Post: #26

(03-13-2014 07:30 AM)RioNomad Wrote:  What do DJs actually do during their set that couldnt be pre recorded beforehand?

Honest question.

Respond live to the crowd vibe by changing up the direction and pace of the set. Apart from that, nothing. That is a pretty big element though.

Post: #27

Damn, this is LOL. All I can advice you is, just play some mixtsapes out of soundcloud and act like you're mixing stuff. If you are plying house and you listen to house musicn often, you will recognize the drop, intro etc. At those moments you can act like you are mixxing and stuff.

Post: #28

Club DJ here, played my first event about 7 days after getting turntables. Here's my thoughts.

First off, DO NOT get VDJ, the effects are shit, it's garbage software and there are so many better options that are way easier to learn.

I would recommend torrenting Traktor and using that along with either running that off club CDJ's or just buy a controller which will be way easier to learn on anyways.

A lot of guys will probably hate on me for this, but I agree with recording part of your set if you are doing this to get laid and not for exposure and all. Just basically make a 30 minute mix that you can transition into whenever you get some hot chicks around the booth and fuck with the effects.

As far as music goes I'm honestly presuming that it's going to be trance sets if you are in Second tier Russia. If not I'd play 100% Beatport top 10 stuff and just throw in cool mashups in the mix. If you want, I could do a 30 minute mix for you to play if you give me a better idea of what kind of music is going to be liked in the clubs there.

For transitions, just stick to super basic 16 bar transitions with Traktor Sync on and filter the low freq. to match that of the track your mixing it in. Also I can show you how to do this over skype if you want.

For mashups and dance floor stuff I would immediately download all of 3LAU's Dance Floor Filth packs as they absolutely kill in the club. https://www.facebook.com/DJ3LAU/app_499307093419010 These are all just Top 40 mashups and more progressive/easier to mix in because they have intros like normal house tracks.

My Top Progressive House Tracks Right Now:

1. Lush and Simon, Tom Swoon - Ahead of Us
2. 3LAU - How You Love Me ft. Bright Lights
3. Mako - Beam (Dannic Mix)
4. Seven Lions, Myon and Shane 54 - Strangers (Paris Blohm Remix) - https://soundcloud.com/parisblohm/strang...blohmremix
5. Fareoh - Pandora

All of those songs are pretty easy to mix in and some are even free downloads to save you the time of looking around online for a good quality link.

Good DJ's From Russia - Arty, Matisse and Satko

Let me know if you have any more questions and ill try and better explain.

Post: #29

Yes, you should do this. I had a similar thing happen to me. . . I leanrd how to DJ in Two days from a DJ friend in his studio and did the gig. Learning the basics of DJing is pretty easy, if you want to master it, that will come eventually.

So, do it. If you keep doing gigs like that, meeting people, and inviting them to your gigs. . .you will go places. (and get easy lays. . .)

(03-13-2014 07:30 AM)RioNomad Wrote:  What do DJs actually do during their set that couldnt be pre recorded beforehand?

Honest question.

I can answer that, as I DJ'd for a while.

I never used the computer/tech stuff, just CD's and the CDJ, basically I'd buy tracks off the beatport 100 that I liked, put them on the CD's and wrote down the name of the track and the number it was on.

It's fairly easy to memorize which track is which since you actually like all the tracks you're bringing. eventually, You'll be able to just look at your CDs and plan your sets on the fly. It's actaully not that hard. eventually I would just chill at home and arrange the tracks on the CDs I burned in the general order I wanted to play the tracks. sometimes I went with that plan, but mostly it was just putting it in order by manner of what song fit before and after another song the best. then just playing what I felt like wnad how I wanted the set to go, including crowd reactions. It's pretty fun once you get the hang of it.

Now making Good mashups and putting effects in at the right places etc etc, that takes a lot of practice.

Post: #30

delete

Post: #31

Thanks for the info everyone, this is good shit.

Based on the photos of the last event it looks like a bunch of hipsters.

I am unfamiliar with the other performing DJs, but I will be meeting one, Sonya, who will be performing on either side of my "set" (or whatever the hell its called), on Tuesday to, presumably, go over transitions. I will post my song list tomorrow morning to get feedback.

@ PROD3GY/others: If I want to prerecord my mix, what software do you recommend? I only have my laptop (Win7) and external flash drive to work with.

Post: #32

(03-16-2014 09:31 AM)Pacesetter20 Wrote:  Thanks for the info everyone, this is good shit.

Based on the photos of the last event it looks like a bunch of hipsters.

