yea it sounds like a misguided attempt to thin the heard of up-and-coming dis hungry to perform at one of DCs biggest venues. I feel like even worse than the no controller/computer requirement is that they clearly state that the competition is based on popularity. I’m entered in a similar competition to ‘win’ a set at Webster Hall in NYC and the organizers will pick their favorite from the top 50 most popular entries, to help minimize the folks gaming the ‘popularity’ measurement.
Don’t sweat the no laptop thing… how exactly would they know that you mixed it on a controller when listening to the submission? If you do win, just pack your crate on some USBs and take your laptop with Serato and drivers for some common gear on it as they will most likely have some kind of DVS setup there for the headliner to perform on.
I was anxious about performing on vinyl and cdjs at first too (I learned to beatmatch using a vci-300) but as long as you can get in some practice you’ll be fine. The ‘touch’ is a little different, but if you can go round to your mates or practice on some gear in a venue in you neighborhood you’ll be more than ready to warm the place up.
I don’t know what time people go out in DC, but 9-10 is kind weak for a warmup set time… won’t the staff still be setting up then?
.
