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Problems I need to overcome...
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| Ministerio |
There some issues I have that I need to talk about.
1. I am just getting into promoting myself, as I'm realizing nothing will happen if I sit on my ass. So I visited a site with club listings in my city, and found a few good links (was looking for newly opened clubs mainly).
I bookmarked them, and have the email adresses and actual adresses of these clubs.
So what would you say I should do? I was thinking I could email each one, and ask if they're looking to hire, and wait for any positive replies, or should I just track down these adresses, and give the people my demo/promo cd?
2. However I'm afraid to promote myself. I hardly have experience. In all honesty I've played 3 small gigs in my lifetime. (Warm Ups- 1/1.5 hours each) I'm pretty hesitant to jump into a CLUB setting as opposed to the restaurant/lounge I played at, and be playing a MAIN set as opposed to a warm up set like up until now. Also, for the main set I know I'll have to play for multiple hours, and I don't know if I'll ever survive. (Most I ever spun at home or out, did not even exceed the 2 hour mark I think. Long story short, I'm basically hesitant/afraid to promote myself, because incase I do get picked up, I'll be jumping around and ting my pants. Or should I just bite the bullet?
3. I made a post about this earlier (quite a few weeks/months ago), but is it normal to become bored with the same old, same old, mix one track in, mix the other out - routine? I only have two decks, and I'm basically I little un.......amused, by just mixing back and forth. Is this normal? Does this mean I should just increase the spice factor and get a 3 deck/cdj? Or does that frankly mean I am not cut out for djing?(Although to be honest...when the music is good, then I am completely immersed in it and I do love music - when it's good)
Some things that are really taking a toll on my performance as of late (at home)... any advice? :) |
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| Rebel Brown |
If you do start promoting yourself and you gain some interest, clubs will ask you to do the warm up sets at first anyway, so you won't need to worry about that.
If you're getting bored, a 3rd deck/cdj is definately a good way of going round things, it opens up so many possibilities. You could get an effects unit to spice things up a bit, but I'd probably get a 3rd deck first. |
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| Spacey Orange |
| get more experience so that you feel more confident. |
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| Ministerio |
| quote: | Originally posted by Spacey Orange
get more experience so that you feel more confident. |
Experience meaning as in playing out, or at home?
Any more advice?...also should I email these places asking if they're hiring? |
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| Zild |
| Go check out all the venues in person. Then take note of the ones you like and keep going back. Hang out and talk to people and try to worm your way onto the decks. |
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| Spacey Orange |
| quote: | Originally posted by Ministerio
Experience meaning as in playing out, or at home?
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both. get smaller gigs until you feel comfortable enough for a larger venues. this will also make a name for yourself and begin to atract fans. if this goes well, you'll have some recognition, a fan base before you try to get a residency (and the club will have some potential customers too).
try to think about it from the club owner's point of view. if you were him, upon what would you base your decision? |
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| spdandpwr |
Don't be in a hurry to promote yourself at the club level. Do a couple of weeks of house parties to get rid of that nervous feeling you might have when you mix at an event. I know i got nervous mixing my first couple of events, everytime i would put the needle down you would hear it scratch the record cause of my trembling hand. But now i have done so many house parties in one semester of school that i know what to do when stuff goes wrong and i have better track selection. Playing out to a club audience is no thing once you've done parties and stuff. Also at parties, people are more likely to request songs so take note of requests as they are the tracks to be played, unless they request dj sammy :nervous:. BTW It's also i boost of confidence when people who are sober come up to you at a party and say that you were good.
Long story short, play out a little more at smaller stuff and perhaps at bars or restaurants and then hit the big dogs, the clubs. |
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| Nemesis44 |
Hey there Ministerio,
First up, how long have you actually been spinning?
1.
Usually it's not worth the time to contact clubs via e-mail. The chances are that the wrong person will receive the mail anyway as the people who work with the DJs aren't usually available to contact that way not to mention that they may get 100's of people doing the same as you. Getting work as a DJ is very much a case of getting your face known to them. If they don't have a face or a production to the name you may as well forget that method.
You need to go there and most likely just one demo will not be enough. You may have to give them countless demos to remind them of your existance. But don't limit yourself to just promoters. Take a bunch of them with you especially if you go to a club night. Give CDs to DJs and people you meet on the dancefloor too.
You never know where your demo can end up.
2.
The nerves, well they go with time. You can play any amount of gigs at house parties but nothing will prepare you for a 1000 + capacity club.
I know that in my own mind I used to have a particular way of viewing this and to used eye contact to help myself.
