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1st club gig friday night.. any advice??
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| hapamoto |
| ok.. well basically i'm spinning at a rave thats gonna be held at this club in my city.. i'm feeling absolutely no pressure because the event will be a bunch of local dj's, no headliners so at least i'm not gonna be put up against any bigtime professionals.. anyhow, i've done about a million and a half parties but all are like houses, apartments.. backyards.. etc, but never in the actual club atmosphere.. now i know each club will have its own list of negatives but i just want to get a feel for what to expect from the sound. i guess since its a club it has a good sound system.. i had spun a couple times at this coffee shop place where we set up the decks in thhis loft w/ the speakers basically not anywhere near us dj's (no monitors since it was our own gear) and that sucked.. but a friend that has mixed there before told me that the monitors are basically about 6" away from u in the booth and that 1 monitor has entirely too much treble and the other is just overwhelming bass.. bah oh well, can't rely on the beat im hearing because by the time the sound bounces back to me, it will be out of sync to mix w/.. anyway i'm just tripping because i don't know what to expect, i know that i will do fine, my biggest concern is that i'm gonna get frustrated w/ a sound setup that i haven't worked w/ and that i might not put on the best performance for the crowd that i'm capable of.. gotta represent ya kno! |
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| hey cheggy |
Okay, the main advantage of working on a large sound system is that it can hide your errors. You can get a way with more on a large system.
With monitors, this will erradicate any problems with the speakers being out of sync with your headphones. The problem that comes with having big ass monitors rammed in your face is the volume. It can be very hard to hear anything in your phones if you don't have a good pair. I remember trying to play at a club with this scenario, and through a pair of senny's hd-200s, I could hardly hear a thing.
Finally, have a drink or something before you go on, cos having gittery hands can be common for your first time in fron of a crowd, and can really make it hard on you. If you do get this, don't worry, it normally goes away after the first or second mix.
Finally have fun and enjoy yourself, it makes it a lot better than if you spend the whole time freakion out |
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| DJ Xtronic |
| Yea, I noticed when you are buzzed from a few drinks, it really makes you mix better, seriously |
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| hapamoto |
| i actually have to disagree w/ you guys on the drinks part.. this is not my first time in front of a crowd, i've spun in front of big crowds before at college parties and frat parties and whatnot.. so i'm not afraid of that.. of course you'll always be nervous but i'm actually looking forward to this because i'm gonna be spinning to people that are there for the music.. spinning at regular parties sucks when you are asked to play hip hop every 5 mins.. anyhow getting back to the drinks, my hands are more shakey when im buzzed or high.. i guess its just me personally because every other dj in my dj crew spins better ed up, but i think that drinks/drugs impairs my abilities.. i'm more at one w/ the music sober.. for example, i don't even get ed up when i go to watch good dj's because i let the music create my "buzz" if u wanna put it that way.. in other words, i don't need to loosen up because then i just get lazy and beatmatching and cueing gets sloopy for me.. dj's think i'm weird like that but what works for me may not work for you... but yah.. thanks for the advice, i think the monitors being jammed up my ass are gonna be the biggest problem.. but i can't wait to hear my stuff booming out of some phat system! |
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| Kid Lax |
the only problem i have when spinning in a club is hte ing monitors
its such a huge jump from spinning at home where you can hear every sound from your speakers...because you don't have them that loud
but at a club you have the monitors pounding and they're right near you...so not all the sounds are well defined (because you're so close to the monitor speakers), and likewise you sometimes can't tell if you're trainwrecking or not because you're just assuming where the kickdrum/cymbols should be
naturally you would think to just turn down the monitors a little bit...but not all clubs have the monitors set up from the booth jack on the mixer...it may be straight from the amp, or god knows how they set it up
i tend to have this problem when playing in a small confined room (the sound from the monitors being muffled and clustered) |
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| DJ_Shockwav |
what you do then, is kick everyone outta the house, then inform your neighbors that you are going to be playing really loud music, then crank up your system to almost overload and spin away
that way you can get used to the loud environment and it won't be such a shock to you
that's what i did before i played my first club gig |
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| X-Multiply |
| I'm with DJ Xtronic, get a good drink in you because a little buzz does you well. My first club gig was over a month ago now and I had 2 beers before I went on. I was nervous at first but then its like something else takes over and you do what you have to do. You'll be fine and after its all over, you'll be freakin for your next gig! |
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| Alccode |
i have to agree with hapamoto!
my performance decreases the less sober i am.. i have to be 100% sober to spin properly... one or two drinks are ok, but getting drunk is a nono..
same with getting high.. i find that i can distinguish the sounds better (sensory enhancement), but i just can't beatmatch.. it's as if i forget how to do it, even though i hear it all perfectly.. :)
anyway hap, congratz!!! you'll do fine, as long as you're confident (which it seems like, from your comments). |
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| hapamoto |
| thnx alccode.. man at least some1's w/ me on the being sober part.. don't get me wrong, i love drinking and watnot.. i just see it in a different light because i used to be an addict (and not a tranceaddict) which i overcame but thats not the reason i don't get ed up before spinning, its really cos i know that kinda impairs me.. and if im nervous before gigs i'm pretty good at talking myself outta being nervous so i don't really get nervous until about 5mins before i go on.. then i get all anxious but it goes away the moment i drop the needle cos i really just get in my own little world and im used to having crappy sound cos we spin at houses and crank the speakers but no monitors.. my only experience w/ monitors was i spun at this show at my school and there was actually a lot of power cos they had a grip of speaker cabs and watnot but it was outdoors so i didn't catch much of an echo.. and the monitors weren't in my face. but loud enough to give me the sound i couldn't hear from the speakers.. but basically my friend (who has spun once at this club) said that the dj booth is really in small, barely enough to fit the TT's and the monitors are probably as close to ur face as the computer screen ur reading this post on.. |
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| hey cheggy |
Hey man, I didn't mean get drunk, I just meant have 1 drink before you go on if you are nervous, but if you've played out before, then you should be fine.
