However bad you feel, keep your head down and try to 'fake it until you make it' for the night - you'll be glad you did.
Digital DJ Tips reader DJ Joyst1ck writes: “I have been asked to DJ at a soccer club’s presentation night in September. I’ve been following your free email course and watching your Learn To DJ Free videos on YouTube, but I was wondering how you mentally and physically prepare for your first gig.
“I’m extremely shy and suffer from severe anxiety. Should a take Paracetamol if I get stomach aches? Please give me some tips to help me prepare.”
Digital DJ Tips says:
Firstly, it’s not up to me to advise you how to use legal (or any other!) drugs, but I would say this: Preparation is going to get you through. Be 100% sure of your gear, your music and your “plan of attack” and you’ll feel a lot calmer.
I was so nervous, I had to run around the back of the building to throw up!
I remember the first gig I was asked to play in a club. This was not just any club, but the club I’d been going to every Saturday night for about two years. It was an awesome place, massive sound system, knowledgeable and hardcore dance crowd. And I’m not afraid to admit I was scared completely witless.
I was so nervous, that when I arrived 10 minutes before they opened, I had to run around the back of the building to throw up! So believe me, I understand your nerves.
Preparation is key
As I say, preparation is everything. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with practising the whole thing – role playing, if you like. “Turn up” at a “gig” at a friend’s house, with your gear and music. “Plug in” as if you were going to play at this venue, and do a dry run of your whole gig. This will help you to visualise the night in question, and visualising yourself doing it well will help to calm your nerves.
It helps to divide your set into sections. Think of it as four one hour slots (for instance) and plan each one separately (warm up, early, late, closing, for instance). Don’t be scared to write stuff down – I had a “crib sheets” often at my early gigs. You might not stick to it, but at least it gives you something to fall back on.
Remember too that nerves don’t really show – learn to smile and act confident, even if your hands are shaking and you feel like throwing up! (And if you have to, put a long record on, go and throw up, and fake that everything’s OK when you get back…)
Remember that nerves don’t really show – learn to smile and act confident, even if your hands are shaking and you feel like throwing up!
After all, they’ve asked you to do it, so never forget you’ve done something right already. And also remember that you’re just a small part of the evening. People aren’t there for you, they’re there for the presentation. Use this for comfort.
Finally, you’re scared as much because you care about doing a good job as because you’re painfully shy. That’s great because it means that when you end up doing a good job (which I’m sure you will), you’ll feel the triumph even more.
I wish you a lot of luck!
Do you have to conquer extreme nerves or shyness before gigs? How do you do it? Please offer your words of encouragement to DJ Joyst1ck in the comments…
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Tags: conquering nerves, gig preparation, shyness
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Very helpful indeed. Somehow I’ve managed to not only get myself my first gig at a charity festival (Aug 18th) in The New Forest, but also ended up co-organising it. Check it out https://www.facebook.com/events/304759166281907/
[ link ]I started bedroom mixing when I was 17 (1994) and have never played out until now. Scared much???
[ link ]Well very best of luck for next week… let us know how you get on.
[ link ]I’m a really shy person as well, have been my whole life… My first gig was opening and closing for my favourite DJ Carlo Lio at a private birthday party and I ended up going for 5 hours. I was absolutely terrified, totally not used to that many people paying attention but it’s something you gotta get over pretty quickly!
Just get there early, start mixing some tracks together and just get into the groove before people show up. To make sure things don’t go wrong, just prepare ahead of time. Honestly though, for your first time out just don’t change anything from what you’re used to doing. Keep it simple and have fun, that’s what it’s all about!
[ link ]I can’t agree enough with everything said above about preperation. If you don’t gig much then see how long it takes to connect all your cables etc. A small desk lamp might be a big help on the night as it will be a lot darker. Get there as early as you can so you’re as relaxed as possible.
My worst experience early on was my third wedding. The first two were for friends who loved my shit, the third one was a friend of a friend and I crashed and burned because they didn’t care for what I had and I didn’t have what they wanted. After that I downloaded like a madman. If it’s a football club gig you might have people in your ear all night so I would recommend having Rihanna etc covered. It might be the last thing you want to play, but it might also be the only thing they want to hear and pleasing one or two people who request can calm your nerves and get them onside. I’d do out a full setlist. Don’t be afraid to change it up but when you want to come back to it it’ll be waiting for you. Good luck!