I am unfamiliar with the other performing DJs, but I will be meeting one, Sonya, who will be performing on either side of my "set" (or whatever the hell its called), on Tuesday to, presumably, go over transitions. I will post my song list tomorrow morning to get feedback.

@ PROD3GY/others: If I want to prerecord my mix, what software do you recommend? I only have my laptop (Win7) and external flash drive to work with.

What software have you put on your computer to mix? 99% of mixing software will have a recording mode hidden somewhere as a feature.

Post: #33

A lot of the mainstream DJs don't do anything. They essentially 'mime'. Like a poster before me said, they might twizzle knobs etc but it's just for show.

Off the top of my head, two dance groups who legitimately do stuff on stage are Daft Punk and The Chemical Brothers.

Post: #34

This is a great experience, just thrown at you!

If nothing else it will make for a great story, and the worst that could happen is you have a not so fun night then peace out of town.

This is a near zero-cost business/fun opportunity...treat it like an approach. If it goes well, you could have some fun. If not, keep your head up and move on

Post: #35

Well I had a completely unproductive meeting with one of my fellow "DJs" this afternoon. Honestly I don't know why we met. Nothing was really resolved except that I am "kicking things off," as they say. I still have no idea what equipment I am playing on. I have about 16 songs that I am planning on playing, but I have a backup if things get ugly fast I am just going to put it on and let it roll, even if it is not what I really want to be playing. Having said that, I am looking forward to it and to see what kind of ass I can make of myself...more updates to come in about two days.

Post: #36

Bumping this for the final report:

I just got back from the party. Overall I had a really good time. I was super nervous going into my "set" as the club was using a CDJ-2000 and I have never seen one, let alone practiced on one, outside of youtube. Anyway, the manager of the bar is playing before me and trying to feign ignorance, I tell him: "Its been years since we've used these models in America, can you give me a quick refresher?" Which he does and between that and youtube I am doing okay.

I kind of get screwed because they had me going first from 11pm-midnight and there are not many people there and the people that are there are old Russians that come up and complain about my music (progressive/electric house) every five minutes. After about seven songs my friend comes by and asks me if I have something softer. So I throw on my backup, prerecorded deep house mix (up to that point I was actually mixing songs) and just go through the motions pretending to turn knobs and switches and play with the turn tables or whatever they are called until I get relieved. There were hardly any people there still so I didn't get to maximize my "fame," but I still ran a couple of approaches, asking if they spoke English and if they liked my music.

Although, none of them really went anywhere, my best approach was a group of three girls (one of whom I already knew from my trip this past weekend, she was the gf of one of my friends). I was shooting the shit with them being very aloof and non-forward which seemed to be working well, there girl I was going after (not the friends gf) was permitting and reciprocating some light kino, though to be honest the friends gf was giving me more kino, she would lean in tell me something in English, but was not shy about giving me a nice feel of her tits each time she did so. Anyway after a while I suggest that we all go dance and they agree, the girl I am going after grabs my hand as we go to the dance floor and I think I am golden, but as soon as we get to the dance floor and I try to start dancing with her she, but she squirms and says that she can't because she has a bf at home or some bullshit. I try to go for the hail mary and say that it is my last night so it doesn't matter and we will never see each other again, but doesn't work....Russian girls, such teases. I think I need to go re-read slubu's "hello Russia" thread (although I don't have the fortune of being about to run California ID game), because despite doing more approaches and getting more numbers I had my worst three weeks so far in my travels (no bangs, no kisses), though I feel I am close and just need some minor tweaks to breakthrough.

Anyway, I did have a lot of fun tonight and it wasn't nearly has hard as I thought it would be, despite never touching the equipment before, even my friends were fooled and all thought I did a good job. Thanks to everyone in this thread for their support and useful posts to help me pull this off.

Post: #37

(03-21-2014 01:13 PM)Pacesetter20 Wrote:  I was super nervous going into my "set" as the club was using a CDJ-2000 and I have never seen one, let alone practiced on one, outside of youtube. Anyway, the manager of the bar is playing before me and trying to feign ignorance, I tell him: "Its been years since we've used these models in America, can you give me a quick refresher?"

Hahaha nice. Reminds me of this. "It's been a while since I've done this, which one is the jump seat again?"



Good job, dude. Looks like you did really well under pressure. Any pics?

Post: #38

I didn't take any pictures but there was photographer there, so I'm waiting for them to get posted online and then can provide a link.

Post: #39

Thanks for reporting back about your DJ experience, was fun to read!