gear....they should have their own and they should bring it with them.

How about you've already finalized the plans with B&G and then half way thru a song the come up to you and want you to pick a song for a "Specail" dance that they said they weren't going to do.

I did a Wedding once where the videographer had this light that I swear was brighter than the sun.....I was blinded all night!

I can go on and on...and will later tonight.

http://djondemand.net/wp-content/themes/custom/images/kubrickheader.jpg

[eRiCdWoNg]

Ahhh, I havent seen this thread yet but I will report this. Last November I did a high school homecoming dance. This school was in the area that liked alot of rap. I put on Kanye West's Gold Digger and there was an overwhelming amount of boo's. Other then that I think the gig went good. Not sure why they didnt like Kanye haha.

[benlewis13]

OK, kids party last night. So the woman originally tells us we are playing in a large garden, so i thought, great, if the weather is ok everything will be fine. And the weather was fine, everything else wasnt though. So we arrive expecting a big house however we actually arrived on a council estate with very small houses. We got inside and the woman expected us to do the party in a room that could fit about 5 people in, with 15 kids. Then 20 minutes in she starts telling us she wants us to move outside, after we had spent 35 minutes setting up the kit inside. So fine we move the kit which obviously is going to disrupt the party, and then she tells us she now needs the table we are playing from, "but its ok, you can use the floor"!

So by now 40 minutes have gone, and there has been no music. So now she starts getting angry at us, because apparently we are unorganised, and not used to being moved around every ten minutes and playing from the floow.

Lucky she paid at the end.

Some people really take the piss.

[Jimanee]

"but its ok, you can use the floor" :lol:

that's priceless!

[Mike D]

So monday night we did a Middle School dance. We were excited to do it because it was the Middle School my partner and I attended, so we got to see some old teachers.

Showed up at 4:30, thought the dance started at 6:30, nope.... started at 6:00 (my partner set up the gig). We're setting up, had just bought some new lights to use at this function. So we're going along as usual, teacher come in... "hey guys, just wanted to let you know the 6th graders will be getting here at about 5:45, we let them in a little early so everyone isn't coming and going at once". Great.. our 2 hour setup time is now an hour and 15 minutes.

Kids start arriving, we still hadn't plugged in our sound equipment yet. I scramble and turn some stuff on, kids aren't paying attention so it was fine. Then my partner starts messing around with the mics, still doesn't have his laptop up. Told him to quit dicking around and get his music up and ready. We start playing some newer tunes, get all the lights plugged in and on, take a couple pics, come back up, switch songs, 30 seconds later everything goes black.

We tripped the circuit because we plugged too much into one outlet. Yeah! way to go genius's. So my partner just kinda stands there looking around wondering what happened. I ran and unplugged us, ran across the stage and plugged into the other way, voila, problem solved. Ended up not using any of the new lights because they were the power drain.

About 2 minutes after we got it all back up and running 300 kids come running in. Luckily they didn't see the accident. We're up on a stage playing, which is nice because they can't run into our stuff, but they still came up to ask for requests.

I get these three kids, one has a mullet straight from the 80's, and the other two just have hair sticking up all over the place. And before they even ask, I told them no. They just looked at me wondering what i was saying no to. I read off the list.. no, I will not play any misfits (kid had a shirt on), ramones, pantera, megadeth, or anything else like that. We're playing CLEAN top 40 stuff. They kept coming back, but I think it helped that I nipped it in the bud with them.

This school is about 90% white kids, so some of the black kids come up and tell me "yeah, you need to turn this off", can't remember what was playing, I think it was All American Rejects. I told them to suck it up, get off the stage, and go dance. Don't think they liked that, but they were punks to start with.

Did a limbo contest, went over really good (movie tickets helped). After the rocky start everything went good. We had about 40 kids request Smack That, half of them couldn't tell me who the artist was.

That was a requirement of mine, told the kids I wouldn't play any songs if they couldn't name the song AND artist. Yeah, I'm a dick, but if you don't know who sings the song, your not really a fan of it, and someone has to educate you. I told them if they could sign it I'd let them slide. That was high comedy all around. Didn't have a single boy sing a song, all the girls were all over it though.

That damn Cha Cha slide song still gets everyone dancing... will someone please come out with a new line dance song to replace this? And please make it 8 minutes long, that's the only thing that saves it.

[djTthetj]

last night i brought my system (if you can call it that) for a small party for one of my good friends in my band. We had a great turn out, it was at a local recreation center room.
People were dancing hard all night long, it was LOUD in that small room, people only stopped for cake and pizza for a few minutes, then i was back playing some awesome tunes, people were drenched in sweat by the end of the night

here's some pics and vids.

yea its a small system, and most of it is pretty cheap equipment, but it does just what i need it to do.

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k240/md19trav/IM002479.jpg
here's me just messing around on acid before people started showing up



http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k240/md19trav/IM002493.jpg
this is the dj's view, im using pcdj red (on a desktop.. ugh, my laptop i use is in san antonio at the moment...)


here's a vid of the setup
http://s89.photobucket.com/albums/k240/md19trav/?action=view&current=IM002496.flv

and here's the crowd
http://s89.photobucket.com/albums/k240/md19trav/?action=view&current=IM002490.flv

[Epic Fail Guy]

So monday night we did a Middle School dance. We were excited to do it because it was the Middle School my partner and I attended, so we got to see some old teachers.

Showed up at 4:30, thought the dance started at 6:30, nope.... started at 6:00 (my partner set up the gig). We're setting up, had just bought some new lights to use at this function. So we're going along as usual, teacher come in... "hey guys, just wanted to let you know the 6th graders will be getting here at about 5:45, we let them in a little early so everyone isn't coming and going at once". Great.. our 2 hour setup time is now an hour and 15 minutes.

Kids start arriving, we still hadn't plugged in our sound equipment yet. I scramble and turn some stuff on, kids aren't paying attention so it was fine. Then my partner starts messing around with the mics, still doesn't have his laptop up. Told him to quit dicking around and get his music up and ready. We start playing some newer tunes, get all the lights plugged in and on, take a couple pics, come back up, switch songs, 30 seconds later everything goes black.

We tripped the circuit because we plugged too much into one outlet. Yeah! way to go genius's. So my partner just kinda stands there looking around wondering what happened. I ran and unplugged us, ran across the stage and plugged into the other way, voila, problem solved. Ended up not using any of the new lights because they were the power drain.

