Need some advice

[mattduerst]

hey, what's shakin'?

I've been practicing DJing all summer and am pretty sure I can do a decent mix. So I'd like to start going live. I thought I might try djing for my homecoming dance (I'm a senior this year, w00t!). Anyways, some concerns:

- My only equipment are 2 turntables, 1 mixer, and a generic stereo (the kind every teenager wants for his birthday)
- It might be possible to rent my friend's PA system (he does his own acoustic concerts)
- I have a football game the same night

I don't own any lighting equipment, except this really cheap discoball with a broken motor (it's out of the question). One possible scenerio I made is that we would hire a professional DJ like we always do, and then near the end, I would mix for a while using his speakers and lighting equipment. But then the fact that I'm going to be playing that night might affect my performance.

Anyways, Just wondering if you guys thought that would be a good idea (using a prof. dj's equipment), or any other recommendations. Would playing in a fb game effectively make me suck when I DJ, or would I just drink a Rockstar and get on with it? I'm asking because I don't have any experience on how 'taxing' it is to dj live

any info is greatly appreciated.

[mattduerst]

btw, I have a bunch of house records + 2 trance, so I wouldn't be doing a whole lot of Clear Channel chart-toppers or anything like that.

And how long do you spin before taking a break, if at all?

[jdiddy]

Sorry to say but you're nowhere near ready for school dances. You will need professional equipment, lots of power and big subs, kids love bass. Most people don't spin records at a dance, they play cd's, kids want to hear the hits of today and some older stuff and alot of slow songs for the lovebirds..

As far as hiring a professional dj and using his stuff....FORGET IT!! Yes you should hire him but there is no way he will let you touch his precious gear. I do mostly weddings but I know if some kid layed one finger on my expensive equipment, I would beat the hell out of him..

You're heart is in the right place but unfortunately, you'll need ALOT of money to get the proper gear to pull off a school dance. You'll also need alot of light too, maybe some fog if the school would allow it..

[mattduerst]

Shoot!

Nah, thanks for the info. It was just kind of a curious thought I had in my head. 'sides, I need to develop some better skillz, yo.

[Method2125]

Anyways, Just wondering if you guys thought that would be a good idea (using a prof. dj's equipment), or any other recommendations.


I'd let somebody run a line into my mixer, if they had their own mixer and equipment, but no way they'd be using my equipment otherwise. If I were the Pro DJ I'd be watching the levels and adjusting so that you didn't clip my amp.


Would playing in a fb game effectively make me suck when I DJ, or would I just drink a Rockstar and get on with it? I'm asking because I don't have any experience on how 'taxing' it is to dj live

As of yet I don't do mixing, but even just playing a regular 4 or 5 hour wedding gig is taxing. Of course, I work by myself so I have to do the setup and the teardown, but it's still taxing. When the crowd is really into it I feed off of their energy, but when a crowd is really mellow or difficult I come home exhausted. Anybody else experience this? At any rate, yeah, if you're giving your all to the football game you're already going to be beat. If it's your first gig you're going to be nervous and probably won't have much stamina at all to play your gig.

Just my $.02.

-Mike

[nautical]

man, it's your senior year go have fun and relax.

i'm entering my senior year in college, but my 1st gig was last year... we had like this ghetto 5.1 surround sound system in the parking lot, but that thing bumped.
I honestly think you should start small then build up. I had a lot of jitters at my first 'dj gig', so just start doing small parties and get comfortable.

but ya... i doubt the dj would let you/be comfortable with you spinning using his equipment.

[DJFreshMoney]

check out this thread and others like it:

http://www.djforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49928&highlight=gig

[Hygro]

mattduerst, what about you and your friends throw a massive post-dance after party and you DJ there?

[JGeffen]

mattduerst, what about you and your friends throw a massive post-dance after party and you DJ there?

that's a great idea. And if you really want lighting and effects, you can contract that out. That's what I'd do for parties that I planned in college. It's REALLY EXPENSIVE though. Nowadays, I rent the equipment myself and set it up, control it etc, but if you don't know anything about lights, I wouldn't recommend it.

[nautical]

To add.... ya, dj at your friends parties, or look for small school events (like really small) and see if you can dj there. Start small, then you'll be working up to larger gigs before you know it.

[LunchieTey]

I agree with what most people have said here,for school dances stick with top 40 because these are their fav tunes at the moment!(throw in a few that are a year or two old but were popular) For your own tunes,do some house parties or even organise your own(get a heap of mates together and invite a few more for numbers-don't go open house though,always a recipe for disaster!)
You can even approach local pubs/halls and see if they want to start up some sort of regular thing for under-agers (which for you americans is under 21 for alcohol-in some states at least!) You can even try dance halls because they already have disco balls etc.

[DJNaviss]

I personally think you'd be to tired and busy to do all this in one night.

I don't see anything wrong with you talking with the DJ about hooking up your table's, To the main system. I've done it before when I've done big rave's, Where 3 set's of table's have had to be ran through my system. And I've never had any problem's with it, Aslong as I'm there running the PA mixer with the level's. Just got to find a DJ ok with it.

If you think you're really going to get into this mobile DJ-ing thing you should start reading up on what gear you'll need and start saving up money, And alot of it.

My other problem would be, Your wanting to spin a full mix of EDM. I know some area's still want alot of EDM, However I don't know if they would enjoy over 5 song's at one time.
Anymore they only want top40 main stream. But even I do short edm set's. To give them alittle something different. Just depend's on how the student's like it.



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

[g-phunk]

Well why not rent some equipment? Like speakers and lightenin that is. If its kinda like a one to two time thing, then why not. You will save money lol. It's a school dance..not like your at a club or anything..You could just put the CD in, sit back and watch everyone have a good time hahaha. All kids need these days is bass :uhoh:

[sleeper gm]

If it is your senior dance I would enjoy it and have fun .... yes playing the dance would be great however you will be missing out on a lot. Also you are going to need much better equipment in terms of amps and speakers ... not sure if you record collection will be up to par either.