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So I had my first big gig 2nite..
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| Basstard |
played from 8:30pm to 1:00am (i have only ever played 90 mins sets as the warmup)
i played the "funky house" room which held ~ 300 people. it started off a fecking NIGHTMARE. the mixer was broke, the monitor in the booth had a loose wire and kept cutting off, and the turntable's ground wire was severed so it was giving off a horrible hum.
i said to one of the other DJs who were playing that night and he was extremely helpful. he got me another mixer (DJM-500 which i hate but at least it worked!), another monitor and another 1210. from then on no more tech glitches!
not many people were dancing even tho i played a good and proper warmup. despite bein billed as a funky house nite i was still gettin requests for sugar babes and beyonce and much to the disappointment of the crowd i had no r'n'bollucks. so its reaching 11:00pm and theres maybe 20/300 people dancing. im PANICKING. its not that im playing crap or my mixing was crap - it was great. i played some great "commercial" choons like Mylo: Doctor Pressure, Lylo and Bushwacka: Love Story, Axwell: Feel The Vibe for example yet still no one was dancing. i also played alot of newer songs such as "Ian Carey: Say What You Want", and "Freeloaders: Watching" - very little interest. me PANICKING even more. however by 11:20pm my luck changed.
i didnt actually change my tactic or the flow of the set. i still played the same sort of stuff only as the night progressed i was getting more dancier. the place just erupted. 90% of the crowd were on the dancefloor going wild and loving it. they even booed when the sound techie hit the lights and turned off the music :)
i guess what i learned from my first full gig is that no matter how good the music you play, the crowd wont dance unless they have a bit of alki-hol in their system. so dont panic if it happens to you new guys! |
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| miamitranceman |
Haha, it's funny cuz as I was reading your post I was thinking..."eh, it's early, people aren't drunk enough"...and sure enough...! :toothless
Congrats on gettin through the first one! |
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| FuzzyChicken |
| So if people won't really dance if its too early or if they are too sober. What do you do as a DJ wile you 'wait' for the crowd? Do you play regular tracks and save the good tracks for later on when people dance? Do you just play normally? If you are the warmup DJ and you know most ppl wont dance that early, do you just do your thing? ... |
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| Omega_Blue |
| quote: | Originally posted by FuzzyChicken
So if people won't really dance if its too early or if they are too sober. What do you do as a DJ wile you 'wait' for the crowd? Do you play regular tracks and save the good tracks for later on when people dance? Do you just play normally? If you are the warmup DJ and you know most ppl wont dance that early, do you just do your thing? ... |
start drinking right when everyone else does, and by the time you're sloshed, so should everyone else. then throw out the big tunes :stongue:
sounds like you had a great night though, bass.. tard. |
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| stevieboy32808 |
| quote: | Originally posted by FuzzyChicken
So if people won't really dance if its too early or if they are too sober. What do you do as a DJ wile you 'wait' for the crowd? Do you play regular tracks and save the good tracks for later on when people dance? Do you just play normally? If you are the warmup DJ and you know most ppl wont dance that early, do you just do your thing? ... |
It's because people are too damn shy to go out on the dancefloor so they seek motivation through alcohol and soon enough their inhibitions are relieved and the feeling of shyness fades away.
By the way, congrats on your gig man!:toocool: |
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| aleksd |
| Well anytime you're spinning a house set and people are requesting "beyonce", you know you're in trouble ;) |
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| Freak |
Spiller-groovejet. Play the vocal version and i 100% guarantee you will get at least one bird on the dance floor.
Play to the women, then the blokes follow.
Try the mauve mix of Christina aguilera-Dirrty too.
there is an artform to warming up and getting a crowd-half of the fun when doing a full night. There comes a point when the mixing needs to be full of energy which translates onto the people and gets them to dance- combined with tracks with more energy it normally does the trick.
Any ****** can get people to dance with big tracks- the skill of a good warm up dj, or one opening the night up for himself later on, is to get people to dance without playing all the big current tunes- a skill sadly not very prevalent any more. |
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| dinoXpress |
| quote: | Originally posted by Freak
Spiller-groovejet. Play the vocal version and i 100% guarantee you will get at least one bird on the dance floor.
Play to the women, then the blokes follow.