About 2 minutes after we got it all back up and running 300 kids come running in. Luckily they didn't see the accident. We're up on a stage playing, which is nice because they can't run into our stuff, but they still came up to ask for requests.

I get these three kids, one has a mullet straight from the 80's, and the other two just have hair sticking up all over the place. And before they even ask, I told them no. They just looked at me wondering what i was saying no to. I read off the list.. no, I will not play any misfits (kid had a shirt on), ramones, pantera, megadeth, or anything else like that. We're playing CLEAN top 40 stuff. They kept coming back, but I think it helped that I nipped it in the bud with them.

This school is about 90% white kids, so some of the black kids come up and tell me "yeah, you need to turn this off", can't remember what was playing, I think it was All American Rejects. I told them to suck it up, get off the stage, and go dance. Don't think they liked that, but they were punks to start with.

Did a limbo contest, went over really good (movie tickets helped). After the rocky start everything went good. We had about 40 kids request Smack That, half of them couldn't tell me who the artist was.

That was a requirement of mine, told the kids I wouldn't play any songs if they couldn't name the song AND artist. Yeah, I'm a dick, but if you don't know who sings the song, your not really a fan of it, and someone has to educate you. I told them if they could sign it I'd let them slide. That was high comedy all around. Didn't have a single boy sing a song, all the girls were all over it though.

That damn Cha Cha slide song still gets everyone dancing... will someone please come out with a new line dance song to replace this? And please make it 8 minutes long, that's the only thing that saves it.

You are teh winnar.

[Y-town DJ]

Well, I haven't posted in quite a while and here's why...

I have been a mobile DJ now for quite a few years and learned quite a bit. Started with my sister's wedding asking my father (the one paying for the wedding) for an advance payment of a mixing board to up my system. Then i was running on some old 12" jensens i bought when i was a kid. Only one gig it took to realize this is what i love. After 3 or 4 weddings and 200$ a gig putting into the equipment i had a full blown setup (including some savings.

My first gig as a business (Latenite DJ) was a wedding... go figure. The worst possible thing happened... all nightmares aside, this was one within itself. Normal 2 hour setup or so, going great, best man speach to the imperial march LOL... then the worst. Main dance and half way through my CD player just stops working. OHHH the looks i got. Switched a few things and the rest of the night went flawlessly... even had some compliments, but the memory remains horrifying.

Did about a year or so of weddings, parties, reunions (YUCK), and a few other things for about 200$ a gig, then decided to really step it up. Blew about 2,000$ on lighting and another 3,000$ on sound and went full blown!

My latest gig (last weekend) was a NA dance (narcotics anonymous dance) ... oh god do those people know how to party. We had a live band that was starting their career there with no lighting and minimal sound, so i plugged them into my setup... instant professional band! Crowd was rocking to some hairband 80's and some 90's hip hop and R&B. Band stopped playing and I took over at about 10pm. Brought them into the late hours of midnight and kept going until noone was left. At about 1am the cops arrived to tell us it was too loud. Turned it down to where they liked it and after they left promptly returned it to where it was. 3:30am or so it calmed down enough that i finally packed up. Had some GREAT feedback from that event being one of my best. Had over 400 people there over the course of the night and lots of... um... FUN sights when i slapped on some Kid Rock or Genuine.

Just as a note to starting DJ's. Don't be afraid to do some "trade" gigs for large companies. I did a monthly party for our local newspaper in trade for some advertising. No lights, minimal sound, and a very simple setup and i got a month of a 4"x4" add in the paper (color)! I have secrured 7 gigs from that alone in the past month so it definately paid off!

[Mike D]

I agree.. trading out services is a great way to get started. It sucks to not get cash from a gig, but as long as your getting something equal in return, it's hard to beat.

[DJ Shane]

Last night I DJed a local Junior High's Valentine's Dance. It went well. Better than their Christmas Dance that I DJed. The little kids actually danced this time. Wasn't too many there. I realized my 4 12" home stero speakers are having a hard time cutting it. I'm upgrading to some EVs soon. This gig was the first one in which I got to use my new Chauvet Kinta. I just got it last week from audiolines.com. It is one nice light!! For the price, it fills the large gym with much light. I'd recommend it to anyone.
I took some pics with my digicam and some vids with my phone. I took two videos with my digicam but it eventually stopped cause it drains the batteries quick.
http://shane.sifen7.com/jh01.JPG
http://shane.sifen7.com/jh02.JPG
http://shane.sifen7.com/jh03.JPG
http://shane.sifen7.com/jh04.JPG
Good video with digicam:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1IF5mWQA_s
Other good video. Here you can see me taking a repeated request from a seventh grader:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMnPuY09lis
And the crappy one from my phone:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azvEbftgjNc

[DJ Brian B]

Nice Shane, even with the speaker issue, looks like everyone is having a good time, good job!

That kinta looks awesome!

[bAd]

Two things:

1- Next time have them kill more of the lights in the gym. There is nothing worse to kill the mood or to keep the "shy" ones off the floor than to have white light so people can see them "trying" to dance.

2- Alternate your lighting effects. Don't keep all your lights going the whole night. Run the kinta for a song or two, then the other effect, and maybe run them together for a bit....and so on. Also, a light like the Kinta is for motivation, not for slow dancing so I would try to come up with another idea for the slow songs.

And remember Shane, I'm not here to crack on you. These are just some suggestions. Looks like you had a good sized crowd and they weren't running around like idiots at the last Jr High dance I did.

[Epic Fail Guy]

Hah! Nice velvet rope. I wish we had that kind of thing. :(

[DJ Shane]

Two things:

1- Next time have them kill more of the lights in the gym. There is nothing worse to kill the mood or to keep the "shy" ones off the floor than to have white light so people can see them "trying" to dance.

2- Alternate your lighting effects. Don't keep all your lights going the whole night. Run the kinta for a song or two, then the other effect, and maybe run them together for a bit....and so on. Also, a light like the Kinta is for motivation, not for slow dancing so I would try to come up with another idea for the slow songs.

And remember Shane, I'm not here to crack on you. These are just some suggestions. Looks like you had a good sized crowd and they weren't running around like idiots at the last Jr High dance I did.
Thanks. Good advice. My Vertigo has a duty cycle so I turned it off every so often. And I never thought about turning off my Kinta during the slow songs. I shall try that next time. I was going to ask the principal to turn off the lights over the loft but for some reason I didn't.

