Ibiza Dreams,
First take what I say with a gran of salt as I am not one of the more experienced DJ on hear. I mix in the headphones a lot some things to note are, like Nem said, definitly make sure the sound is still coming out on the mains (and check it often). I talk my headphones off when I am in the mix but sometimes will put them back on if I need to change the pitch (this way you will usually catch something before the crowd does). What first threw me off when I was playing out was that the records sounding beatmatched in my headphones by the bass I was feeling in my feet was delayed to the point that it sounding ike they must be off. I had to just trust what the headphones were telling me and go with it and it turned out fine, just something to be aware of if it is your first time with a loud system.

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Hey guys, thanks for the advice, it really helps. I'm a little more confident from what you guys said, and I'll definitely take it into account if I do get this chance to spin at a club. Just gotta have faith in what the headphones tell me!

ID

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When I turn on my mixer, drop the needle, and put on my headphones... nothing else matters.

I am a DJ.

Nem kudos to you. Your posts give great adivce and shows your wisdom from your experience in djing. love reading them.

cheers

thanks for sharing... this has been of great help... i hope i get another chance to spin at a club of that kind of size soon...

im using the Sennheiser HD 25-SP dont know if that is considered as good enough for use in a club...

Anyway another QN: how do u all guys get used to the loud volume in the club which is abt a few times louder then that at home? blast the speakers of ur home to equal that of the club?

i think it makes me uncomfortable when mixing... my left ear with the head phones feels alright but the right ear monitoring the live sound feels a bit numb and pain...uncomfortable...

Last edited by ac dc on Feb-16-2004 at 11:00

i'd wear earplugs if you're feeling pain in your ears. any pain that you're feeling is coming from damage being done to you ears. once you lose it you'll never get the hearing back that you've lost.

quote:

Originally posted by failsafe i'd wear earplugs if you're feeling pain in your ears. any pain that you're feeling is coming from damage being done to you ears. once you lose it you'll never get the hearing back that you've lost.

Agreed, if you are getting pain or ringing in your ears then ear plugs are a very good idea. There are some sites that offer specially made plugs for DJs. I will try and dig a site or two that does. There is one in particular that's really good but just can't remember off hand.

Cheers
Nem

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www.hearingprotection.co.uk is one. Highly recommended. They supply a lot of top A list djs with plugs.

Getting used to club volume can take some time-its a totally different beast to mixing at home.

i have very, very, sensitive ears-i hate loud noise, from everthing to music to tv to radio- i like it at quite a low level, in fact, most people think its ridiculous how quiet i have music and stuff, and moan that they cant hear it properly when i can hear everything.
Im sure it has something to do with my tinnitus (have had it all my life and im sure its to do with constructive interference with the frequencies of it)

Whenever im in a club not working i will ALWAYS have my ear protection in- when im working its not as essential, as i have my headphones on at least 50% of the night and they are at a comfortable level, even though the main output may be loud. Most booths are quieter than the rest of the club anyway.
This is another reason i absolutely hate using the monitors to mix with one sided headphones- the sheer volume and the potential damage to my hearing.

Always found it strange that this is my profession and yet i hate loud noise-

oh man but the earplugs have to be custom made... impossible for me to fly over there and do one !!!

Are the ER20 good?
I've had my ear ringing a few times, and i can imagine what it would be like when i'll start playing out... my hearing is not that good, so i have to crank up the headphone volume a bit.

The ER20 are the only ones i can buy, because i live in portugal and can't make custom plugs. Anyone tried them?

As someone who is just starting to play out in clubs, I thought I should chip in on this thread.

My very first time playing in a club was a weird experience, for a few reasons. The biggest single thing is that you have to adapt to playing on a big system, and likely mixing somewhat differently than you would do at home in your bedroom. For example, I tried beatmatching with headphones on one ear while listening to monitor, and found that it didn't really work for me. Standing in a DJ booth with a pumpin' system was also a VERY weird experience the first time.

I've now spun in clubs three times locally, my most recent one being this past Sunday. I was very comfortable on Sunday, just really relaxed and got into things, and everything went really smoothly. I think that playing well in a club environment is definately an experience thing, but that's the same with pretty much anything in life - you generally don't rock at something the first time you try it.

My suggestion regarding the mixing part is to at least partially rely on what your bedroom DJing experience has taught you. For example, when I'm fading in a new track, I know that it generally sounds bad if both tracks have full bass running on EQ, so I adjust the knobs to compensate. I don't necessarily do so because I hear the bass ramping too high, I do it because I just know that you have to be careful with it (intuition/experience?).

The other thing I would suggest is adjusting your practicing at home to match what you are going to encounter in a club (if possible). For example, I used to use split cueing a great deal at home, but now I'm forcing myself to mix almost exclusively with stereo cueing (if that's the right term for it), because split cueing hasn't been an option on any of the club mixers I've used.

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quote:

Originally posted by RIP_Technics im fcukin panickin - im DJin 2nite in a competition and i've never played out before. Im pretty good in my bedroom, rarely mess up but i've just got a funny feelin about this... im gonna die 2nite

hey, how did you do for the competition?

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