Thoughts regarding my very first live gig this weekend...

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-- Thoughts regarding my very first live gig this weekend...

Posted by DJ Kibon on Dec-07-2003 22:00:

Thoughts regarding my very first live gig this weekend...

Hello everyone,

Just wanted to share my excitement and some thoughts regarding the overall experience of playing out live for the first time in a club.

I've been spinning for approximately a year, as I bought my Techs right near the beginning of 2003. During the time I've been your typical bedroom DJ, usually playing for an audience of one. Along the way, I've also had the opportunity to regularly do live broadcasts at www.AfterhoursDJs.org.

Last Tuesday I received an invitation to open the night at a new club here in town on Friday, and (needless to say), I accepted. The first thing I have to say is that I was glad that I had approx 20 minutes to play before people started trickling in, because my first 2-3 transitions were pretty damn shakey. After playing at home with headphones alone for a year, suddenly standing in a DJ booth with a LOUD club system shaking the floor under my feet definately took some getting used to.

I spent a bit of time walking out onto the floor at first to check the sound with various EQ tweaking. I also found that I had to force myself a bit to handle at least some of the EQ and volume adjustment during transitions by experience instead of what I was hearing, as the bass was so loud in the DJ booth that I could have easily made things sound bad by keeping the bass too low.

The mixer in the DJ booth was a Citronic rip-off of the Pioneers, and it made things very interesting at first figuring out a cueing mode that worked well for me. Sort of like I was tricking the mixer into working together with me instead of against me. And of course, more people present and dancing would have been cool.

Overall though, it was a really fun experience, and I had a good response from some of the people there (i.e. people coming up and saying that they really liked a particular track, it was a good set, etc.).

Posted by dartman on Dec-07-2003 23:14:

congrats. i've played out only about a half dozen times but i love it. after getting used to loud club systems, playing in my bedroom just doesnt sound the same. how long did you get to play for?

Posted by DJ Kibon on Dec-08-2003 01:08:

quote:
Originally posted by dartman
congrats. i've played out only about a half dozen times but i love it. after getting used to loud club systems, playing in my bedroom just doesnt sound the same. how long did you get to play for?

Damn, left out the most important part, didn't I? I got a 2 hour timeblock, played from roughly 9-11 p.m.

Posted by _-MIl0 on Dec-08-2003 03:14:

Congrats man i just got offered a gig in chicogo and new york, shows that you work at it youll get somwhere

Posted by Zack Roth on Dec-08-2003 03:48:

awesome. I can't wait til my time comes.

Posted by DJ Joshua H on Dec-08-2003 17:15:

dartman
I'm from Boston. where have you played?

Posted by DeleriuM2K on Dec-08-2003 20:36:

sounds really exciting

I plan to send in a promo CD to a couple clubs around the city soon

Posted by Ghostface on Dec-09-2003 10:12:

well done man. Now onwards and upwards.

Posted by dark_tenshi on Dec-09-2003 10:20:

Sounds fun man. It's always a nice feeling when people come up to you and praise your set or let you know that they enjoy your music.

Posted by IntegraR0064 on Dec-10-2003 20:03:

Awesome...

You didn't mention how you got that offer to play at the club though. Did you send out a promo? How did they find out about you?

Posted by DJ Kibon on Dec-10-2003 20:57:

quote:
Originally posted by IntegraR0064
Awesome...

You didn't mention how you got that offer to play at the club though. Did you send out a promo? How did they find out about you?

The best advice that I can offer is to get out and start supporting some of your local electronic nights. In my case, it's pretty much just one smaller night that I show up at regularly, as I don't have the money/time to do too many more than that on a regular basis.

The majority of my self-promotion is done entirely electronically. For example, I always post on the local electronic music forum when I'm going to be doing a live online set at AfterhoursDJs that evening, as well as pimp my mixes and pre-recorded sets shamelessly (see my signature here for example).

I have yet to put together or distribute a demo CD, partially because I'm just not really in a big rush. I'm pretty content to keep practicing at this point. I've only recently started having enough extra cash to regularly buy vinyl, and my Techs are finally getting paid off next week.

I had some buddies and co-workers immediately asking me when I'll be playing out live next, and I just shrugged.

Posted by DJ Kibon on Dec-10-2003 21:08:

Btw, I also thought I should share something funny that happened that night, hopefully it doesn't come off the wrong way in writing.

One of the guys I talked to after my set was visibly excited, as he had just bought his first set of decks. He said something to me along the lines of, "I can hardly wait to be able to play a set as good as you did live in a club."

Pretty friggin' ironic, because I'm definately still on his side of the fence (i.e. a bedroom DJ).