I feel a bit of a fraud about starting this thread but, fuck it, I have done a fair few djing gigs now. I accidentally got into it, having never really had any inkling to do it, about 18 months ago. A mate puts on a load of nights at a local club with two floors - a northern soul night, an 80s night and an 'indie' night. Upstairs at the latter is Stone Roses, Smiths etc. but he asked another mate of mine to do some other DJing for the people that sit down there having a breather from upstairs or whatever. I popped down there and spent most of the night our downstairs mate as the room was mostly completely empty apart from people walking through to use the quieter bar. We had a laugh as he was just playing whatever as there was no-one really down there or interested. As he was then using a CD mixer, I was looking through his CDs and suggesting stuff and he would play it. We tried to play 'independent' music as opposed to the more populist 'indie' (and, ironically, mostly on major labels) stuff played upstairs. At one point, he said he needed a piss so showed me how to play the next record that he had cued up if he got caught in there. I did just that and used the opportunity to have a photograph of me cuing the decks that I hadn't used with the headphones on that I hadn't used. The next week my mate did the gig, he asked me if I wanted to help him so I thought it would be fun. However, he then found out that he had a prior commitment and asked if I could do it myself. Remembering how the room was empty last time and it was effectively recreating playing your records in your bedroom as a kid on a larger scale, I agree and, hence, found myself equipped with a mixer, amp, PA and large bag of CDs for 4 hours on a Saturday night.
However, unlike the previous evening, people decided to stay downstairs, drink and chat until about 10pm when the upstairs room got going. At first, this scared the life out of me but it was useful in teaching me how to read the room and play stuff according to people's reactions - even if it was only a tap of a foot or smile of recognition. People complimented me on my selection - again mostly eclectic independent music across the genres - and one bloke asked me if I was doing a set in the main room as he preferred my stuff. I didn't point out that there was 200 people up there that genuinely preferred what they were playing. Although the mate who organised the night advised me not to play requests, a friend wanted another to hear Wire's "Outdoor Miner" and I realised that, though I didn't have it, I had an phone, a USB slot in the mixer and Youtube so played it through that. At the end of the night, another very pissed mate offered to buy me a pint if I played some shit by Florence and the fucking Machine so, parched, I again 'cheated' and resorted to the iPhone and wept into my pint as they did the 'pissed wedding dance' in front of me. The iPhone usage is funny as all three of us who have been doing DJing have got a mutual DJ mate who is a nice guy but is extremely snotty about anyone not using vinyl records (and old ones at that). I had visions of him walking past the club I was DJing at, seeing my using my iPhone and having a heart attack.
Since that time I have done a fair few gigs now. There was a further solo night in the downstairs room which was after a day on the piss in Cardiff watching the rugby where I had to sober up for pretty quickly with coffee and a nap on the train. There are have been some nights at the local music pub which have been quiet as far as attendance is concerned, even more eclectic due to them being 'our' nights and fairly well-paid due to a generous barman. We have done a couple of gigs at a local hipster micro-brewery, an industrial unit effectively. The first of these, I found out very close to the gig, was billed as an evening of soul and funk which meant a bit of rearranging of what I was going to play but, on the night, as it was the day Pete Shelley died, my partner played three Buzzcocks songs at the end - which went down very well actually. The last of the brewery gig ended up as a sort of DJ version of "They shoot horses, don't they?" where we played their open day from 3.30pm to 11pm. We also played alongside the route of the Bath half marathon for 4 hours from the first person going past to the last. All these longer gigs and the ones where we need to be flexible have been helped by us having moved to laptop digital DJing in the last year. We are using Virtual DJ which is pretty straight forward to use. Having said that, I hardly get near all its features.
You will notice that I haven't mentioned playlists for the very good reason that I never do one. My vinyl only mate goes into great pains to plan his playlists and fair play to him especially as he has to drag his vinyl with him so doesn't want to take anything he doesn't need. I can't do it though and, with hundreds of songs on the laptop, don't need to. It does mean that, as I say, I can read the audience a bit more. One thing that does completely throw me is when people start dancing randomly - certainly before the last pissed hour when you will always get 4 or 5 that will dance to anything anytime anywhere. This happened to me in the first gig when I was playing the Prodigy and a goth woman stood up and started dancing frantically by her table. I then panicked as I didn't feel I had the freedom that I usually have to play whatever I want next. I desperately fished out a Marlyin Manson best of and put something from that on. She carried on dancing for about the first half and then her husband sat her down and, I have to say, I was almost relieved.
However, unlike the previous evening, people decided to stay downstairs, drink and chat until about 10pm when the upstairs room got going. At first, this scared the life out of me but it was useful in teaching me how to read the room and play stuff according to people's reactions - even if it was only a tap of a foot or smile of recognition. People complimented me on my selection - again mostly eclectic independent music across the genres - and one bloke asked me if I was doing a set in the main room as he preferred my stuff. I didn't point out that there was 200 people up there that genuinely preferred what they were playing. Although the mate who organised the night advised me not to play requests, a friend wanted another to hear Wire's "Outdoor Miner" and I realised that, though I didn't have it, I had an phone, a USB slot in the mixer and Youtube so played it through that. At the end of the night, another very pissed mate offered to buy me a pint if I played some shit by Florence and the fucking Machine so, parched, I again 'cheated' and resorted to the iPhone and wept into my pint as they did the 'pissed wedding dance' in front of me. The iPhone usage is funny as all three of us who have been doing DJing have got a mutual DJ mate who is a nice guy but is extremely snotty about anyone not using vinyl records (and old ones at that). I had visions of him walking past the club I was DJing at, seeing my using my iPhone and having a heart attack.
Since that time I have done a fair few gigs now. There was a further solo night in the downstairs room which was after a day on the piss in Cardiff watching the rugby where I had to sober up for pretty quickly with coffee and a nap on the train. There are have been some nights at the local music pub which have been quiet as far as attendance is concerned, even more eclectic due to them being 'our' nights and fairly well-paid due to a generous barman. We have done a couple of gigs at a local hipster micro-brewery, an industrial unit effectively. The first of these, I found out very close to the gig, was billed as an evening of soul and funk which meant a bit of rearranging of what I was going to play but, on the night, as it was the day Pete Shelley died, my partner played three Buzzcocks songs at the end - which went down very well actually. The last of the brewery gig ended up as a sort of DJ version of "They shoot horses, don't they?" where we played their open day from 3.30pm to 11pm. We also played alongside the route of the Bath half marathon for 4 hours from the first person going past to the last. All these longer gigs and the ones where we need to be flexible have been helped by us having moved to laptop digital DJing in the last year. We are using Virtual DJ which is pretty straight forward to use. Having said that, I hardly get near all its features.
You will notice that I haven't mentioned playlists for the very good reason that I never do one. My vinyl only mate goes into great pains to plan his playlists and fair play to him especially as he has to drag his vinyl with him so doesn't want to take anything he doesn't need. I can't do it though and, with hundreds of songs on the laptop, don't need to. It does mean that, as I say, I can read the audience a bit more. One thing that does completely throw me is when people start dancing randomly - certainly before the last pissed hour when you will always get 4 or 5 that will dance to anything anytime anywhere. This happened to me in the first gig when I was playing the Prodigy and a goth woman stood up and started dancing frantically by her table. I then panicked as I didn't feel I had the freedom that I usually have to play whatever I want next. I desperately fished out a Marlyin Manson best of and put something from that on. She carried on dancing for about the first half and then her husband sat her down and, I have to say, I was almost relieved.
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