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My First Gig

This is the story of my first real gig as a DJ. Ive been spinning for about a year and I play everything from hip hop to progressive to house to trance to jungle/DnB.

This gig was at my university's biggest party of the semester, a 4 floor party with different dj's on every floor. I was in charge of a lounge where people would be smoking shisha. So thinking "lounge" I figured I could play some chillout DnB. And I was supposed to play from 9pm till 1am.

So I get to the place and to my surprise they've Technics 1200 MK5's set up. But the mixer was a shitty numark mixer w/o any gain or EQ controls. Luckily I called my friend who brought over his Numark DXM06.

So the barstaff are asking me what Im gonna play so I throw on some tracks, and they reply, "Is that what you're gonna play all night? Do you have any hip hop? Do you have any Arabic music? I want RnB!!!" All I brought was the DnB thinking that I was playing for some people sitting down smoking shisa. But to my surprise they had me in front of a large dancefloor! Thats when it hit me that this was going to be a real challenge. It wasnt the main floor but they still wanted people to come and dance and buy drinks.

So they let people in at 9pm and I was spinning DnB. Nobody was on the dancefloor... Nobody... I was like "FOCK"... I got my friend to take a taxi back to my place to pick up my prog and house and hiphop records, because I soon realised that I didnt have enough music for 6 hours. After about 2 hours of DnB and no one dancing or even coming near the dancefloor I realised that college kids are looking to hear DnB, they arent that type of crowd. Even tho I had good stuff, they werent digging it. So I switched to some hip hop.

Now being a primarily EDM DJ I didnt have much hip hop, but I had about an hour's worth. People were liking it alot more and I was getting alot of thumbs ups from the barstaff. I mean, I had played my BEST DnB tracks and NO ONE was reacting so I knew it was a good idea to give hip hop a try.

So once I ran out of hiphop with about 3 hours left, I started playing some funky disco house. This is when people started reacting... People came and started dancing and I was super relieved. I was getting free drinks all nights so I was having a good time myself. It was good to see people react to the music I was playing. So I kept playing it, went into some prog and then some darker prog and people were still digging it. Of course by that time everyone was wasted. So I just played this kind of music for the rest of the night and tested out the crowd to different obscure tracks and got some good and bad reactions. At one point I could get people to leave by playing some dark tribal prog and then make them come back by playing some funky house. I was in control.

The last hour was the most fun, I was wasted and I was playing whatever I wanted, I had already two girls come up to me and ask me to show them how to DJ, got some phone numbers (chicks dig DJs)... Kept having free drinks and I was even mixing well intoxicated like I was. I stopped playing at 2am, still waiting to get paid (cheque is coming... )

So this was a really good experience in DJing. I learned a few good lessons.

1. No matter what good tracks you think you have and no matter how good you are at mixing, unless you can get the crowd to dance, you're not a good DJ.

2. When you're the DJ you can screw up and people wont notice. (unless there are other djs in the crowd)

3. Its good to have a broad range of music for different crowds.

4. Hiphop and house are the way to go for general crowds. (non EDM fans)

I cant wait to play my next party, hopefully I'll play to a crowd that already appreciates EDM so that I'll have more people dancing and less empty dancefloor.

I've done a few of those myself. Its a really good because you learn how to control a crowd, which of course is a very important thing to know if you are a DJ. Plus getting some numbers is always nice. Hot chicks love DJs. I have a selection of tracks I keep in reserve that I know girls will dig

m still waiting for my first gig..!! i can imagine..how it would be..to play in front of ppl...!! what a feeling ...u feel like a king

Cool story - Njoyed reading that! and... well done with the gig.!.

This was a cool ass story!! I liked how you summed up your lessons learned.

Disco house always gets the party going.

You're on your way to being a very good DJ - you know the #1 thing is not playing what you like, but WHAT THE CROWD LIKES. Reading the crowd is so vital. I mean, that's why you're playing out and not playing in your bedroom.

Great story, and congrats on your 1st gig, awesome!!!!

awesome story.

it seems like in a general club setting the goal is to get people to start dancing and drinking by playing some popular favs like rap, then one they're wasted and having a good time, you can start playing more of the stuff you want, like trance.

shit, i guess ive got to start diversifying my record collection by buying some rap crap.

i've yet to spin at an EDM venue, so its half hip hop and half house. My last gig the owner was like "can you play hip hop now?" I was going to wait for my song to finish, but she comes back, "I mean NOW!". lol alright jeez

congrats man

congrats man

quote:

Originally posted by starlabs You're on your way to being a very good DJ - you know the #1 thing is not playing what you like, but WHAT THE CROWD LIKES. Reading the crowd is so vital. I mean, that's why you're playing out and not playing in your bedroom. Great story, and congrats on your 1st gig, awesome!!!!

That couldn't be more true. It is about what the crowd likes - hate to break it to yall who disagree. You're not getting paid to sit up there and play what turns you on, if that was the case, I would be a billionaire. Getting the dancefloor going is what it is all about and house music is the way to go for the general public. I love trance - LOVE TRANCE, but I have seen the way general people react to it VS house. Hands down its the house music that gets people going. My style has changed because of this and I think it is a movement in a positive direction.

Well done man, sounds a bit like my first gig when i was at uni!

