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First Official Gig in just over 24 hours. I need Help!!!

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Viewing 11 posts - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)
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  • September 6, 2014 at 2:01 am #2052771
    DJ NC
    Participant

    Hi mate,

    First of all, I’m not gonna linger on it, but I think it’s fair to say you possibly have made a mistake taking this gig if you can’t cater for the music the promoter wants.

    The way i see it, you’ve got 2 options, Easy and Hard.

    Easy: Tell the promoter you’re sorry, but you can’t take the gig due to not having the right music. This will save you a lot of stress, money and face because you came clean and didn’t potentially run out of music in front of the crowd. trust me, it ain’t nice. I’ve been there.

    Hard: From now until the moment your gig starts, you’re gonna need to be digging for music in the chosen categories that he wants. Start obvious (look at radio playlists for inspiration) then try and diversify from there. You want your david guetta’s, Niki Minaj, Will.I.Am’s etc. Rock: Oasis, any any other band that’s big in the US right now. Obviously, buy the singles not whole albums to save money and keep your tune base small, but good.

    That’s basically it, best of luck if you do decide to take the gig.

    September 6, 2014 at 8:44 am #2052791
    deathy
    Participant

    As a DJ who has not played a club yet, I think I still would’ve said No when he told me the style and I knew I wouldn’t be able to play it.

    If you are at all comfortable with Virtual DJ, you could consider picking it up and subscribing to Content Unlimited. This is a service that lets you download a whole ton of tracks off of Beatshark – high profile artists and such. It’s not perfect, but it would probably be good enough for a request DJ working a wedding, so it might be enough for what you’re going into. You can only play these tracks in Virtual DJ, but it will be a cheaper solution than buying up every single you can find.

    If you are able to take requests, and can have some sort of net connect there (your phone tethers, right?), then this might work well… the audience can help drive what you play, and you will come away with a good chance of having played what the audience wants.

    The name of the joint isn’t “Big Bob’s Country Bunker,” is it? 😉

    Good luck, man. While you’ve been getting suggestions for how to make it work, do seriously consider telling the guy “No.”

    September 8, 2014 at 1:36 am #2053192
    Brett McGee
    Participant

    Well I ended up taking the gig and it turned out great. Lucky for me it was a very small venue and there was maybe 20-30 people there at most. It took away the nerves and I just played songs that people recognized and took requests when they came along. Also, the promoter said he’ll be calling me back in the future. I guess sometimes you just have to take a chance.

    September 8, 2014 at 10:12 am #2053321
    Lamid45G
    Participant

    Can you elaborate more in details, how you actually prepping yourself for this gig? For Ex. you said you do not have any current top 40’s and such that the promoter asked you, how you preparing for this ?
    And what kind of specific songs you played and what kind of request they asking?

    I’m just wondering, cause I’m sure our readers will find the solution to your situation helpful for them, if they ever get in the same boat as you are

    September 8, 2014 at 4:37 pm #2053731
    Tuomas Helander
    Participant

    When you’re starting out, a gig is a gig. A paid gig is even better. The style of music is irrelevant.

    September 8, 2014 at 4:41 pm #2053732
    deathy
    Participant

    Grats!

    September 15, 2014 at 5:57 am #2057342
    Brett McGee
    Participant

    Sorry it’s taken so long to get back. The crowd I was to play for was very mixed, aged anywhere from 21 to people in their 50’s. Just people having a few drinks at a small beach bar who wanted to tap their feet to music they knew and dance if they got drunk enough. So when I got up that morning I sat down with MacBook on my lap and I began to search Billboard and other sites for the popular songs on the radio. I also Google searched “top 40 club hits”, “best party songs”, “songs drunk white girls dance to”, etc.. I also looked on several websites for “Open Format Playlists”. Serato has a huge collection on their site. I found those line dances and sing along tunes literally almost everyone knows. The Wobble, The Cupid Shuffle, Journey, Bon Jovi, Lynyrd Skynrd, AC/DC and so on. Then for the more Top 40 type music I got the most commercial and recognizable tunes I could find. Flo Rida, Katy Perry, Pink, Britney Spears, Iggy Azalea, Lady Gaga, Demi Lovato, Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, and The Black Eyed Peas etc.. Then for the hip-hop type stuff I had Nelly, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Ciara, Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, Missy Elliot, yada yada. I also had some classic stuff by Naughty by Nature, House of Payne, and even threw in a Spice Girls track (girls went nuts). I also snuck a couple mashups in there as well and they worked great (Miley Cyrus and Notorious B.I.G.) Then as for requests I played whatever they asked me to. I have the luxury of my NS6 being a stand alone mixer so I can run a line from my controller in to my computer and play off of YouTube. In conclusion, I played tunes people knew, took their requests, and had a smile on my face. It wasn’t my dream gig, but it was a gig nonetheless and a way to get my foot in the door, and honestly I had a absolutely great time seeing people dance to the music I played. It’s the only reason I started DJing in the first place. Play the tunes people know, a couple they don’t, and remember that you are there for them, not the other way around. This was my formula for success and I hope it helps anyone who finds himself in the same predicament. Cheers!

    September 15, 2014 at 9:52 am #2057531
    Praveen Ramesh
    Participant

    Great going!! I was in a similar situation but I kind of had 2 weeks time to prepare my tracks. They asked for Pop / Commercial. I did not have any. So i kind of went through the net to see if I could find some deep house / house remixes of the popular songs I knew and got my stuff. Most of them were free downloads from facebook which was even more cool!

    September 16, 2014 at 2:27 am #2058042
    Michael Risola
    Participant

    Congratulations on your successful gig!!! Nice to see someone take the time to prepare and use the resources available to them. I would of never thought about looking up “songs white girls like to dance to.” You nailed it with your research. “Play the tunes people know, a couple they don’t, and remember that you are there for them, not the other way around.” You are on your way….

    September 16, 2014 at 9:24 am #2058182
    Phil Worrell
    Participant

    Cool well done on the gig glad it went well onwards and upwards.

    September 19, 2014 at 8:54 am #2060011
    Lamid45G
    Participant

    Thank you for sharing your stories with all of us here readers @ digitaldjtips, great work m8, keep it up !

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