TranceAddict Forums (www.tranceaddict.com/forums)
- DJ Booth
-- First ever set in front of a crowd- Stories please!
Pages (2): [1] 2 »

First ever set in front of a crowd- Stories please!

Hi fellow DJs,

I've personally never been fortunate enough to spin in front of a large crowd before, but have always been dreaming about it (every freaking day! ) ever since I got my first pair of turntables.
I know some of you out there have, so here's a plea to those who have been fortunate enough to experience what bedroom DJs like myself have never (perhaps never will) experience- what really happened during your first ever set in front of a large crowd, be it in a club, a bar of just in front of a large group of mates over at a small-time party. Let the stories flow.

Well, I've Only Played A Few Times Infront Of A Crowd. Two Christmases (Is That Correct Grammar?!?!?!) Ago I Played @ A Christmas Party But That Was With A PC So I Guess It Doesn't Count. So In That Case My First Gig Was During May Of 2001 Where Some School Booked Me And A Friend To Be The DJs At The School's Party. It Was A Great Expirience For Me, I Don't Remember Having Any Stress Or Something But I Do Recall Feeling Like Shit When I Did A Crappy Mix What Was Really Funny Was That The Party Took Place Inside A Basketball Stadium And Though There Where Quite A Lot Of People There, It Seemed Empty. Also The Headmaster Interupted A Number Of Times To Make Anouncements About Shit And I Got Really Annoyed. I Also Remember That A Kid Got On The Stage Despite The Fact That He Wasn't Alowed And Tripped On A Wire. Guess What, No Electricity. Temporarily That Is Cause I Went To The Rescue LOL :P Despite That I Guess It Was An Ok Gig, I Had Great Fun And It Got My 'Career' Started HEHEHEHE.

Ive played maybe 4 times here in Santa Barbara in front of an insane amount of drunk party goers. Its good shit, i perform alot better under pressure. Get a good sound system it makes all the difference and make sure you dont play reocrds to fast cause peole got to be able to dance to them

my first ever time spinning i was sooo hammered and it was at a house party, but my first ever time spinning in front of a real crowd other than my friends and friends of friends was awesome...

i closed a party that my radio station threw, and it went really good, i got quite a few compliments after i finished and a few people were asking me if i could make them a cd...

that's always the best feeling

my first gig was at a party here at my college.. it was pretty cool, maybe played in front of 200 (i'm guessing) people.. i was nervous as fuck so someone offered me to toke w/ them.. which i regret cos when i got up there i couldn't concentrate and my hands were all shaking.. but when i got into and saw people dancing it was great.. for people who play in front of crowds, u can back me up by saying there isn't a better feeling than seeing people grooving to your sounds! u thrive off their energy and it makes it really exciting.. i still get nervous though before i go up in front of a crowd.. not because im afraid i'll fuck up.. but because i hope they like it.. i hate playing to a bunch of people that just stand around and stare at you, thats annoying!

the first time is always nerve wrecking, for me at least. about 200 hundred people, which i knew about 15. but after the first three mixes that nervousness turns to straight adrinalin. its feels like your the center of attention. granted those people where drunk but at least 12 people came up to me in those 3 hours and told how much they like the music, one girl who doesnt even listen to trance told me she had a different view on it now.

My first time was in my uni's student union, at "Open Decks". Basically it's a night for amateur DJ's to come along and play a set in front of some people.
The first time I did this, I had never used Technics before and I was nervous as hell. I managed to get a couple of decent mixes in though, and it didn't go as badly as I thought.
The next time I did it, I had bought myself a pair of 1210's a few weeks beforehand, and so it went a lot better!

But both times were a lot of fun, nervewracking but at the same time satisfying that you know the crowd are listening to good music for a change!

First set in front of a crowd was for my friends 18th, i'd only actually learnt the basics of decks a few hours be4, and I went down quite well, my mixing sucked, but the crowd wanted trance after 2 hours solid of drum n bass from some guy that just turned up and hijacked the decks
I opened on William Orbit - Barbers Adagio for Strings (Ferry Corsten mix)
then Chakra - Home (Above + Beyond mix)
can't remember after that, it was a while ago

quote:

Originally posted by Az First set in front of a crowd was for my friends 18th, i'd only actually learnt the basics of decks a few hours be4, and I went down quite well, my mixing sucked, I opened on William Orbit - Barbers Adagio for Strings (Ferry Corsten mix) then Chakra - Home (Above + Beyond mix) can't remember after that, it was a while ago

did you ever get at least 1 decent transition?

