Fellow TAs, next week I'm gonna have my first chance to play in front of a live crowd! Just thought I'd share with you I feel it's an important milestone, regardless of the outcome.

Thus far my only experience has been in my basement, and with my own gear (the shitty 2xNumark-1520, which taught me to have "soft hands") and a pretty simple mixer (Gemini). They've got Technics at the club, of course, and a 3-vol-slider mixer with Master volume.

The guy who I contacted about the party is the main DJ, and he said, "Honestly, if this is your first time in public, you're gonna fuck up. But I realize the importance of giving young amateurs the opportunity to play, at least for a few minutes, in a live setting for the first time, because I know this is important to them." So, he's giving me this opportunity. He said, "Bring a few records, a few friends to cheer you up, and be prepared to drop some tracks." So this is, hopefully, what I'm gonna do next week

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Good luck man. I've been there. Just rememebr you are goign to be nervouse. You are goign to have to take a piss 50 times before you get on. You will have shaky hands and you will mess up at least one transition. Try to bring some hard ouse style tracks as they are easy to bang in with just the bass of one track. Then slam it to the other sides bass with all the highs on. It'll help you get intot he more trancy stuff where you have to worry about phase mixing.

Just know that you will get all the nervouse feelings and that they are normal. People will see you shaking as you try to put the needle on the record so they won't give you a hard time. Just dont let a train wrek go for long, fix that shit on th fly.

quote:

Originally posted by DJ-Kuza Just dont let a train wrek go for long, fix that shit on th fly.

Exactly. This guy also told me, "Correcting your mistakes quickly is often more important than simply knowing how to beat-match."

I must say I'm really grateful to him for giving me the opportunity, he'll probably be "spotting" me the first few minutes in case something goes wrong

I have some great tracks that I hope will please the crowd, and they're relatively easy to mix, too. So I'll bring those. I'm thinking of Peran - Good Time, Apollo - Dance, E-Wok - Go Back.

Then, if all goes well (I hope), I will attempt some more "daring" tunes and transitions...

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hehe.. i spent about 2 hours spinning on 1520's and a numark mixer at a friends house last night, and it was my first real attempt at mixing on anything but technics. he even had an oldass numark mixer to make it feel hella low-end.. lol.. but it worked.

try to get a little time on the 1200's before the show, just to get the feel.. they are so radically different from the 1520's your used to it's not even funny. the pitch is all sensitive and accurate, etc etc.. you really have to bang on techs compared to 1520's. even just 10 min to get used to the feel before going live would probably really help.

the crowd could actually work more to your advantage, if they dont make you nervous, it's always more fun playing for people rather than your own ears...

if you are used to spinning after a brew or two, have one before your gig, can really help relax you...

regardless, the most important advise i can give for the first time going live is this:
dont overdo yourself: concentrate on each move you make, be methodical.. dont try to pull off too many funky moves... keep the risk low and you'll keep your confidence high.

maybe start off with a few tracks you know reallllyyy well?? maybe a few of those old classics that really moved you when you first started spinning ? those are usually crowd pleasers anyhow...

good luck!!!!

Meridian, thanks for your tips. So, just how hard will it be for me to move to Techs? You could say I've never had any experience with Technics before. What do you mean when you say, "You'll have to bang on the Techs"? I thought better decks meant easier mixing.

With my Numarks, of course, I hold the record by the edge only ('cause the platter will stop if you press too hard! ), I give it a slight push when I start it up 'cause the torque leaves a lot to be desired...

But, I must tell you, I've gotten used to these (admittedly crappy) decks, and I even released a demo CD recorded with them! That's the demo that I gave to that guy, who agreed to let me have a slot at the club next week.

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Also, should I bring my own headphones?
I'd really like to, because I *know* they're better than what those guys have at the club.

I have the quality Sony MDR-V6, recommended to me by experts on this forum like Gluegun. They're pretty good at blocking out the noise, and they're much better than the other popular Sony headphones that a lot of DJ's use. And I'm pretty sure they're using some popular Sony 800 (or whatever it is) model.

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You should try not touching the record at all on techs. But if you do just use your finger lightly near the middle.

Oh and don't kiss this guys ass too much, he'll see it. Just be cool and thank him for ginging you a chance.

Always bring your own. No one likes having other people use their headset.

thanks guys, I'll be practicing all week

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well, by 'bang them around' i mean you'll have to push them a bit more, be a more physical and less gentle. the 1520's you have to baby, technics you have to push around with a vengenance. thats why they are so fun though

the 1520's actually are usable, i got used to them quick. still blah and horrible to deal with, but once you get the hang they are useable.

the 1520's, when you push the record, it speeds up pretty quick and tends to keep going, easy to overcorrect.. with techs you'll have to push it harder to get the same amonut of movement... heavier platter, motor does more work - and if you adjust (slow down) the speed by moving your fingers over the dots on the side of the platter, you'll have to apply much more pressure on the tech's platter to overcome the torque. if you touch the 1520's dots hard, it'll almost stop.. if you do this to a 1200, it'll slow down a little and come right back to speed. basically, the 1200's are TOTALLY less touchy when it comes to hand movemovement on the record/platter, and you have to 'interact' with the physics more to get the result you want.

the techs ARE easier to spin on... by farrrrrrrrr. if you are used to them. the pitch is real sensitive though. one trick with the techs, is once you get closely matched, let it play in the phones 32 or more beats, see if it's ahead of behind, then nudge the pitch slider with the tip of your finger up or down (tiny small correction).

techs (at least the ones i've spun on) seem to get a little funky around zero pitch, say plus/minus 1 (gets real sensitive) and above +6 they drift more... i usually try to spin about plus (or minus, but i like fast) 2 or 3, seems like the place were they are most stable.

definitly try to match on the pitch... it's the way to go with technics, but it takes getting used to... but hand corrections take even more getting used to.

you wont have to use the single finger on the side of the record to cue like you do on the 1520's.. there is enough torque you can scratch the first beat in the headphones, throw it down, make a quick adjustment and start the mix. much easier...

you'll get used to them

quote:

Originally posted by MERiDiAN5i2 definitly try to match on the pitch... it's the way to go with technics, but it takes getting used to... but hand corrections take even more getting used to.

Really?
I'm familiar with matching using the pitch control, in fact I've tried it several times, but it seems that most DJ's (and most DJ's use Technics, of course!) use their hands as well... from what I've seen, at least.

For me, using hands to correct is pretty easy, maybe it's because I'm using these 1520's, but nothing fancy and it gets the job done...

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quote:

Originally posted by Eugene For me, using hands to correct is pretty easy, maybe it's because I'm using these 1520's, but nothing fancy and it gets the job done...

Try to get used to just using the pitch to make corrections, touching the record is bad imo

anyway good luck, you never forget your first gig

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