[A-Mart]

Last night I DJed a local Junior High's Valentine's Dance. It went well. Better than their Christmas Dance that I DJed. The little kids actually danced this time. Wasn't too many there. I realized my 4 12" home stero speakers are having a hard time cutting it. I'm upgrading to some EVs soon. This gig was the first one in which I got to use my new Chauvet Kinta. I just got it last week from audiolines.com. It is one nice light!! For the price, it fills the large gym with much light. I'd recommend it to anyone.
I took some pics with my digicam and some vids with my phone. I took two videos with my digicam but it eventually stopped cause it drains the batteries quick.
http://shane.sifen7.com/jh01.JPG
http://shane.sifen7.com/jh02.JPG
http://shane.sifen7.com/jh03.JPG
http://shane.sifen7.com/jh04.JPG
Good video with digicam:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1IF5mWQA_s
Other good video. Here you can see me taking a repeated request from a seventh grader:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMnPuY09lis
And the crappy one from my phone:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azvEbftgjNc

Holy shit! That gym is 5 minutes away from me!I played basketball there a few years back. Who woulda thought? Where are you located Shane?

[DJ GeeCee]

Says right where it says where you are located. East Ohio

[DJ Shane]

I'm in Wintersville Ohio. Where you at man? What's your name and what's your alias?

[A-Mart]

Hmm Wintersville, huh? I'm in Steubenville. I'm pretty new, only 15, not known yet. I've just done a few house parties. - DJ A-Mart

[Mike D]

I think I'm going to puke from the motion in those pics shane posted... lol. Glad to see the events are getting better.

[A-Mart]

Haha, yeah that's what I was thinking at first.

[DCMike]

When they piss you off in a hip-hop induced rage, you just gotta do this while playing loud house...http://www.djmikesilverman.com/img_1003.jpg

[DJ GeeCee]

:lol:

[DCMike]

And then you turn your bouncer loose on them...http://www.djmikesilverman.com/img_0981.jpg

[DJ Shane]

Uncle Rico!!!!

[DCMike]

That was last week at the pub I was spinning. Awesome. Captain Morgan....

[C-Rus]

I did a middle school dance last weekend. It went pretty well. Theres one 7th grader at the school that i know and he was breakdancing most of the night...pretty fun to watch.
Then a few girls came up to the stage, and im expecting them to request smack that like 10 other little kids do, but they decided to tell me i was hot. I walked away.
The dance went well thoguh, the administration and students love Mix N' Match DJ.

[dj e-klypse]

Haha DJ C that's a hilarious bit about your young admirers! I ALWAYS have that same problem...something about being 19 and DJing for girls that are 18...slash at high schools the DJ gets retarded groupie love. Been reading around here but don't really post that much....it's always interesting to read this board because I personally find my mobile work the hardest. When I'm doing my solo work, I am southern rap and reggaeton baby...but on mobile site as an employee for the company I work for (let alone the employee of the venue) I always find it trickiest to find exactly what works best. Although skill has a lot to do with it..For example my boss does a lot of throwbacks and quick beat matches...and so he is much more suited to play clips from their old pop favorites. The last time he played the biggest song was barbie girl by aqua. Strangely enough though a month later when that gig was mine I had them leaning and rocking, running it and snapping their figures...go figure! Anyways had to post to say you guys keep it poppin....because man....so much respect for people who willingly choose to go mobile.

[ThatMusicGuy]

Function: Windsor Day
Guests: 150 (approx)
Time 9:20 pm to 12:00 a.m.

2nd booking here.....unbeknownst to me this was not an open function; it was restricted to Windsor Hall residents. with the academic year at an end, attendance was less than expect; needless to say...had a good time....

Used my Insignia's for the second time.....aimed them high for effect on the ceiling.....Again...nor real pleased...I ran them with the CA-9 controller using the built in audio. The ambient sound was too loud...the barrels simply spun...i put a piece of tape over the mic; this helped, but no real control; I've got to get then on my dmx controller so I can program what I want....After seeing the Vue III video in the gym; I should have held out for these; although that effect is fairly repetitive as well...Just some work to do......

Sound wise; given the crowd, didn't need the dual Yorkies...could have brought in my RCF, or 1 Yorkie....

Here's a play list:

Ciara w Missy Elliot 1, 2 Step
Nelly Furtado Promiscuous
Haddaway What is love
Killers Somebody Told Me
Justin Timberlake SexyBack
Pussycat Dolls Don't Cha
Akon & Eminem Smack That
Rednex Cotton Eye Joe
Hermes House Band Country Roads (Short)
Usher/Lil' Jon/ Ludacris Yeah
Destiny's Child Bootylicious
Shakira ft Wyclef Jean Hips Don't Lie
Champion No Heaven
Fergie Fergalicious (Radio Edit)
Scissor Sisters I Dont Feel Like Dancin (Radio edit)
Groove Generation You Make Me Feel Like Dancing
Bob Sinclair Rock This Party (Radio Edit)
Eric Prydz Proper Education
Benny Benassi Satisfaction (original album v
Kernkraft 400 Zombie Nation (House-cut)
Bodyrockers I Like The Way
Supermode Tell Me Why
Fall Out Boy This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race
My Chemical Romance Welcome To The Black Parade (Radio Edit)
Finger Eleven Paralyzer (Clean)
Juelz Santana There It Go! (The Whistle Song) (PO Clean Edit)
Pussycat Dolls Buttons
Nelly Furtado Say It Right
Gwen Stefani Wind It Up
Fergie Feat. Ludacris Glamorous (Album Version (Edited)) *
2 Unlimited Get ready for this
Madhouse Like A Prayer (Radio Mix)
Travolta/Olivia Newton-John You're the One That I Want
John Travolta Greased Lightnin'
Toni Basil Mickey
Rihanna Pon De Replay (Radio)
Black Eyed Peas Pump It
Akon ft. Eminem Smack That (DJ JD Oldskool Remix)
Sean Paul Get Busy
Eminem Feat. Nate Dogg Shake That
Gnarls Barkley Crazy
C+C Music Factory Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)
Nelly Hot in here
Christina Aguilera Candyman
Rihanna S.O.S.
Christina Aguilera Candyman
VengaBoys We like to Party
Violent Femmes Blister in the Sun
Otis Day & the Nights Shout
Hermes house band Live is life ( here we go )

[DJ Brian B]

Hey guys, I just booked a big gig at the local JCC (jewish community center) which is the same as the YMCA pretty much except there are temples as part of it. A rabi want's to hire me to DJ this party for 9-12 graders that are comming up from southern states to meet new jewish people at different cities etc. This is a welcome party for them. My question is, because I am going to have to meet with the rabi before the gig, and that I havn't done a highschool gig before, is there anything I should do to prepare or be aware of at this gig? The plan is for the rabi to actully be with me while I'm DJing, I don't know the details but i've got a mate who hooked me up with this gig and thats what he said. I have clean music but for most high school gigs how sensitive should I be to that?

