squeeam

So, Saturday night was my first ever DJ gig at my sister-in-laws 40th birthday. However things didn’t go quite according to plan.

My friend who has all the speakers, amps, lights etc found out on Saturday afternoon that his father had collapsed and was in hospital. This was minutes before we were due to set up. I told him he had to go and see him but he insisted on taking the gear and setting up as we were doing the music and it would be too late now to get another DJ.

We finished setting up and off he went to the hospital. Later on in the afternoon I got a phone call to say that my friends father had passed away. I was really gutted for him and his loss but knew I had to carry on as now the party was due to start in less than 2 hours. I was asked not to say anything to anyone as my friends 10 year old daughter was at the party and as far as she knew her Grandad was in hospital but was OK. Also, and this is not to be disrespectful to my friends loss, but we thought it better not to tell the person whose party it was as we didn’t want to spoil hers and others night.

I’d set up a pre-recorded mix of gentler tunes going into more upbeat stuff for the beginning of the evening. Then the moment came when I had to get up on the stage and take over from my mix. I could see a few people looking up thinking “What’s he doing up there?” as not everyone who knew me knew that I was delivering the music.

We were hoping to kick things off at 9pm but people were taking longer over finishing their food and my set list was rapidly going out of the window as I was trying to play upbeat tunes but not the “killers” that were in my set. I asked my brother-in-law what was going on and he said people weren’t going up for their desserts! So grabbing the mic, and by the way this was the part of the evening which scared me the most, I politely requested that everyone had 5 minutes to get their dessert as the caterers were due to leave. I’ve never seen a rush of people like it.

Still, I couldn’t start my set properly. There were about 10 kids running about on the dance floor and I knew I had to force the situation. I knew if I played this next track, which my brother-in-law hated, then the kids would dance and he would ensure that people ate and we could get the night started.

So I played GANGNAM STYLE! (I’m not proud, I was desperate.)

The kids went mental and were all doing the routine from the video. The adults loved it because they could see the kids dancing and were joining in with them. And my brother-in-law was rushing around telling people to eat up and get on the dance floor.

From then on I was able to play what I wanted, all be it a pared down set as the 3 or 4 songs from each genre/era were reduced to 2 songs so there were a lot of left turns but the dance floor was mainly packed. Until….

Earlier on in the day the birthday girl mentioned she was disappointed as she thought no Wham! would be played (did I mention it was a 40th birthday party). So I decided before the party I would drop a tune in by the band of her choice as it was her party and she hadn’t asked for anything. So I said to my wife who was with me should I play I’m Your Man or maybe Edge Of Heaven. Oh no, they’re not good ones she said. What about Everything She Wants, I said and yes, this was an excellent choice.

The party is now in full swing. Everything is going according to plan in terms of people dancing to the tunes I’ve chosen. Chaka Khan’s I Feel For You is belting out and everyone is dancing. Now would be the time to play the birthday girls favourite group. Chaka faded out, Wham! came in and everyone left the dancefloor. All I could do was laugh. Then a woman came up to me and said why didn’t you play I’m Your Man or Edge Of Heaven? I thought that will be the last time I take advice from my wife on musical matters.

The night finished and everyone was happy and telling me what a great time they had and how brilliant the music was. I received texts the day after congratulating me and telling me how much they enjoyed it and what a great party it was.

It was a massive learning curve and taught me so much about tune selection and reading the crowd which I’ve read so much about in the articles and forums. And I didn’t take it personally when people cleared the floor because I was confident in what else I was going to play.

And since this thread is “How much did your first gig earn you?” well mine and my wife’s drinks were bought all night by a very grateful brother-in-law. But more than that, and despite my friends loss, I got a fantastic experience and a great feeling of satisfaction.

I’M HOOKED!

PS Apologies for the post being so long.

