help! dj tips

[d6ynast9y]

help fellow dance/electronica peeps

my friend got me an hour or half an hour slot
to dj at her birthday party at a big major club

its my first time to actually perform in front of
a large audience

im going with nothing but my roland mc 505 groovebox
and my korg kp1

ive been producing and practicing for this party for a couple weeks now
but im still very nervous,
what if no body dances???hehe

anyways, party is this tuesday night

any advice for a noob like me? 

[chuck sabbath]

wait are you dj'ing or playing electronic music live? there is a difference you know...

sign up at the electronicamanila yahoo group fast people will help you there whichever one youre doing

[chuck sabbath]

your first time out with an mc505 and a kp1 for 90 minutes thats going to be tough. prepare to fall flat on your face. sorry to be less than encouraging but thats the reality for almost everyone

fill up your 505 to the brim with tons of kickass drum patterns, funky basslines and screaming leads. you might also want to bring an mp3 player along and fill it with weird ambient sounds, sound effects and movie dialog. i havent used the 505 but i know you can mix and match patterns from different tracks so that will help you keep a continuous flow. tweak that kp for all its worth. if you can rustle up another keyboard (preferably analog/va with lots of knobs and sliders) to play some lead/fx lines live so much the better

try to bring a buddy to jam with so he can share in the blame

you say youve been practicing for weeks...record it, listen to it and see where there are dead spots. you should also prepare a LOT more material than you think is needed, oftentimes youre pulling out all your crowd pleasing tricks quickly to keep things pumping and next thing you know naubusan ka na...

be prepared for the frequent requests from idiot guests who think youre a dj

also be prepared to just bail and play cd's/mp3s if youre obviously killing the party

ive played out a handful of times pa lang compared to many of the electronicamanila guys na sanay na sanay na like silverfilter and madz etc etc and for me its still terrifying every single time

good luck and report back how it goes!

[d6ynast9y]

thanks for the reply!
just to clarigy, im playing live dance music at this party..
and yup i thought of the fact that 60minutes is too much..
thats why i asked her to pull it down to only 30minutes then just let the house dj continue..
the reputation of the club only makes it harder for me, haha..
im worried though coz i wont be able to sample and vocals, since i usually use my laptop for that, but because of soundcard issues, i wont be able to use my laptop, so its pure analog 505 and kp1..
im even worried coz i dont have a mixer so i have to use my soundcard (presonus firepod) as a standalone mixer, hopefully it wont cause any problems..

im nervous as hell, haha, but ill fix that with a little bit of alcohol, (just enough to take away the butterflies but still be able to handle the 505,  )

anyways, thanks for the tips,
more tips will be very helpful!
thanks

[chuck sabbath]

i thought of the fact that 60minutes is too much..
thats why i asked her to pull it down to only 30minutes then just let the house dj continue..

so theres a dj as well...that might work out better for you = less stress to get the people dancing. maybe try to figure out how long you can play solidly and ask to play for a bit shorter than that? like if you can do a one hour set thats really hard hitting maybe ask for 45 minutes?

im worried though coz i wont be able to sample and vocals, since i usually use my laptop for that

yeah, the mp3 player can sub for that in a pinch. of course your "samples" wont really be synced to the music, more like random additions, but it still might be cool. and you can always use it as a transition/bridge between sections or while you figure out what to do next. fill up your mp3 player with cool sounds and freak it with your kp it will be cool...

pure analog 505 and kp1..

oops neither of those are analog still cool though im sure

im nervous as hell, haha, but ill fix that with a little bit of alcohol, (just enough to take away the butterflies but still be able to handle the 505

be careful with that it may just backfire on you. sure take the edge off but dont overdo it

hopefully the other guys will chime in with more advice before your gig. kick ass play loud, dont worry too much and have fun! 

[omarpulse]

whoa! your baptism of fire. so how did it go?

anyway, if there's another gig of yours next time, lemme know if you need guitar samples or anything. maybe we can try to help you out. 

[d6ynast9y]

whoa! your baptism of fire. so how did it go?

anyway, if there's another gig of yours next time, lemme know if you need guitar samples or anything. maybe we can try to help you out. 

hey thanks!ill keep that in mind, btw i replied to your email already 

@chuck sabbath

tHe gig was great! i wasnt confident at first and was really worried that i wouldnt sound good, but once i heard myself on the house speakers and felt the tugsh tugsh, it just felt good!haha, All in all, it was pretty good, people were dancing but not as much compared to as the other dj played,(not everyone appreciated the techno haha, what they wanted was the mainstream)

there was one guy who came up to me and kept asking for the next song, i was expecting something like that thanks to your advice sir chuck sabbath, haha

i played for roughly 30 minutes then told the other dj i was out and asked him to continue..oh and i encountered a technical problem at first but with some critical thinking got around it, they didnt have any pl plugs or a house mixer infact that i could plug my firepod in, so i ended up ditching my firepod then using the house dj mixer and connected everything via rca cables, (buti nagdala ako ng rca-pl converters haha)

the best part of the night was when 2 girls came up to the dj booth and screamed your hot! a couple times, haha, that got me going, and encouraged me to pump up the bass!!