That will be the first real test for the tuba. The hardware came today, so it should be completely finished by the end of this week. The gig is in two weeks.

[DJ Shane]

Sounds a bit a jewish if you ask me.












:lol: I'm sorry, I just had to. I'm probably going to hell for that one.

[josh sense]

Hey guys, I just booked a big gig at the local JCC (jewish community center) which is the same as the YMCA pretty much except there are temples as part of it. A rabi want's to hire me to DJ this party for 9-12 graders that are comming up from southern states to meet new jewish people at different cities etc. This is a welcome party for them. My question is, because I am going to have to meet with the rabi before the gig, and that I havn't done a highschool gig before, is there anything I should do to prepare or be aware of at this gig? The plan is for the rabi to actully be with me while I'm DJing, I don't know the details but i've got a mate who hooked me up with this gig and thats what he said. I have clean music but for most high school gigs how sensitive should I be to that?

That will be the first real test for the tuba. The hardware came today, so it should be completely finished by the end of this week. The gig is in two weeks.



i used to be a part of that orgainzation in the south. bring what you'd normally bring for any high-school dance type gig, but realize these kids most likely will have a little more diverse taste in music than average. this means you might not get by with as much r+b/radio/hip hop stuff and might have to throw in some alternative/indie rock/etc. present yourself professionally at all times.. (if you can dress business casual - khakis / polo or button down or better.) the rabbi isnt necessarily the one who will be writing your check - thats probably the youth group, but the rabbi basicly says what goes and what doesnt. make pleasing him your first line of business, and the kids the second line of business. handle it the right way and the rabbi might be able to get you on for more of the youth group gigs, not to mention that the rabbi is the one who performs and helps set up the bar/bat mizvahs (coming of age ceremonies in the jewish faith that happen around age 13) , also the jcc here normally hosts sockhops for ages 10-14

thats a whole lot of potential business you can pick up from this one gig. prepare yourself with business cards too. introduce yourself to the parent chaperones. be your own best salesman..

[DJ Brian B]

Thanks Josh, i'm in the process of completely updating my music and will take that into consideration. I've thought about bar/bat mizvahs but they all are done by the same guy, and the usually pre-set a schedule at the begtinning of the year and assign weekends to kids etc. so its pretty much planned out. The rabi was busy yesterday so i'm going to try to meet with him sometime this weekend or early next week.

[josh sense]

no problem man, good luck.

[DJ Brian B]

no problem man, good luck.

Its all set, i'm meeting with the rabi tomorrow or monday for it next weekend. He said there are a few special jewish songs they wan't played and hes going to burn them to a cd for me. Believe it or not he also said that clean music was good but a slip here and there as long as its not like eminem's uncensored songs is ok.

I'll post pics for sure.

[DJ Brian B]

The gig was last night at a temple for southern region kids visiting. Overall, the night was a huge success. The temple was closed to everyone from 5-8, so I setup at 4, then came back at 8 and the music started at 8:30 and ended at 11. There was only one real issue at the beginning, durring the first two songs (whoop there it is and make it rain) all of the sudden it just got really quiet, so i kind of freaked out and put up the main fader then it would blast at full volume again. It happened a total of three times, then didn't happen again for the rest of the night. I am thinking it could have been a power surge issue, or an amp issue. After it happened, I turned the amp gains down from max to slightly under, and was careful about which lights I ran together. Anybody had anything like this ever happen?

Overall, it was my first high school gig and I couldn't have dreamed for it to go any better. At first, the rabbi wanted me to start with Throw some Ds! LOL I didn't have it with me so I used whoop there it is instead.

I didn't use the tuba this gig, I haven't bought an amp for it yet. The BR15s believe it or not completely filled the room with music and good bass. At first I thought I wouldn't have enough bass without a sub, but they performed extremely well. The amp in this case was limiting me, I was right under clipping, but it was the right volume, I didn't have to back off at all except on smack that.

Heres a Video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5jdHAU82SY)

http://pic40.picturetrail.com/VOL361/7016069/16187072/247620991.jpg


http://pic40.picturetrail.com/VOL361/7016069/16187072/247620963.jpg


http://pic40.picturetrail.com/VOL361/7016069/16187072/247620954.jpg


http://pic40.picturetrail.com/VOL361/7016069/16187072/247620949.jpg

[DJ Shane]

Cool man. Looks really good. Them kids were dancing so hard their yarmulkes fell off!!

[djTthetj]

awesome brian, looks great!

haha love the vid, i LOVE playing that song, except one time, EVERYONE got in a train, and the train went outidse and around the building... so the dance floor was completely empty for about a minute :lol:

[Colastidj]

Good stuff Brian B

[DJ Brian B]

Thanks guys, I wouldn't be this far without the forums, so thanks to everyone who has helped me.

I'd have to say that Comeon ride the train was the song that scored the biggest reaction of the night. Great fall back song for any event.

[bAd]

Great Job Brian. I have one of my best friends weddings this saturday. Haven't had the full rig out in a couple months so I will be sure to get plenty of pics and video for everyone.

[gwiz]

Ugh worst gig of my entire life, last night.

Less than an hour into the party, while the dance floor was packed and everyone was screaming to some dirty 2live crew -- the birthday girl's knees buckled and she went down headfirst into the concrete.

Game over, man.

[DJ Brian B]

Ugh worst gig of my entire life, last night.

Less than an hour into the party, while the dance floor was packed and everyone was screaming to some dirty 2live crew -- the birthday girl's knees buckled and she went down headfirst into the concrete.

Game over, man.

For you, it couldn't have been all that bad because you got to pack up early and still get paid, but for the birthday girl...thats the worst. Be thankfull it wasn't something like your truss or speaker stand falling on her instead.

[gwiz]

i didnt get to pack up :(

i still had to play for 5 more hours

[Jimanee]

did you play "Where's your head at"?

[Mike D]

Played an elementary school "carnival" last Friday, grades K-5. First kid that comes in.. hey.. can you play "Freebird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd. I was blown away, this kid was in 3-4 grade and knew the song AND band, and it's not like this is a current track. So I played it for him first to start things off. Turns out his dad is in a band. So that was funny.