I’ll find out tomorrow night. My sister-in-law is having a 40th birthday party and I somehow came to be put forward to provide the sounds. I’ll be using my Mixtrack Pro with Serato Itch as I’m not up to speed yet with my new Traktor S4 and Traktor Pro. It won’t be anything fancy, just press play and cross fade but, as we all know, it’s all about song selection.
So, I’m doing it as a favour but who knows where it may lead. Playing the long game.

My third post on this subject now and I’ve gone back to Traktor. Reason? I won a Traktor S4 with Traktor Pro AND two Stanton ST150 turntables (please don’t hate me).

When I used Traktor LE with my Numark Mixtrak Pro I found it quite limiting and so went with Serato LE. It literally is plug and play. I think someone else mentioned learning visually and that is what Serato helps you do (I know, I know, we should use our ears but when you’ve got a wife and family they don’t always appreciate your audible “train wrecks” echoing throughout the house). We are having a change around in our house so I will virtually have my own room to play in and will be able to practice more playing by ear.

In the limited time I’ve had the S4 I’ve found it to be a phenomenal piece of kit. The possibilities are endless. And having Traktor Pro as well has made life easier than with the LE version.

And one final thing. I have honestly never won anything in my life and it always happened to “other people”. Well now I am “other people” so keep entering competitions or filling out surveys for prizes and it just might be you who gets selected.

Mark Scholfield, post: 16927, member: 1707 wrote: My DJ software is Traktor LE, and this is why: It came free with my Numark Mixtrack Pro. At present it seems okay for my needs and I find Traktor better for mixing house music than Virtual DJ Free as it appears to beat match more accurately.Unfortunately, with Traktor LE you cannot record a mix so I have to use Virtual DJ for this and the results have been good mainly as I am just fading in and out,cutting or playing the whole track ( my mixes tend to be Soul,balearic,chillout,reggae or disco when beat matching is not really required.I have produced some decent house mixes using Mixmeister ( the original version ) or Mixmeister Fusion. You cannot really play out using Mixmeister.I would be happy to do a party using Traktor LE but I don’t like Serato Intro version ( which also came free with the Mixtrack pro ) as it appears there is only one “deck”!? How on earth does this work!?

Mark, you need to plug in your Mixtrack Pro once you have opened the Serato Intro software. When you have done this you will see two decks. You will then have nicely coloured waveforms and have access to the effects and load samples. I presume the version you can see without the controller is so you can prepare tracks, put in cue marks etc.
It’s really rather good and seems to load up almost immediately. I found Traktor LE a bit fiddly in that respect.
I hope this helps and maybe expands your enjoyment of the Mixtrack Pro.
Cheers
Squeeam
PS Groovy hair by the way.

Aaah, unfortunately (for you) I live just down the road near Coventry so I may well be able to take you up on that.

Good luck using your controller. I’m still getting to grips with mine. Sometimes I’m a bit scared of it but then something happens and it all comes together and I can’t wait to get on it again.

All the best.

stuart, post: 13777, member: 678 wrote: I know this has been discussed before but im having trouble finding the easiest solution. Any tracks from cds ive ripped to itunes or any purchases ive made from itunes wont load onto a deck i get the red flashing corrupt file/drm protected bar across the bottom. I thought i was gonna have to covert them all to mp3s, but the read more that contradicted this. Am i right thinking that traktor should play acc files? Can anyone see what im doing wrong? cheers in advance folks!

I believe this may be an issue with .m4a files. I had the same problem. You need to ensure that Quicktime is installed so that these files can be recognised.
That said once I’d installed it Traktor could read the files but when I loaded and played them they didn’t sound great which is (yet) another glitch I need to fix.

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VinnyBlanc, post: 12964, member: 737 wrote: You can download/try Serato DJ Intro for free from http://www.serato.com (if it did not come with it)
Also if you could get a hold of VIRTUAL DJ LE (that will also recognize your controller)

Cheers for the reply. I’ve looked into getting Virtual DJ LE from eBay and some DJ equipment shops but it only seems to be bundled with the controller. I know it’s sold with the American version but for some reason the European version is bundled with Traktor.

Unless somebody knows where I can get hold of it (pleeeeeeease).