[ link ]It’s perfectly natural to be nervous before a gig. Most actors (even really famous one with years of experience) get incredibly nervous before going on stage. I usually can’t talk to anyone until I’ve done the first mix! It’s the nerves that give you the energy required to get “in the zone” and deal with the situation. Feel the fear and do it anyway – there’s such a buzz to that.
Make sure you are as prepared as you possibly can be. Know your tunes, know your kit. Don’t feel like you have to be a showboating type, waving your arms around or whatever. It’s important to just be yourself, and most importantly, ENJOY IT!
[ link ]I’d already played my first gig in my home city but when I got back to uni I’d asked to play at a club there, which is heavily into dubstep, drumstep etc. It’s got an incredible vibe and is always packed, and I’m always there. I was scared witless because my crowd would be people I lived with, studied with, played with – so the stakes felt so high. I had a week to prep and included several of my own remixes and did a set that transitioned from drumstep to dubstep to moombahton, including verrrrry few bangers. Bangers are cool because they help a crowd connect to you and it hooks them so that when you play your own stuff or less well-known artists they’re already in your favour. Anyway, I had to be forced by my friends to go and set up because my nerves were shot, but I agree with the idea of faking it till you make it, I jammed so hard when I dropped my first song that they were all soon jamming with me. It helps to connect with your crowd based on your personality, which could be yours or just your facade – I pull faces, make people jump, and generally just give the music the first priority – that’s why we’re all there, after all. It’s good to know your music WELL, and not fall into the trap of just beatmatching and toggling volume – I always tell people I’m not a CD player. Play to your instincts, play what you think would get a crowd going, but also giving them new experiences and setting yourself apart from every other guy with Virtual DJ or Traktor. I’m a girl, so my whole plan was to go up there and not pull a Paris Hilton. Also, don’t drink too much or get stoned before and while you play if you’re not feeling 100% confident, because that’s asking for trouble.
[ link ]Anyway, short story long, the set went really well and I got asked to come back. I had so many people come and tell me how much they enjoyed it, and that validation was all I needed. As long as you do it out of love, and know your strengths, you can’t really go wrong. Good luck
There really are two distinct places to play “Home” and “Away”. At home, you have everything you need to make everything *just right*. You’ve got the internet for checking things, lots of software to make the songs sound better and give you more info in it. You may feel really comfortable at home with all of this but you really find out who you are when you go somewhere else. Like Phil says, take your gear to a friend’s house, plug in and play a set there a few times until you’ve got all the wrinkles of “bringing everything in a road kit” ironed out.
It’s almost inevitable that you’ll forget something important (like your headphones) or try to access a drive that you didn’t take with you or a whole slew of other things. Consider going to your friend’s house practice for the bigger events making sure you get things right. That awkwardness of playing in another space (outside your comfort zone) will eventually wear off as you become more confident. When you take your gear out remember to put it away in the same place in the same way. You might need a checklist the first couple of times.
Once you’re confident with playing at a friend’s house, everything else is just a bigger arena (Unless they have a really big house with 120,000 people).
[ link ]I’ve been a DJ now for 27 years. I’m very introverted and shy. The truth is … mixing and playing music is the “fun” part, talking to the crowd is the “work” part. Over time, the confidence to talk to a crowd becomes easier and easier. While you may be more nervous than most, I don’t think any DJ ever walked into their first gig with an air of confidence. Once the party gets started, once you see hands in the air, once you see feet on the dance floor, the nerves start to go away. And remember … a good DJ isn’t on the mic all night long. Say what needs to be said and that’s it … let the music do the talking the rest of the time. You’ll be fine.
[ link ]As soon as you’ve mixed your first couple of tracks you’ll be fine. Best of luck dude
[ link ]I played my first gig at my works bbq. and i was nervous as hell!!!
I had practiced my set so was confident it sounded ok. And by the time i had mixed my first few tracks i was totally relaxed and more in the zone than i had ever been able to achive playing to myself at home. I was using cdjs so had to do all the beat matching myself but i was playing music to people and it felt great. I ended up playing for 3 hours instead of just one but all my practicing payed off. My biggest advice would be to just enjoy urself. After all your doing what you enjoy the most
Good Luck!!!!!
