What I learned from my first gig

[AdrianR]

Guys you're talking about a House party yeah? With what looks like 6 people?

... Honestly. It looks like you were clearly lacking experience (but, first gig, no experience, makes sense.) however, it looks as tho, through no fault of your own, it was a shit party.

I get the impression you're trying to gear yourself to become a club/ festival Dj, but are taking on the shit gigs to get practice in? That's great! It's so rare to see new guys jump in and do these kinds of gigs now days. Trust me. It will be frustrating. You got booed and shit, so, B- ... Well, Sorry I'd say D-. HOW EVER!!!! You STILL took the gig on which is A LOT more than A LOT of other Dj's would do because they feel they are all ready beyond that thing. It's a great learning step and if you stay on this course and keep going with these gigs and keep learning from them, (whilst at the same time sending demos to clubs and promoters etc), when you finally DO hit those clubs, you will be 1000 times better than the other guys who stay in their bedroom and ONLY try for those high class club gigs, and as I'm sure I've said many times before on this forum, results in a lower quality of night life because, they simply don't have that experience you are gaining now from doing these gigs.

You learned a lot. You had your first lesson in how to rock a party. Now you know more for next time. Be versatile. I'd love to hear how you progress. At first I must admit I didn't think much, but as I watched your video I was impressed with your work ethic. ... Now I'm curious to actually hear you mix. Do you have any links to any setts you've mixed?

[DJ Maxed]

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.

My friend and myself had two separate computers and only one input cord. And if you just so happen to pull it out will its still on, its make a very loud noise lets just say...

[DJ Maxed]

Guys you're talking about a House party yeah? With what looks like 6 people?

... Honestly. It looks like you were clearly lacking experience (but, first gig, no experience, makes sense.) however, it looks as tho, through no fault of your own, it was a shit party.

I get the impression you're trying to gear yourself to become a club/ festival Dj, but are taking on the shit gigs to get practice in? That's great! It's so rare to see new guys jump in and do these kinds of gigs now days. Trust me. It will be frustrating. You got booed and shit, so, B- ... Well, Sorry I'd say D-. HOW EVER!!!! You STILL took the gig on which is A LOT more than A LOT of other Dj's would do because they feel they are all ready beyond that thing. It's a great learning step and if you stay on this course and keep going with these gigs and keep learning from them, (whilst at the same time sending demos to clubs and promoters etc), when you finally DO hit those clubs, you will be 1000 times better than the other guys who stay in their bedroom and ONLY try for those high class club gigs, and as I'm sure I've said many times before on this forum, results in a lower quality of night life because, they simply don't have that experience you are gaining now from doing these gigs.

You learned a lot. You had your first lesson in how to rock a party. Now you know more for next time. Be versatile. I'd love to hear how you progress. At first I must admit I didn't think much, but as I watched your video I was impressed with your work ethic. ... Now I'm curious to actually hear you mix. Do you have any links to any setts you've mixed?

It was actually only like 10 minutes of booing. I finally recovered the crowd and they were a lot happier. I've put in some tunes that I know will work in the future. Althouugh yes, B- is kind of gracious, so I would settle for a C, perhaps a C-. I don't think it went to a D- in all circumstances. Although, if booing doesn't happen that often, then yes I think I was around the D range. But at least I know I can improve

[DJ Maxed]

Here's my sound cloud link. I think my best one so far was probably the july one. However, I think with my current skills I've vastly improved http://soundcloud.com/dj-maxed-1

[AdrianR]

Oh man now I'm going to rub it in! When I did my first gig, they didn't boo, THEY CHEERED! but, I didn't even know I wanted to be a Dj. But this is about you.

Like I said, I think it was more (from the looks of it) a lack of atmosphere on the part of the person who held the party. As in, it doesn't look like theres too many guests or anything like that and truth be told, for a first time person to be in THAT situation well, I don't think you would have DESERVED booing, but I think it speaks louder volumes of the patrons rather than your ability. That's to say, they were probably booing not because your a bad Dj, but it looks like a bad party and so they just wanted someone to vent their disapproval on and you were in the firing line.

You don't know it now, but for a first gig, you actually had it pretty tough. When theres not much people it's MUCH harder to get a positive response. People feed off EACHOTHER more than they feed off what you're playing.

