First

The main tip I’d give: play music you love.

Also: congratulations on your first gig 🙂

Alex Wild, post: 1941 wrote: For this gig, I’d change that to ‘play music THEY love’. If it’s a friends birthday you want they to enjoy themselves with good background music, they’re not going to be watching you mixing all night and raving it up to deep underground tunes. Play fun party stuff. When i’ve been in this situation before I’ve asked the person who’s party it is to send me a list of their favourite tunes so I know I can play them for him/her.

If it’s a BBQ, you cant go wrong with some classic party hip hop, reggae, soul, maybe some top 90s tunes too.

Yeah, I see what you’re saying. I guess the thing for me is that we’re DJs because we have a passion for music that most others don’t (I’m making assumptions, here, which I possibly shouldn’t). This tends to translate into liking good music.

I agree, don’t play music they’ll hate. But it’s never worked out well for me when I’ve played things I don’t like in order to try and please others. I think they can maybe tell when you’re phoning it in.

Let me put it this way: one of the gigs I do is a primary school (?grade school in the US?) disco. The kids want to hear the stuff they know, which means top-40 radio hits and stuff from TV shows. That doesn’t mean I have to play things I despise – and the kids love it.

Man, kids can party!

Depends – will you be mixing, blending or doing it radio style (simple crossfades)? If I’m mixing, I _need_ a proper monitor. This is a failing, I know, but it’s the way I am. If I’m doing it radio style, then headphones are good enough. You really need to make sure the crowd can hear.

You will be getting requests, yes. Some of them will be inappropriate at the time. It’s entirely possible that they will make no sense at all (I once got asked to play something from the 80’s while Blue Monday was running). For this kind of gig, I’d do my best to honour any request, but it’s still got to fit.

Angel Of Death – Slayer is a wicked, wicked tune … but doesn’t really fit with Redemption Song – Bob Marley.

Trust yourself, man. That’s the key. You do this (again, assumption) because you like doing it. Trust yourself to know what’s right – and be ready to learn what works for that crowd, on that night.