40+ year old DJ… first gig… any advice?

The Lounge General Discussion
#1

This is following up from a thread I started a while back about approaching music-making with the mentality of ‘when I play it live’ but not actually playing live…

I’ll insert that thread shortly for those interested.

Anyway, I’ve agreed to take on a Saturday night DJing gig in a local hotel bar.

I’ve never done a DJ gig before (all gigging experience has been in bands) but, so far, I’ve got my hands on some basic Traktor controllers (an X1 and S2) and Traktor Pro 3, and a Beatsource 30 day trial… so far it’s going well, and most importantly it’s fun.

I decided to do this as a way of just getting back in front of people, and I like the idea of gauging the room/mood and playing to it… and my intention is to develop some skills/experience that I can transfer to gigging my own music again in the future.

I’m curious to know how many gigging DJ’s we have here that do regular DJ gigs and then gig their own music too?

I’m anticipating some nerves, but right now feel quietly confident and excited about it…

Any advice for a newbie DJ?

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Why am I so mindful of performing live when I haven't done a gig in years!?
#2

This is the thread that set me on the path to taking this DJ gig;

#3

first of all, props for doing it. stay safe; keep yourself healthy.

my only advice is go to the bathroom before going on. mostly kidding, but it is a practical concern.

my experience DJing was way back before DJ controllers existed. it was mostly college radio shows playing records and cds but sometimes parties. if people are there, read the room, work a theme, change up the energy when it makes sense. you’ll get a feel for all that, though i have no idea what type of crowds you’ll get during a pandemic.

either way, it sounds fun. good luck!

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#4

I used to dj 2 to 4 times a week and was my main income. Now I have a residency but only play once or twice a month. It’s my favourite venue and I don’t really bother djing anywhere else. Partly because I don’t want to take gigs unless I really like them but also because nobody books me much any more lol

There are loads of types of gigs and types of djs so depends which you want to be or why you’re booked.

My advice is love it and have confidence in what you do. Dont try and fake it or blag playing stuff you don’t like or know. Find a balance between playing what you want and what works with the crowd, that’s a skill.

I would drop my own tracks, edits and remixes along tracks they work with. They never get the same reaction unless it’s an edit or something people recognise but I’m cool with that. Back when I djed on cdjs I’d always give anyone who asked about a track of mine a copy. Anyone asks now I tell them to message me on Facebook and I’ll send links. Happens rarely though :grinning:

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#5

No joke, I did think this… I’ve already been figuring out ‘toilet break’ tracks… :smile:

I like the idea of playing vinyl too, but one step at a time… I have an Allen & Heath Xone 96 as my main studio mixer these days, and it sounds great playing tracks from Traktor through it, but there’s no way I’m taking that out with me… but, it would make more sense with vinyl if I got to that point.

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#6

I’ve never done it properly but.

Check you tracks work offline in traktor
Figure out what’s suitable for when you playing … are people likely to be warming up , up for some techno , wanting to chill out.

And I guess have a few classics
Good luck , I hope to do my 1st gig this year.

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#7

Some great advice already, but I found get to know your bpm helpful - by ear. Warm up and save uptempo for appropriate time. DJing is so much longer (and solo) to band work.
Favorite above advice- read crowd, feel and trust instinct.
Also don’t worry when dance floor empties for bar or loo breaks.
Good luck,
Is it a regular or one off?

#8

reminds me of my college first radio show shift. it was on a saturday afternoon at a school where most people left for the weekends. nobody was in the campus center. the people after me didn’t show up, and i had to pee. i didn’t have a key and didn’t want to leave the door open to have someone come in and swipe stuff on my first shift. i may have used a trash barrel, but that’s between us. let this be a cautionary tale.

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#9

I’m not a DJ, so i’ll just say : Enjoy.

#10

All my favorite DJ mixes may have been made with the urgency of really having to poop…

So if I want to be a great DJ, then I’ll need a lot of roughage?

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#11

imagine what all the jumping around on stage does to your digestive tract. urgency is the name of the game.

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#13

Make sure you do that special move where you look skyward and do jazz hands so they know you’re really doing something and not just hitting play on a pre-recorded mix.

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#15

Do not over think it, relax, enjoy yourself, have fun. That’s pretty much it. What kind of music will you play and what kind of crowd will be there?

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#16

This was one of the advantages of playing the sort of tracks that last 20 minutes…

Other advice: don’t clip into the red, use your monitors if you have them to make sure you’re not going too loud and if you get a chance, pop out onto the dancefloor to gauge if the levels and EQ sound right.

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#17
  • prepare a setlist but be ready to deviate from it
  • know your music-library well because it’s easier to mix and improvise during your set
  • start with a small library and extend it slowly
  • organize your library by using different categories and comments in your DJ-software
  • try to “get” your audience, worst thing that can happen is that the dancefloor slowly empties.
  • don’t try to be too edgy with your music selection, unless the situation/crowd/party explicitly calls for it . every genre has catchy tunes that are creative while not being too boring/formulaic. I’d rather alienate the die-hard-protector-of-the-underground genre-snob with a catchy tune than the group of girls that want to dance and bring vibe to the dancefloor.
  • decline song requests politely
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#18

Unless you have the track and it happens to fit one of the criteria you listed above and the mood of the set - people like getting requests played - and of course if you think it would fit the set direction.