Sounds like you had fun, and learned a lot, too!

quote:

Originally posted by Dirk W. That couldn't be more true. It is about what the crowd likes - hate to break it to yall who disagree. You're not getting paid to sit up there and play what turns you on, if that was the case, I would be a billionaire. Getting the dancefloor going is what it is all about and house music is the way to go for the general public. I love trance - LOVE TRANCE, but I have seen the way general people react to it VS house. Hands down its the house music that gets people going. My style has changed because of this and I think it is a movement in a positive direction.

Could it just be that you picked and programmed sh!tty trance tunes

Whilst

Picing and programming good house tunes !!!?!??!!!





In my experience as a dj and view ing other djs this has been the case.

quote:

Originally posted by davepiazza Could it just be that you picked and programmed sh!tty trance tunes Whilst Picing and programming good house tunes !!!?!??!!! In my experience as a dj and view ing other djs this has been the case.

Not in my expierence though. House is a lot easier on the ears than trance music is. A sh!tty house tune will (almost) always get more people going than a great trance tune.

Trance is not really music for the masses, especially not in the USA. Where I live trance is a lot more commercial, and there are more people who like it, and still it is hard to make people dance to a trance-song.

^^
Correct

House has a wider general appeal in my experiences, especially for the chicks = more likely to get people moving.

Indeed, i also like Trance better, but i see on almost every party i go to that the crowd as a general react better to house than trance.

With a general public tracks like Ritmo Dynamic - Calinda and Rocking Music by Martin Solveig get the crowd moving (in my experience).

quote:

Originally posted by djxtension Trance is not really music for the masses, especially not in the USA.

why is your flag that of NL!?!?!

and your city location from one of the NL?!!?!


I disagree entirely. With your comment.

People here in the USA ( if your are indeed from the USA ) have been programmed to listen to house becuase of shitty clubs. They have also been programmed to grind on people when they dance ( MTV, tv, etc. can blamed) .

As a result they prefer music that allows them to grind on each other. And they prefer music they are acustom to hearing when they think of "club music" or "party music"


However, a good dj can rock any party within his genre. Why? becuase he has a massive collection of tunes within it, has picked quality tracks, nows how to program hios set to get the maxium effect out of each song, and more importantly reads from the crwod what type music within his genre needs to be played

quote:

Originally posted by davepiazza why is your flag that of NL!?!?! and your city location from one of the NL?!!?! I disagree entirely. With your comment.

I'm not from the USA but I have read enough 'My First Gig' threads to know that the majority of people in the USA do not like trance.

quote:

People here in the USA ( if your are indeed from the USA ) have been programmed to listen to house becuase of shitty clubs. They have also been programmed to grind on people when they dance ( MTV, tv, etc. can blamed) .

And same goes for Holland. Most people here like R&B and Hip-Hop, just like in the USA, and if they actually like an EDM genre it is mostly Hardstyle and hardcore.

We have MTV here too, and its effect is no different than in the USA...

Although we have one of the biggest trance-nations on this planet, trance is just not as suitable to rock a crowd that is not in to dance-music.

quote:

As a result they prefer music that allows them to grind on each other. And they prefer music they are acustom to hearing when they think of "club music" or "party music".

Which is house or hip-hop/r&b...

House is generally easier on the ears, because it has more elements to keep it interesting for 'non-dance-minded' people (R&B, Hip/Hop, Pop, Rock, etc... you get the point).

quote:

However, a good dj can rock any party within his genre. Why? becuase he has a massive collection of tunes within it, has picked quality tracks, nows how to program hios set to get the maxium effect out of each song, and more importantly reads from the crwod what type music within his genre needs to be played

True, but have you ever tried to rock a random crowd with a trance set when there minds have 'been programmed to grind on people when they dance' and to dance to music 'they are acustom to hearing when they think of "club music" or "party music"'?

I've been a dj long enough to know what does and does not move people, and house just works better than trance, even in a 'trance-nation' like the Netherlands.

quote:

Originally posted by davepiazza Could it just be that you picked and programmed sh!tty trance tunes Whilst Picing and programming good house tunes !!!?!??!!!

no.

get payed in advance man, if you dont get cash up front chances are your not ganna get paid. Ive seen countless people get burned like this.

quote:

Originally posted by davepiazza People here in the USA ( if your are indeed from the USA ) have been programmed to listen to house becuase of shitty clubs. They have also been programmed to grind on people when they dance ( MTV, tv, etc. can blamed) .

What's wrong with house music and what's wrong with grinding? House music does get the crowd going better because it has the groove, the slower tempo, and the textures to make people dance unlike straight up trance. Also, how have people been programmed to listen to house? House is more of an American thing and trance is more of a European thing.

Grinding is great as well, especially with two girls, front and back. That's how I dance anyway.

i dunno i guess a lot of you branch off into a lot of these mainstream genres but to be honest, Even if i had never played a gig before, and i got offerd a job playing at a top 40 club, there is no fucking way i would actually take the gig. I mean when you get booked to play somewhere you know what kinda crowd its ganna be, its not hard to do 5 mins of reasearch into the night, if it wasnt a crowd that was going to enjoy the style i play i would pass and i would seriously question the promoters head.

In the years that ive been playing ive never been put in a situation where i would have had to comprimise my style to please a crowd.

quote:

Originally posted by djxtension I'm not from the USA but I have read enough 'My First Gig' threads to know that the majority of people in the USA do not like trance.

I definitely agree, because what you said describes me. However, I can turn that statement around to say that most people from Europe generally take the piss on house music. It's weird how that works, isn't it?

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