how do i prepare myself to dj solo?

Hey Shawn,

Congrats! Great progress you are making.

There is quite a bit of info on preparing for gigs on the forum and blog. Things like preparing your collection, playlists and such, so I’ll let that one go for now.

I do have a few other things that might be helpful for you.

I am gonna be assuming you will be plugging your SX into the house system? In which case be sure you have the right cables with you. I personally believe that if you play out, you are responsible for the gear you bring. So if the PA breaks down, tough luck, but the clubs’ problem, not yours. If your controller or laptop concks out, that IS your problem.

Depending on what equipment the clubs have, there are several ways to go about ensuring that you can keep on playing even if something happens to your gear. Switching over to the house gear is always an option. You may want to inventory what the places you’d be playing at have gear-wise. Then you can make an action plan for each place.

If they only have old skool CD-players for example, you can make a set of CD’s that you can carry with you. If they have more modern CDJs for example that take USB devices, you could take USB sticks or external hard drives (depending on the size of your collection 🙂 and even have your tracks prepared properly (Rekordbox for Pioneer CDJs for example).

Obviously having a spare laptop is a great, but expensive backup solution, as is a second controller, but perhaps you kept your mixtrack pro, which would be well suited for the purpose. Personally I am thinking of getting an iDJ Pro as my backup. With the iPad holding my tracks, it would solve both my laptop or controller break down situations, just swap the controller and fire up the iPad and off I go.

Finally I would most definitely recommend going around the clubs that this company provides DJs for. Maybe you can get one of your more veteran colleagues to go with you. Ask them if you can practice during off hours a bit with their house gear, so if it ever happens you’ll know what you are faced with and can jump right in. Also a nice chance to bond with a fellow jock who can probably fill you in on the gear and to get some extra practice in on “foreign” gear. It will also give you a chance to figure out if you will need a booth monitor or not.

Finally, prepare seperate check lists for each venue and be religious about following it. Only last week I tossed some stuff together for a live sound gig, because “I’ve been doing this forever, sure I can forget doing my check list for once”, only to find I forgot a (thank god minor) piece of equipment.

Good luck & be sure to post what your first night went like.

The real final word:
“The moment you are NOT nervous for a gig anymore, it is time to quit because you probably stopped caring.”

Greetinx,
C.

Chuck pretty much nailed it.

Will add in, have ONE drink before your set if you are a drinker. It’s a great way to calm any nerves and get you into the club goers mind set. The first club gig I did, I was nervous as hell and my set suffered for it. The second time, I had a drink about 10 mins before I went on. It calmed me immensely and just let me go right into it. At the end of the day always remember that your crowd wants to dance, that’s why they are there so just have fun with it. Don’t get hung up on making mistakes, everyone does. Just keep the beats bumping and get out of a bad mix quickly if you have to. The crowd will forget because, remember, they want to dance and if you have a total of 2 minutes of crap mixing out of 2-3 hrs, they aren’t going to remember that 2 minutes.

Chuck van Eekelen, post: 38101, member: 2756 wrote: LOL Johnny,

Good point! I only have one drink before a gig too (although as often as not I won’t have any and be on mineral water all night), not so much for nerves anymore (I still have them, but learned to live with them after 35 years) but because I almost always have to drive the (getaway)car.

Greetinx,
C.

+1 on this one…

Perfect ease in drinks (remember just one!):
– Campari Orange
– Cuba Libre
– Seabreeze
– Manhatten
Depending on your style. (I just love a good Seabreeze)