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Need tips for DJing. It's my first time DJing
Hello All,
I have produced a few trance songs, but never DJed. I understand the concepts, but can someone please share with me a few handy tips for smooth transitions?
Thanks!
-NK
The Reason for my question is because I got booked for my first DJ performance, and I am feeling the heat!!
Thanks,
-NK
http://www.tranceaddict.com/forums/...&threadid=82271
I'd get practicing really fast because its not as easy as it seems
what u cant dj and u have been booked to dj
i would be worried if i was u
I was booked because they liked my productions... It's not a big event (around 200 people) but nonetheless a good starter... Plus most people are not that much into trance... All I am asking is just two or three tips!!
Thanks!
-NK
If I were you I would give up sleep until after the event just to get as much beatmatching and EQing practice as possible. Also make sure you know the songs that you're going to play really well.
Thanks Brian! That was very helpful...
Funny thing is that I'll be playing for four hours!! The event is for end of November...
Is there any mixer that does beat matching and equing automatically?
Thx!
-Nektarios
| quote: |
| Originally posted by nectario Thanks Brian! That was very helpful... Funny thing is that I'll be playing for four hours!! The event is for end of November... Is there any mixer that does beat matching and equing automatically? Thx! -Nektarios |
j/k. 2 months is substantial time to learn decent beatmatching and phrase matching.... but to be able to transfer from a bedroom to a club is different. i spun on the main floor for the first time last week, and even though i knew exactly what i was doing and had spun at smaller venues, i still had a 2 or 3 shaky mixes. thats after 9 months of spinning too! oh yea.. so for my advice.... just work really hard on beatmatching and eqing. u can do it!
Thanks guys! But I am really scared actually...
People may think I'll be spinning like Tiesto. Though I have to admit, the crowd will be introduced to trance for the first time, so I won't be judged harshly... :-)
i say practice your ass off till november, if that fails but u still catched phrase matching, get yourself traktor 2.5, headphones, and LEGALLY OBTAINED mp3 (ripping/LEGALLY downloading), a Y plug and bring that laptop to ur gig
pretend its the poor ppls final scracth
if u catch phrase matching and eqing u shuld be fine with traktor
add me on msn: benmeirohayon(at)hotmail(dot)com ill tell you how to set that shit up
| quote: |
| Originally posted by nectario Thanks guys! But I am really scared actually... People may think I'll be spinning like Tiesto. Though I have to admit, the crowd will be introduced to trance for the first time, so I won't be judged harshly... :-) |
here what you do..
put a tiesto cd on, put some records on there to make it look good, and just bs the whole thing man. two months is not enough time to learn how to mix, no matter how many trance songs you've produced.
if you want people to respect you as a dj, then learn how to mix records, then perform. if they see you up there trainwrecking the whole performance, there is little chance for you to make it in the future.
just some things to think about..
pEy
Good luck, man. You are going to need it unless you start practicing for several hours everyday until the gig. Did you tell the people that you had never DJed before? If so, then they are stupid for hiring you to spin for 4 hours. I think if you do this gig and you don't perform that well, then that is more of their problem than yours. I hope all goes well.
LOL Thanks guys! To make matters worse, I wont be spinning trance only here is the breakdown
Vocal Trance: 65%
House 15%
Hip Hop 5%
Psy Trance: 15%
So the face that there are different styles makes it hard. Hip hop and house was their request...
| quote: |
| Originally posted by nectario LOL Thanks guys! To make matters worse, I wont be spinning trance only here is the breakdown Vocal Trance: 65% House 15% Hip Hop 5% Psy Trance: 15% So the face that there are different styles makes it hard. Hip hop and house was their request... |
Wow thanks for all the input, advice and wishes! I'll need it. The gig is located in Jamaica Queens, New York. Actually they are not paying me, so I am really doing this for free...
The crowd age is from 14 to 18 and it's for this youth group. Ok ok, it's ebarassing but here we go:
My twin brother happens to be a priest of a church, and the youth group wants to have their party so they were looking to hire a DJ. But my brother goes: "Hey, you create some great music, why dont you spin for the youth party? I'm sure they'll love you..."
Whatever the crowd, there will be 200+ teenagers eager to listen to trance... So that's the whole story... They have never heard trance, much less Psy trance, so it will be a bit of a shock. Since in the previous parties they had rap and hip hop...