[ link ]Another thing: when you are playing in a event where you are the only dj, take your time. Because you are lucky, you will warm up the room. It allows you to find your comfort zone, study the crowd when she is not into dancing… It’s very progressive then.
[ link ]For the preparation, the usual: know your tracks, know your gear … and what gear will be used in the gig (like the PA). Take spare cables. Good toknow if it’s going to be loud enough.
I always have a little medkit, with paracetamol, earplugs, back up lenses… It’s good to know I can use it if I need, but in fact I never do. Being shy is not a problem: be casual with other people, decide how you will handle request, and it should be fine.
wearing a cap or a hat or anything which covers your forehead can help you ……
[ link ]The easiest way I get over anxiety is to bring friends to the club I am djing at or DJ with one of my friends. This way the serious club atmosphere turns into a more relaxed environment.
[ link ]Hey! Nice thread. Did a mate’s big b’day and even though she was a very close pal, my nerves kicked in. Badly. Didn’t want to let her down on her big night…
Done paid gigs and nerves are still there but diff. Long as I didn’t cock up too bad, I was good. But people generally don’t notice your clangers unless they’re mad showstoppers: they’re gassing, boozing etc. Bit easier to keep going and just clock it all up to experience for next time.
And if it goes pear shaped – so what? Believe me, you will laugh about it one day.
Enjoy…
[ link ]My experience: Almost every dj is shy! Have faith in your own abilities!
gr Henri
[ link ]Great advice as always from Phil.
[ link ]Preparation, preparation, preparation.
Also, knowing what your first 3 to 5 songs will be will allow you to relax into it – one less thing to worry about.
Double redundancy is a big thing for me. Where practical I take two of everything (sets of cables, poweboard, etc). Becuase it’s often the little things that can go wrong, and which can drive you nuts and ramp up the anxiety.
Also getting there early and getting setup, sound check etc with plenty of time to spare is not a bad idea. In my early days I’d be setup and playing tunes for the staff/caterers as they setup, way before I needed to be there. Calms the nerves, checks the system and endears yourself to the staff so that you become one of them, which means they’ll have your back if you need a hand with anything.
Good luck – you’ll kill it! Please let us know how it goes.
I’ve made my first gigs without headphones, because the ancient dj told me he let me itself but it wasn’t the case, and on cds even though i use to mix on vinyl there is not more anxious situation, but the important for me was to do my first gig in public, everyone have to live it once and with the experience, after 4 or 5 gigs, it will be less stressful, good luck
[ link ]Preparation is the biggest secret.
[ link ]At my first gig, I went to the club a few weeks ago to check the atmosphere, and at what time during the night or at what tracks the audience had a good response.
I was lucky because it was exactly the style I wanted to play.
Then, at home, I prepared a main track list with all the tracks I was sure that works, and a plan B track list.
It was perfect. As soon as I came into the booth, my ansiety dessapeared and I started ejoying. When the audience was “mine” I played sometimes a diferent style track to surprise them. Perfect.
Then believe me, the most important think is to heve maximum control and have everything prepared. Plan A, plan B, C…
And please enjoy!!!
I’m not shy at all. But I’ve taught classes requiring presentations where my students would literally freeze up from the fear. I got them past that.
For the painfully shy, the fear is 95% about presenting something to others in public, and 5% about the content presented.
In my classes, I’d force my shy students to talk in front of the rest of the class. They would just do a simple presentation of easy subject matter. Eventually the shy ones were comfortable enough to speak publicly. They won’t talk like Obama anytime soon, but the could at least do it.
So for you, I’d find a way to just DJ in front of a few friends, or even do some simple public speaking. Try speaking up at a meeting or a class if you’re a student, anything to get experience and practice in facing your fear. If this is a long-term problem for you, there’s a non-profit group called toastmasters, that lets people practice public speaking in a supportive environment.
[ link ]you spelt football wrong
[ link ]Thanks soo much for this advice, I’m also quite shy so these tips helped a lot (I especially like the idea of “crib sheets”. Also GOOD LUCK to DJ Joyst1ck, I know how stressful things like this can be. Again GOOD LUCK!
