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Tips for my DJ card to hand out to clubs

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Viewing 9 posts - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)
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  • August 6, 2012 at 10:22 pm #1009292
    BoomBox
    Participant

    Let me just make sure i understood correctly:

    1. You are from Vietnam but want to put on the business card you are from UK.
    2. You have a friend, who works in PR to help you out but she but knows nothing about music.
    3. You have never played a gig but want to put you DJ’d @ MoS on your card?

    Oh, and you are not sure about your name….

    If i had to suggest one thing it would probably be for you to rethink your whole plan once more but i’m not sure.

    I think this thread has potential, can’t believe i’m the first one posting.

    August 7, 2012 at 3:48 am #1009301
    Broomptish
    Participant

    LOL ok thanks. I am from the UK but im living here in Vietnam teaching English and I hoped to DJ at night. My friend said she liked my music but shes a woman with no interest in dance music, she works for the PR department with some bank here. And yes im open to the idea about lying about my experience, just like a cv isnt it?? Everyone lies on their CV’s lol I was supposed to play at a club in scotland where im from but I ended up emigratting, see I am better than a lot of djs who were getting gigs there so I know I am capable, ive only seen a few djs here at this coffee bar, place was rammed but oh they were terrible, just cutting it, flanger every mix hardly any beat matching, pretty bad mc and music imo but they were hot woman lol

    She actually told me this morning she thinks I can use my normal name, its David O’Brien doesnt sound very cool I was reading the ddjtips article about dj names, I suggested to her David Mazzarati or something cool but she didnt get back to me see shes helping me make the card, I asked her for dj names and she couldnt think, anything I suggested wasnt good enough, she said the vietnamese wouldnt understand. I suggested Broomptish, kid sonic, Infinite I, all forum screen names ive used. I suggested DJ Skud she didnt get it dont want to start another thread about my dj name so if anyone has any ideas thatd be great again cheers

    August 7, 2012 at 12:17 pm #1009307
    Bunyip
    Member

    Hi mate, I’m in advertising, so I’ll offer you some tips from my perspective about building a brand. Becuase that’s essentially what you are doing.
    Keep it short, simple, and memorable. Don’t try and be everything to everyone. And above all be true to what you are and what your beliefs are. You are a brand. What will make you memorable is not what you do (lots of different styles of music), but WHY you do it. What is your core belief which fuels your passion?
    Answer that question truthfully, and this will help you find your name, and your pitch. Then try and sum it up in one simple line. And print that on the card. Nike nailed it with Just Do It. Find your Just Do It.
    And sure as hell don’t bullshit – it will catch up with you. If you start your career as a fake, rather than building it on your talents, it will always be that.
    If you dont believe in yourself and your abilities – then why should anyone else?
    Good luck.

    August 8, 2012 at 9:17 am #25323
    synthet1c
    Member

    bone colouring with cillian rail typeface… Keep the thickness and the weight of the card tastefull… >>here<< is a couple of examples.

    On a serious note, any club dj with a card & slogan is a douche, Mobile dj’s are vying for a different end of the respectable market so it’s a great idea to have one that you can pass out at weddings to guests who are hearing you play. But as a club dj the only thing you should be handing over is a mix cd… you can dress it up and print on the disc or the cover, but to tell someone to go to your website is imo unacceptable when it should be in their hand.

    I also agree that lying about your skills and experience will get you into trouble. Everyone no matter how good they are in their bedroom or in their mind will have nerves when they start performing in front of a crowd, If you lie and say you can dj in front of 3000 people at MoS and choke with 200 people in the room you will not get another chance, but if you are honest and say you have never played in front of a crowd but have plenty experience behind the decks you have room for error and wont get the peak set where it matters if you freeze up, they will give you an opening set where you can grow.

    Always approach the manager in the daytime never during the night, preferably having called previously to set up a meeting. At night they have a lot more on their mind than dealing with someone they have never met wanting something from them, and they wont listen to your mix or read your card to go to your website.

    It is good to have a CV with you and at least a couple of ideas you can pitch to the manager to improve attendance and drink sales with examples of where they have worked before (they don’t have to be your ideas) as most of the time you are hired as a promoter first and a dj second when you approach the manager of a bar.

    If you are approaching an established nightclub you need to be be friends with the promoter or someone who can get you some facetime. Get to know them first socially (you don’t need to be best friends but they should be able to recognise you) then hit them with the “I’m a dj” line.

    August 8, 2012 at 10:53 am #1009340
    Steelo
    Participant

    Don’t tell any lies. You’ll only get caught out and look a bit silly.

    August 8, 2012 at 12:57 pm #1009345
    Bunyip
    Member

    DJ Masher. Good choice.

    August 10, 2012 at 2:13 pm #1009474
    Broomptish
    Participant

    Cheers guys appreciated, and your probably right about lying about experience. I have played at partys and stuff so maybe ill stretch the truth a ltitle to make it sound bigger than it was. I have played in front of 150 people playing guitar over a track on cubase for charity and that was terrifying so good chance I could freeze, but well it was 10 years ago and I wasnt that confident, now im pretty confident because Ive been mixing for years and well I dont have to match beats, see I neevr owned technics and could match beats perfectly on my direct drive numarks and my mates vestax but I always struggled with technics for some reason, now I just hit sync and can mix 3 tracks etc. on traktor. Good advice appreciated!

    August 10, 2012 at 7:51 pm #1009492
    Bunyip
    Member

    No worries. Good luck. Did you get the gig?

    August 11, 2012 at 4:38 pm #1009529
    Broomptish
    Participant

    Yes just back from my first ever gig! It went eh ok started off by plugging my fecking out into my in on the soundcard, pressed the cue button and the music dissapeared LOL Then I realised, Id never do that at home, was panicking at the start as I had set the soundcard to the wrong thing and nothing was working but realised the obvious after a couple of restarts, wasnt especially nervous was just doing stupid things then the guy goes play something happier, I was playing quite up for it house music so I played this, really happy I think:

    [media=youtube]MISd43BQLqQ[/media]

    Though they werent impressed I thought so changed it to the style I think they like, well what little I have of that style, they call it vietnamese house, its like cheesy dance meets hardstyle, ended up playing for an hour and it went pretty well. Luckily I had a load of shit tunes imo backed up.

    All the djs sounded the exact same, some of them played the same songs they were ok just not my sort of music and imo its sometimes seemed like the human record playing show, some ok mixing and stuff just some nights id go to in scotland you could tell what dj was playing, each one would have his set and style or it would progress through the night till its totally banging, or the headline dj is playing. It would be like one piece of music not a bunch of songs stuck together. I didnt see any progression just a bunch of same same djs but now I know what to do and what sort of music to search out. with my tools, the faderfox dj3 and the dnsc2000 with traktor I feel I can do a lot more than 2 cdj’s and a two channel mixer.

    So Im not sure if they will call me back, see I didnt know, lesson learned, do your homework as I didnt. Id gave them 7 cd’s of lots of different styles kept asking what style you want me to play they kept saying house, perfect but well my idea of house and their idea of house is a different thing, im right their wrong LOL I think because im western it may go in my favour but now I know and its a big place, not the only club and done a good bit of networking, all the vietnamese wnat to be friends with the westener so heres hoping it takes off, going to keep trying, clubs everywhere you know.

    Going to get my card sorted this week hopefully ill post a pic of it or something, thanks again!

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