What I learned from my first gig

[DJ Maxed]

As some of you may know, I just had my first gig tonight. Overall, if I was to grade it, it would be a B- on my part. Started off meh, in the middle it was awesome until sound problems kicked in, near the end everyone wanted dance music so that when I did play it, they just started whining some more. At the very end however, I played a few last songs and I think the party was somewhat satisfied.

Anyways what I learned:

1. DO NOT PLAN YOUR MIX DOWN TO THE MILLISECOND: I thought that this was going to be a set party with set dance times. Thus, I worked for a week on a mix that was perfected down to the millisecond. Boy I was wrong. I had to pretty much ditch the sheet when I found out I had to fill in here or there because the other DJ's girlfriend was popping in. I still say I should have a general plan, however the mix will usually unfold on itself as the night goes on.

2. BIGGER MUSIC LIST: I have about 600 songs, but even then I was still lacking some. Lucky, my fellow DJ had some of them, so we survived.

3. WHEN THEY SAY "SOMETHING TO DANCE TO," THEY USUALLY MEAN SOME POP SONG: Near the end I got a whole bunch of requests (and insults) saying: "Give us something to dance to." Eventually, it dawned upon me that they really meant just poppy stuff.

4. IF THEY WHINE, THEY WILL ALWAYS WHINE: Near the end, I could tell everyone was getting tired. I threw on a soft track so that everyone could settle down, but they all insisted on more songs they could dance to. So when I did throw one on, they all just stood there. I guess sometimes the DJ knows whats better musical wise for the people than the people themselves sometimes.

5. THERE WILL ALWAYS BE INSULTING: Unless your in a huge crowd where one groaning voice is hard to hear, you will always get the naggers and the whiners. ESPECIALLY near the end. I got one kid that just went up and said straight forward: "YOU SUCK." So I just kept going on with it and testing other songs till I finally hit gold with the crowd.

All in all, it was a very good learning experience. I made a fair amount of mistakes (I forgot to turn the volume on for one song I was mixing in so that when I did push it in it was already in the breakdown). I also learned that equipment is very tricky sometimes (we had to switch the speaker cord from one DJ to the other, and sometimes we forgot to turn the amplifier off).

My resolve is to keep practicing and expand my music collection. I think I'm getting pretty good at phrase matching, beat matching has too much left to be said for.


EDIT: Here's a video link for my gig log on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Iri7lWnPeQ

[Ocie]

looking back at the other thread you started about the gig, was it a house party? you wanted to play slow trance and build up for a teenage crowd. top 40 stuff should kinda be a given in that situation. unless you know the majority of those attending would rather listen to lesser known dance music.

sorry to hear about people booing and yelling stuff, never had to deal with rude people like that before. get your beat matching down if you're playing out dude. that's an essential part of mixing. phrase matching will come with just knowing your tunes.

what was your reasoning to plan out the entire set and only practice a specific order of tunes? i guess it was your first gig and all, but being able to read the crowd and get a feel for what they want to hear will come with the more gigs you land. the night will hardly ever go as expected.

glad it was a learning experience nonetheless though.

[DJ Maxed]

looking back at the other thread you started about the gig, was it a house party? you wanted to play slow trance and build up for a teenage crowd. top 40 stuff should kinda be a given in that situation. unless you know the majority of those attending would rather listen to lesser known dance music.

sorry to hear about people booing and yelling stuff, never had to deal with rude people like that before. get your beat matching down if you're playing out dude. that's an essential part of mixing. phrase matching will come with just knowing your tunes.

what was your reasoning to plan out the entire set and only practice a specific order of tunes? i guess it was your first gig and all, but being able to read the crowd and get a feel for what they want to hear will come with the more gigs you land. the night will hardly ever go as expected.

glad it was a learning experience nonetheless though.

