Prude leRude

I’ve had this, was for a birthday party in a pub. I practice regularly so for me last minute isn’t really an issue. I like to keep my sets as close as I can to what I do when I’m at home anyway so no big deal to only get a few hours preparation. I like to feed off the crowd not pre-prepare.

I would recommend getting into the habit of automatically hitting record at the beginning of every mix you do, practice or otherwise. Save them and don’t even listen back to them to begin with, that way though if they’re all recorded then whenever you absolutely nail one you can show it off.

Unless you know for a fact that people will hate it my advice is to have faith in your own taste. If you really really love something, maybe play some tracks people know to get them dancing but then play the set you want and read the crowd as you go, if you’re losing people then adjust it. The one time I tried to guess what the crowd would like and play that rather than tunes I love it was a total disaster.

I had a seriously awful set of belt drive decks about 12 years ago and no one else I knew DJ’d. Without any help and not many resources on the internet I eventually gave up. I practiced for hours a day because I loved the music but didn’t have a clue about bpms so never figured why I couldn’t get things in time. I was mixing garage which ranges from around 128 – 150 so I had no hope really! I bought a Novation twitch recently as I was so keen to get back into it again due to a love of the music, and through a combination of reading up on techniques and trying things for myself have now got myself gigs booked in big clubs. I think it’s important to be able to learn basics from other people but also essential to take risks and try things for yourself.

I don’t think using samples is cheating, a lot of great songs use samples, the difference is they make something totally new. Taking samples and claiming it as original material is a different story!