Try the mauve mix of Christina aguilera-Dirrty too.
there is an artform to warming up and getting a crowd-half of the fun when doing a full night. There comes a point when the mixing needs to be full of energy which translates onto the people and gets them to dance- combined with tracks with more energy it normally does the trick.
Any ****** can get people to dance with big tracks- the skill of a good warm up dj, or one opening the night up for himself later on, is to get people to dance without playing all the big current tunes- a skill sadly not very prevalent any more. |
Yes. So true. Which is why i like to play for at least 3+ hours, that way i get the chance to build it and lay down new big tunes and some older stuff, and feel out the crowd and vibe of the night. |
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| Basstard |
i did play groovejet vocal - dancefloor empty - me BAFFLED lol.
no i just learnt to be patient with my set to be honest. after i played all the older commercial house tracks i tried playing a 100% tried and tested track that i KNOW the people love - Tom Novy: Your Body. maybe 5-6 danced for that and it was then i realised they aint gonna dance in a reasonable number until theyre at least nearly drunk. so i just played the waiting game. great night in the end tho! |
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| Nemesis44 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Freak
Spiller-groovejet. Play the vocal version and i 100% guarantee you will get at least one bird on the dance floor.
Play to the women, then the blokes follow.
Try the mauve mix of Christina aguilera-Dirrty too.
there is an artform to warming up and getting a crowd-half of the fun when doing a full night. There comes a point when the mixing needs to be full of energy which translates onto the people and gets them to dance- combined with tracks with more energy it normally does the trick.
Any ****** can get people to dance with big tracks- the skill of a good warm up dj, or one opening the night up for himself later on, is to get people to dance without playing all the big current tunes- a skill sadly not very prevalent any more. |
Touche'
Freak speaks the truth on all counts.
As I was reading this post, when you were naming tunes I didn't really see any girly pleasers amongst them. If you can get the women to dance you have won the battle. With alchohol environments it's always tough because people are not pist enough or if they are they run out of energy really quickly.
Also given the time slot you had, from 8:30 onwards it's a pretty hard time to get people into it. They haven't had a chance to go to that many bars and probably want that pre-club chat with their mates.
Even in a lot of clubs you wont see people put their foot on the dancefloor till about 11pm if they have even arrived at that time.
You will probably find that although you may not have played 100% like a warm up DJ might, if there is anything you can take away from this experience it's that sometimes people don't want to dance or are not ready and in those cases it wouldn't really matter who was spinning at the time.
Also remember, just because they are not dancing it doesn't mean they are not enjoying it. There are other little tell tale signs like foot tapping and head bobbing. If you have none of that then you don't have their attention.
Cheers
Nem |
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| Basstard |
| quote: | Originally posted by Nemesis44
You will probably find that although you may not have played 100% like a warm up DJ might, if there is anything you can take away from this experience it's that sometimes people don't want to dance or are not ready and in those cases it wouldn't really matter who was spinning at the time.
Also remember, just because they are not dancing it doesn't mean they are not enjoying it. There are other little tell tale signs like foot tapping and head bobbing. If you have none of that then you don't have their attention.
Cheers
Nem |
excellent points nem (and freak)
yea i noticed alot of foot tappin, head nodding etc so all the signs were there. eveng ot a few compliments on my mixin from a few of the blokes towards the end of the night. another thing i learned from the night was no matter how painfully gorgeous a girl is and no matter how flirty she is with you DO NOT i repeat DO NOT let her in the booth with you. the first thing they do is go "OH CAN I SCRATCH!?" and before you have a chance to open your mouth in disapproval shes rubbing the live record like its her *ahem* :haha: |
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| sirhiss |
| quote: | Originally posted by Basstard
excellent points nem (and freak)
yea i noticed alot of foot tappin, head nodding etc so all the signs were there. eveng ot a few compliments on my mixin from a few of the blokes towards the end of the night. another thing i learned from the night was no matter how painfully gorgeous a girl is and no matter how flirty she is with you DO NOT i repeat DO NOT let her in the booth with you. the first thing they do is go "OH CAN I SCRATCH!?" and before you have a chance to open your mouth in disapproval shes rubbing the live record like its her *ahem* :haha: |
+1
I know this to be true, but very often I find myself powerless to refuse the requests of gorgeous drunk girls.
My last gig I actually got persuaded to play whitney houston - dance with somebody. :crazy: |
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