You spoke about not making the amp popping noise. Good work mate! ... You're showing KNOWLEDGE at the momment. It's THOSE technical abilities that will make shit easier for you later. It's shit like that that when you have a bigger crowd and equipment fails and things go wrong, you will have the experience behind you to know what to do to carry yourself through it and people will admire that. Believe it or not, they will say "wow, all this shit went wrong but he was STILL able to play to a medium to high standard." But it's all in time my friend. I think you're on the right track. I'm going to go and listen to your mix now.

[DJ Maxed]

Oh man now I'm going to rub it in! When I did my first gig, they didn't boo, THEY CHEERED! but, I didn't even know I wanted to be a Dj. But this is about you.

Like I said, I think it was more (from the looks of it) a lack of atmosphere on the part of the person who held the party. As in, it doesn't look like theres too many guests or anything like that and truth be told, for a first time person to be in THAT situation well, I don't think you would have DESERVED booing, but I think it speaks louder volumes of the patrons rather than your ability. That's to say, they were probably booing not because your a bad Dj, but it looks like a bad party and so they just wanted someone to vent their disapproval on and you were in the firing line.

You don't know it now, but for a first gig, you actually had it pretty tough. When theres not much people it's MUCH harder to get a positive response. People feed off EACHOTHER more than they feed off what you're playing.

You spoke about not making the amp popping noise. Good work mate! ... You're showing KNOWLEDGE at the momment. It's THOSE technical abilities that will make shit easier for you later. It's shit like that that when you have a bigger crowd and equipment fails and things go wrong, you will have the experience behind you to know what to do to carry yourself through it and people will admire that. Believe it or not, they will say "wow, all this shit went wrong but he was STILL able to play to a medium to high standard." But it's all in time my friend. I think you're on the right track. I'm going to go and listen to your mix now.

Now that you say all of this, the different things you discuss here make perfect sense! Thanks for all of the support again! I hope to come back with a second gig log that will hopefully show vast improvement over the first.

[baller95]

It was pretty good man but the lack of people probably made u more in the centre of things. I'm 16 so yea I guess teens could be dicks sometimes but the people at this party looked pretty stupid.. Just standing there or jumping up and down.. LMAO

[fat8ack]

yeah what was the pogo all about? Experience will tell you how to get better. What did you use for sound? If you are planning on doing parties all the time look into getting a PA and a powered set up at that, it is just easier and less time consuming. Also, if you can, look into a better controller, may I suggest something like the new VCI-380 form vestax or maybe (if you have the cash) a NI S4 or even a Numark NS6. Do the research and you will not fail on most of your purchases.

Looked like a lame ass party anyhoo. I never plan out a set if I am playing out. I generally pick out tracks and move them to a crate in my Itch software, and work form that but always keep my mind open to playing something I did not think of prior. Seems like no matter what, if a play out, there are people who want me to "play something they can dance to", always. But thing is, unless it IS the entire party, they are not speaking for the general public, but only thinking of themselves. Keep it up man and work on that mixing and all that fancy DJ stuff.

[Mixxed]

Keep at it man... I commend you for your ballsy-ness, I know I wouldn't have done a gig log and all that kind of stuff when I started... The more experience you get out there, the easier it'll come. But it takes time, nothing happens overnight. Just remember that you CAN'T satisfy EVERYONE at every party, so don't try... stick to your guns.

[DJ Maxed]

yeah what was the pogo all about? Experience will tell you how to get better. What did you use for sound? If you are planning on doing parties all the time look into getting a PA and a powered set up at that, it is just easier and less time consuming. Also, if you can, look into a better controller, may I suggest something like the new VCI-380 form vestax or maybe (if you have the cash) a NI S4 or even a Numark NS6. Do the research and you will not fail on most of your purchases.

Looked like a lame ass party anyhoo. I never plan out a set if I am playing out. I generally pick out tracks and move them to a crate in my Itch software, and work form that but always keep my mind open to playing something I did not think of prior. Seems like no matter what, if a play out, there are people who want me to "play something they can dance to", always. But thing is, unless it IS the entire party, they are not speaking for the general public, but only thinking of themselves. Keep it up man and work on that mixing and all that fancy DJ stuff.

My friend actually supplied the audio equipment, I only had enough to buy a controller. However, I'm really liking the VCI-380. Thanks for the support!