x

My first gig, and looking for some advice

Home 2023 › Forums › The DJ Booth › My first gig, and looking for some advice

Viewing 4 posts - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • March 13, 2014 at 4:02 am #2010468
    Lamid45G
    Participant

    First- How long can I usually expect to play? I felt like 4 hours for my first set was daunting, although I probably could have gone for a bit longer if I needed to.

    This is your first gig, and if you already felt 4 hours set daunt you, there’s something is not clicking in here, either you not comfortable with the atmosphere, the party or the dj set itself. Any DJ’s, especially the one who just started with their first gig, would not even bother tiwh the time slot, let it be 4 hours or heck until dawn, once you start DJ time no longer exists

    I feel like I was almost always in either quadrant 2 or 3, rarely in 1. It seemed to me like my music preferences rarely aligned with the crowd’s. Is there any way to deal with this? I know I should read the crowd, but with all the requests I receive, and based off of what people respond to, I feel like my music has very little place in what people want

    When you first started, throw your EGO out of the windows, flush it down the toilets, stomp it with your two feet, “My Music” has no place in it, its “Crowd Music”, you playing to the crowd, if you cannot adjust to this, you will have more difficults up ahead
    More down on the road, when you have more DJ gigs under your belly, you maybe can start throw in a few of “My music” into your sets

    Third- In terms of pay, are there any standards, or what could I expect? How much does time factor into this? Would a 4 hour set cost more than a 2 hour set? Also, is it better or more common to be paid by the hour, or just a flat amount?

    The standard flat rate is mostly we go by, along with our standard 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours maxed set, more than that its consider a special case

    Also, as someone who is 17, what would be my next step after I play some more? Do I need to wait until I’m 18, or 21 (since I live in the US) to play at a club/bar?

    More than likely if you want to play at the club you have to wait at least till you 18 or 21, i dont think a club allowed under age to into a club/bar. Till then in between, there should be other stuff you could be doing, more house/private parties, or you could try to aim for a prom night at your school, these will shape up your experiences till you ready to play at the clubs

    March 13, 2014 at 5:53 am #2010485
    Branden
    Participant

    Sounds like you did a great job, very nice! Wish my first gig was as good as that yours.

    Question #1: If I’m doing a solo job, I do four hours or five hours, depending on the event. Anything longer than that time and I’ll have a partner join in with me. For events like family/all ages parties, I can go longer than if, say, I’m doing a 21st birthday party.

    Question #2: This is difficult. I have the same problem to a slight extent. I often find these great tracks that are highly underground and wouldn’t be as appropriate for most events. The trick here is to somehow style it with the event. Play one of your “underground tracks” in the middle of two Top-40 bangers and measure the crowd’s response. I agree heavily with DJ Riski’s advice; it’s the crowd’s music, not yours.

    But, as a college student at Arizona State University, I will tell you that what you would play at a high school dance will be far different than at a house party. House party, they typically want dirty music, usually with lots of cussing and mainly hip-hop. If ever I DJ a fraternity party or some other 18+ house party, I play very little EDM.

    Here’s a rule of thumb, at house parties, people want to booty-pop/grind/sing along to the music. Expand your hip-hop/twerk playlist.

    Question #3: I need to re-work this, but I charge about $150.00 – $200.00 for four/five hours. This pay may seem low, but I still consider myself a beginner and this is about as high as I can charge right now.

    Question #4: 300 people I would consider to be a pretty big house party. In my opinion, mic action is a great way to keep high energy and interest in your crowd. Make sure you have all the necessary bangers (i.e., “Get Low” by Lil Jon, “Gas Pedal” by Sage the Gemini, etc.) and remixes to keep it interesting. As for the rest of your question, look at DJ Riski’s advice.

    March 14, 2014 at 3:26 am #2010741
    Nathan Kahn
    Participant

    Thank you guys for the replies!

    This is your first gig, and if you already felt 4 hours set daunt you, there’s something is not clicking in here, either you not comfortable with the atmosphere, the party or the dj set itself. Any DJ’s, especially the one who just started with their first gig, would not even bother tiwh the time slot, let it be 4 hours or heck until dawn, once you start DJ time no longer exists

    Daunting probably wasn’t the right word, but everything didn’t click right away, for a few reasons. First off, I was nervous about my gig because it was really hyped up all around school, on twitter, etc, and I felt like there was a lot at stake, since there were already a few people who told me that they’d want me to DJ for them if I did a good job. Again, some of the music I wasn’t that familiar with, and I had to deal with quite a few drunk people at the party. But by the end, I was into it and everything was fine.