I just played at a local club (which is where i normally hang out) on Valentines day. Well, it feels so good to have my name up on the board announces about the coming event.. So I started with funky house.. the club has never had anyone played trance for over a year.. First track was Andrea Brown - Tripping.. then went on to more progressive and ended the night with Jan johnston - skydive .. Although people says they loved it especially the club owner who was surprised it was my first gig ever .. not many people danced.. i only saw a couple who went completely mad when Luzon - Baguio track was played.. However, I wouldn't ever go and play there again .. I ended up getting paid 1000 baht though =).. I've been drawn away from the decks lately but well.. promised myself to practise more and more..

Anyway, I really believe anyone who works really hard and is focused at what they do will definitely be successful.

@Narcissus - 1000 Thailand Baht ?!?!?!? That's Like $23 USD Or �16 GBP. You Performed At A Club And You Settled For Just That? Heck, I Performed At A Private Party And I Got Like 4 Times That. I Do Not Intend To Be Offensive But I Think You Should Have Asked 4 More.

I'm going to be DJing in my 1st live set in front of a large crowd this April 19th in Louisville, KY. <--- hehehe

I'm practicing my tables off so I don't fuck up. I'm having trouble adjusting to the mixer we'll be using though. It's less robust than mine and it's messing me up. :/

my first gig was in a club, i think it was around 300-400 peepz in there, and the guy had been playing this 155 bpm tidy hardhouse, and i went, and my set was totally not that hard, so i started off a little gentle, and some of the people that had been tired of bad ass hardhouse came to the floor again, my 2nd track was adrenaline-shut the fuck up and dance... that was the best thing i can remember playing... when the vocals went "all you people standing around talking, SHUT THE FUCK UP AND DANCE!!!" everybody was on the floor clapping theyre hands... that was so sweet... i havent played any real gigs since that, only in front of small crowds (minus 50) containing mostly friends.... but 12th april im playing in front of (hopefully) 600 folks...

quote:

Originally posted by Xavier did you ever get at least 1 decent transition?

I got a couple of em right, when i knew the4 beats were gonna go i did spinbacks. Noone complained, but I only did about 8 tracks before the decks got switched off by the landlord (noise problem )

well i spin on a monthly basis for my church's youth outreach and every time there are around 200 to 300 kids. the first time i spun up there was back in december and it was my first time playing on a soundsystem that wasn't in my bedroom. couple that with the fact that it wasn't my gear but the other dj's and he skratches so his mixer is a pmc 05 pro (which is sweet for skratchin') and i wasn't used to it. anyways i messed up real good the whole time but fortunately the dj's aren't the main show (bands are) so i only horribly spun for about 15 minutes. most of those kids are into punk rock so they couldn't tell anyway. got no complaints and got no compliments. then i had my first club gig in LA. i was opening for jello and i was real nervous. i was supposed to have an hour set but the other dj was late so i ended up throwing down for 2. it was such a great time. my beatmatching was alright and my eq's needed a little work but all in all i got the floor packed by the time my set was done (~100 people). a couple of peeps came up and congratulated me as well as the club owners, promoters, and other dj's that night that were there. other club owners were asking me for demo's but i didn't have any and now they've all forgotten who i was. that's show biz for you. and since i've played at my church and i've gotten used to the sound system and better and the main acts are asking about me and a lot of the kids now are getting into prog trance/house so it makes me feel happy. the last time a couple of kids said that they never liked "trance" (i was spinning mostly tribal house that night) until i dropped it and that was real nice.

lost

quote:

Originally posted by P`zazz @Narcissus - 1000 Thailand Baht ?!?!?!? That's Like $23 USD Or �16 GBP. You Performed At A Club And You Settled For Just That? Heck, I Performed At A Private Party And I Got Like 4 Times That. I Do Not Intend To Be Offensive But I Think You Should Have Asked 4 More.