[ link ]Just remember to breathe! If you are feeling panicky, take your headphones off, turn away from the decks, take 3 long slow breaths in and out, now mix 3-5 songs that are easy to mix and sound good. Repeat as necessary.
[ link ]Excellent advice!
[ link ]There are really good tips here, Thanx!!!
I suffer a lot of stage fear, I always think that I lost my skills before a gig. For me breathing the right way is also very important. before a serious gig I always focus on my breathing before I go up just for a few minutes. And I say to myself ‘this is what you are workin’ for, this is what I want!’
I know this sounds a little bit new age, but it can work. Negative tension can block your performance, so turn it in to a healthy tension. There is nothing wrong with tension, but use it for the good.
Good luck!
[ link ]Three records on the way and you’re good, before you know it the next dj stands next to you with the fear in his or her eyes.
You could try inderal/propanalol if you are especially anxious. you need a prescription from a doctor, just expalin your situation. It is a beta blocker, it switches off the receptor site in your brain box that receives the fear signal. Then, decrease the dose until there is no need for it all – there is nothing to really fear from dj’ing so the nerves are really just an irrational fear that serve no purpose (unless your playing to hungry cannibals and the caterer didn’t show up!)
[ link ]I mostly mix Trance and Prog House. I volunteered for a charity event. They wanted Country and 40s-70s. They gave me a handfull of tracks & I faked the rest. I was worried over beatmatching and lack of genre. I did 5 hours and they kept the floor full. Just do what you know and it will work. My newest fear is a Muslim wedding. It is an all Arabic playlist & I have no clue about the music. Fortunately I have 2 weeks to get up to speed. Remember, they already like what they have heard. The fear you have will make the success of the evening feel that much better. If the floor starts to thin, make sure to have some killer tracks to jump to. Mark a couple of cue spots in your tracks as well. I use Rocker Monster cued at the first vocal. People hear that & they start moving again. If you can stay connected to the web for that must have request, that is a plus as well. Best of luck.
[ link ]I would love to hear how your Muslim wedding goes… seriously, please come back and let us know.
[ link ]I’ve been a shy person for most of my life, until recently. I work for a cable repair company as a technician so people are kind of forced to talk to me. This is helped with my “getting over” being shy tremendously.
[ link ]Why?
It made me realize that all you have to do is find that connection. Obviously, in this case it is music. Understand that everyone there is on the same level as you in one way or another. They wouldn’t be there if they didn’t enjoy the style of music that you are creating.
Hope that helps someone.
i had this problem in sixth grade when i had to play my french horn alone in front of the class. eventually i figured that, ‘who cares what they think? if i think i did good then i probably did.’
[ link ]This thread speaks volumes for where I am at right now.
Many thanks to the person who had the stones to post the help thread for discussion.
This town goes either way: On smaller nights in the better club, mistakes happen, or a DJ drops a Dry/Wet and completely kills the song until he figures out how to switch it back on. But we just laugh and have fun, and in no way haggle the DJ.
On the other end of the spectrum, you have the mean crowd.
When I went to see what Mord Fustang was about a while back, he fugged up during his set. Massive boos, and he got so frustrated after a time that he basically either left or surrendered to the closing DJ early, from what I could tell.
It is the latter crowd that I am afraid of. Those that are out for blood because you unplugged a cable, did a bad EQ, or, God forbid, did not match a beat.
My beatmatching has gotten much better, but still isn’t perfect.
My focus has been moreso on finding a good quick transition point that blends well enough to let a phrase or two non matched go unnoticed or erased.
But I am still paralyzed by nerves.
Here’s hoping I can just take a deep breath and take the plunge.
Because regardless of the crappy day or mood I might be having, when I get on my gear, it all disappears and I am suddenly playing the gig of my life inside my head.
[ link ]I used to be the shyest person around, and over the years this has diminished, but I still get nervy before a gig.
The crowd are looking for someone to play the sounds they want to hear, professionally. So know your equipment (and have backup in case anything fails), and as much as you can, know your audience. Do whatever research you can to find out what kind of music they are going to want to hear.
