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Crash&burn at first club gig, how do you practice?

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  • July 2, 2013 at 12:38 pm #41818
    DJ Vintage
    Moderator

    I don’t.

    I make sure I bring my Numark NPM-100 as booth speaker. If I don’t like the behaviour of the house system (too far away, pointed away from me, too much delay) I just hook the NPM-100 up (which is what I use at home for the occassional practice run) and I have exactly what I need.

    That way I effectively have the same thing as at home and I don’t worry about the venue PA (at all).

    Greetinx,
    C.

    July 2, 2013 at 12:40 pm #41819
    Daryl Northrop
    Participant

    If at all possible, I try to get there and do a sound check – mix through a couple of tracks. If you are the opener, this may be an option for you depending on the venue.

    July 2, 2013 at 12:48 pm #41821
    DJ Vintage
    Moderator

    I don’t necessarily agree, Daryl. ESPECIALLY in larger venues I stay away from the house PA. It’s their job to make it sound good and it is hardly ever appreciated if you fiddle with the settings.

    Different story if I am the one bringing the PA to a (mobile) gig of course.

    If I read the OP correclty he isn’t saying it sounded bad (on the floor, which is where it matters), but that it sounded “bad” in the booth, compared to smaller venues (where usually the main stack will be lot closer and/or line of sight to the booth) he has played.

    So, the solution is getting the booth set up correctly. The only way to do that is to have a monitor there, so you are totally indepent of the house PA. If the mix is good on your monitor it inevitably is good on the mains.

    So, no, don’t touch the PA. It most likely just gets you in trouble with the owner/house engineer. At the very least they are not gonna like a new hot shot DJ coming in for the first time and start yapping about how bad their (massive as you said) sound system sounds.

    Solve your problem with the tools you have, don’t put it on the venue owner.

    Greetinx,
    C.

    July 2, 2013 at 12:51 pm #41822
    Daryl Northrop
    Participant

    Sorry – I did not express myself clearly. I agree – don’t mess with the house PA. And, setting up the booth and having your own monitor is a great idea. My suggestion was that an early arrival and playing through a few mixes could have exposed the idiosyncrasies of the house system, and given him a chance to compensate before his set started, and not have to scramble around/experiment on the fly while trying to play to the crowd.

    July 2, 2013 at 1:13 pm #41824
    paulR
    Member

    Yeah, it sounded bad in the booth, I had a monitor speaker there but I just couldn’t get over how bad it sounded on the dancefloor (from where I was). May have been my lack of experience, since people did start gradually coming out to dance (after the bad first hour). I recorded the mix and listened to it the other day, sounds fine, so I guess the answer here is getting my own monitor and leaving the rest up to house PA.

    July 2, 2013 at 4:01 pm #41828
    DJ Vintage
    Moderator

    Ah yes. Word of wisdom here … don’t ever care about how you THINK it sounds on the dance floor, based on what you hear in the booth. Just focus on what you hear in your monitor to do your thing right.

    If it sounds really bad on the floor (really, when you are ON the full floor listening to it), there isn’t much you can do about it anyway :-).

    You mentioned you were the opener. So I am guessing the place wasn’t fully packed yet. A full crowd of people swallow the high frequencies like a sponge. So often the engineer will boost the high end somewhat to compensate. As a result the sound is harsh when the place isn’t packed.

    Low frequencies cancelling each other out behind a speaker stack isn’t all that uncommon, so you might feel it is muddy and not very tight, while it could be punching on the dancefloor. If you are in an actual booth (or under a balcony, rooflike structure, cave or anything similar) that effect is even worse.

    Greetinx,
    C.

    July 2, 2013 at 4:04 pm #41829
    DJ Vintage
    Moderator

    Daryl Northrop, post: 41979, member: 2350 wrote: Sorry – I did not express myself clearly. I agree – don’t mess with the house PA. And, setting up the booth and having your own monitor is a great idea. My suggestion was that an early arrival and playing through a few mixes could have exposed the idiosyncrasies of the house system, and given him a chance to compensate before his set started, and not have to scramble around/experiment on the fly while trying to play to the crowd.

    I agree to an extend with that. See my above reply to Paul. Especially if the house is not packed, it is not really possible to get a good grasp of the way the system sounds when the floor is rocking and there are wall to wall people. And since there isn’t much you can do about it even if it really does not sound like it should/you think it should, I tend to not do that anymore.

    Greetinx,
    C.

    July 2, 2013 at 5:50 pm #41833
    paulR
    Member

    thanks for the help to all.

    July 3, 2013 at 6:26 am #41853
    Terry_42
    Keymaster

    I totally agree with Chuck. Never fiddle with the PA in a club. If it sounds less than optimal, make a suggestion to the manager, but never fiddle with it.
    I am glad that most controllers now have booth outputs. So I can simply hook up my monitor if needed and be done with it.

    July 7, 2013 at 5:33 pm #42013
    Strictly T
    Participant

    I only play small parties and have found on numerous occasions it can sound awful from where you are DJing when in reality it sounds fine. The DJ then tries to overcompensate to what they are hearing and makes it worse.

    I guess if I was to play out properly I would hope that the club had good monitors and bring along my own if neccessary to make sure I can get a better feel for what it is like on the floor. I guess you can also keep dipping into your headphones to check the sound as well in these situations.

    July 7, 2013 at 6:54 pm #42014
    Edwin Alvarez
    Participant

    headphones can be your best friend in this situation. the nature of the beast that are sound waves never sound “correct” from the booth or from behind the speakers. a monitor helps but i feel headphones are better imo. always keep an eye on the levels. doesnt hurt to walk out and do a soundcheck here and there.

    July 7, 2013 at 7:43 pm #42016
    DJ Vintage
    Moderator

    I agree on the cans. They CAN (pun intended) save the day or rather night. Still, I really don’t like mixing on my cans. Probably just a matter of what you are used to. As I said I always have my monitor (single Numark NPM-100) with me with all the possible cables. It sits on a mic stand and it tilts. So I can keep it relatively low and angle it upward to my ear to accomodate that slightly cocked head pose us DJs do :D.

    Greetinx,
    C.

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