So after starting only few months ago, learning to digital dj and I am still learning w/c I love! I signed up to Phil's how to digital dj fast almost a month ago and now......I have my 1st gig at the end of this month!! I love to approach my life as being simple and I love virtualDJ as it keeps it very simple for me. I have a vestax typhoon controller which I love because it is compact. I can put my laptop and controller and all my cables in my bag and ready to go!! I have been practicing my transitions! I am nervous and excited at the same time. This is all new to me, but the reason why I got into dj'ing is because I love dance music. I love to dance and the energy I feel from it is amazing!! Like almost euphoric!! I know it sounds weird!! LOL I love it!! Anyway, I am super stoked and this is just another life experience that is going to be simply amazing!!! WOOHOOO!!
Congrats on your gig! Let the crowd feel the love and you will have zippo problems. And most important: HAVE FUN!
Congratulations! It's a great feeling. The first time playing out will undoubtedly help you identify other areas to improve. Keep doing what you're doing, man!
Congrats! Landing that first gig was one of the greatest feelings of my life, best of luck and have fun!
Thank you all!! I am going to go a little early at the bar before the dance starts so I can set up. I am going to keep it simple w/ the transitions and allowing the music to play, and most of all I am going to have fun!!! I think for a DJ name I am just going w/ Rocky. My name is Raquel and my nickname is Rocky Any inputs?? Mahalo!!!
Good plan Rocky. And I think this is a great name. It makes good sense to go with a nickname, it's part of who you are. No need to make up a new one that has no true meaning. Raquel is good too. And both work great without the DJ in front. Have fun and rock it Rocky!
Well done and good luck. Get there nice and early so you have time to set up, check out the sound and (hopefully not have to) overcome any problems before the crowds arrive.
Thank you all!! Yes, I agree w/ you Bunyip. That is my intention Dave, to get to the bar a little early prior to the dance. I may even actually go this weekend to take a quick peak on their DJ booth setups. ROCKY
Glad we could get you to this point (it's our mission statement! 70% of readers are still onlyDJing in their bedrooms)... and please come and let us know how you got on.
Update: Looks like I am going to be DJ'ng on Oct 27th instead. The ladies found a much better bar w/ a nice big dance floor and an awesome sound system!! I already did a sound check last Saturday!! So sweet to hear my mix in such a big place!!! I was so nervous even though there were only a few people in the bar since it was lunch time. What struck me, was the handful of patrons that was there were all bopping their heads and tapping their feet while eating....that really put a smile on my face YAY!! Based on last Saturdays sound check, I learned that I need to check my MIDI controller's volume so that I will hear it on the speakers!! OMG I was so nervous!! Anyway, a great mistake even for just messing around for about an hour!!! So stoked that the manager allowed me to play around!! I will let you all know in a couple weeks how the dance goes!! All I know for sure, it is going to be a BLAST!!! WOOHOOO!!
If you've got as much talent as you have passion and energy for DJ'ing it's definitely going to be a blast. You go girl !
Finally did my 1st gig last night!! It was awesome!!! I danced the entire 4 hrs while paying close attention transitions/blending of the tracks. At one point in time, some of the women said looks like the DJ is having way more fun up there than us...LOL.... With just a few hiccups from last night: VDJ froze on me in the middle of my set. So I calmly got on the mic and said please give me 10 secs as my software needed to be restarted. And 10 secs later I had the crowd jumping again!! I was calm and kept my cool...kept smiling the entire time I also learned that I need a little light for my controller. I also learned to answer nicely to the patrons when they ask me to play something for them that I did not have. "Sorry, I do not have it right now. Next time, I will try to make sure I have it" Based from last night's experience, I realized that I can not make everyone happy. Regardless of what kind of music I am playing. I stuck to my set and I got lots of feedback from friends and other patrons. Most of them really enjoyed the evening! None of them knew it was my 1st time ever playing and when they were informed they said they would not have known...that was a nice complement. Sweet!! So in a nutshell, I have this gig once a month for the ladies of San Diego to let their hair down and dance!! I had such a great time!! I was jumping up and down on the dj booth...I could not contain myself!! I really LOVE this!!! WOOOHOOO!!
From Hawaii? Anyway congrats on your first gig, i still get the same feeling everytime I play out somewhere new. Especially since the expectations keep getting higher, but you'll soon realize 95% of people don't care about transitions or whatever else the dj does... just that you play the songs they want to hear lol. also your doing it right, keep having fun! even if its a dead crowd and only a handful of people show up, HAVE FUN PLAYING MUSIC AND DJ'ING! last night i was getting kinda down on myself and dj'ing because nobody showed up to this new venue I was playing at and it was supposed to get a big turnout, so my expectations were high. but after a tsunami warning scared everybody away there were only like 20-30 people tops all night. after an hour of dj'ing in cruise control and still playing warm up songs to practically nobody, the switch flipped and I said "fuck it i might as well have fun". I started to turn up the energy, dance a lil bit, smile and have fun. totally expecting to make an ass out of myself, but really not giving a shit about that either lol. after about 20 minutes i had people coming up on stage dancing, requesting songs, and changed the whole mood of the club into party mode, even if it was a small party! We had a blast, I met some new cool people, the bar staff was happy, people started to drink, and I think I got myself another gig in the near future =)
Congrats! I totally know how how the first gig nerves can be. I actually played my first "big" event last night with about 200 people at a large halloween fundraiser. About 1.5hrs into my set my midi controller completely stopped responding. My music was still playing through the controller because the soundcard is internal. Luckily it was right when the MC was doing announcements for games and such. I was able to swap out my RCAs and plug in my iPhone backup in so I could restart and barely had a hickup. Congrats on getting what sounds like a regular gig!
Hey all!! Learning from my 1st gig, I listened to the ladies what kind of music they wanted to dance to. So last night, I had a bunch of music that I know they will all love and for my 2nd gig, it was AWESOME!! The club/bar was packed!!! Everyone was jumping around and dancing and singing!! I was and AM still HIGH from it!!! Then, to top it off, I got this napkin message from one of the patrons....WOW!!!
