Would you let this man have a go on your DJ equipment? You might have to if he's the brother of the girl whose party it is...
Digital DJ Tips reader Dannyboy writes: “A friend of mine asked me to DJ her graduation party, which is great since I can get my name out there to my market since I’ve only been DJing for about a year. The downside is that her younger brother also wants to be a DJ, and they want us both to play.
“I don’t think this is a good idea because I just did a party last weekend and it is difficult enough having my own brother ‘help’ (which he does sometimes) and the old saying about having too many chiefs and not enough indians comes to mind.
“What makes matters more complicated is that I run a laptop and a Mixtrack Pro (plus the amp etc for the speakers) while her brother DJs off of a desktop computer and he wants to use my set-up! I don’t know how to handle this situation. Should i just not do it and miss the good publicity opportunity?”
Digital DJ Tips says:
One of the skills of being a DJ, especially when you’re starting out, is handling other DJs who want to play too. Much as you may like to think you’re the only “pro” in the room, everyone else who has any desire at all to play records in public also thinks they’ve got what it takes – and if one of the other potential DJs happens to be the brother of the person who’s party it is, you need to tread carefully.
One of the skills of being a DJ, especially when you’re starting out, is handling other DJs who want to play too…
Personally I would very rarely have turned down a gig when I was just starting out because someone else wanted to play too. Sure, sometimes I missed out on a good slot, but more often than not I got to play for the majority of the night, or the other DJ got bored and I played anyway, or we just did half and half and had a great time. As long as you are around when they’re using your gear and you trust them not to break it, I don’t see a big issue.
The wider point here is that learning to view other DJs, party goers, party organisers and so on as potentially people who can help your career and become your fans rather than people you’d rather not have getting in your way is a trait every successful DJ I know has.
So if it were me, I’d do it, lay down the ground rules, organise “set times”, and have fun.
Have you been in a similar situation? How would you advise Dannyboy? Please share your thoughts in the comments.
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I’d say you should treat it like an opportunity.
This is a graduation party, which in my opinion is probably some simple house party and not some grandiose banquet hall party or nightclub/bar.
My advice: Meet/talk to her brother, find out what he’s into and how much he knows about DJing. If he knows the basics, then work out with him how you want this done. It’s your gear, so you call the shots. Have him open for you, show him what it means to be an opener, even if it means you “calling” tracks that he’s not to play because you’ll play them. Give him some goodies as well though.
Be strict on how your gear is used. Tell him there will be no slamming of any knobs or levers. If he respects you, then he’ll respect your gear.
I’ve found in situations like this it’s better to be a mentor than an enemy. Who knows? Her bro could suddenly be running up to you telling of friends who want to throw parties and he’ll want to intro you to them as a DJ. This is networking.
I also agree with Phil that it’s wonderful to have backup. What if you see a hot girl eyeing you out as you play and you wish you could get an hour to chat and possibly get her number? “Hey…little bro…you’re on! Play something that will get this girl in the mood.”
Have fun with it. Take it deeply serious when it’s a bigger paid event in a hall, club, bar, or rave. With house parties you should just loosen up and have fun.
[ link ]I agree with all of the above. I started out DJ-ing as one of a duo and the most fun times definitely were then. Shares the load in/load out workload (yes, you can even have fun with that) if you’re mobile, too. Different if you’re only in it for the money, of course.
[ link ]Is this going to be an awesome party that you’ve been invited to because you have some hardware that will make it rock far better than anything the organiser has available? Sounds like you’re in there.
But you want to think about hanging up that attitude you have developed.
With your current mindset I’m not sure I’d want you as a guest at a party let alone as the heart and and soul of it. You should seriously stop talking about publicity and fan bases.
I quote Richie Hawtin from his recent Las Vegas weekly interview that was featured on Digital DJ Tips last week : “You know what? We want as many people onstage as possible. We’re here to celebrate together, to celebrate playing our music. And the more we’re onstage celebrating and having fun, the more people are going to get into it.”
(http://www.digitaldjtips.com/2012/06/richie-hawtin-speaks-out-about-rock-star-djs/)
[ link ]On stage maybe,but keep people out of the booth & away from your gear.
[ link ]I had some tit trying to put a spliff out on one of my decks that was playing once cos he was so off his face he thought it was ‘a giant ashtray’
Similar situation with people racking up on my macbook when I ran out for a piss?
