I get very flattered when people ask me for advice. It makes me feel like I actually know what I’m doing when people look to me for help.
Recently, I received an email which went along the lines of this:
“I am going to be DJing a Funky House event and I want to drop an acapella in the middle of my set to get the dance floor even more pumping then it already will be..
“I wanted to ask you have you ever stopped your set and dropped an acapella… with no beats just purely the song itself? Do you think it’s too risky? I don’t want to get boooed!
“My aim is to make a really good impression with the promoter… but this could go both ways.. !”
Have I ever stopped my set halfway through? Yes. But there was always a reason. Sometimes I needed to switch the style of music from Soulful House to Funky House or from Funky House to more of an Electro sound where I’ve had to do it quickly without transitioning between records.
Most of the time the reason is that a certain stlye or genre just isn’t working on the dancefloor for whatever reason.
You’ve got to ask yourself why you want to kill the music mid flow. Usually, reasons are not premeditated like this and stopping the music mid set is more of a tool to get you out of trouble.
Theres no chance of you getting booed AS LONG AS you dont kill the vibe by stopping the music when the crowd are peaking. Building a momentum and a relationship with the crowd in a set always takes time and you don’t want to ruin the last 20 minutes of hard work building the crowd into a frenzy just to bring them to an anti-climax.
If you feel you must drop this acapella then perhaps it would be best to try and do it over the last few outro beats of the preceeding record. Then you can smooth fade into the acapella and let it run as you intend. This way there is no sudden stop to the music and you can still acheive what you want to do musically with your set.
You will get more respect from the crowd doing this rather than a simple stop/start. For extra kudos, you could follow up with a “live” mash-up by fading in a different instrumental track underneath the vocal as it plays.
If you are doing this to impress the promoter then simply don’t bother. The promoter will not (most of the time) care how good your ability to mix is or even your accurate tune selection. The main priority for the promoter is to get people through the doors.
Perhaps the acapella would sound best at the start of the set rather than halfway through. I think it would have more impact this way. At the end of the day, it’s your set and we wouldn’t get anywhere in this world unless we experimented with things from time to time.
I’m not ashamed to admit that yes I am a big fan of Calvin Harris. I went to go see him live at Thekla in Bristol earlier this year, I saw him supporting for Tiesto in Victoria Park and I’m off to see him again live on the 19th October this year too.
At the Thekla gig, I thought I would show my support for Calvin Harris and his amezzin music by making my own Calvin Harris Fly Eye Glasses. Other people at the gig did the same but their efforts were not as good as mine So I thought I would share my tips in creating a new set of glasses for his forthcoming live gig in a few weeks time.
Things You Will Need:
Pair of cheap sunglasses
UHU Glue
12mm Gemstone Beads
The cheap sunglasses I picked up for a quid at my local Primark.
UHU glue was about a quid from WHSmiths
The 12mm CLEAR Gemstone beads were bought in bulk off ebay from this supplier for a few pounds.
Start of by giving yourself plenty of space in a well ventilated area. UHU glue tends to whiff a bit also it can get a little messy at first so make sure you have a damp cloth nearby.
Make sure you have enough beads to complete your glasses before you start. I used 18×12mm beads per eye in this example. Depending on the style of glasses you pick up, allow 50 beads per pair of fly eye glasses you wish to make.
Dab a small amount of glue on to the back of the gemstone. Trust me when I say that less is more. you want a small glob in the middle of the gemstone rather than a thin layer all over. Allow the glue 30 seconds or so to go off a little bit then press gently onto the lens of your sunglasses. It should stick and stay in place pretty securely.
Using the same method, apply more gemstones to your lens. Start at the top corner nearest the nose bridge and work your way along the top to complete your first row.
Once the second row of gemstones are added, work your way around the outside edge of the frame before finally adding gems to the central area. This will allow you to judge for an even covering of gems and will help stop it looking like a mess by keeping the gems in some kind of order.
Don’t worry too much about pushing the gems tight against each other because a few small gaps in between will actually help you to see out of them once they are finished. This is another reason why I would reccomend opting for the 12mm gems so that there is a large enough gap between each one to achieve the effect you want while still being able to see out.