So at least even if the mix is not perfect, it may not be as noticed.. :-)
2 months like said, just isn't enough, congrats on getting the gig though, this could maybe lead to better things, my advice to you is, start practicing and maybe you'll be one of the lucky few that can pick it up REAL fast, then do one of the following, either get Traktor and make a long set using legit music and record it, then play it in the club and pretend its you doing it, I know thats pretty gay, but in your situation I think its a good one, or get lots of trance that has parts in it with no beat, then when it goes into this part at the end of the song, fade into the next song, it won't sound good but I doubt anyone there will notice, and its still better than a trainwreck, but keep us upto date on what your doing man, best of luck.
dude, u have practicly nothing to woorry about...
add me on msn already ill tell u few tricks
its just too hard over the forums
| quote: |
| Originally posted by progressivepey two months is not enough time to learn how to mix, no matter how many trance songs you've produced. |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by djlemeir dude, u have practicly nothing to woorry about... add me on msn already ill tell u few tricks its just too hard over the forums |
hmmm as said before, 2 months really isn't much time; some tips:
- you'll need to get EQing down real good 'cos in a loud system any dramatic loss of sound is much more noticeable than when you're spinning at home. Will the mixer be the same? 'Cos they all have different EQ knobs...
- Try to avoid annoying habits (but that are common when you're starting) like cutting the bass all the time and using flangers.
- I don't know if you're aware but in trance the bass switch works really well so what I suggest you to do is to swap the basses at the end of a phrase instead of gradually increasing/decreasing each one.
- Starting in hip-hop for warm-up may be a good idea 'cos kids might be more familiar with that and dance to it, then move on to house, then trance, then psy, because that way you can create a better journey as the BPM in house is lower than in trance and you can spin all of EDM without ever stopping to switch genres.. find good transition tracks, house tracks with a trancey feeling, trance with psy feeling etc to make it sound smoother.
- I don't know if you're using CDs or Vinyl but I'm not that sure that you'll get beatmatching down in 2 months that well so I suggest you to do short mixes, like 64 beats or something, as long mixes are easier to fuck up correcting etc. Cue the incoming track a little bit further, like on the 65th beat instead of the 1st so that the set doesn't loose energy. Don't mess around too much with tricks, like cutting, delays etc if you don't know what you're doin'. Keeping it simple is sometimes the best way.
The good news are.. you'll be spinning to a crowd that will hardly notice if you fuck up. I was at a party just last saturday with a DJ that supposedly had been DJing for 4 years, well every transition was a trainweck, the beats were NEVER in sync and he just faded the track like 30 seconds later when he realized that it was SHIT. The crowd couldn't tell though,they were just dancing (although they didn't know how to dance to that lol) as if he was Sasha. He also had the annoying habit of cutting the bass every 2 beats, and used a WAH effect in his CDJ-100s every 8 beats. VERY annoying. This was to like 300 people all around 20-25, so you can see how dumb they can get
So most teens won't notice though, but of course you want better than that and I wish you good luck with that! 
Just, no matter what happens, act like everything is alright. They wont know any better. They arent like...trancEaddicts or something.
EDIT: Another thing, this may have been mentioned earlier in the thread, but if so, i missed it. Do you know what kind of equipment you will be using?
My first dj gig consisted of using a computer with traktor and playing mostly hip-hop and pop, and only one of my turntables was working and I had about 5 records at the time.
I was the best dj they had ever had. But it wasn't a big crowd. Don't sweat it, practice and you'll be fine.
Wow, you guys are great!! Awesome! Thanks Benoitfan for the great post! (made me laugh with that party you mentioned) Soo informative... :-)
What makes me feel good about it, is that those teenagers won't notice if I fuck up. Ok in terms of equipment, this is what I'll be using:
Mixer: Pioneer DJM600
CD: Denon dual CD/Mp3 player
Turntables: Technics 1200s
What got me this gig is from my two songs I produced, so if you are interested, these are the two songs I created which they want me to play at the party:
Judgment Night (Dark)
http://www.nektarios.com/judgment_night.mp3
Wounded Soul (Cheesy Melodic)
http://www.nektarios.com/nektarios_wounded_soul.mp3
Anyway, they want me to start with Wounded Soul then Judgment Night. But I am concerned since it may be better to start with Hip hop, house, then trance and then psy trance... I gotta figure how I am gonna do this...
Also, I think I am a fast learner. For 28 years I never had any experience in music (never took any classses) much less music production and I was able to learn trance music production and music theory in less than a year and produce the above songs... Wounded Sould got bashed, but what the heck, people NOT into trance like it alot! :-)
Next week I am buying my equipment and start the long and tedious practicing! :-)
You guys are great!
-Nektarios
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