Actually the beat matching didn't seem to bother the crowd at all. I just though that maybe the beats were slightly out of it here and there, but it wasn't so bad that it really harmed the night. Also, the whole booing thing went for maybe 10 minutes, so it wasn't too bad. Although they were teenagers like myself, so I really doubt whether they know the concept of politeness. Plus, its good to know what people like and don't, although I really wish they wouldn't insult me personally. I definitely will rethink playing those unagreeable tracks again.

Also, my friend was playing top 40 stuff, so it would kind of be even more demeaning to me if I played the same tunes again XD

Plus, I've heard that once a DJ screws up big time, he really learns a lot from that one big screwup. So it's probably good I do it now and learn a lot from it.

On the note of planning out my entire gig, I got a few suggestions saying I should do this. Being a narb at gigs of course, I decided not to take my chances. Now that I know, I'll make sure to not plan as much.

[KLH]

Congratulations! The first time is such a magical thing. I really like your insight and plans to improve. I think you're ready to get back out there and own it!

-KLH

[Ocie]

Also, my friend was playing top 40 stuff, so it would kind of be even more demeaning to me if I played the same tunes again XD

Were you moved to the headlining slot? I can't remember. Either way communication between the opener(s) and the headliner is big. Making sure you know what they are thinking of playing, where they want to take it, and where you would like to start your set.

When I have my Wednesday night gigs at school, I'll start off playing mostly hip hop from 90's-2009 for the warm up hours. Some Tribe, De La Soul, Jay-Z, or whatever else. I'll add current stuff like ASAP or Minnesota hip hop acts as the night progresses. Once midnight comes around, I'll start the more dance oriented music. (This is a 4 hour set that I'll either tag team with a fellow DJ or just handle on my own. Depends on our schedules.)

When it's a diverse crowd, but around your age, I find that playing tracks were popular roughly 5 years earlier go down really well.

All in all, good job, keep practicing. No where to go but up!

[DJ Maxed]

Were you moved to the headlining slot? I can't remember. Either way communication between the opener(s) and the headliner is big. Making sure you know what they are thinking of playing, where they want to take it, and where you would like to start your set.

When I have my Wednesday night gigs at school, I'll start off playing mostly hip hop from 90's-2009 for the warm up hours. Some Tribe, De La Soul, Jay-Z, or whatever else. I'll add current stuff like ASAP or Minnesota hip hop acts as the night progresses. Once midnight comes around, I'll start the more dance oriented music. (This is a 4 hour set that I'll either tag team with a fellow DJ or just handle on my own. Depends on our schedules.)

When it's a diverse crowd, but around your age, I find that playing tracks were popular roughly 5 years earlier go down really well.

All in all, good job, keep practicing. No where to go but up!

Turned out later it was mostly me and him swapping off. So I guess there was no real "warmup dj." It was mostly just us screwing around for most of the night XD Although when we weren't screwing around and he was hanging out those were the parts where I had to really focus. But it worked out at the end.

I like the advice though. I'll look into checking out old pop songs and throwing them into my mix.

[DJ Maxed]

Congratulations! The first time is such a magical thing. I really like your insight and plans to improve. I think you're ready to get back out there and own it!

-KLH

Thank you so much! I'm glad I'm getting this much support! I'll just wait till the next gig and then I will hopefully return with better news of a better night.

[MeowMix]

why were you turning the amp on and off?

also crowd reading skills and crowd mood in relation to your music takes time do understand and develop.

[Coley]

I like the advice though. I'll look into checking out old pop songs and throwing them into my mix.

Nod ya head by Will Smith . I have no personal experience from Djing in a club, but hell, if someone dropped that I would spin the fuck out, it'd be brilliant.

I love your tips dude! Brilliant attitude too, best of luck

[b.ill]

Don't get discouraged. If you experienced criticism it probably wasn't because of your mixing skills but your track selection (which is much easier to fix).

It would have been very possible for both you and the other DJ to mix what's currently hot on the downloads charts and on satellite radio playlists. It's done all the time. Don't mix counter to what the other guy is doing if it's counter to what the room wants.

"Give us something to dance to" does not always mean pop either In my world that phrase usually means going downtempo - but I'm mixing for young adults and not teens.