The kids were in groups of about 15-30 and they rotated "stations" every 20 minutes or so from room to room. I had only brought my audio stuff, they didn't want lights, until I got there of course. "So do you need help setting up your lights?" Umm, no, you told me audio only, the lights are back at home and I'm not going to get them. I think the teacher was either uninformed, or wanting to scam me. I'm guessing the first.

Anyway, I played the damn Cha Cha slide about 10 times in a 2.5 hour span. That sucked. Only got one parent tell me it was too loud. To which I responded happily by telling them the were too old. Got a dirty look for that.

Everything went great till i was leaving. Had a cart for all my gear, wasn't locked down, so I was watching it carefully, to make sure nothign fell. I get to the door, go slowly, a mom comes over to help, and manages to drop a monitor on her foot. I'm instantly thinking great.. lawsuit (rich school district, parents can do no wrong type thinking). Luckily she was ok.. or at least she said she was. I ran out of there and loaded up before she could come back and ask for a card.

overall it was simple, just annoying after playing the same songs for 5 times in a row. Easy $300 though.

[Mike D]

Oh... we played the AAU 3 point contest Saturday. While we were waiting to setup a 6th grade girls game was going on. One girl got mad and tried to start a fight with the other team. That was awesome. The girls mom ran onto the floor to hold her back.

That's some good comedy my friends. Middle school girls trying to play basketball is funny enough, throw in them trying to fight and it's even better. The instigator got kicked out and the girl she tried to fight was crying at midcourt because she was so shook up.

If my daughter plays sports and cries I'm pulling her from the team. That's just nuts.

[gwiz]

did you play "Where's your head at"?

i played staying alive. for real.

[FoxHound1987]

just came from my first gig

WEll, it's like this.

3 Kids have their birthday planned today. They are all under 3 years old, so only adults are invited...no kids

Only thing is....because of their nationality they did NOT want me to play any house music (which i spin). Infact, they wanted me to play arabic music.

At first, i neglected the gig because i do not know any shit about that kind of music, nor do i listen to it NOR do i enjoy it....so it's something i don't do at all. BUT...since they are so nice people i told them if they would get me the music than i'll do it for free (and also experience since it's my first gig:)).

Now...exactly last week they provided the music. I tried practicing with that type of music, but they gave me 5 cd's....and each cd had about 20 songs...VERY low quality and short songs, 2 to 3 minute songs and some were 5 minutes or something.

And to make it worse...it was not only arabic music, but also egyptian...persian...and other language music that sounds the same for me...but definately not for them.

BPM's were also verrrry different. Some songs are 90, others were 140. And on top of that...none of the songs had a name or something....they were named "track 1"....track 2"....etc.

Anyway...i tried practicing last week and it went okay....because i found out the bpm's of each song and arranged it at bpm.

so i thought i was going to do okay...BUTTTTTTTT


today....they gave me new cd's. All previous songs were on them but also some new songs...and of course...all were unaranged at any type (name/artist, bpm or whatever)...and none of the tracks had a name......and to destroy my life....Each cd had differrent language songs....percian, arabic, egyptian etc. I did not have any time for rearranging the music and they did not let me use the older cd's because they didn't contain some songs that were on the new cd's they handed me.


So i knew there was no other way than totally ruiing the gig.

At the gig....i did not know what i was spinning. None of the songs did i knew....the structure of the songs was totally different than what i am used (house)...bpm ranges were verrrry different, and once they wanted some persian music, the other time arabic music and that goes on until the end. But i didn't know the music so i totally fucked up.

Some songs i just couldn't beatmatch. Because of the Very low quality of the songs i didn't hear the bass...mid..treble clear so i couldn't seperate the qued track in the headphone from the master track.

The worst thing though was the bpm-ranges....and the language of the songs that i didn't know...

For them....it was nice because of the music they liked....but because i did not know the music i went for example from persian music to arabic music and i saw the dancefloor getting empty within seconds. (There were arabic, persian and all kinds of people so mixed :P:)

At the end i managed to make a difference betweeen the languages and it went better, but at 23:30 the party was over.

From my point of view: It went very bad...music just did not match with eachother....very low quality....huge bpm-differences...unknown music....and keep going on and on

From their point of view: They had a nice time i believe, danced a lot but also sat down alot because of the difference in music.....but they enjoyed their time fortunately...and that's what it's about of course.

What i learned:
I will never ever do any gigs anymore with unknown music or music i don't like....never ever.
Nor will i work with low quality music because my ears hurt so bad i got a headache at the party because of the loudness.


Thnx for reading

[Dazzy]

............................

[morgank]

amazing story dazzy. you are obviously a natural pro!

[michael k]

Last night we did the Warren semiformal at my college, UCSD. It was at the Catamaran Resorts, a nice place right off the beach. It's a really really nice place, and the service there is excellent. There was a balcony where you could walk outside and see the beach and city lights. And the food was fantastic.

We were having so many problems with the needle bouncing around. Can't really help it when everyone on the dance floor is jumping at the same time (think some 400 people jumping to the beat... on the second floor) and the room shook like an earthquake was happening. Had a pair of m447s with pennies on them, but the records were still skipping like crazy. Even with Serato in relative mode. So we used internal mode on the live deck, relative on the other, and after we mixed it in, switched it to internal. Next time, we'll set up the DJ table far away from the dancing people (or with a barrier), and far away from the subs.

We played YMCA at one point in the night, and the response was amazing. Everyone went nuts and did the arm motions...

Here are some pics:
Check-in and registration:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/184/486181009_5bac0c296c.jpg?v=0

Here's a shot of the lounge, separate from the main ballroom:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/172/486181011_7e40328f93.jpg?v=0

Some sushi:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/199/486181013_ec581f447e.jpg?v=0

And some tasty long stemmed strawberries:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/219/486181017_f922e47da7.jpg?v=0

People dancing:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/174/486181023_6bea6279d1.jpg?v=0

They turned on the lights when the dance was supposed to end, but everyone kept dancing:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/175/486181027_67107ae468.jpg?v=0

And that was that. All in all a good party.

[DCMike]

Good party!

[Colastidj]

Good stuff

[steve oh]

Did a Jack and Jill party over the weekend on Cinco de Mayo.