As I step up behind the decks I will see if anyone has noticed that I'm there even before I have mixed and essentially have a little flirt with a couple of girlies. Just smile and look at peace. Then for the first mix or two imagine that you are just playing for those girls and them alone.
Once you you are more confident with things like reading the crowd then you will be able to get into it more automatically. I have played quite a few 2000+ clubs in my time and at first it was nerve wracking but you get used to it and eventually you will get to a state where you wouldn't bat an eyelid over this. I still get excited over gigs but not nervous, and it becomes a more constructive feeling. People will also pick up on your confidence and it will feed the dancefloor.
In terms of the technical side of things, sure playing house parties will get you used to playing infront of people but will do precious little to help you play on a club system. First time you get a big gig be sure to have some good headphones or you will be totally screwed.
Also house parties tend to have lesser soundsystems than clubs so the sound can be a little bit overwhelming. What can be a little tricky is the sound level in the club. You will most likely feel the bass from the dance floor on your body (depending on quality of booth) and the monitor may initially be louder than what you are comfortable with.
It is advisable to start playing longer sessions at home as a lot of young DJs that are just getting started tend to start out strong in their sets but run out of steam as they haven't played that amount of time and have blown all their good records at the beginning. So set construction comes into it a lot.
The rules change massively when you play infront of people but don't be alarmed by this as there is a learning curve for everyone and to be honest there are big name DJs who know F*** all about it.
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There are plenty of things you could be doing both in the way of tricks and just plain mixing.
There is a sticky thread on tricks but some of them are a little obvious. Check that out first otherwise send me a PM and we can discuss that more.
Whilst it sounds boring do still spend time mixing back to back records. People that start out tend to have a higher opinion of it than it's worth. It's down to how your hear things and the more trained to hear mixes you become, the more mistakes will stand out and you will look back at demos made a year ago and think... Woooaaah that sucked, and to think I thought it was awesome then.
Rather than getting a third turntable I would get a CDJ, it will broaden your skill set and should still give you the chance to do what you would do with three decks.
Harmonic mixing will change the way you look at DJing if you don't do it already. You can't compare a set with and without. It's about as important as beat matching in my opinion (although stated in another thread by another, can't remember which). A simple musical understanding goes a long way to learning what works on the dance floor and starts to put your skills on another level. It also will make your beat matching easier.
There's a bit to think about, let me know if you have any questions.
Cheers
Nem |
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| Inertia |
ok. Nem said it pretty well, but let me reiterate/add a few things:
a) SPIN LONGER SETS AT HOME. really. i'm not kidding, knock out a 6 hour session just for the joy of it when you can. it will train you a lot. i'd advise at least doing it once or twice.
b) go out to clubs. a lot. make yor face a regular in the scene. then, make friends. best way to get into anything. make friends with the promoters, DJs, or anyone who is cool and into the scene. most people in a scene know eachother, so it's basically just meeting one of them and it's a stepping stone in. even throw a couple of parties yourself and invite these people once you're friends enough. be prepared to dazzle them when you're behind the decks, so do this once you're confident you can take it to the next level.
c) get to know as much equipment as you can. this goes basically for mixers and CD decks. turntables, well, Technics is the standard, and most any or every club will have 'em. seeing if you can poke at some Numark TTX-1s, the big Vestax model or Stanton ST-150s isn't a bad idea though. then, mixers. go everywhere from a Pioner DJM-600 to a Rane MP2016 Rotary without any addons. this means, cover your ground on Pioneer, Allen & Heath, Stanton, Rane, Denon, Ecler, and go at it on a mixer like a Behringher just so you know how it is and how to handle its ness. then, CD decks. inside the Pioner brand, try to get to know each. sure, they look alike, but the jogwheels on an 800, 1000 and 1000Mk2 are all different. also check out Denon decks, the Numarks, and even the Technics. make sure you can at least beatmatch decently on each (shouldn't be a problem, as long as they're not in the 0.1% increment range). this will help you feel more confident, as you'll feel ready for anything any setup can throw at you. |
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| Joost |
In in a same sort of situation. I spin tunes just for fun, and I have never had a real gig until now.
But at NYE I was spinnin somewhere down the street just for fun (wasn't planned or anything), and 2 guys asked me if I wanted to join them in organising club nights and everything... I mean I can spin a few records, but I started just 2 months ago :P |
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| Ministerio |
Wow thanks all for the useful advice! :p
I will do everything you guys mentioned, and maybe learn to be a little more patient.
I've been spinning (meaning when I bought my first turntables) for almost 2 years now. |
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| Tony Morello |
yeah, you need to become a staple in your scene
you need to know everyone and everyone needs to know you
it's to the point where essentially my core group of friends IS the underground electronic music scene here |
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