Once one side of the Calvin Harris Fly Eye Glasses are covered, do the other side. Try to mirror the pattern of gems you made on your first lens to keep symmetry and to keep that “Fly Eye” effect.
When both lenses are covered, allow the glue to set properly for about 10 minutes to allow the fumes to go off and also to reduce the chances of you getting UHU glue in your eyes. I’ve never tried it but I imagine it would sting like a bitch.
Once complete, wear them with pride! You have just made your very on Calvin Harris Fly Eye Glasses! Not bad for about five quid.
Ive gone for pink glasses in this example, but if you want to keep it real go for the plain black option. If you take a look at ebay you can probably find different coloured gemstones to give you a different look.
If you haven’t already done so, go and download Calvin Harris’ album Ready for The Weekend out now!
Getting to the top in this industry is all about getting yourself heard and by using the technology of the internet this is now even easier than ever before. I thought I would share with you below some of my favourite and most effective free ways of getting yourself heard on the ‘net in a shameless self-promotion roundup of some of the better sites out there. All of these web sites are free to join.
Facebook
Get yourself a Facebook account if you havent already done so. This will open up two worlds to you. You can create yourself your own self promotion Facebook Group and invite people to join, plus you can also set up your own Fan Page to allow members to become your fan. Both these options you can use to send out updates, mixes and information about forthcoming gigs.
If you sign up to be a member at the DJ list, you can get yourself listed into the worlds largest DJ directory for free. It is a place that will host your DJ biography and some pictures, but the real beauty of this site is it allows you to get your fan base voting for you to allow you to climb up the DJ rankings.
Getting your mixes listed in iTunes is not as difficult as you might think. All you need is your mix hosted on a website somewhere and an iTunes account. iTunes is installed on millions of computers and mobile devices around the world and therefore having your mixes listed will help you to reach a global audience. For help and advice on how to do this, check out my post on getting listed in the iTunes directory.
I am not a massive fan of MySpace but I do feel it has its place in this list. After all, it does have millions of members plus it launched the careers of artists such as Lilly Allen and Calvin Harris. MySpace gives you the freedom to create your own personal space on the internet, connect with friends and famous people and do pretty much anything you want. It’s a well recognised platform in the industry and one that should not be ignored.
If you have yourself a Google email address or Google account then you can sign in and use the services of Orkut. Its a bit like Facebook but without the faff. You can find people with simmilar inerests on there, join communities and use the site like an open networking tool to spread the word of yourself and your talents.
Upcoming is a service run by Yahoo that can best be described as a social calendar. When you have a number of DJ bookings that you want to promote and spread the word, you can list up your DJ dates on Upcoming. This will give you an RSS feed of events that your fans can subscribe to and keep up to date with where you are playing and when. You can also find other like minded individuals and “friend & follow” them much you would with other social web sites. A good way to promote your DJ gigs.
This social network is a little bit like a business version of Facebook. You get to keep in touch with loads of business contacts and is really good for networking. If you come across a promoter or a fellow DJ that you think you would like to work with in future you can’t go wrong by adding them to your LinkedIn network profile.
Producing a regular podcast that is available for download is a great way to promote yourself as a DJ. It gives people an example of what they can expect when they come to book you for an event plus you can attract a large following of fans if you podcast on a regular basis. Podomatic takes the headache out of all the technical stuff and gives you a space on the web where you can publish your podcast for free. The paid for version gives you a bit more space but the free version is definitely worth a look.
I grow to love Twitter more and more each day. A lot of people (myself included) failed to see the point of Twitter on their first use. But I feel it is an essential networking weapon that you should have in your self promotion toolbox. You get to find out what people are doing right now in real time and you get to share what you are up to as well. It probably doesn’t sound that impressive right now but if you give it a couple of weeks you will start to understand what it is all about. There are currently thoughts that Twitter is looking to rival Google so this is one online bandwagon you don’t want to miss out on.