It was a good time. I had to be at my day job that morning at like 5 a.m. so I was up super early. By the time I got setup at the gig 12 hours later I was dog tired and my chops were terrible. Not to mention the horrible acoustics in the room.

Four Red Bulls later and the brides Mom and I are the only ones in the room. She requested some Jay Z song which I couldn't seem to find. Anyway I was mixing a little and playing different things and just realized by beatmatching wasn't going well due to being so tired. I threw on some instrumentals and started scratching just to get the blood going.

Things picked up from there, people started arriving and that energized me a bit so I did awesome. I mixed some wild songs, lots of half-time and double-time mixing. A very wide variety of guests, young to old, most from 20-26. Some country types, some bikers, some bling bling type dudes, some emo people, grandma's, and everyone else. I got a wide variety of requests and obliged what I could.

Anyway, after dinner I try to pick things up and get the floor going with some dance tunes. I started with disco and dance classics from the 70's and 80's and nothing happened.

Then like three ladies come up and are like can you play some dance music from the 70's? I'm like have you been outside for the last half hour?

Anyway then some of the younger folks came out and asked for some club banger tracks from the 2000-2002 area. Once I got into that all the 20-26 year olds came out and danced and all the other types sat on the side. Some of the more drunk folks danced including one lady who was about 55 who was making love to the floor at one point.

It went well overall. Getting people onto the floor was like pulling teeth. Plus my girlfriend came along and got hammered off the Margaritas and thinks are always more fun when she is trashed. :tup:

[djscrizzle]

About to head to a sweet 16. Full report to come, maybe pix too:)

[DJ Shane]

Good luck man. Break a leg.

[numberexhaust]

I (think) I got my camera working again, and I got a few gigs coming up (including one tonight), so hopefully we'll see some pictures soon.

:tup:

[DjonDemand]

just came from my first gig

WEll, it's like this.

3 Kids have their birthday planned today. They are all under 3 years old, so only adults are invited...no kids

Only thing is....because of their nationality they did NOT want me to play any house music (which i spin). Infact, they wanted me to play arabic music.

At first, i neglected the gig because i do not know any shit about that kind of music, nor do i listen to it NOR do i enjoy it....so it's something i don't do at all. BUT...since they are so nice people i told them if they would get me the music than i'll do it for free (and also experience since it's my first gig:)).

Now...exactly last week they provided the music. I tried practicing with that type of music, but they gave me 5 cd's....and each cd had about 20 songs...VERY low quality and short songs, 2 to 3 minute songs and some were 5 minutes or something.

And to make it worse...it was not only arabic music, but also egyptian...persian...and other language music that sounds the same for me...but definately not for them.

BPM's were also verrrry different. Some songs are 90, others were 140. And on top of that...none of the songs had a name or something....they were named "track 1"....track 2"....etc.

Anyway...i tried practicing last week and it went okay....because i found out the bpm's of each song and arranged it at bpm.

so i thought i was going to do okay...BUTTTTTTTT


today....they gave me new cd's. All previous songs were on them but also some new songs...and of course...all were unaranged at any type (name/artist, bpm or whatever)...and none of the tracks had a name......and to destroy my life....Each cd had differrent language songs....percian, arabic, egyptian etc. I did not have any time for rearranging the music and they did not let me use the older cd's because they didn't contain some songs that were on the new cd's they handed me.


So i knew there was no other way than totally ruiing the gig.

At the gig....i did not know what i was spinning. None of the songs did i knew....the structure of the songs was totally different than what i am used (house)...bpm ranges were verrrry different, and once they wanted some persian music, the other time arabic music and that goes on until the end. But i didn't know the music so i totally fucked up.

Some songs i just couldn't beatmatch. Because of the Very low quality of the songs i didn't hear the bass...mid..treble clear so i couldn't seperate the qued track in the headphone from the master track.

The worst thing though was the bpm-ranges....and the language of the songs that i didn't know...

For them....it was nice because of the music they liked....but because i did not know the music i went for example from persian music to arabic music and i saw the dancefloor getting empty within seconds. (There were arabic, persian and all kinds of people so mixed :P:)

At the end i managed to make a difference betweeen the languages and it went better, but at 23:30 the party was over.

From my point of view: It went very bad...music just did not match with eachother....very low quality....huge bpm-differences...unknown music....and keep going on and on

From their point of view: They had a nice time i believe, danced a lot but also sat down alot because of the difference in music.....but they enjoyed their time fortunately...and that's what it's about of course.

What i learned:
I will never ever do any gigs anymore with unknown music or music i don't like....never ever.
Nor will i work with low quality music because my ears hurt so bad i got a headache at the party because of the loudness.


Thnx for reading


I've been in that boat before. They are a tough crowd. I plain just won't do a gig if I don't think I can do it the right way.

[drzinc]

I did a Brizilian electronic mashup in a large basement last night. It turned out to be an all nighter for me started at 11ish and went to 5:30am when the cops shut us down. The Brizilian crowd loves to party and this one may have gone on till noon if they had a chance. My rack held up and my homemade tops did me proud complements all around from the crowd about the crisp higs and gut pounding bass. only had to use my 2 mini CV horns for bottom and I was worried my qsc would take them out but they held up great. I have to get some pictures from the host since I did not bring my camera. A;; in all a good night for me and may get a club gig from this since a few clubs here in Toronto is looking for a DJ that can bring their own crowd and after last night the host host told me he can get this crowd and even more to come out all summer and they liked how I keept them dancing...

[Colastidj]

I did a wedding this past saturday I will post pics later

[Colastidj]

My Setup
http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/1602/picture041du9.jpg
http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/6759/picture038jz4.jpg

That's right my Tuba was there too and that was the perfect spot for it

http://img484.imageshack.us/img484/1032/picture040du2.jpg


I was having a lot of difficulties finding the songs because I put to many tracks on a CD and I couldn't determine which CD has that particular track. I bought Serato about a month ago it would not work on my crappy laptop so I had to return it, I think I'm gonna buy it again once I buy a new laptop to avoid that in the future.

[DJ Shane]

Looks awesome man. Glad to hear the only problem you had was your fault :P. Congrats

[Mike D]

What a bomb.....

We DJ'd a dry reception this weekend. Automatically we weren't counting on getting much out of it (referrals or an enjoyable evening) but when the crowd showed up we did our best to have fun ourselves.

When we were setting up in the morning they gave us about 5 feet too little for our rig, so we had to maneuver our stuff around to fit in the area without intruding into the tables. Plus we had our backs to some guests which I really don't care for as we want them to see our lights and hear the music, not look at our backsides.

