Warm up DJs

[Jambon]

I'll be first on as a warm up dj and have an hours slot. As per other thread it's my first gig.

Any specific tips for warm up djs? It's a house/ techno night.

[Hygro]

If you have a crowd coming to see you play, give them a good time. Otherwise play ur good weird less driving tracks! Conversely, play your older mainstream punchy tracks. Depends on how the night should flow. Your job is vibe. Again, unless you're bringing your people and need to show them a party.

Don't crank the gain, keep the volume down. If the promoter or sound guy etc wants to turn it up they will.


How hard you should play an opening set really depends on the scene. Some scenes you should bang it out, forget who follows. Some scenes you should very much not and play cohesively with the others and flow of a constant build throughout the night.

[David Bowman]

Don't crank the gain, keep the volume down. If the promoter or sound guy etc wants to turn it up they will.
.

This, this. Let them turn the volume up, or ask you to... Dress smart, smell nice and look your best, do not stress. Break a leg etc

[light-o-matic]

Yea keep it chill and groovy, that holds true no matter what style you play.. the job of the opener is to relax people and get them in the mood, don't push it too hard. Sure if you play bangers you will get some dancers but resist the urge. You want a nice build up, let people have a drink or two. If the next DJ gets a good dancefloor it means you did your job right.

[dlove]

^^^must spread rep around - what's already been said, and also, keep the area tidy, and make sure all your stuff can be lifted out of the way fast. Don't allow lurkers either, they're not there to hang with you, they're there to bother the guest as he/she comes on; don't let them!

[light-o-matic]

How'd it go?

[Jambon]

Thanks for the replies everone.

Hey Light it's not not until 21st April. Im quite confident with my mixing just a bit worried about not being able to handle the club system and booth being deafenly loud lol

[light-o-matic]

Oh cool I see yea, so you have a minute to prep Well so far as the volume and difficulty of playing out vs at home, def it is going to be a wakeup call, you get used to it tho. If you are using Rekordbox+CDJ or any other type of digital setup, then if you prep your tracks it's pretty hard to fail at beatmatching these days. Use what ya got if you have to. If you do fail a mix and can't get it straightened out within a few seconds just get the hell out. Don't flounder around too long with a bad mix just move on. And take it nice and smooth with your mixing, even when you are doing quick cuts do them quick and smooth. Because sudden changes are more jarring on a loud system.
If you mess up don't just react but recover with class. Meaning, if you for example don't fade something out when you meant to, don't just pop it out but try to fade it out on beat if it's not awful. If it's awful get rid of it of course.

[Jambon]

I usually do transitions that are 1-2mins long depending on the tracks, so on a club system that I'm unfamiliar with it should be interesting lol. If I'm loosing a mix prob best to do a spin back right?

On a positive I've taught myself to mix purely by ear so playing out being able to see the bpm meter should be a luxury. So that should help me out

[DJ Matt]

I usually do transitions that are 1-2mins long depending on the tracks, so on a club system that I'm unfamiliar with it should be interesting lol. If I'm loosing a mix prob best to do a spin back right?

On a positive I've taught myself to mix purely by ear so playing out being able to see the bpm meter should be a luxury. So that should help me out

a spin back is a bit of a gimmick, i wouldnt do it too often especially to try and remedy a trainwreck. if the mix is going pear shaped just drop one of the tracks out of the mix quickly discreetly and mix it in again on time

sometimes the different environment and excitement / adrenaline of a club can make us sloppy with the mixing so my advice is just be calm and collected. but at the same time be flexible enough to change it up from what you do at home, because home is home, club is a club and you have to be able to go with the vibe on the night.

if the monitors or whatever are too loud then by all means turn them down to whats comfortable to you because it is a distraction
and if its practical, its no harm to venture out onto the dancefloor early on in the night just to gauge how its actually sounding out there. IMO the monitor is just for timing, but does not sound exactly the same as the PA. i personally prefer to turn off the monitor between mixes, and just turn it on when i need it. or keep it at just enough volume to know my timing is right but not enough to drown out the main PA