Getting yourself an online blog is a great online self promotion tool because of its flexibility. If you have a lot to say for yourself you can keep a blog updated with news, comments, forthcoming gigs and interesting things. If you have nothing to say you can just keep it updated with fresh mixes on a regular basis. A blog gives you the ability to receive feedback on what you do by allowing visitors to comment on the things you do and say plus you will find it opens yourself up to the whole blogging comunity where you can find like-minded people out there who also do what you do - it’s a great networking tool. There are many different blogging tools out there but my favourite is Wordpress. You can get a free Wordpress blog by going to wordpress.com or you can build your own custom blog at wordpress.org
Soonnight
Soonnight is a fairly new online dance community and magazine website dedicated to clubbing. They have loads of great information about events and parties happening around the UK. You can add a profile, pitcures, videos and list events you are/have attending/attended.
Dontstayin (DSI) is simmilar to Soonnight but it has been around for a lot longer. DSI recently had a much needed re-design and now everything on the site is a lot easier to do. Again, you can add pics and videos, acknowledge your attendence to events but you can also start discussion threads and interact a lot more with other clubbers/punters. DSI is a great platform for getting to know the people who actually go to the events rather than the DJs who play there. From my own experience I feel DSI tends to lean towards the hard house/trance side of music but they do cover a wide range of music styles and tastes overall.
Who hasn’t heard of Youtube? Ok, so you all know what it does. Get yourself some footage of yourself DJing and upload it to Youtube for the world to see. Make sure you use music that you have permission to use. If you don’t you might find your video gets pulled down. When you upload a Youtube video you have the opportuniy to add “tags”. Do not overlook this as tags are what lets other users find your video. Make sure you add about ten short descriptive words that are relevant to your video. Choosing the right tags will boost your views and in turn boost your exposure. Youtube also provides code for you to embed the video into your MySpace page or even your Wordpress blog. Also don’t forget you can link easily to your page by sending people to www.youtube.com/[username] for example: www.youtube.com/djpaulvelocity
Muzu
This is a bit of a weird one to describe as Muzu is kind of a mixture of a lot of the other websites mentioned before. Primarily it is used for adding videos much the same way as Youtube. You can add a profile, images and events just like Soonnight and DSI, plus you can modify and manage your profile a bit like MySpace. It describes itself as a new Music TV site where you can watch create and share music video playlists along with behind the scene footage, interviews and documentaries. You can favourite videos you like to create a playlist and in effect create your own personal TV channel of all the stuff you like. But upload a couple of videos of yourself in the mix and get spreading your sound to the masses.
Ok, so this site might be quite genre-specific, but I really love the way this website is put together. Someone has really thought about it as all the controls and buttons are in the right places and stuff just makes sense. This is a website dedicated to the UK Funky House scene where you can drop in your RSS feeds, latest gig dates, event and profile pictures and so on. It’s just a really nice niche self-promotion web site and I really like it - I think the future of online self promotion lies in this niche genre-specific style of website. I expect other genres not only of house but Trance and Drum & Bass to follow suit very soon.
This is just a brief summary of some of the online self promotion DJ tools that I use. If there are any others out there that you use, please add them to the comments below along with a couple of words about how they have helped you.
When promoting yourself as a high profile DJ, you want to be putting yourself in the best light possible. One of the best ways of doing this is to add a picture of you to your website, Myspace or Facebook pages.
The old cliche of a picture tells a thousand words still holds true today along with the fact that your photo is the first impression that your clients will have of you - so you want to make sure it looks good and also that you stand out.
Try to stay away from using dodgy blurry shots of you taken on a cameraphone. You want to portray a professional image and the only way you can do this properly is to hire yourself a professional photographer to take some great portfolio shots that you can use again and again.
Getting hold of a photographer does not have to be as expensive as it first sounds. Perhaps you already know someone with a passion for photography. This is always a good start as you can negotiate a low cost rate or even a free photo shoot.
Get in touch with a local college or university. There is literally a world of student photographers out there who are looking to increase their portfolio and will only be too happy to take some pics for you in exchange for the use of your image in their latest work.