The bride wanted the wedding party to be announced like a basketball team (height, position, hometown and name) and she provided them all. Well, silly us expected her to give us the list in the order they'd be coming out. That was a mistake. So my partner was introducing people (using the list provided) but getting all the names wrong. That was a great start.

The wedding party proceeded to disappear from the dance floor as soon as the music started. The girls came out for a few songs, but all the guys sat at the tables. We pointed out several times that all the ladies were on the dance floor and no guys, didn't do anything.

The bride had everything setup so choppy (3 songs, then the cake, 4 songs then the garter, 2 songs then this, 1 song then this) that there was no real groove to the wedding. Very disappointing. We combined a few things to make it flow better, but it was just a really awkward event.

The reception ended about 30 minutes early (no alcohol served) and dad headed over our way. I was half expecting him to ask for a refund since we stopped early, but instead he gave us each a $50 tip, the bride gave us both a hug and said it was perfect. So needless to say my partner and I were a bit taken back by that. But in a good way.

In the future I think we're going to emphasize to all brides (especially at dry weddings) that the wedding party makes as much of an impact on the night as we do. If they don't dance, no one will. Except of course for the little kids who always run around.

[morgank]

What a bomb.....

(no alcohol served)

there's your explanation! glad you guys got paid plus a tip and the bride was happy.

[DJ Partridge]

Did a Stage & Doe last night, and it overall went great. But the age range was huge (as expected) and I am fine with that... but there were a couple young kids that are just fucking retarded. They think stag & doe means hip-hop night or something.


I had two or 3 people who kept bugging me all night for hip-hop and rap.. and I am in a room where 90% of the people are over 30 years old, a lot of them over 60 years old... so, sorry kid, you're not getting snoop dogg or 50 so fuck off. I played sean paul, black eyed peas, and some other pop-dance-hiphopish stuff, so be happy you even got that much.


I was impressed though, I put on temperature - sean paul, and the country crowd in the room loved it! haha, they were great. Juts one or two of the kids can ruin a good night for you.


I did get book for New Years last night though!

[DJITALIANHEAT]

gotta BIG house/pool party 125 people in a REALLY REALLY REALLY BIG HOUSE.!.
ill bring a camera to show everyone my rig im real proud of it because im 14 and i have some better equitment then some people on here:D playing hip hop, dance/techno and even some rap....:sleep: nothing to exciting,,, BUT ILL MAKE IT EXCITING!!! hahaha ill try atleast

[djTthetj]

gotta BIG house/pool party 125 people in a REALLY REALLY REALLY BIG HOUSE.!.
ill bring a camera to show everyone my rig im real proud of it because im 14 and i have some better equitment then some people on here:D playing hip hop, dance/techno and even some rap....:sleep: nothing to exciting,,, BUT ILL MAKE IT EXCITING!!! hahaha ill try atleast

i'm interested to see what you have here


EDIT:

just checked profile


fender passport system :lol::lol:

[DJ LUNI]

:lol:

[Mike D]

Had alcohol at the reception this weekend... all was restored in my faith of NE Indiana receptions. Very small, but fun. All the bridesmaids (except one) were stacked and hot (always a huge plus). And pretty much every other of age female was hot as well. So the scenery was much improved. They sprung some new names on me right before I went to introduce them, and they wrote them down. Nothing worse than reading someone's handwriting that isn't good, as your trying to announce a wedding party of people you don't know. So I botched those names, which really pissed me off (more so than them luckily). After that we were good to go.

We setup in the morning, got a call from my partner around 2, his neighbor just backed into the trailer and the gate didn't close right anymore. He made it sound really bad, so I was really pissed. I show up to the reception, check out the the trailer, you could barely see what had happened. He was more pissed than anything when he called, so he made it sound slightly worse than it was. Still pissed that the idiot woman backed into the trailer though. But it still works, and is still waterproof.

For the bouquet toss the girls literally ripped the thing to shreads going for it. It was nuts, the winner was the ony with the plastic piece left and about 2 flowers in it still.

The hall had two rooms, the other room was clearly a "we just graduated HS and got married" reception. Everyone was showing up in shorts, jeans, t-shirts, tank tops, wife beaters. It was classy. We checked out the DJ, two TT's, and some dual 15" cabs. Couldn't see what brands as the put a white sheet over the speakers.. I guess to make them stand out less or something. Which honestly, is it really a big deal when the bride and groom can't even drink?

Most interesting part of the night... walking out to my car to put some of the new equipment we got into it, saw a girl squatting in front of her car, facing me, peeing on the ground. Flashing her goods for anyone to see. Had she not been peeing it would have been hot.. but since she was it was rather nasty (not really into that myself). But I thought she summed up the reception next door perfectly.

[DJITALIANHEAT]

lets just keep the age issue in mind first of all =)
second of all not my fender system its my cousins who was lending it to me and i now use a pretty old but powerfull marantz system, and when i was "bragging" i was talking about my lighting rig

[djTthetj]

lets just keep the age issue in mind first of all =)
second of all not my fender system its my cousins who was lending it to me and i now use a pretty old but powerfull marantz system, and when i was "bragging" i was talking about my lighting rig

well lets see it! we want pictures

[DJ Brian B]

well lets see it! we want pictures

He wants a picture of the girl peeing :lol:

[djTthetj]

erm... i'm afraid you are incorrect

let me go use the wonderful reply w/ quote tool:rolleyes:

[DJITALIANHEAT]

<object width="425" height="350"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/JQnKg33S8kg"> </param> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/JQnKg33S8kg" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"> </embed> </object>


bad video
doesnt capture all the lights because they werent set up cuz its in my house

[DJITALIANHEAT]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=JQnKg33S8kg bad link before here u go

[Mike D]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=JQnKg33S8kg bad link before here u go


Where's the rest?

[DJITALIANHEAT]

so a brief description

IN THE PIC:

2 double trouble eliminator lights (love them)
1 mini strobe
1 moonflower

i have a 4 par can set up that works nicely
I also have 2 large strobes
to be creative i did my par can tripod special

i did

PAR STROBE PAR STROBE
___________________________________________(TBAR)
PAR I PAR



black light on the bar going up
fog at the bottom

[DJ Shane]

gotta BIG house/pool party 125 people in a REALLY REALLY REALLY BIG HOUSE.!.
ill bring a camera to show everyone my rig im real proud of it because im 14 and i have some better equitment then some people on here:D playing hip hop, dance/techno and even some rap....:sleep: nothing to exciting,,, BUT ILL MAKE IT EXCITING!!! hahaha ill try atleast
After reading this post and then reading your follow ups, I'm disgusted.

