So Saturday night was my first time playing live in front of a crowd on a "club" system.

I had the "bitch" slot from 9-10, then 2 of my friends were playing 10-1, and then Ben Lost was closing the night out from 1-close. This was at the Remote Lounge in downtown NYC.

Showed up at the club with the equipment we rented, at 8pm. Unloaded everything to the front doors and waited for the person to open up for us. She was late, showed up at 8:30, and the sound guy didnt show until almost 9. We set everything up and people started walking in around 9. I had a shot and a drink before my set.

By the time I put the needle on my first song it was 9:15. I was told not to stop at 10, and to play my full hour, which was cool.

Things started shaky. About a minute into my first song the TT's power cable came out of its socket. We taped it so it wouldnt disconnect again and it stayed put throughout the night. About midway into my second song as someone was connecting a hard drive recorder, we lost the stereo connection. We only had sound out of the left channel. Only one monitor was set-up for the booth and the volume on it got noticeably lower. The main sound system didnt seem to change though. This got me a little nervous during my second transition but all went smooth.

I decided to switch the mixer to mono to compensate for the right channel. It helped out since before that I was only getting sound from the left side of my headphones.

About 35-40 people showed up for my very early set. About 25 were friends of mine and the rest were through the grapevine. I was happy with the turnout. When I was originally asked if I wanted to spin that night I thought it was going to be a glorified version of spinning in my basement for my friends. I was definately wrong. Wierd feeling when people are paying a cover to hear you.

It seemed almost easier spining in that environment then in my basement. My monitor was so loud it made beatmatching a bit easier for me. Getting used to a new mixer was interesting, but I just payed attention to my levels and did not rely on knowing the mixer and where which knobs "should be" like on my home mixer.

The hour went very very very quickly. I know an hour sounds like a short time, but when I am recording in my basement, it seems to really feel like an hour, but at the club that night it felt like 10 minutes. Tops.

My mixing seemed to be on, and my transitions really felt like they went well. Even people who didnt know me were complimenting me on my set.

A big thank you to FREAK, as his recommendation for the Sony 7506s was awesome. You dont realize how good these are until you have a great set of monitors to compete with. I dont know how the night would have went with my old Sony V600s.

I thought I would have some nerves, but since we were rushing so much to get things set-up, I dont think I had a chance to sit and think about it and allow myself to get nervous. I had no nerves that night whatsoever. I was more nervous at 2 in the afternoon then I was when I started spinning.

Tracklist:

Stef Vroljik and Danny Howells - Phono Corona (16B Remix 1)
Deep Dish v. The Doors - Stormy Dance
Jerry Bonham - Sequence
Infusion - Love & Imitation (Original Mix)
Yes - Owner of a Lonely Heart (Max Graham Sidechain Remix)
NuFrequency - 808 (Dub Mix)
Seamus Haji - Ooh Ooh Ah (Dub Mix)
Roccomundo and O.N.N.O - The DJ Took Pills
Dirty Vegas - Walk Into The Sun (King Unique Sunstroke Vocal Mix)
Spektrum - Kinda New (Tiefschwarz Dub)
Quivver - Boz Boz (Shiloh's Just For Annie Remix)

11 tracks in an hour. I kinda knew what I was going to play before I showed (give or take a few tracks), although I really didnt practice that set in order. Playing breaks has always been a tough thing for me so closing out with a breaks song was a little test I put on myself.

Wierd thing is I practiced so damn much for it and it absolutely FLEW by.

After my set, my 2 friends tagteamed a great set for 3 hours, then Ben Lost came on and suprised me with a really dirty, funky ass house set. Closed the night with Young Parisians. Funny watching him spin a song with his vocal on it and then lipsync it.

Turnout for Ben Lost was suprisingly sparce. I think a lot had to do with the Winter Music Conference next week. Maybe everyone is saving their money, and energy. There was a bit of a buzz before the night, but people just didnt show like I thought they would.

All in all it was a pretty cool night. Good turnout for me. It was definately a different world going from my basement or my friends apartment to a booth set-up with a kickin' sound system. I played a couple of tracks to appeal to the crowd that I knew would be there. Evryone was very supportive, even people I didnt really know. Had some things thrown at me like the sound guy not showing, the TT losing power, and the right channel disappearing during my set, and I felt like I handled it well and adjusted to the situation as it happened.

I hope to get asked back again.

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www.myspace.com/joepapeo