Don’t forget that you can always offer the photographer the option of adding their URL in small lettering to each photo which can help to negotiate a lower price.
Make sure you get written confirmation from the photographer that you have 100% rights to the images that they have taken. This is important in case any copyright issues crop up at a later date.
Ensure that you get a mixture of photos too. Not everyone wants to see a sweaty DJ hard at work - although DJing is what you do try to get some shots of you relaxing and having fun away from the turntables so that you can portray your own personality too.
If you want to go that one step further, find yourself a graphic artist that will add those special finishing touches to your image. Check the images below for great examples of this from House DJ Piqué and Hard House DJ Andy Whitby.
I have permission from my own photographer to share his details if you would like to use him for your own promo shots. If you would like to get in touch you can drop an email to Chris Silk at info@chrissilk.co.uk or view his portfolio at http://www.chrissilk.co.uk/.
The best way to set up your CD wallet is to have a double-height wallet with the track listing in the top pocket and the CD in the pocket below.
If you are anything like me, you don’t want to faff about sizing up margins in a Word document, or trying to cut out your track listing in a million different shapes trying to get it to fit.
So what I’ve done is I have created a template for you. All you need to do is replace the text with your own track listing and click print. Theres even a thin black border as a guide for you to cut along.
There are tonnes of programmes and applications out there that will help you with this, there’s probably even one built into your CD burning software but chances are they are for making DVDs, or are for creating CD inserts or J-cards.
These templates are designed to fit exactly into your CD wallet and are perfect for the working DJ. Feel free to download and share!
I thought I would share a few tricks of the trade and let you all know what goes through my head when deciding on the soundtrack to someones best night out.
Know Your Music
This is kind of a given for all DJs. You should know each end every track in your box before you play it out. I’m not saying you should mentally absorb every 16 bars like some kind of Rain Man, but you should know which tracks have long intros, which ones are slow/fast and the general vibe of the track.
Your set should flow smoothly and you should instinctively have about four or five tracks in your head that will mix beautifully out of the track currently playing. If you start clashing styles and wildly variant BPMs, the crowd won’t know where they are and neither will you.
If you find yourself with some brand new promos that you haven’t heard yet, listen to them in the car on the way to the venue to familiarise yourself with them.
Who Is DJing Before And After Your Set?
It may be the case that you are DJing a mixed genre night, or the DJ that is on after you might be playing different class of music at a different BPM. You should always pay attention to the last couple of tracks that the DJ before you has played and start your set off with something that is similar but still keeping with your own style.
For example, if I am Djing after a Garage DJ, I might kick off my set with something by Martin Solveig which is quite breaky, or I might play a funky house remix of a well known Garage tune. This helps to keep the crowd on your side when you step up and also makes the transition between DJs a smooth one.
Take The Crowd On A Journey
Without getting too philosophical, this is quite an integral part of your DJ set. As well as tunes being played that mix nicely into each other by having a similar vibe, you always have to be thinking about the long run, the kind of tracks that you played at the start of your set and the kind of stuff you think the crowd would enjoy at the end of your set.
Its no good playing some piano led Jamie Wamie track before mixing it straight into a bit of Prodigy. It just does not work.
I always like to start my sets off at a slower BPM and a more chilled vibe before gradually working up the tempo throughout the night. By the end of my set I think I’m always playing something quite nasty and electro-y.
But be sure to pace yourself with your track selection otherwise you will just end up DJing yourself into a corner. What I mean by this is don’t play those killer tracks you have too soon. I know you are eager to hear them on a loud sound sytem but if you peak to early then you’ll run out of steam and won’t have any tracks left in your bag that have the same impact and your set will taper off.
You’ve started out chilled, worked up into the peak of your set, only to leave yourself with nowhere to go and only 30 minutes in. Keep an eye on the time and how long you have left in your set and play your records accordingly.
Don’t Plan Your Set
Yes, this is a list of how to plan your set, but one thing that you must avoid at all costs is writing down a religious track-by-track listing that you stick to for the whole night. As a DJ you must be flexible to what you are playing and always go with the crowd depending on their reactions.