On the night make sure your sound is as good as you can make it – set up and stand around the room with music playing before the doors open, and at various times diring the night as the room fills up. Someone else has said that you don’t need to wave your arms around. Don’t try to be clever mixing (unless that’s what your audience are expecting) but don’t leave gaps between songs. And if you make a mistake, correct it and don’t dwell on it. Move on.
Good luck!
[ link ]It’s true you’re bound to be nervous if you weren’t there would be a problem!
But you have to ask yourself what makes you most nervous?
Equipment failure? Make sure your set-up is configured and stable(more of an issue if you’re using a laptop) and no matter what you’re using have a back-up to get the music back up asap, if the sound system fails or there’s a power cut the blame will not head in your direction.
Mixing errors? Whilst I pride myself on great mixing it’s occurred to me over the years that it’s not all it’s cracked up to be, over 90% of people just want to hear songs, don’t understand mixing and neither is it a serious environment (most of the time) for people to judge you based on your mixing. There’s alcohol involved and with many sound systems it can even be difficult to pick out intricate elements of the mix. If you make a mistake who really cares except you? It acts as a lesson (experience).
Music not going down well? Do your research and make sure you have a rough brief from the event organizer, if the night goes in a different direction you can ignore this altogether, but at least you can turn around and say “I did what was asked of me”.
Preparation rocks pre-planned sets do not – therefore create a pre-planned set which spaces out all the big hits and recent hits (you may have a song to song crowd, so don’t burn yourself out), include plenty of classics that are usually guaranteed a reaction, throw in a bit of originality. It’s there as a rough script, you can do mini sets where you stick to it, or completely ignore it but it’s there and it will make your job a lot easier. Disclaimer: Only true if you do your research and know your music.
In the end there’s not much to worry about, not when you break it down.
[ link ]Wise words.
[ link ]I used to dj in a small club every friday and play back to back with a friend. we would get into a kind of battle of the tracks with each other and the club would normally go mad.(and playing one on one off removed the nerves)
[ link ]We also used to put on free parties on the moors.
I used to prepare a set for the free partys before i played and learn it to death and if i got it a little wrong i’d start to get annoyed with myself and the nerves would return while i was playing.
One time at a free party I hadn’t prepared a set and just played off the cuff the same as in the club.(but used the crowd reaction instead of my buddy)
after i’d finished, pretty much everyone came up and thanked me and said how much they’d enjoyed my set.
I guess what i’m trying to say is don’t over pressure yourself before hand,
you may do a bad mix or play a not so good track but 99% of people won’t notice and the ones that do understand it happens.
I was at a wedding at the weekend, and the dj was dropping a sample in completley out of time and no one even flinched on the floor and all I thought was at least he’s giving it ago
I played my first gig last weekend at a stall for a car show that my brother was part of. We didn’t have any sort of desk for the gear (launchpad and a set of MP3 decks that were midi mapped to act as a mixer within Ableton) so I played off the top of my brother’s Peugeot while a carbecue (a car cut in half with a BBQ in the back of it, it was awesome) was cooking burgers behind me.
It was incredible fun although I was really nervous for the start of the set which made my right leg start to quiver violently. I had to disguise it by dancing about a bit more then the song I was playing permitted but after a few minutes it stopped.
The only real trouble I had was songs I thought I knew, having odd 1 bar build ups in between sections which would have handily fallen into multiples of 8 or so bars, so a few of my mixes were a bar out. That and a catastrophic mess up with stopped all the music (hitting an empty clip on the track that was playing) before the main killer which was when my laptop ran out of battery power, though I knew this was coming and was about 3/4 of the way through the last song.
So yeah, first gig was an interesting one for me
[ link ]Sounds great! Regarding this: “The only real trouble I had was songs I thought I knew, having odd 1 bar build ups in between sections which would have handily fallen into multiples of 8 or so bars, so a few of my mixes were a bar out.” – you learn those songs and learn to pause the other track for a bar to “keep things in time” so to speak
[ link ]The best way to do it is make sure your songs are all ready (grided and tagged), your gear works, and then hit play and just have fun. Once you hit play the “train” is in motion and there is no way you can just stop the music. Just remember you’re not the main attraction that night. You are just there to accent the event.
Best of luck
[ link ]