DirtyDan717
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DirtyDan717
MemberRodders, post: 30721, member: 2248 wrote: Never used the mixer, but looking at the specs on the website, the Mono 1/2 Stereo button toggles between VU meters showing individual left/right levels, or an overall stereo level. It doesn’t say anything about it affecting what’s actually coming out of the speakers.. unless of course you can tell me differently 🙂
LOL see, there I was just assuming what it does, you explanation makes a hell of a lot more sense and actually answers another question I had about how to more effectively use my Gain control. You sir, are a great man. Thanks so much!
MemberBad Religion “Marked”. Hands down.
No other song I’ve heard in my 31 years on this earth has encompassed the image I have of myself and my views on life in general. It’s short, sweet and just rages.
[media=youtube]vSv06NqoP2I[/media]
MemberDJ 2 Cut, post: 29863, member: 1112 wrote: Hopefully not too much longer!
It won’t. Look at Call Me Maybe. I had 30 people a night asking for it just 2 months ago. I’ve gone at least a month without anyone asking for it.
At my gig, people don’t dance. It’s just not that kind of place. They sit, stare at the TV’s or play pool. Chicks hang out on the deck but I’m stuck being inside. I can’t even see the people who are most likely to react so it can get nerve racking.
However, just like one of the dudes above me said 90bpm old school hip hop is the most effective at getting a response.
MemberDJ Menno, post: 29856, member: 3768 wrote:
As well, I always help the crew cleaning of a table or two if there’s too many people or at the end of the evening. The owner will respect you a lot for that, you’re part of the team, not only a one time DJ.
All in all, I recommend it, it’s a very positive experience.
THIS. I’m at my venue 3 nights a week. It’s a sports bar so there are servers running around, bouncers, etc… My biggest asset in any situation is empathy. These people are working their asses off so if there’s something I can do to help while a track is playing I will. See a few glasses left in the bathroom? Bring them to the bar. See a drunk about get tossed out but he’s being unruly? Open the doors for the bouncer. Just last week, SUPER drunk dude passed out and knocked his pint glass to the floor. I grabbed a broom. And it really is the little things that count.
Now onto what I’m actually there to do. You have to let get of your ego a little bit. Club DJ’s, by nature, don’t take kindly to requests, nor should they. Totally different animal. However for some reason that mindset seems to permeate into a lot of my bar counterparts. Dude, you have to be flexible. Learn to play social politics. Tell them you’ll see what you can do, if it’s a great request but I don’t have it, I download it from Amazon right there. Nothing wrong with paying $1 to make someone’s night. I explain to them that I have to make everyone as happy as I want to make the person requesting the song. Give me a little bit to mix it in, if I just got into a country block, don’t expect me to break into Drake just because it’s you grandmothers birthday. Respect my workflow and you’ll get what you want.
I have become much more willing to work with requests and since I come from being a radio DJ I know how to work a crowd. If you take a gig like this you absolutely cannot be a prick, you must enjoy being out there with people and be willing to let the playlist take shape as the night goes in. Rigid won’t cut it and if you can’t loosen up this particular gig probably isn’t for you.
What a lot of bar DJ’s around here don’t seem to get it is that being obligated to play across all different kinds of genres is an amazing opportunity. Eventually I want to graduate to a club or lounge where I can get back to where my heart is, House and DnB. Until then I will make the best of this particular gig and abuse Traktor till it screams. These kinds of gigs are fantastic learning avenues.
MemberMichael Lawrence, post: 29456, member: 856 wrote: check out this post by DJ Endo at Dubspot. Alot of great things in there. I did most of what he has to say in there and when I want a particular type of track I search by Genre, Mood, and Descripitors and I have no trouble finding what I’m looking for, often several possibilities come up that can go with the direction I want to move in with my set.
I think the key is getting your playlists to work for you and almost turning it into a google search engine. Just find what method works for you really. I would say to first clean out all your old tracks you dont realy play and start with tracks you want to keep or are requested often etc;
http://blog.dubspot.com/how-to-create-smart-playlists-organize-your-music-in-itunes/
VERY helpful my friend, thank you!
MemberTerry_42, post: 29413, member: 1843 wrote: http://www.reloop.com/contacts
Including phone number…
If it is broken, your dealer should be able to replace the unit at no charge.……I looked on that stupid site for hours for something like that. Thank you for rescuing me from stupidity.
MemberHonestly, if giving it a cute buzzword helps turn people on and start loving the music then I’m all for it. “Techno” always sounded cheap to me, and if I used the word “Jungle” or “Breaks” I had to spend 20 minutes explaining it. Let them get turned onto this “EDM” they hear about then progress to finding the different styles.