great experience for me, and im hoping that i would get more chances like this in the future..
thanks alot chuck sabbath for your input in this thread

 

[d6ynast9y]

btw, ill try to post a pic or a youtube link later on,
i got a friend to video me abit just so i can see if
it really didnt suck, haha

[lovecore]

Hey man!

sorry now lang. unfortunately, I don't visit this part of the forum coz of the inactivity. Had we known at electronicamanila, we could've poured pieces of advice. Anyway, glad to know it went well and girls thought you're hot hehehe You're on the right track and I'm glad to see new acts pushin the live thing. hey, why don't you sign up for our electronica manila live shows? It'll help you with your live set experiences and iron out your set the more you play out. We may not get that great venues to hone your dancefloor skills but the experience alone is golden. Buti nalang nandyan si Chuck to help you out and help you out he did do! Nice one, bro chuck 

Anyway, for future gigs, prepare a nice 60 min set. I think that's preferred. If you can do the 90, that's great. It's a commitment though. Reason I mentioned 60 mins is coz with 30, you've hardly warmed up the dancefloor and you need the next 30 mins for all your pumped up stuff. Trust me bro, I've done a lot of live pa on dancefloors and experience suggests as well.

a key tip I'd like to share with you seeing you do dance sets... alter your bpms. it's always common for live pa acts to keep the bpm locked in since our midi can do such things unlike CDs/vinyl that drift once you beatmatch them with one another. changing bpms can make your set feel organic so to speak, flowing, and at the same time, play around with the overall vibe. a 1bpm difference is a HUGE thing for a certain dancefloor vibe so feel free to pull it up or down every 10-15 mins or so.

best,
silverfilter

[d6ynast9y]

Hey man!

sorry now lang. unfortunately, I don't visit this part of the forum coz of the inactivity. Had we known at electronicamanila, we could've poured pieces of advice. Anyway, glad to know it went well and girls thought you're hot hehehe You're on the right track and I'm glad to see new acts pushin the live thing. hey, why don't you sign up for our electronica manila live shows? It'll help you with your live set experiences and iron out your set the more you play out. We may not get that great venues to hone your dancefloor skills but the experience alone is golden. Buti nalang nandyan si Chuck to help you out and help you out he did do! Nice one, bro chuck 

Anyway, for future gigs, prepare a nice 60 min set. I think that's preferred. If you can do the 90, that's great. It's a commitment though. Reason I mentioned 60 mins is coz with 30, you've hardly warmed up the dancefloor and you need the next 30 mins for all your pumped up stuff. Trust me bro, I've done a lot of live pa on dancefloors and experience suggests as well.

a key tip I'd like to share with you seeing you do dance sets... alter your bpms. it's always common for live pa acts to keep the bpm locked in since our midi can do such things unlike CDs/vinyl that drift once you beatmatch them with one another. changing bpms can make your set feel organic so to speak, flowing, and at the same time, play around with the overall vibe. a 1bpm difference is a HUGE thing for a certain dancefloor vibe so feel free to pull it up or down every 10-15 mins or so.

best,
silverfilter

thanks silverfilter!
actually im already a member in the em yahoo groups, it just sorta slipped my mind to post this there too..haha
thanks for the tip!if theres a next time, im sure ill be altering my bpms every once in a while..i had it locked at 140bpm during my whole set..and yup 30minutes is really short, but i guess its good enough for my first time,(i still need lots of practice and preperation)..
actually, ive been thinking alot about joining the em live shows, but im still far from ready to be doing live electronica, i dont usually do techno/dance-y stuffs, i only did it for my friend..and if i ever do a em gig, id like to do something more ambient and experimental.. 

thanks again silverfilter!
 

[lovecore]

No problem, man. Just tryin to help a brotha out. Do let me know when you feel like playing. There's no better time to than now hehe

[d6ynast9y]

ill try to get something goin right after exams are over then ill get back to you..
how many minutes is a set?

[lovecore]

ill try to get something goin right after exams are over then ill get back to you..
how many minutes is a set?

depends on the gig and on you. 30 to an hour depende but some guys prepare a set like 30 mins regardless how long the allotted time is. at least it frees up time to go home early hehe

[d6ynast9y]

just to show you guys

i noticed at some parts i was killing the party, pero i guess i made up for it near the end, 

1st time experience, all in all was great 

[aljar3d]

^ saw the vid, i lol'd u keep pausing the music

ALCHEMY is not bad for a 1st time \m/

[d6ynast9y]

^ saw the vid, i lol'd u keep pausing the music

ALCHEMY is not bad for a 1st time \m/

im lucky to have a big time friend to have a big time party at alchemy, haha..
i really liked taking out the rhythm section then suddenly bringin it back in again, it made me dance, haha  thanks for the comment

[aljar3d]

nice break that is alchemy! im officially jealous

and 1 thing, when you dj its not for your own [dancing] pleasure but for the crowd