I'm just curious to hear some stories about everyone's first time that they ever mixed live in front of people - be it at a club, a party, etc. How did things go, what sort of a set did you play? How long did you play? All the good stuff (and bad, too, for that matter).

I'm just really curious because I'm just starting to get into DJing, and my first gig is going to be at a "rave" in August. Its being put on by a friend of mine, so my connections got me on the lineup I'm not embarrassed to say that I am VERY nervous about it, too. As of right now, we are expecting there to be anywhere between 300-500 people. Definately a whole lot more than the one or two I'm used to in my apartment! LoL

So, let's hear it folks. Share the live experiences with a rookie

well i thought id offer some input even though ive only played at house parties so far!!

all i can say is, resist the temptation to play tune after tune, thats what i did (even without meaning to) and even tho it seemed to go down well, it probably wasnt the best idea. house parties are a lot different from raves though so keep that in mind. you will probably have an opportunity to build up the crowd and you wont get annoyed with constant requests like i was!

good luck!

sooo much fun, soooo many girls

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When you start to criticize the times you live in, your time is over. ~Karl Lagerfeld

Well, my first time at a club i forgot i had a monitor..
So i did some miss matches.
But, i was a nice set of 2 hours starting with lounge. ending with hardtrance/hardhouse..
With many girls.. :P

Ive been on the radio and in some house party ....


but my first performance in a rave will be next saturday ( mai 24) !


and im producing this party too..


I hope alll gonna be all right

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I've done a radio show for a year now but played out for the first time last week. It's hard to give advice becuase it's just so different, especially the sound. All I'd say is make sure you have a mix before you go to the club just to get you in the mindset, get there in plenty of time. Also know a few transitions you can fall back on if things start going badly.

Good luck.

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Meh

first time i spun out was amazing even though there was only like 20 ppl left at the party. I mess up my first mix but after that everything went perfect and i tore it up.

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First time at a club was at plastic in Sydney. It showed me that you really do need a hi end set of cans to mix in a club. I couldn't hear jack through the HD-200s, so i bought some hd-25s. It was much easier to mix on a big system as well. I had a ball but using a mixer i'd never used before in the dark was a little challenging.... "where the fuck is my cue button!!!!! "

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quote:

Originally posted by hey cheggy It showed me that you really do need a hi end set of cans to mix in a club. I couldn't hear jack through the HD-200s, so i bought some hd-25s.

Yeah I'll second that. I checked out the venue the week before I played and upgraded from HD200s to pionner hdj1000S the next day.

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Meh

my first time was about a month ago, i played at a smallish lounge in the middle of town.. they dont generally get a very big turn out there, its more of a place to start the night with a few drinks then move onto a larger club/pub.
i had played house parties n things before.. but never in an actual club enviroment before.

they usually play prog/house there so i dumbed my set down a bit to start off with playing a bit of prog trance then slowly worked it into epic. had alot of people coming up asking what tunes were and had a fair few people dancing

overall i was impressed with myself, i was fluttery getting up there.. shakey hands n all but after a few mixes and several scotch n cokes later.. i settled in and relaxed lots..

all my mates were there to watch me, everyone was mighty impressed with my improvements since last time and hearing them say it was a huge confidence booster!

few minor problems i had to overcome was their placement for the monitor.. i had always practised with the monitor on the right of me and headphone on my left ear.. when i got there they only had the one monitor on the left side.. wasnt a major problem but took a bit getting use to it, kept flicking my headphones off on the right ear instead of left hehe
and they had tech 1200's in flight cases which was very cramped and had me accidentally flicking the power switch off whilst cueing quite alot.. very annoying!


anyway i look forward to my next public appearance... next one i know for sure is in late august at a much much much larger event

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I knew it... im surrounded by assholes!

Last edited by Lanithium on May-18-2003 at 10:15

quote:

Originally posted by Ghostface I've done a radio show for a year now but played out for the first time last week. It's hard to give advice becuase it's just so different, especially the sound. All I'd say is make sure you have a mix before you go to the club just to get you in the mindset, get there in plenty of time. Also know a few transitions you can fall back on if things start going badly. Good luck.

i found mixing before hand was a bad thing for me.. i kept messing up and had me very frustrated which didnt help me get in the right frame of mind.. but maybe that's just me

however having the first couple of mixes planned was a big help!

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http://www.lanithium.com/

I knew it... im surrounded by assholes!

Well the first time i spun out was bout 3 months after i started sooo i was realy new at the time i was playing hard trance........cuzz i wasnt sure how the croud would react to progressive stuff and my break mixing wasnt up to par(yet). I didnt plan anything i just played about 4-5min of each of the tunes i was mixing sooo not to bore the croud(all 80 of them) i just played the hardest and the best tunes i had..... well all went well i was the best dj of the night allthought my mixing was fucked in a few spots but the crowd enjoyed the music sooo i earned my self a 3hr gig every sunday at the club from 11pm till 2am. and on some nights when other djs didnt show i got to do 5hr sets..... it realy showed me a lot because i had to mix on the shittiest mixer......the gaines and meters were broken sooo the only way to tell if my channels were equal was to listen(realy sucked).....after about 5months of that i quit because i wasnt getting paid enough...... and as of lately ive been on a hiatus spinning from time to time in my friends spot...cept on the 30th of this month i got a gig at club Liquid(which is prolly the biggest club in palm beach) and ill be doing a 4hr set of my music tech-house/prog/breaks........should be realy good.. I also think liquid is a chain club but im not sure there may be one in cancun and miami....again dont quote me on that.

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