House parties can either be allot of fun our the most stressful gigs around depending on whos there
[ link ]Ain’t that the truth!
[ link ]If it were you starting out, would you have appreciated the opportunity he is now asking of you ? I know i would have, many aspiring DJs never gets the chance to DJ outside their bedroom, you have the chance to help one of them
[ link ]I agree with the last poster in that you need to change your approach. I think you should just tap into your enthusiasm and want to play as much as you can and make it work regardless of who your playing with and the equipment. You shouldn’t be going into it with this kind of attitude. These kind of parties will always involve ‘DJ politics’ and working around other DJ’s. I’ve played at busy house parties where I’ve had to take my full setup including technics/mixer/speakers etc, and let other DJ’s use it too.
Im not sure what the problem is here anyways… Seeing as its your equipment means you have a certain license to control what happens… and plus, if they are a bad DJ and you are a good one, then its only going to make you look even better in comparison.
Playing with other DJ’s is important and you might learn something from each other… I believe that DJ’s should help each other out rather than just competing with each other. If hes just starting out you can help him and share some tips and make it a positive experience.
[ link ]Ive been playing on this type of occasions and with another wannabe dj too. The thing is that the other dj wasnt good on mixing but he was good on selecting the tracks the crowd wanted so they didnt care if the mix wasnt perfect. I on the other hand was good at mixing but wanted more club/hous music and had my tracks arranged for that.So in a way he saved the day. Luckuly i learned from this, that mixing good isnt the important stuff, but selecting right music is. Now im looking for more serious club djing and i posted for help on how to go ahead so i can have dj as a payed job in popular clubs. But playing on parties like this is difficult since the crowd can be so mixed. In a regular club the crowd comes there because they know what they get and in this case the crowd sets the rule for the dj instead.
[ link ]Lets say you do this, and you end up getting asked to play a club sometime down the road- you’ll probably be playing with other DJs and opening for them. Take this as a lesson (from the headliners point of view), what do you want him to play? How do you want him to start off the night? How smooth do you want the transition to be? etc. So when you are playing that opening slot you can look back at this and be like “Yeah, I’d kick myself if I was playing some banger at 10pm”.
Trust me, I’ve wanted to throw rocks at TONS of opening DJs since they dont know what the hell is going on. Help the kid out, tell him what a proper opening is, and take it into consideration yourself.
[ link ]I would definitely do it.
But no everything is a nice as everyone says here. What is the main con for me:
what if he really sucks? What if he doesnt give a f*** and just ruins it? It’s your name who he is ruining (at least for the people present, who won’t care if it was you or the other guy).
My advice: definitely talk to him before and see what’s he’s up to. What worked great for me in this cases is to make a back to back trying to guide him without him letting know it (encouraging towards the line where you want the music to be, etc).
[ link ]Another thing to add:
I forgot it’s normal in other countries to have dj’s speaking at the mic (in Argentina it’s practically unacceptable). So having this in mind I would definitely do it, and would definitely do as someone else told you: present him so everybody knows who’s playing what.
Also having an aprentice is a great idea so try him nice and give him the opportunity. That’s how I started, and I was even payed some money for it. Later on I became partners with the guy who was teaching me, when we have many parties we just split them, when we don’t, we work together.
[ link ]Do it… The worst that can happen if you lay down the rules, is that the brother DJ just makes you look better…
[ link ]One additional piece of advice:
Work out when you want him to play and for how long – set an actual time. This happened to me once when I had a major gig, and the guy I was renting the equipment from was also a DJ and loose acquaintance. He kept asking for a set, so I gave him.
I had introed him, so that he would get recognition for his set. While he had good basic skills, his rapid genre switching and almost 100% cut fades started to piss people off.
I had started the night, so people kept asking me, “when are you going back on?”
I tried tried to get him off tactfully, but he kept telling me “just now”. Eventually, he came off, I went on and the crowd got back into it.
I thanked him before I started my set as I felt being professional was more important, also partially to let anyone know who missed it that it was his set and not mine.
My advice, you go first, then give him a set, then you close. You going first will start the party off right, and you closing allows a strong finish.
[ link ]Who knows, man? Maybe you can show him the ropes? I’m sure it’s his first gig, if he’s on a desktop all the time (and if he has the balls to ask you for your gear). You’ve got at least a year’s experience to be the boss, and he’s got a lot to learn.