Your equipment is nothing special. There are thousands of people here with gear more than 10 times better than yours. And a few of them are around your age or younger. Granted, there are few people here with gear so crappy and cheap that yours tops theirs but not many. If you really feel your gear is the shit, that's fine, just don't be saying here that yours is better than most others.

And the company Marantz makes home audio equipment. Using home audio equipment in place of pro audio equipment is nothing to brag about.

Here at DJF you can learn a lot. You have potential to become more knowledgeable and become a better DJ. But don't get too cocky. Don't be ignorant. Ignorance is a quick way to loose respect around here. And if you don't know what ignorant means, look it up.

[djTthetj]

After reading this post and then reading your follow ups, I'm disgusted.

Your equipment is nothing special. There are thousands of people here with gear more than 10 times better than yours. And a few of them are around your age or younger. Granted, there are few people here with gear so crappy and cheap that yours tops theirs but not many. If you really feel your gear is the shit, that's fine, just don't be saying here that yours is better than most others.

And the company Marantz makes home audio equipment. Using home audio equipment in place of pro audio equipment is nothing to brag about.

Here at DJF you can learn a lot. You have potential to become more knowledgeable and become a better DJ. But don't get too cocky. Don't be ignorant. Ignorance is a quick way to loose respect around here. And if you don't know what ignorant means, look it up.

i was getting around to saying that... but you did a well enough job, so i'll leave it at that

[djTthetj]

he's not cocky

his youtube name is andrewisgod

:rolleyes:

certainly not the god of dj's, contrary to his self-perception:lol:

[bux_k_a]

Just did a wedding Saturday night and it turned out I had to play the most country bumpkin music I have ever played anywhere. I did another wedding once that the groom and groomsmen pulled up in pickups with Cowboy hats on with their tuxes and it wasn't as bad as Sat. night. I've known the bride for years and I thought she had a wider taste in music but maybe her new hubby changed that. All I know is I had my own house mix playing on channel 3 that I was listening to while I pumped out the garbage. I thought I was going to puke. I know very little about country and I was literally laughing that every time I put on a song that I maybe have heard once that people were excited and dancing to it!!

[DJITALIANHEAT]

he's not cocky

his youtube name is andrewisgod

:rolleyes:

certainly not the god of dj's, contrary to his self-perception:lol:

im disgusted that there are people who are here that are ganging up on a 14 year old kid. i was not trying to brag i was trying to state that i belive that there were people posting pictures of gear that if you saw you would side with me im not a cocky person, im just trying to explain that i was proud of my acomplishments in the event of im 14 years old, ive had a party everyweekend for the past 2 months and was able to purchace ALL of my equitment my self at not one time was i trying to be cocky, in fact in that quote it clearly says that im PROUD OF MY RIG, and meant that i had SOME BETTER EQUITMENT THEN OTHERS ON THE FOURMS,,,, i was actually trying to get some encouragement on an extremely large gig ill be having

BIG house/pool party 125 people in a REALLY REALLY REALLY BIG HOUSE.!.
ill bring a camera to show everyone my rig im real proud of it because im 14 and i have some better equitment then some people on here playing hip hop, dance/techno and even some rap.... nothing to exciting,,, BUT ILL MAKE IT EXCITING!!! hahaha ill try atleast
the last sentace there said that ill try atlease i was TRYING TO GET ENCOURAGEMENT.

I appologize to all on the fourm if at any point i came off to be arogant, rude, or cocky.

[DJITALIANHEAT]

I would like to clearly state

I apologize to all on the fourm for appearing cocky, arogant, or rude, at any time while i have been a member. I hope that i can be reconsiliated for my mistake, and I truely hope you can forgive me, for what clearly was a mistake

[DJ Shane]

Just cut the age crap. There are a handful of us here who are regulars that are under 18. Nothing special.

[djTthetj]

there we GO WITH THE CAPS AGAIN :lol:

look, we don't hate you, we just decided we'd humble you right off the bat, now that you have constructed an entire post with no caps and using decent punctuation, feel free to be proud or whatever.

i'm barely past 15 and the system i built in my garage sound better than yours. (i used a passport system when i was 13)
I do professional installs in clubs around town using the top of the top equipment
i own a video studio, and work in a better one full of equipment that costs more than my house.

i turned 16 a few months ago, and i've been at this stuff for awhile.


you're 14

yay =)



<sought after encouragement>

you've got yourself pretty far for most 14 year olds, but its a drop in the bucket of what you can be if you stick around these forums, learn loads of things, and begin to expand your rig. The potential is there, now keep buying (or building if you're up for it)

</encouragement>


oh yeah... welcome to the forums

[DJ Brian B]

erm... i'm afraid you are incorrect

let me go use the wonderful reply w/ quote tool:rolleyes:

damn :jt:

[DJ Brian B]

there we GO WITH THE CAPS AGAIN :lol:

look, we don't hate you, we just decided we'd humble you right off the bat, now that you have constructed an entire post with no caps and using decent punctuation, feel free to be proud or whatever.

i'm barely past 15 and the system i built in my garage sound better than yours. (i used a passport system when i was 13)
I do professional installs in clubs around town using the top of the top equipment
i own a video studio, and work in a better one full of equipment that costs more than my house.

i turned 16 a few months ago, and i've been at this stuff for awhile.


you're 14

yay =)



<sought after encouragement>

you've got yourself pretty far for most 14 year olds, but its a drop in the bucket of what you can be if you stick around these forums, learn loads of things, and begin to expand your rig. The potential is there, now keep buying (or building if you're up for it)

</encouragement>


oh yeah... welcome to the forums


good sum up Tthetj and Shane. I am 15, started at DJF when I was 14. I didn't even bring up my age at all, although by the way some of my early posts were, anybody could have guessed I was younger then most.

[DLove]

Why would all of you be having a heated discussion with a young kid?
It seems like all of you are fairly young as well...

The kid is excited and wants to share/brag with his fellow DJ members.
What's the big deal?

If he was blatantly saying "Oh, your equipment sucks", then yes, it would be a different story. I think that he misspoke, yes, on account that he is brash, as a 14 year old should be.

To the rest of you fighting with him, grow up. Arguments dont get you anywhere.

Back to the gig stories....