2SHAE!
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2SHAE!
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[FONT=Tahoma][COLOR=#141414]I feel like I found a good solution for a set list of a top 40 crowd, when its not your ideal style, however id love further advice and input about it. My ideal style of music is progressive house but I know thats not what most of the top 40 bar crowd wants. I own pretty much every top 40 radio play track from the last year and keep them in a monthly format in playlists, but I notice thats not enough to fill a whole set. When warming up I usually use about a 80/20 ratio of top 40 classics songs (from Biggie Smalls to Fat Joe)/this years older top 40 (march and back), so I dont waste the good current top 40 songs when the place is full. At the end of the night I like to try to sneak a little bit of prog house music in, so I save top 40 house songs (like anything david guetta puts out…sigh) for the last of my top 40. That way i can make a smooth genre transition into more prog house. (nothing gets the venue going like Avicii-Levels of course). When im making the transition, sometimes I select a track with a long intro instrumental, get on the mic and say something like, “I Hope no one minds, but Im gonna play some F%$#ing house music up in here!!!” …Said confidently, and depending on your crowd, will make them either go crazy on the dance floor or flock away from it. Just use good timing, and perhaps save it for the very end of the night after youve had the floor successfully packed for a while. That way if it fails, the venue cant blame you for not getting people on the dance floor since you already got them there successfully.Cheers from Boston
-2SHAE!-
[/COLOR][/FONT]ParticipantVinnyBlanc, post: 15953, member: 737 wrote: Mixcloud is less stringent than SoundCloud on “copyright infringement”…I expereienced this first hand when trying to post up a Mash-up recent. Kept rejecting it on soundcloud because it was keying on the Avicii – Levels…so I went to MixCloud and didn’t have an issue.
Thats so funny. I also tried to post a mashup i made with levels as the instrumental (after all any acapella sounds good with levels) the site rejected it giving me the whole “copyright infrignement” speech. Between that and not being able to have more than two hours of music on their site for free, I switched over to mixcloud. (mixcloud.com/2shae …please follow and ill follow back! :D) after using mixcloud for a few months, I noticed soundclouds software and website in general is much better overall. Ive decided once I get my feet on the ground and start making more money DJing, I will switch back and pay for soundcloud. I know its not expensive but hey, Im a broke up and coming DJ.
ParticipantD-Jam, post: 15922, member: 3 wrote: To me, this is the usual “blame the owner/manager who booked him” rationale in my mind.
Unfortunately, if the crowd loves him and has no issue with what we see as “bad mixing”, then the market has spoken and we can’t do anything about that. This is like Gladiator, where the crowd holds the true vote.
DJAM, I agree with this in almost all scenarios, however, this one is slightly different and heres why…
The venue is successful because it is the ONLY place in town (in the winter) that has a DJ. Yes, hes horrible; yes, in my mind, and many others hes not a DJ; and yes, the crowd knows he is not that good (alot have told me personally, and thats why I decided to try to get a gig there in the first place). However this venue is running a monopolistic style business in town by hosting a “DJ” that plays any current style music at all that people will dance to, instead of the other venues in town having just crappy live rock/acoustic style bands. This venue is small and can definitely be considered a dive. Therefore, there is no promotion team or entertainment manager. They simply decided to have a DJ and over a long period of time people decided to go because there was simply no where else. The DJ there is in his mid 40s and the average crowd there are in there mid 20s. There is simply no way possible he is attracting the crowd there by inviting them him self. (most of my friends which make up the majority of the crowd that goes there had no idea what his name, his DJ name, or who the hell he even was). But I understand why the management doesn’t want anyone new playing there. Its the classic “If its not broken, why fix it” business tactic.
The good news is that the second venue which I went to, located on the same block, just hired me for a gig 2 weeks from now. This venue is much more elegant, newer, draws a better (not bigger) crowd, and has a proper management team. My goal is to draw most of the crowd away from the dive bar and into the new place. Im hoping people catch on now that there is another place in town that will be hosting DJ style entertainment. I only have one gig locked, and no matter what the result Id love to get a weekly residency there to slowly draw more of a crowd. Allthough I have a good amount of friends in town, I feel like its gonna take a few weeks to get a consistent following at a venue that typically only hosts live bands. Anyone have any advice for the next step of my journey? Id love to hear about it so lets keep this post going!! I appreciate everyones input…
Cheers from Boston
-2SHAE!-
ParticipantThis may be stating the obvious but Ill take a shot. One thing I think many DJ’s will forget is business cards. You get so caught up in making sure your mixes are tight, and your playlists are perfect that you forget how to properly pitch the venue at which your trying to spin at. In my opinion, I think trying to get a DJ gig without having a business card is like trying to get a normal job without handing in your resume. Sure, you may have more experience then your competition, but by using a card, management will consider you more professionally, as well as have all of your contact information to follow up with you if they are in fact interested.