If you can pull this off, you can have a young apprentice who will/can open every set for you and make a great combo and make you look good. I say go for it, as long as you’re in control.
[ link ]Naw so SSorry I haven’t been able to update what happened. So I took the advice and decided to do it. I talked to him and discussed what equipment was necessary and came to an agreement for the whole thing. So far so good. So I was to bring the speakers and the mixer so we could plug all the inputs in and switch between us easily. So after packing all the stuff into the car which isn’t much fun, we get there and he brought his whole set up which made it unnecessary to bring all the stuff I had pointless. So at first I said, he obviously doesn’t need my help so I’ll just let him do his thing. Eventually he realized he did so I brought out the box with my computer and controller and plugged into his home theater amp thingy. Before that I laid the ground rules (ie. Don’t touch my stuff, don’t let other people touch my stuff, be cool and there’s this certain song. Someone is going to request it. Tell them no. I made it clear we aren’t playing that song. He said ok and we played pretty well for a good while. There were some hiccups along the way. Switching back and forth between us was difficult because he had to change the input every time. These 2 guys kept coming up all night requesting songs including the one we agree not to play. While I was there they weren’t a problem. But later on while I wasn’t on deck and having a conversation with some friends. The tried to hook up their phone into the mic input on my controller. Fortunately I had the. Foresight and had turned the mic gain all the way down. Though not deterred he let them plug into his and guess what they played? The song kind said we couldn’t play. At that point I packed up my kit.
[ link ]No, I’m sorry if some little snot nose brat came up to me begging to DJ and he Dj’s off of a DESKTOP…he obviously is new and inexperienced. Im not smashing your set or your mixtrack pro but I would not let that happen people will think its still you playing and you have a great chance of creating a train wreck. I dont have a big ego I just shun people away unless they know what there doing…Showing the ropes during a gig I believe is a big nono. Do it at home on your own time not the time your getting paid for. People want good music not some happy horse Barney shit.
[ link ]As a working DJ I’ve been in this situation a few times. My opinion: if you’re starting (meaning not yet estabilished or well known), then you ain’t got much to lose but some to gain, whatever the outcome. But professional/well known DJs should be very careful about sharing the decks with others. It can be wonderfull or it can be awfull and not everything is under your control.
I’ve had amazing nights playing back-to-back in gigs and clubs. And the terrible ones, most of the times I somehow sensed and just left the booth before the damage was done. This “friend of promoter wanting to DJ” deal in the middle of your set can be disastrous once you’re past the early stages of your carreer. It may sound counterintuitive but such is the nightlife businness that sometimes playing diva or star in some situations can come to your advantage – but certainly not when you’re starting. Just be professional and polite when you’re being assuring though.
There’s really no formula, it all depends on so many factors (music selection, experience of both DJs, the vibe, how you mix together, the vibe and atmosphere etc.) that you can only trust your instincts on this.
[ link ]If you want to play at the party you pretty much don’t have a choice here, so weigh the ups and downs of that.
If you’re going to play the party, talking with your friend’s brother about what is and is not acceptable for the night is a good start. I’d start with rules for using your equipment because it’s breakable. I wrote an article about this *kind* of thing http://www.digitaldjtips.com/2012/05/8-ways-to-be-a-team-player-in-the-dj-booth/, but you’re in a more extreme situation.
Play the role of the Mentor and hopefully they’ll not try to blow you off half-way into their set, attempting things well beyond their skill set. You’ll have to show him your layout and how to do the basic things with your gear. Above all, Insist (as sort of a challenge to him) that most DJs can’t play a set that finds a feeling, flows with people and that it takes more skill to work toward making the next DJ look good than it does to play random, crazy stuff. It’s better for both of you if you make it seem like it’s something that’s never been done (because it’s what should be done and very few starting DJs know to do this). If they mess up and ask for help, help… otherwise, just remember “Stay Classy no matter what.”
If your friend’s brother is looking to get better, let them understand you have the right to revoke letting him use your gear, he’s asking the favor of you, so you set the rules. To my experience, people don’t value things that are given to them, so it’s smart to make some sort of agreement (ahead of time) regarding motivation not to foul things up (this typically means a deposit or something that will hurt them more than messing up your equipment in a drunken party rage). At no point is it acceptable for your gear to get broken at a party. Again, Stay Classy… this is a favor your friend is asking of you when all is said and done, if something happens and they don’t feel bad enough to help fix the problem, this isn’t a friend you want to have.
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