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General advice.

Make sure the promoter has everything you need.

Turn up early if you haven't played that event before (as in, within the first hour)

Bring a friend or two for morale support if you get nervous.

If you DJ vinyl - Tell the promoter ! Nothing worse than a promoter who is expecting CDJers all night and doesn't cater for vinyl DJs.

Talk to the owners of the venue - I have gotten gigs before through other promoters because the owners of the venue liked me as a person and DJ so they pushed my name forward to other promoters.

Don't get a gig if you'll be the odd DJ out. For instance, don't play a deep night if you're going to drop bangers for an hour - its supposed to be a job where you entertain people so if you're not playing to your kind of a audience, whats the point? Its going to damage your reputation.


DJing advice

If you're new to playing out, be careful with your mixing - if you can't 100% drop a tune every time perfectly - don't bring it! Moving from the bedroom to the club is a BIG step and you almost have to relearn how to mix.

Ask the promoter what mixer will be used, if you haven't used it before - turn up before the night starts and ask how to use it! No one will think you're a shit DJ if you're not used a certain mixer and it makes no sense to ask someone "HOW DOES THIS WORK" as you're getting on to start your set.

Take a drink up with you, its nice to take a sip of a beer while you look at the crowd to see how your sets doing, spesh after a dodgey mix!

Don't get pissed off if you don't do flawless mix and blends for your whole set - you'll be surprised how easy it is so hide train wrecks out live!.


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Add your own i'll put them in the main post.

If you are playing in a warehouse, dont take any expensive gear, take cd's and a couple of vinyls, dont take your macbook pro and your dubplates

unless you are rolling with a load of bodyguards and strapped then do what you like

deamonds wrote:unless you are rolling with a load of bodyguards and strapped then do what you like

! Good advice though, a warehouse gig is generally a place you to play to different crowd in the club - I only ever take CDs and a few replaceable vinyl

Dont drink heavily before a set. You will think you sound great, everyone else will think you sound like a bag of clocks being thrown against a wall.

Dont get angry with knobheads who constantly try to talk to you when you are mixing. Just smile sweetly and carry on. The same goes for the idiot (there is always one) who doesnt like what you are playing and stands there staring at you like you owe him money.

Bring spare slipmats/needles/vinyl cloth if you are a vinyl dj.

Dont take your expensive DMZ vinyls out to the club. Someone will nick it or spill Bacardi and Coke on it and then you will be forced into killing them.

Make sure you have an idea what the system is like, nothing worse than filling your bag with sub heavy stuff only to find that you are playing on a set of walkman speakers in a room the size of a toaster.

Another tip, always take a mixed bag (where possible). You don't want to take grime to a place where the last DJ has been playing minimal techno, or take a load of deep house to a gig where you are after skream & benga, going back to back with skrillex and another moshstep producer (sorry I can't think of any more)

This is where serato comes in handy, and where possible, if you trust the club and the other DJ's, try and set it up at the start of the night, ready.

JFK wrote: Dont get angry with knobheads who constantly try to talk to you when you are mixing. Just smile sweetly and carry on. The same goes for the idiot (there is always one) who doesnt like what you are playing and stands there staring at you like you owe him money.
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got to say I'm guilty of this, many a time I've had to tell people (girls for some reason normally) to fuck off. There is even another forum that I post at where we made a thread about the worst DJ request's... some of the funniest stuff ever written.

deamonds wrote:You don't want to take grime to a place where the last DJ has been playing minimal techno

Damnnn i only have grime records

deamonds wrote:There is even another forum that I post at where we made a thread about the worst DJ request's... some of the funniest stuff ever written.

I had a guy request James Brown and Michael Jackson at this place I was booked to play dubstep a couple of years ago. After a short while he came up to me and asked me how much money I wanted to let him play.

HAHA, thats a good one

i had this guy come up to me when i was playing funky/garage/house type set, with a CD and was like 'bro can you play this' i was like 'nah mate, sorry, i got shit to play' he's like, 'don't worry bro, it's mixed' o_O

deamonds wrote: i had this guy come up to me when i was playing funky/garage/house type set, with a CD and was like 'bro can you play this' i was like 'nah mate, sorry, i got shit to play' he's like, 'don't worry bro, it's mixed' o_O

WTF. please tell me that was a house party and wasnt in a club.



ANYWAYS....

If your using your own gear (cdjs, decks, speakers etc) make sure you bring atleast 3 or 4 friends to keep an eye on your stuff (ie making sure people dont nick stuff, spilling drinks....) as its kinda hard to keep things in check from behind the decks.

Awesome tips! I just got into DJing, so I'm excited for this bible to take shape.

What's the deal with laptops and MIDI controllers in clubs? Will you be ridiculed if you don't want to use CDJs or what? If yes, is there a significant learning curve when switching to CDJs from, say, a Numark-type MIDI controller?

hudson wrote:Awesome tips! I just got into DJing, so I'm excited for this bible to take shape.