Cheers from Boston
–2SHAE!–
ParticipantTo sum everyone up that read my entire first post…Ok so today I went down to the venue that the original “DJ” was at to talk to management about getting a DJ gig. I had all my business cards, mix tape, and business pitch ready to go. However, when I walked in and mentioned about spinning for them, they wouldn’t even give me the time of day. They simply did not care what I had to say, or the previous experience Ive had with live gigs at venues 4 times the size. When I mentioned I would even do it for free just to test me out, they found another excuse to get me out the door even faster. They simply did not care about the music or what kind of money they could potentially be making with a more experienced DJ. So I walked out, went next door to their less busy rival bar, took a shot of tequila (1800 of course), and asked the bartender/owner if they were interested in a DJ for the weekends to level the competition of the other place. They seemed quite open to the idea after 20 minutes of pitching to the management that live music, solo guitarists, and bands don’t attract large crowds like DJs do nowadays. so I’m currently looking forward to a call back. This place just opened up so I think I got a good chance. So heres a lesson for anyone that is new to getting DJ gigs. If you get rejected the first time…DONT STOP…you know your talented enough to play live. Take a shot of something strong (not from the venue that denied you) and move on to the next one. Eventually you will find your spot like I’m hoping I do. Have any further advise for my next step, or have a story similar to this? Id love to hear about it.
Cheers from Boston,
–2SHAE!–
Participantreason808, post: 15745, member: 831 wrote: There’s always somebody less talented who will get a better job or more money than you..
I defiantly understand that within reason. But the reason I posted this was because this guy, in my opinion, was unimaginable to be in a place where he could use the word “DJ” in front of his name. In example, leaving mine, or anyones computer at the DJ booth plugged in to the PA, playing a current top 40 Itunes playlist with the shuffle on and crossfader up would of sounded better then paying this guy hundreds of dollars for SITTING (yes, sitting) behind his computer unviewable to the crowd, creating trainwreck after trainwreck. Ill never judge anyone for their DJ talents or there set up, seeing as I’m no Tiesto my self. But I believe there is an experience level at which a DJ should reach before playing in public, especially if they are getting generously paid. Im not saying you have to scratch well, cuepoint juggle to skip/switch verses or hooks, use samples, use effects, intro/outro loop beatmatch, or even properly make a standard beatmatch/blend for all i care. I just think you should be able to play one song after the other, and perform well to YOUR crowd who are solely there to have a good time. I think he could simply get away with this because the place is not the greatest venue in the world and is really the only place people go in my town. Im sure he also has connections with the owner of some sort.
Participant[INDENT]I posted this for someone else and got no response. hopefully this time it goes to good use.[/INDENT]
[INDENT]Ok, if im hearing this correctly, your looking for a playlist structure to keep all your music organized when you play gigs. And if thats not what you meant….well that sucks because im gonna waste my time with this responce…but ok here goes…Recently I have been getting my itunes better in sync for my serato for better organization when I play live. As ive increased music downloads over the last few months for DJing (i have 2 years dj/mixing experience but have only played live a few times), my organization of playlists and finding better quality replacement tracks have taken a substantial amount of time. However, if you want to DJ live and perform well, I find doing this quite important in my opinion. For example if someone requests a track, or even if I am looking for my next track, Im about 90% positive i can find the specific song in my playlists without using the search method.
Like yourself I also listen to two completely different genres of music that would be played live in two different venues. The first being Hip hop/R&B/Pop/dance or anything that may reach american top 40 charts a few months after downloading and listening/learning the tracks extensively. (I use these tracks for small local bars that lure people that only listen to mainstream type music) The second being EDM genres of prog house, electro house, and a little dubstep here and there. (my personal favorites, I use these in venues that receive more of a club/dance like atmosphere).
My hiphop/r&b/pop/dance/top 40 folders in itunes for Djing are sorted like this and each of the folders have addition subfolders for monthly organization (which ill show pictures of.)
