bob6397

Practice? Only in front of people… This is called CONFIDENCE!!! Be big, loud and be convinced that whatever you are saying, it is right. That’s all you need. Oh, and forget about anyone looking at you. Look past them when you are “making eye contact” – look slightly above them on the wall at the back of the room – anywhere but into their faces.. Nothing more disconcerting 🙂

I learnt this by being a Young Leader (through Scouting) for 5 years and mostly succeeding to control 30 8-10 year olds.. You can handle anything after that 🙂

bob6397

Decide what you want from the controller – do you just want keys (in which case, look at the M-Audio Keystation Mini 32) or do you want pads and/or other controls built in as well?

The Novation Launchkey that you mentioned looks like a decent controller – but I don’t think that I could effectively use a keyboard with that few keys.. 3 octaves would be my minimum really (which would be a 37 key controller – a long way from 25)..

Depends what you want though. I can actually play the piano (sort of..) so I want a controller I can really use to program my computer.. Personally I use an old 88 key keyboard for composing on – so old I have plugged it in with MIDI cables rather than USB – but I wouldn’t want anything smaller. It has lots of velocity sensitive keys, and it is huge.. But I don’t need it to be portable.. So it works for me..

Find what works for you..

bob6397

Active Noise Cancellation does not work especially well in a DJ setting.. What you want is Passive Noise Isolation instead – where the physical headphones stop the sound from coming in rather than some computer trickery which can degrade the sound quality.

If you want Over-Ear headphones, don’t get the HD25’s as they are On-Ear..

And I would hope that you would never have the main speakers behind you.. That’s not going to make your life easy at all..

bob6397

I’d do a search on the forum about budget speakers – there are a few recent posts on the subject that will tell you all you need to know..

Avoid any speakers that don’t say Alto, JBL, QSC, Mackie, Yamaha, RCF, dB or FBT on the front though.. Brands generally do matter as they will sound better and have better customer service.. (Note to other readers: Yes, I have just named a load of brands.. Some upmarket – QSC – and some lower down the market – Alto – but it makes the point.. feel free to add any I may have forgotten..)

In other words – avoid the “Ibiza” speakers. The sub should be good though – if maybe a little small..

A decent little system would simply be a pair of Alto TS115’s – no sub required (to start with at least).. I have done 200+ person venues with just a pair of 15″ speakers no problem.. Add subs later for more power 🙂

Lighting? Depends what effect you want to achieve.. The ADJ Pocket lights get really good reviews for not a lot of money (scanners, rolls and moving heads) and they look really good in action..

Gig bar’s are an acquired taste though. Some people like the look and some don’t. I personally have no issues with them for smaller venues but for bigger ones you will need more light and more control over that light than you can get with a gig bar..

Hope that helps…

bob6397

That’s really odd!!

I’ve literally never heard of that happening before.. Ever!!

Which laptop are you using?

bob6397

Which country are you in?

Generally, If something keeps tripping in one venue but setup exactly the same in other venues it doesn’t trip, it means that it’s the Venue’s electrical supply that has issues not yours – or it could be a lower rated breaker than you are used to.

I would generally recommend plugging into multiple ring-mains if at all possible at any venue, especially when running a large sound rig and a large light rig at the same time (although lighting uses a lot less power now that it’s almost all LED.. Suddenly those 500W PAR cans are drawing 20W from the mains.. One install I work at a lot uses a 100A breaker just for the lighting rig! Which maxed out would be 23000W of lighting.. That would blow any ring main..)..

bob6397

Be nervous.. But not too nervous!

In Feb, I played my first set to over 300 people (to 1000 no less..) and I was bricking it before I started.. ONce I was going, and in the groove, it went perfectly.. Being nervous is good – but don’t let it control you! Planning at least the first couple of mixes ahead of time will help in this case as well – whilst you are getting a feel for the crowd..

BUT, more than all of that, enjoy it and good luck 🙂

bob6397