What's the deal with laptops and MIDI controllers in clubs? Will you be ridiculed if you don't want to use CDJs or what? If yes, is there a significant learning curve when switching to CDJs from, say, a Numark-type MIDI controller?

Around here I've never seen anyone use a MIDI controller at a club, just at houseparties. I actually just picked up some turntables myself so I'd be able to get up to par to try playing out. I still love my Xponent for houseparties, but when I spun on CDJ's for the first time I felt so lost, I staggered through it but it wasn't anything to write home about.

There'll be a decent learning curve when you switch, but it all depends on how you've been mixing. If you've been using the sync button religiously (which, admittedly, I had when I had too much to drink) you'll feel like you're starting from scratch.

Not sure about CDJ's, but I found that theres a different response time for vinyl. When I move the pitch fader, it's not instantly changing the pitch, theres a bit of a lag. And when I go to start the record, there's definitely a delay there, compared to pressing play on a MIDI controller (I've started holding the record while the platter is spinning, then releasing it when I want it to play, but there's still a slight lag that throws me off).

bigfootspartan wrote: (I've started holding the record while the platter is spinning, then releasing it when I want it to play, but there's still a slight lag that throws me off).

You talking about vinyl DJing?

The 'push off' is one of the hardest thing to get right...It also depends on the decks you have...

I know the 1210s have great torque and you only have to lift ya hand upto get it spinning and in time with the other vinyl (providing the pitch is correct) but then again, all you have to do is speed/slow it a little if its off!

bigfootspartan wrote:There'll be a decent learning curve when you switch, but it all depends on how you've been mixing. If you've been using the sync button religiously (which, admittedly, I had when I had too much to drink) you'll feel like you're starting from scratch.

Aha, I haven't touched the sync button in months

legend4ry wrote:

bigfootspartan wrote: (I've started holding the record while the platter is spinning, then releasing it when I want it to play, but there's still a slight lag that throws me off).

You talking about vinyl DJing?

The 'push off' is one of the hardest thing to get right...It also depends on the decks you have...

I know the 1210s have great torque and you only have to lift ya hand upto get it spinning and in time with the other vinyl (providing the pitch is correct) but then again, all you have to do is speed/slow it a little if its off!

Yup the push off is what I have trouble with. Sometimes I can get it spot on, but if I don't I feel like a trainwreck, although it's usually easy enough to speed it up or slow it down. I've got a pair of 1200's, and when I lift up my hand it spins pretty quickly, but it doesn't feel as quick as simply pressing a play button haha.

I guess I'll just throw this question here, even though it doesn't pertain to the topic. I've been using timecode now, and I turned off the bpm/phase bar/pitch slider image/everything other than the waveform on the display to try to get myself set incase I ever start using straight vinyl. When most people play out, given that most dubstep is at 140 do you ever just set the quartz lock or the pitch slider to 0 once you've got your tunes in phase? It seems that would work great if all you're doing is mixing tunes that are 140, but sometimes I'll run into tunes that are 144 or around 130, and then getting the tempos matched can be a bitch without the BPM readout.

Wow that was really long winded. Basically what I'm trying to ask is, did anyone find using the BPM readout helped learning DJing? Would it be advisable to use that to get the swing of things, then remove it and work from there? Or just go straight to not using it and push through everything?

im getting a set of vinyl decks on saturday :O and before this iv only ever mixed using VDJ it's gonna be fucking difficult, no?

bigfootspartan wrote:
Wow that was really long winded. Basically what I'm trying to ask is, did anyone find using the BPM readout helped learning DJing? Would it be advisable to use that to get the swing of things, then remove it and work from there? Or just go straight to not using it and push through everything?

personnally i'd say get used to beatmatch without bpm readout

Nevalo wrote:

deamonds wrote: i had this guy come up to me when i was playing funky/garage/house type set, with a CD and was like 'bro can you play this' i was like 'nah mate, sorry, i got shit to play' he's like, 'don't worry bro, it's mixed' o_O

WTF. please tell me that was a house party and wasnt in a club.

it was a club bro

definitely get used to DJ'ing without a BPM readout, forget the BPM's completely, concentrate on getting your beatmatching down on the best deck's you can utilize (whether they be your own/a friends) then BPM's will come naturally as soon as you hear a track.

edit* you think the hot mix 5 had bpm readouts?? psshhh, shit shouldnt be aloud.

The reason I say use the best deck's possible is because it will simulate what you will be using in a club.

deamonds wrote:definitely get used to DJ'ing without a BPM readout, forget the BPM's completely, concentrate on getting your beatmatching down on the best deck's you can utilize (whether they be your own/a friends) then BPM's will come naturally as soon as you hear a track.

edit* you think the hot mix 5 had bpm readouts?? psshhh, shit shouldnt be aloud.

The reason I say use the best deck's possible is because it will simulate what you will be using in a club.

Thanks man, that's what I was thinking, just wasn't sure what the general consensus was. Guess I'll just keep on practicing until I don't sound like shit!