Make sure you have enough music on hand to go off on slight tangents and take your sound a little more vocal, a little more deeper or a little more banging depending on the mood of the night.
Label Your Tunes
Something that I have started to do lately is to label my tracks when I go out. I normally sort my music by the month that I purchased them and have them in a double-height CD wallet.
The top row holds the printed track listing (or back of the CD artwork), and the bottom row holds the CD. I found a load of coloured stickered circles in my flat a while ago and so I thought I should put them to good use. Next to each track on the listing, I put a coloured sticker beside it depending on the music style.
So if its a laid back down tempo track, it gets a green sticker. If its a track that fits into my set pretty much anywhere, it gets a yellow sticker. Floor fillers and guaranteed anthems get a blue sticker while dirty nasty electro filth gets a red sticker.
So now when I am playing a track and I decide I want to step it up a notch, or if I am hitting the peak time of my set, I can speedily fly through my CDs looking at colours rather than track names and it helps me to find a suitable tune to play a hell of a lot quicker.
Know Your Toilet Track
When I say a “Toilet Track” I don’t mean a crap record. I’m on about a tune or two that you have in your collection that is quite a lengthy tune in case you get caught short. This is a great tip for when you find yourself playing longer DJ sets and you need to relieve yourself halfway through.
My Favourite is the 8 minute Monster Mix of Faithless Insomnia. Stick that on and you have a good few minutes to locate the restroom and take care of business before you need to get back and cue up the next record. Or you could always have 2 tracks pre-mixed on CD that you could play but the crowd might boo you when you get back!
Your First Track Is The Most Important
Your first track of your DJ set is the most important track you will play. It sets the mood and the tempo for the whole night. It sounds obvious, but before you play your track make sure it is cued up exactly where you want it and double check that pitch adjust. If the previous DJ has left it on +8 you will have a tough time bringing the tempo back down to a sensible level without looking like a nob.
Also, do not choose a record that has a stupidly long intro. Crowds are fickle people and they will not hang around to listen to 2 minutes of beats before something “happens”. Choose a track with a short intro, or (and this is what I often do) find a record that sounds amazing but has a very DJ-unfriendly intro. By that I mean it will start without beats and launch straight into a melody or a vocal solo. DJ-unfriendly tracks are a bitch to mix midway through your set so if you can play it as your first tune then no mixing is required.
Two CDs Are Better Than One
Now you have built the crowd up into a frenzy. They are going nuts, there’s crowd surfing going on and they are all chanting your name. And you know exactly the track that you want to play next to blow the roof off!
Trouble is, its on the CD that is currently playing. Oh dear. Some pieces of DJ kit will allow you to play a track from a CD that is already playing, but if you do not have that luxury, then all you need to do is make 2 copies of each CD that you take out to the venue. Not only does this allow you maximum flexibility during your set, but you also have a backup in case you find that one of the CDs is scratched and won’t load.
Stick To The Music Policy
If you are booked to play Funky House, don’t go sticking in Trance into your set no matter which drunken oik finds their way to the DJ booth and keeps demanding it. You have been booked to play a specific style of music and you should keep to it. Make sure the agreed music policy is defined in your contract. Perhaps you could crossover a little into other genres, for example I have no problem dropping Scram towards the end of a night but I would not launch into a full-on breakbeat set.
Perhaps you are booked to play in a bar where you are expected to play all kinds of genres of commercial music. In which case, keep it commercial and don’t stray too far into the underground sound. Remember, you are there to play for the person who booked you and not for yourself.
Keep Back Your Secret Weapons Until You Need Them
Right now you have in your collection a handful of tracks that you know will be the highlight of the night and make you a DJ legend when you play them. Make sure you keep hold of these gems until deep into your set and that you do not play them out too soon. If you use up all of your killer tracks at the start of your set, you find you have nothing left during your peak time moment.
Most of all, have fun! I find that DJing is such a good laugh and I always have such a great time doing it. If you would like to hear what I sound like, come and listen to my Funky House Radio Show at Platform Six and if you want to book me for your next event, please get in touch.