    Till then in between, there should be other stuff you could be doing, more house/private parties, or you could try to aim for a prom night at your school, these will shape up your experiences till you ready to play at the clubs

    This is just what I planned on doing, just wanted to check. Securing a prom night would likely be pretty difficult. My school has over 3,000 people at it, and they always hire DJs from a company called Endless Entertainment (formerly Arizona Pro DJs). All of their DJs have atleast 4 years experience DJing live, and they usually get paid $1000 or more per event. They are always hired for any type of event, pretty much without fail. I could try and see, but I doubt I’d get anything, although I do have an in (the guy who’s party I DJ’d at is the head of the group responsible for all the hiring/event organizing.

    Anything longer than that time and I’ll have a partner join in with me.

    I’m curious, how exactly does that work? Do you both mix, take turns, each take half the event, etc?

    But, as a college student at Arizona State University, I will tell you that what you would play at a high school dance will be far different than at a house party. House party, they typically want dirty music, usually with lots of cussing and mainly hip-hop. If ever I DJ a fraternity party or some other 18+ house party, I play very little EDM.
    Here’s a rule of thumb, at house parties, people want to booty-pop/grind/sing along to the music. Expand your hip-hop/twerk playlist.

    I think this answered a lot of the remaining questions in my head in regards to music styles and such, so thank you! Also, nice to see another DJ in Arizona (I live here too if you didn’t realize).

    Okay so now I have a few followup questions:

    1- A friend of a friend who was at my gig really liked it, and he wants me to DJ at his house party this week, and offered to pay me $200 for it, and I told him I would. My main concern is the sound system. I do not own a PA system, and the speakers which I had to DJ on at my first gig really weren’t enough for the party, and here I dont think there is anything better. What should I do in this case?

    2- Are there any good resources for hip hop/top 40 songs to stay updated on those? I don’t really know of any, and I can’t seem to find any good charts online.

    3- How should I deal with requests from the host which the crowd doesn’t like, or that dont fit with the music I’m playing? I didn’t mention it earlier, but the host of the party kept wanting me to play some trap at the party, and I didn’t know how to deal with it.

    4- Is there any way to deal with not having a song after arriving at a gig which people are constantly requesting?

    March 14, 2014 at 4:49 am #2010756
    Lamid45G
    Participant

    1- A friend of a friend who was at my gig really liked it, and he wants me to DJ at his house party this week, and offered to pay me $200 for it, and I told him I would. My main concern is the sound system. I do not own a PA system, and the speakers which I had to DJ on at my first gig really weren’t enough for the party, and here I dont think there is anything better. What should I do in this case?

    Rent one !, look around in your area, that provided renting out a sound system, you mentioned earlier there’s a DJ Company in your town, so more than likely they should offered a rental services, call them out and find out or if they dont surely they can make some kind of recommendation or places to look for. The things to look out for is how much to rent one ? This should basically exclude from your $200 DJ Fee, your fee should be just for your DJ Services thats it, if it required further equipment ( be a DJ Gears or sound system), it should be the party host full responsibilities ! Of course you can offered the party host to look for the sound system, but the cost to rent one should come from the party host not YOU !

    2- Are there any good resources for hip hop/top 40 songs to stay updated on those? I don’t really know of any, and I can’t seem to find any good charts online.

    The only good charts to go to is ( especially you in the US ) is the Billboard Charts ! be it the top 100 Hot Single, or the top rnb/hip hop, if the songs its whats trending now among teens, the Billboard chart covers it, and sometimes the charts went ahead themselves with new releases and such, makes you the hyped DJ for playing new release whos not even popular just yet

    3- How should I deal with requests from the host which the crowd doesn’t like, or that dont fit with the music I’m playing? I didn’t mention it earlier, but the host of the party kept wanting me to play some trap at the party, and I didn’t know how to deal with it.

    Smile ! the request is wayy to easy to fit into the mood, especially the trap, would fit into your top/40 hip hop flawlessly ! Just armed yourself with plenty of commercial remixed of trap and guarantee your host will smile all nite long

    4- Is there any way to deal with not having a song after arriving at a gig which people are constantly requesting?

    Covering a top 40 /hip hop should be an easy task, if you blanketed yourself with the latest top 40 and latest hip hop anthem, if you still dont have the tunes folks requesting, get sumthing similiar tunes the one they requested ( this required of you to KNOW all the songs, its your job you are the DJ) and wrote down what people requesting for the nest time around, Just dont for the love of god let them hook up their iphone into your set up, not only you dont know the quality of the songs they had, you going to starting a trend that nite, folks lined up just to plug their devices in your setup, and it will effect your role as a DJ that night

  • Author
    Posts
Viewing 4 posts - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
  • The forum ‘The DJ Booth’ is closed to new topics and replies.