Perhaps it’s for the best anyway, I fell away from electronic music for a few years but naturally gravitated back. It’s impossible to keep up with the insane amount of sub-genres that have sprung up in interim.
MemberI use Traktor Pro 2 because it challenged me. I started out with VDJ years ago because, no offense to anyone currently using it, but it was so easy a monkey could use it. I found it almost too convenient and it made me presume I knew a lot because everything was laid out for me. VDJ made me lazy. That, and quite frankly, every joe schmo on my local bar circuit is using it and I wanted to try something different.
Traktor appeared to me as more stripped down, definitely not as “warm and cuddly” as VDJ. It was a challenge and I love that….almost as much as I fear it. I almost ran screaming back to VDJ because, heaven forbid, Traktor made me figure the stuff out for myself. Now I couldn’t imagine playing with anything else for my current skill level.
Talk to me in a year and perhaps I’ll be singing the praises of Serrato and timecodes, if that’s where my evolution takes me so be it. Right now Traktor kicks my ass just enough to keep my nights interesting.
MemberThink of it this way, you aren’t selling a duplicated product, you’re selling an enhanced version of an original.
I went to see George Carlin (RIP) at a small venue about 6 or 7 years ago. Of course he was hilarious and awe inspiring in his delivery. Thing was I kept seeing him reading his jokes off a tablet laying on a chair next to him. I thought it was curious, maybe the old guy was losing his shit. I learned later a lot of comics do this while they’re trying out new material, in Carlin’s case he was preparing for an HBO special. Do you think of his fans who saw him on the road that month didn’t bother to watch his special when it came out? Of course not!
My feeling is, you molded a bangin’ set that you’re proud of, but it can always be better. Don’t be afraid to play it out again, making a few tweaks here and there. Much like in any profession, attention is paid when you screw something up not when you’re consistently killing it. You reticence at repeating yourself is the mark of any good, creative professional. The public at large will barely notice.
MemberSi BooGie, post: 29352, member: 3469 wrote: …iTunes crates in Trakor is the they’re read only.
iTunes “crates”? Haven’t heard that term before, is that a separate feature? And what is the effect of the crates being read only?
MemberWhen I started tinkering around with being a DJ it was at this club where they had bands and I’d spin in between sets. When the band wasn’t on and it was all on me I could see the reaction of the crowd. I could instantly tell what was and wasn’t working. Never got nervous, I always knew where I stood. Looking back I really did’nt know what I was doing but it was working.
Fast forward to a move out of state then back again I now have a steady gig 3 nights a week at a local sports bar/restaurant. The kind of place where NOBODY dances…at all. They’re drinking or eating but never dancing save for the occasional ass wiggle. I usually get 0 feedback from these people, add to the fact that my sets are each 4 hours long encompassing everything from Rock, Pop, Top40, some electronic, Hip Hop, my nerves can become a wreck. Self doubt, I suck, nobody’s moving (they never move anyway). It’s a slippery slope to start down and can ruin my entire night.
In order to break the nerves I people watch. Much the same way a nervous public speaker knows to single out one face in the crowd and talk directly to that person I find the one group or few friends that are reacting to my tracks (there’s thankfully always at least one group), and I play to them. I keep them in my peripheral and that calms me down. Or if my shit is getting too clustered I stay in one particular genre and really concentrate on the flow, get out of my head for a good 20 or 30 minutes.
Funny enough this is the one time I really don’t care to drink. It leaves me foggy. I need to focus.
MemberI was using a Maya 44 and that thing rocked. Same price range as the Audio 2 which I tried first I had a ton of problems with sound quality. I found out later they could have been fixed with a bunch of tinkering around but the Maya worked like a champ out of the box.
4 Analog Out and 4 Analog In, easily configurable with Traktor. Of course I’m still pretty new to all this so other peeps might have better reasoned suggestions.
MemberCheers to both of you, thank you!
Senheiser hd280’s, thanks for the tip.
MemberPhil’s put a great controller buying guide on the front page right now.
http://www.digitaldjtips.com/2012/08/have-you-got-your-copy-of-our-free-dj-controller-guide/
MemberRoll of Velcro strips. Use them at work (networking) for cable management and they’re reusable. Also my Droid for multiple reasons. I rely heavily on my Shazzam app to remind me of songs I heard during the week that I want to play with, as well as the Brightest Flashlight app. Because, well, it’s REALLY friggin bright. Useful for finding inputs in a dark room.
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