First Gig

Hi Ethanol – Welcome to the DDJT Forums…

Exactly what ‘kind’ of tips are you hoping for – technical, how to prepare/approach the gig?

If it’s the second point, here’s my ideas –

You say it is a pub, so I’m guessing it’s a ‘public’ gig, not an invited guests only private party?

1. Be ‘up for’ taking requests – You’ll never ‘please all the people, all of the time’ but at least you’ll please some of them, most of the time!

2. Depending on the age range – you say you know the place well – decide a rough ‘structure’ for your set, e.g. genre, era, time of the night.

3. Don’t ‘expect’ to have a packed dance floor – assuming there is one – all night. If you do, great.

4. ENJOY YOURSELF! A happy DJ exudes confidence and enthusiasm upon his or her audience. Good luck…

Hey! 🙂 Congrats to your decision. It sounds you’re pretty new to Djing, so this is what I’ve told my kids when they’ve approached their first gigs: Spend most of your prepare time with getting the music you know will work in order. Use cut mixing where you set a good cue point where something happens everyone recognizes. Like the intro of a guitar riff or a vocal that get people going. Don’t use intros or outros, ’cause they’ll kill the mode before you’re even on to the next track. This way you don’t need to stick to the same tempo or key and, if done with some proper timing, it will sound very good and most people will never notice you’re not beat mixing. Wait with the beat mixing on public gigs until you can do a 2-3 hour good matched set in practice. Keeping it simple will make you confident in what you’re doing and you can have fun while you’re playing. It will also give you the time you need to choose the next track and say hello to your fellow punters. A failed cutting mix sounds a hundred times better than a train wreck of a beat mix, every time. You have the rest of your life to perform flawless beat mixing when you’re ready for it. Good luck and have fun!