Well, I was performing as a guest Dj .. I never spoke to him about money.. you know I was just trying to get experience so if i go on and try at other clubs now on i could say i have performed there.. Also I think it wasn't too low.. 1000 baht.. for you it might be but then again.. Heineken beer costs 35 baht a bottle .. so do the math.. Thai's top DJ who spins there get paid 3000-4000 baht.

@Narcissus - That's Great, I Guess I'll Get A Job, Make Some Money And Visit You There In Thailand So We Can Spend It All On Heinekens Every Single Penny. Considering That The Best DJs Get 3000-4000 Baht Then You Did Pretty Well.

P.S. - How Do I Add Quotes, I Mean I Know I Have To Press The 'Quote' Button But What Do I Do Then? Copy Paste The Text I Want To Quote? Can I Use HTML Code?!?!?

In response to the post about $23 dollars being too little to play out....

I know plenty of DJs who have played for FREE. yes, not a dime...

and why? cuz it's about the music and not the money.

-mer

quote:

Originally posted by MERiDiAN5i2 In response to the post about $23 dollars being too little to play out.... I know plenty of DJs who have played for FREE. yes, not a dime... and why? cuz it's about the music and not the money. -mer

Well said. I agree totally, and I have played a number of times for free. I hate it when people sell out and do it just for the money - like Judge Jules or Mauro Picotto. Did you know Picotto charges anything up to �20,000 for a 2-3 hour set? �20,000. That's like, almost a year's wages, for 2 hour's worth of messing around doing exactly what I'm spending shitloads of my money on doing anyway!

quote:

Originally posted by DJTJ Well said. I agree totally, and I have played a number of times for free. I hate it when people sell out and do it just for the money - like Judge Jules or Mauro Picotto. Did you know Picotto charges anything up to �20,000 for a 2-3 hour set? �20,000. That's like, almost a year's wages, for 2 hour's worth of messing around doing exactly what I'm spending shitloads of my money on doing anyway!

hell i'll do it for free just for the practice and to see the crowd go nuts... gotta love that feeling... better than sex in some ways

picotto is pretty damn good... at least he's not like some DJs that aint worth jack and charge 21340897498327 dollars. but 20000? GEEZ!! git out!

Hey guys. I'm coming up on my first gig.

Here's the flyers:




I'm Scott Yee

I've been practicing the hell out of my set so I don't fuck up.

Wish me luck! =)

scott...

don't get too nervous about it, just get up there focus on the crowd enjoying it and use that energy to your advantage... and if you make a little mess up, dont let it phase you! alot of the kiddies will either not notice or think it was a cool trick

good luck on your first gig i'm sure it'll be a blast for ya

-mer

I Would Agree With You Guys About DJing For Free But Just Think About It, If The Owner Of The Club Makes A Shitload Of Money The Night You're The DJ, Why Shouldn't You Get Paid A Respectable Amount. Every Other Job In Real Life Is Like That, The Greater The Skill you Possess, The More Should Be The Money You Get. And Since Picotto Is One Of The Best DJs Around, He Deserves Every Single Penny. Also Think About The Top Football Players, I Mean They Just Play Football All Day. So They Do What They Love, What They Wanted To Do All Their Life And They Get Millions.

Also, Scott, I'd Love To Be There And Check You Out But Unfortunately I Live Many Thousands Of Miles Away Anywayz, I Wish You The Best, I'm Sure You'll Kick There Ass :P

quote:

Originally posted by P`zazz I Would Agree With You Guys About DJing For Free But Just Think About It, If The Owner Of The Club Makes A Shitload Of Money The Night You're The DJ, Why Shouldn't You Get Paid A Respectable Amount. Every Other Job In Real Life Is Like That, The Greater The Skill you Possess, The More Should Be The Money You Get. And Since Picotto Is One Of The Best DJs Around, He Deserves Every Single Penny. Also Think About The Top Football Players, I Mean They Just Play Football All Day. So They Do What They Love, What They Wanted To Do All Their Life And They Get Millions.

hmm You have a point there.... I wonder how many ppl does Picotto average play for?

And really I dont think Picotto gets 20k� every set he does! he might get loads of$$ when spinning at monster parties, but I doubt gets payed that much at smaller clubs (he does sometimes play in smaller clubs right?)

Powered by: vBulletin
Copyright © 2000-2021, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.