Have you ever wanted to rip a piece of mp3 audio from websites like YouTube or MySpace? Yeah you have. I’m going to show you how to do it using a clever, free piece of online software.
Now, before I start, I just want to remind you that downloading music from the internet that you do not have permission for and/or have not bought is ILLEGAL. Don’t do it.
Edited 30th June 2011: The easiest way by far is to go to snipmp3.com. But read on if you want to know how I used to do it or how to rip videos from Youtube.
1. Find A Video
Start off by finding some audio on YouTube that you want to get hold of. For this tutorial, I shall be using a video of myself DJing located here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eq6nWTIltl4
2. Grab the URL
You will need to grab the full URL of the web page. If you are unsure what this is, take a look at the top of your web browser of choice and look for the bit that starts “http://”. Copy the entire length of the URL by highlighting it, and pressing CTRL+C, OR you can right click and select “copy”.
3. Pay A Visit To Keepvid.com
Next, you need to go to a cool little website called KeepVid. This is the secret little online tool that will allow you to download and save the Youtube video. Paste the URL from step 2 into the box at the top by right-clicking and selecting “paste” or by pressing CTRL+V. Click the “Download” button to the right to start your download.
4. Save Your File
You will be presented with 2 options to download. You can either grab the low auality .flv file or you can get the high quality .mp4 file. Always choose the high quality version. Right click the link and save the file somewhere memorable.
5. Convert The File
Now you have your .mp4 file, you can just stop here if you want to capture video. But we want to grab the audio in this tutorial. There are many .mp4 to .mp3 converters out there for all sorts of prices so I won’t go into detail, but a Google search on mp4 to mp3 converter should yeild some results. My favourite is Sony Vegas which you can pick up for around £30.
Instructions for Sony Vegas: Drag the file into the timeline, click “Make Movie”. Select “Save it to my hard drive”. Click “Advanced Render”. Give it a filename and save as type “MP3 Audio”. The next drop down box allows you to select the quality of the mp3.
Job done!
It’s not only YouTube you can rip audio from, other sites with Flash players like MySpace are likely to work too. Not all web pages will work with KeepVid sometimes it will say nothing found. If that happens just try another web page.
Many thanks to DJ Ruxpin for the use of his track in my video.
It’s all too easy to forget where you first started out as a DJ. That transition from just having a dream of being a DJ to the realisation is quite a step and there are still people out there that want to make their mark on this world as a top DJ.
There are even people out there that used to DJ vinyl, then gave it up for a while perhaps sold their decks and are now looking to get back into DJing using CDs but don’t know where to start.
Someone got in touch with me asking what DJ equipment they should buy and it got me thinking that perhaps I should compile a quick rundown of some of the essential bits of kit for any DJ looking to make a career out of what the love to do.
First up - CD turntables. It all really depends on your budget. If you can, grab yourself a pair of these: Pioneer CDJ-400. All the technical info is on the web page, but the thing I like most about this turntable is you can plug a USB flash drive in the top of it and play straight from that!! No more lugging vinyl boxes around and detatching your arm socket, you can just carry your set around on a flash drive. Awesome! Plus you get loads of cool effects built in to it too. Great for the price.
Or for CD turntables, there is always the the industry standard: Pioneer CDJ1000 MK3. Check out the videos on this site too. Brilliant stuff.
So now you have your CD players, you want to look at getting yourself a decent mixer. My favourite of all time by far has to be the Pioneer DJM600. I find it in all the clubs I play at so if you want to get back into the swing of things, working on one of these will make you fammilliar with 90% of club set ups.
Keep yourself comfortable at all times and get yourself a decent table to work on too. Practicing your DJing skills at home when in cramped conditions is a nightmare and it really does affect you psycologically. With a Sefour X30 DJ Table you will find a space for all your crap and you will find mixing a lot more easier and enjoyable.