The first time I DJed in public I had a setlist worked out precisely to the minute (on vinyl and CD) - what a naive fool I was; never did that again!

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#19

Thought I’d update this for anyone who’s interested and I also have some follow up q’s… :wave:

If you want to read about the DJing Debut it's here... or skip to the questions below...

The original gig that I was looking at doing in Sep in the hotel didn’t happen, the guy who was meant to do it originally became available again to do it.

Not to be deterred, I jumped in last Thurs night with a friend of mine who’s the resident DJ at a cool local bar. Thurs is quite chilled in there and he’s been doing an 80s New Wave night, so last Thursday I went in with him and occupied the end channel of his mixer and we did it back to back.
It was definitely worth having him there as ‘stabilisers’, and we probably did it 50/50.
I really enjoyed it, and it was great to experience the things you only get in a real/live world situation… reading people/the room, how certain tracks work, tech considerations… I picked up on a lot of things I hadn’t anticipated.

I went back to do it again with him last night too… we set up similarly to the week before, I started it off and my mate said ‘I’m just going to the shop…’… 10 mins later he text me to say he was calling into another bar around the corner to check it out, am I ok to crack on… so, there I was, flying solo for 90 mins, which was great, and I just carried on when he got back, so I did 8pm-11pm and we split the last hour between us (and also went off the New Wave brief then too… anyone know Kraak and Smaak? Really digging them lately, so I went that route for 30 mins).

A couple of funny faux pas I made;

  • Transitioned from one track using a freeze delay in Traktor without realising the incoming track was also assigned to the freeze delay. Silence.
  • Luckily my friend was back to limit this one… but after a transition I made with a hard stop/play on both decks, I’d left both faders up… I started cueing the next track for the whole club to hear… it was Shout by Tears for Fears too, so hard to style that one out.
  • Crossfader being hard left when I started the right deck… luckily I realised this quick.

That was about it though… I very nearly loaded the next track into the deck playing a couple of times, then found the setting in Traktor to not let that happen.

So I think I really like DJ’ing… I’ve been getting into it a lot in my own studio, I like just being able to jump in and ‘create’ if that makes sense… as a musician firstly, it’s great to not have to focus on the music creation side and have another outlet to create the feel/vibe that I look to do with my own music.

What I’m struggling with a bit now is where can I realistically take it?

If I look at the local DJ scene, it’s competitive… it seems to me similar to bands, a lot of it start with bringing all your mates to gigs and starting a scene/vibe… realistically, at 46, I’m not going to be doing that… but at the same time, I know quite well established venue owners, promoters, DJ’s, etc, and could tap into that regularly at some level… but is just wanting to DJ enough justification to get out and do it? I know there are DJ’s out there around my age and older, but they’ve generally all been doing it for years, I’m not seeing many breakthroughs… :joy: Fwiw, I’m not ageist, nor do I feel (act!) ‘old’… but I think people reading might relate to the second-guessing/anxiety that I’m on about.

My mate I was out with last night told me to get a few different sets/playlists together, do some mixcloud/soundcloud mixes, then he’ll get me gigs every weekend if I want them… but, is that what I want really?? Maybe.

Any takes? Similar experiences? Advice? :v:

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#20

Everything @elgorby said, plus don’t worry about any mistakes. Most people won’t notice. Especially don’t dwell on anything that isn’t a technical mistake but just didn’t turn out the way you imagined/wanted. No-one knows about those but you!

I decided really early on (maybe 5-6 gigs) that I didn’t want to be in the merry go round of trying to promote myself, handing out flyers or working doors to get gigs, posting set after set online etc. Way too much hassle and there is always someone younger more willing to do that and with more time (I’m 48, I started playing gigs around 40). How may people I’ve seen playing for free or selling tickets to get sets. No thanks!
So after that I just hung out at the nights I liked, played any set I was offered at those (not many but some), or pre or after parties, or at friends houses mixing and chilling out. Was enough for me personally! I still love DJing, which I’m sure I wouldn’t by now if I’d tried to make a name for myself.

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#21

Don’t drink too much before your set!
I played my first set in 2006 after being a bedroom DJ fir about a year before. I practiced my set over and over again the week leading up to the gig so much so that I didn’t have to think about the transitions and which tracks. Then that I night I was super nervous so I just kept drinking while I was waiting to go on…played the first half of the set flawlessly then completely embarrassingly butchered the second half. I’ve played plunty of gigs since then including a Friday/Saturday night residency at a large club in downtown Boston but that first gig was a hard learned lesson, after that anytime I got nervous before a set and felt tempted to calm my nerves I just remembered how badly I wrecked the first show. And in the years following I also learned that nerves are good for performance, you’re sharper and more on point when your a little nervous. I haven’t played out in a couple years now but even if all of a sudden I had a gig tomorrow I’ll never forget that lesson.
Nothing wrong with a couple drinks prior (or IMO during us better) but keep your wits about you and you’ll play better.
If you’re playing to the crowd (I used to mostly just play sets of new and interesting music that was generally what people who booked me expected me to play so I wasn’t ever terribly interested in how it was going over) but it’s not hard to read the crowd at all, you’ll see people fill or clear the dance floor and you’ll see and feel their enthusiasm (or lack of) easily.
Keep yourself cool and enjoy what you’re doing and it should carry over to the people.

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#22

Dont play too loud. Rly. Don‘t do that.
And please don’t do one spinup, drop and sweep after the other. Just let people get into trance.

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