I think it's best to be straight when playing out as well. While it might sound great if you're drunk or off your face, well, everything sounds good when your peakin and i fail to see how mixing drunk could be beneficial. |
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| hapamoto |
hello all.. well i just want to thank everyone for ur advice.. and everything i said about not being nervous can be thrown out the window. i actually was really calm the whole time just talking to the other dj's waiting for my turn, i guess i was just being confident because i felt that my skills were better than the dj's i saw go on before me.. bah!! everything is going cool, the dj ahead of me was spinning hardcore (weird cos it was on the mainfloor, which worked to my advantage cos i knew ppl would like my music better anyway) and so he just asked that i let his record play through which i did.. and i opened w/ airheadz - stanley and basically i just did a power off on his record (which was goin' at like 180bpm and i didn't want to mix my song that fast, don't even think i could get it up there anyway w/o using a pitch adjuster on the mixer but that.. and so i opened cool by letting the song play at the slow "stanley here i am" part of the song.. crowd is jumping and so now its time to get another record.. and man its ing loud as , the monitor to my left is about 200% treble deafening me.. that was the worste.. and then my headphones (sony v6) couldn't handle the power so they were just farting in my ears, if i turned them low enough to hear a clean sound, i couldn't make it out cos of the stupid monitor (which kept cutting out anyways) so basically i was dealing w/ crap. i only got to spin for like 25mins cos the whole show was way unorganized but to make a long story short, i only had one trainwreck which i disguised easily and got out of the mix quick and the audience didn't even seem to notice.. it wasn't really a trainwreck but i just had the beats not cued up right (the second track beat 1 was lined up w/ the live track's beat 2.. so basically u hear a snair hit on each beat).. like u guys said and this was really different from any house party or outdoor event i've mixed at, and that is the way the bass bounces back at you.. at first i was trying to line up a beat in my headphone w/ what i could hear from outside (not the treble monitor) and i would just have the non-live track anticipate the beat i was hearing.. in other words, i had the beatmatched, but i just tried to compensate for the echo and have the non-live track actually about a fraction of a count ahead of the beat (assuming this would actually be lined up), well this didn't work cos i couldn't tell if the beat im hearing from the live track is bouncing off a wall at the back of the club, or comeing from speakers that point at the dj booth but their more in the middle hanging from the clubs ceiling (the dj booth was elevated) so i just resorted to listening only to the mids and highs (snair hits and cymbals) to beatmatch.. i usually use the bass to beatmatch and then use the highs to get in sync.. but ya know how time flies when ur mixing at home or practicing.. that 25 mins flew by in no time.. i really wish i could have spun for an hour because i was just getting used to the clubs system and was getting comfortable w/ it.. but whatevers.. i was asked to spin again next friday so i guess it went well.. the other dj's liked my set and when i went down to the dancefloor i got so many compliments.. so yup, i was cloudwalking tonight! i'd say the worste thing was that i was so confident (not nervous) setting up that when it came time to do my first mix and realized that everything wasn't working they way i thought it would, i friggin' panicked.. soo much that my hands were all shakey and i couldn't even drop the needle where i wanted too.. i actually really probably could have used a beer or two to loosen up a bit.. but now that i know what to expect, i will be much more relaxed in that situation next time.
it sucked that my set was so short cos i didn't even drop any bomb tunes, i was still just going w/ the flow, but that just means i'll drop some better tunes next time hehehe.. this is what i played (i think, not really sure but i usually put recs in the front of my case after i play them):
airheadz - stanley [hear i am] (original stanley's in a trance mix)
vac-scene - out of sight (original mix)
jurgen vries - the theme (dumonde remix)
dj bismark - triplet (paranoxia mix)
marco v - the mutalisk
the freak - addictive
*warrior - if you want me* <--don't remember playing this but it was in between marco v and the freak so i might have, but i remember grabbing the freak after marco v so this record might have just ended up at the front of my case by accident or i may have just shown it to one of the dj's..
dang.. thats all i mixed?? i only got off 6 songs.. well thats seems about right for 25mins.. oh, the only other major event of the night was the big rumble outside.. about 50 ppl just scrapping out in the smoking patio and it got crazy.. they started throwing chairs and .. my friend got hit in the face w/ a chair, but it was reallythrown at someone else and after hitting him in the head, the leg of the chair bounced off him and hit my friend in the cheekbone.. stupid s! y do they gotta come ruin a party.., actually the party continued after security broke it up and throw about 30 ppl out of the club.. overall, it was fun.. and i suggest all of you how haven't done a club/rave gig, try to get a gig at a club/rave.. its way better than doing house parties.. this was small..i'd say maybe not even 400 ppl, i've spun at parties of 2000 before but i'll take this anyday over a house or school party, cos u don't have ppl asking u to play hiphop every 5 mins! thanks again to everyone who gave advice and im sorry this is so loooonngg.. i'm just excited!!!!! |
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| Busy Child |
I didnt really read the whole long post but whatever you do, dont have sex while djing. The only person ive heard of being able to do this is tiesto and all he did was plop records down with minimal mixing.
But then again, sex while djing is the ultimate rush. . . . i think. |
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