Classics: songs of these genres more then a year old. divided into 4 subplaylists (build up intro, build up risk, dance intro, dance risk) ……(copy the link below and paste it into your web browser to view the picture)
file://localhost/Users/ShipIT/Desktop/Screen%20Shot%202012-02-24%20at%204.15.58%20AM.pngCurrent 2011: any of these genres of songs downloaded january 1st 2011 and on (divided into 3 sublists of intro, dance, and other…then each on of these has monthly subcrates…(picture shown below)
file://localhost/Users/ShipIT/Desktop/Screen%20Shot%202012-02-24%20at%204.22.50%20AM.pngCurrent 2012: same as above 2012 and on
My EDM folders are in similar format and all include subfolders for monthly organization:
EDM 2011: any edm tunes 2011-2012 (sub folders of EDM bangers, and EDM other….and monthly subcrates of each)
file://localhost/Users/ShipIT/Desktop/Screen%20Shot%202012-02-24%20at%204.26.23%20AM.pngEDM 2012: any edm tunes 2012 and on
EDM miscellaneous: subfolders include failsafe, oldschool edm, etcIm hoping this is kind of what you were looking for. And im sure my itunes still looks complicated to you or whoever else reads it/looks at the pictures. but thats just the thing. You need to find your own way of organizing your music to suit your style of DJing and what music you would typically play, because in the end ITS ALL ABOUT THE MUSIC!
Hope this helps…cheers from boston
-2SHAE![/INDENT]
ParticipantOk, if im hearing this correctly, your looking for a playlist structure to keep all your music organized when you play gigs. And if thats not what you meant….well that sucks because im gonna waste my time with this responce…but ok here goes…
Recently I have been getting my itunes better in sync for my serato for better organization when I play live. As ive increased music downloads over the last few months for DJing (i have 2 years dj/mixing experience but have only played live a few times), my organization of playlists and finding better quality replacement tracks have taken a substantial amount of time. However, if you want to DJ live and perform well, I find doing this quite important in my opinion. For example if someone requests a track, or even if I am looking for my next track, Im about 90% positive i can find the specific song in my playlists without using the search method.
Like yourself I also listen to two completely different genres of music that would be played live in two different venues. The first being Hip hop/R&B/Pop/dance or anything that may reach american top 40 charts a few months after downloading and listening/learning the tracks extensively. (I use these tracks for small local bars that lure people that only listen to mainstream type music) The second being EDM genres of prog house, electro house, and a little dubstep here and there. (my personal favorites, I use these in venues that receive more of a club/dance like atmosphere).
My hiphop/r&b/pop/dance/top 40 folders in itunes for Djing are sorted like this and each of the folders have addition subfolders for monthly organization (which ill show pictures of.)
Classics: songs of these genres more then a year old. divided into 4 subplaylists (build up intro, build up risk, dance intro, dance risk) ……(copy the link below and paste it into your web browser to view the picture)
file://localhost/Users/ShipIT/Desktop/Screen%20Shot%202012-02-24%20at%204.15.58%20AM.pngCurrent 2011: any of these genres of songs downloaded january 1st 2011 and on (divided into 3 sublists of intro, dance, and other…then each on of these has monthly subcrates…(picture shown below)
file://localhost/Users/ShipIT/Desktop/Screen%20Shot%202012-02-24%20at%204.22.50%20AM.pngCurrent 2012: same as above 2012 and on
My EDM folders are in similar format and all include subfolders for monthly organization:
EDM 2011: any edm tunes 2011-2012 (sub folders of EDM bangers, and EDM other….and monthly subcrates of each)
file://localhost/Users/ShipIT/Desktop/Screen%20Shot%202012-02-24%20at%204.26.23%20AM.pngEDM 2012: any edm tunes 2012 and on
EDM miscellaneous: subfolders include failsafe, oldschool edm, etcIm hoping this is kind of what you were looking for. And im sure my itunes still looks complicated to you or whoever else reads it/looks at the pictures. but thats just the thing. You need to find your own way of organizing your music to suit your style of DJing and what music you would typically play, because in the end ITS ALL ABOUT THE MUSIC!
Hope this helps…cheers from boston
-2SHAE!
ParticipantI may be stating the obvious…but just fill the room up with everything you need to record as well as anything you want in the room. I say this because when i was moving out (playing loud house music of course) and the room got emptier i started hearing more of an echo effect when there was nothing left in the room. strange? yes, obvious? yes, wrong? possibly, but maybe you just need more stuff in the room
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