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First Gig Sunday.. Nervous!

Hey guys.

I have my first gig on sunday for about 20ish people or so. I'm really nervous.. Any tips? I'm really afraid i'll suddenly forget how to beatmatch or take too long or fucking something up.. argh!

What tips do you all have for me?

if you can mix fine and can do it at home, dont worry you should have no problems. Beleive in yourself, smile when you are there, take a picture of the crowd (they love that ), plan out the first 3 or 4 songs just to get yourself in the groove.

I hope you wont have to spin far away from the speakers or are behind a wall. Delay sucks.

good luck

I agree with Dmatrox. My first gig I was nervous as hell. A crowd of around 200 in a rave. I was shaking a bit but then after the second mix, I was fine. This is really important. Practice the hell out of the first 2 mixes. Make sure you can do it in your sleep. Those first two mixes are there to boost your confidence and help you to understand it's all good. Understand that people are out to have fun. It's a positive vibe and you're helping them get their groove on. After that... just smile, and give them a show.

Represent TA.com!

quote:

Originally posted by Dmatrox I hope you wont have to spin far away from the speakers or are behind a wall. Delay sucks.

my tip for this is to try mixing by using only your headphones...
that is for the beatmatch... then fade like you usually do...

Yeah mixing in your phones is a good idea. I do that, but when i mix i use both headphones and speakers. I like to know how it sounds when the track is coming in Not having monitor speakers is kinda a bitch, which then means the people running the sound equipment are bitches too

Okay, well now i'm even more scared. It took me forever to get these two records right, normally i can do it in like 30 seconds.. But i almost ran out of track and the trans was horrible..

ugh these nerves No wonder I never liked acting

just chill and spin, don't worry about the crowd. They tend to be loving it if you seem like you love it. Good luck, and don't worry about messing up

dj nuclear

Hello Wozzek.

Just like most of us here, we've been in your shoes and I sure as hell know I was. I like Scottaculous' idea of practicing the first two or so tracks you 'know' you are going to play. Don't just practice them but know them inside out, even if it means knowing exactly in your head where the track starts, fades, transitions, whatever. Just so it's imprinted in your head and you will have that little bit of confidence built up.

Think of it this way, you probably wouldn't have the gig if you weren't that good anyway.

Everything will just fall into place. You may take half an hour or so to get comfortable but after that it will all just flow!

Good luck abd let everyone know how you went!

Michael

Thanks for the votes of confidence. After the other night where I couldn't mix -anything- I just spun a few records and I was feeling much better. I'm glad I didn't forget.
I think what really made me nervous was I promised the guy a really rockin party and I felt confident (over-confident) I could deliver because I had been doing REALLY REALLY well when spinning before. As soon as I realized what I had promised I completely lost my nerve, but i'm back now (ut oh.. so i think lol) I think i'll be good to go on Sunday... I'll let you all know how it goes


Me prays to the anti-trainwreck gods



Wozz

Take 3 hours on Sunday and practise a lot... that will definitely pump up your confidence and prepare the first few tunes .. like been said... most importnatly don't get drunk coz drunk + nervous = & trust me i've been there

lol. definately gotta agree. stay sober. besides that just have fun, relax and enjoy your set..don't make it a nightmare by second guessing yourself left n right..just do u n you'll do just fine. a lil word of advice..if u can set up even a lil cheezy monitoring system, it'd make things a bit easier. that always made me feel better cause of the delay from if the speakers are placed too far away from you..even lil powered computer speakers...doesn't matter as long as you can hear it. if i didn't know if a place would have monitors, i'd definately bring a lil something with me just in case. i don't like spinning in the headphones so this always helps to give me a lil confidence boost to know i'll at least be able to hear things somewhat allright no matter what.

dun worry too much about it dude . i actually just got back from my first major big gig (at a rave club with about 200 attending that grew to over 700 as the nite progressed) and if u'r anything like me, u probably worry/think too much. my advice is similar, know ur first few tracks inside and out, so when u stick the mix, u'r confidence will grow. the next thing u'll realize after that is, even when u do fuck up, (provided it's not a major goof) nobody will notice and u'll realize it's all goooood. so have a smoke/a SMALL drink/wuteva it takes to relax you, take it easy and get used to the system, then bang it out and show 'em how it's done!

g'luck!

(if anyone cared, my night was decent, nothing serious as i was the opening dj, but yea, i got some good contacts and hopefully will get some more gigs soon. )

I'm gonna go practice, I think i'm gonna start with some Voodoo & Serano .. the guy said he wanted a hard trance party

Tommorow! ut oh

quote:

Originally posted by Narcissus Take 3 hours on Sunday and practise a lot... that will definitely pump up your confidence and prepare the first few tunes .. like been said... most importnatly don't get drunk coz drunk + nervous = & trust me i've been there

yep,i've been there too.

i would suggest having a drink though, just ONE! or maybe two if thats what it takes, but definetely not more than that.

it will loosen you up a little, and the shakes will go away. be careful though, don't drink to much, if you are drunk you won't be able to mix at all.

one more tip, as was said, practice a bunch the day before.
plan your first and second tracks, but no more i would say.

find a bunch that are good with those ones, and practice with them, try to memorize the beginning and ends so you can mix them with ease.

then (here's the tip) JUST BRING THOSE RECORDS!

if you are gonna spin trance, there is no need to be digging through your bag sifting through a bunch of drum and bass, goa, breakbeat whatever else you got. and don't even bother bringing records you know you won't play, it's just more weight to carry, and more records to sift through in your set.

I was nervous as hell the first time I spun on Afterhours... but I did fine, and got a lot of compliments from the 20 or so ppl that listened Next show I got like 55 people listening in!!

Don't practice right up until you have to leave, though. I usually take a good couple hours to chill and listen to NON TRANCE before my sets. Usually this means chillout, hiphop, whatever. This takes my mind from mixing because I'm not analyzing someone else's mix while listening and getting all uptight at transition spots (ever noticed how that happens even when you're not mixing?).

Anyway, just chill and take it easy. Remember, the people are there to have fun WITH you. It's not a competition.

Hey Wozzek man I feel your nervousness too!! My first gig is August 6th and its fast approaching. Take the advice of the many good people of this board and just be yourself and tear it up. Their words of encouragement have helped me get a better hold on what I need to do when that night comes and my numbers up. Just teach em a lesson with your music!! Good luck!!

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