As for headphones, there simply is no contentest. A pair of Sennheiser HD25 mk II’s will see you right. They are phenominal! I have had mine for about 4 years and they have never broken or let me down at all. Great sound and bass reproduction plus they cancel out all other background sound and are extremely comfy even after long DJ sets. Plus, even if they do break, each and every single part is replaceable.
Not the most comprehensive list of DJ mixing equipment that is available out there, but these are some DJing essentials that I would highly reccomend.
DJing abroad is one of the coolest things you will ever do. I love it and am happy to cancel most plans to go and play in another country. I think I like travelling a lot too and also the change of scenery. If you have ever DJ’d in a country different to where you live you will know where I am coming from. If you have never done it before there are a few things that you need to have a think about.
A little while ago, I received an email from a DJ colleague of mine. She was excited about gearing up to go and play abroad and she came to me for a bit of advice. I thought it would be helpful to share this advice with you and offer up the same information that I gave to her.
Information given is based on a UK DJ playing in a foreign country and is from my own experiences so it may not be to the exact letter of the law.
Do I need a work permit to DJ abroad?
No. As long as you are going to a country within the EU, you will be fine - no work permit needed. Check your passport is up to date and it is not expiring any time soon. If you travel to the US, they like you to have at least three months left on your current passport.
Is it wrong to charge a higher rate for DJing abroad?
Yes it is cheeky to bump up the price. When I take international bookings, I tell them upfront they need to pay my travel, my hotel and transfers, then I add my regular UK fee on top. I don’t take advantage of others simply from a moral point of view. I beleive that if I start taking advantage in this way, karma will bit me on the ass and someone along the way will take advantage of me.
How much should I charge?
Depends how many people the management think your name on the flyer can bring in. Whenever I price a night, I always ask for the venue capacity as well. Your price should reflect your ability to entertain, but also be in proportion to the number of people coming through the door. Whatever works for you I guess. By charging a sensbile amount you will only get booked by sensible promoters. Those booking you on a budget probably haven’t got much experience or reputation.
If my flights and accommodation are being paid for, can I ask for a +1?
I beleive it is wrong to ask to add a travelling buddy to go with you. They are booking you as a DJ to come and play a set, not for you to bring your entourage as well. I would never ask the management for a +1 on the flights and hotel. I might ask for a +1 for entry to venue and buy an extra flight ticket myself plus upgrade the hotel room myself out of my own pocket, but I wouldn’t expect the venue to pay for it.
I’m a single girl travelling to a foreign land by myself, will I be ok?
Probably. Hell, I don’t know. Depends which shady part of town you are travelling to. Take a friend with you if you need to and make sure you have ample travel insurance in case you get mugged. Sorry, but it does happen.
What else do I need to know?
Get the promoter to book your flights for you. DON’T pay for these yourself and add it to the invoice. If everything falls through at the last minute or there is a problem with payment, or the venue is unreachable by phone anymore, at least you havent shelled out for flights from your own pocket too.
Always collect your money on the night in cash, or have it paid to you in advance by cheque or Paypal. Always take an invoice with you as well as places like to have a receipt for the money they have paid.
I was on Facebook the other day and got chatting to someone who wanted to ask my advice on a couple of pointers for their first ever live booking as a funky house DJ.
This got me thinking that there isn’t too much sensible advice out there that is readily available on the subject so I thought I would offer up my top tips list based on the conversation that I had. This person’s first gig was in a bar rather than a big club so my tips are based from that perspective.
Its OK To Be Nervous
This is quite important. It’s a big step moving from the relative safe realms of bedroom mixing to then be stepping out into the big world of live DJing. Nerves can strike at any time and they are especially worst during your first ever mix.
To be honest, there is not much you can do about this but just know that this has happened to every single DJ ever in the world and you are no different. If anything it shows you care about doing a good job.
Have a beer or something to relax you but don’t get drunk - you are at work after all!
Don’t Worry About Beat Perfect Mixing
In the world of DJing and DJs, you will often find yourself analysing other DJ mixes and spotting little tiny errors and miskates here and there.
All I can say is this does not matter when you are playing out on a system that is louder than your bedroom set-up. As long as your beats are near enough in, the crowd will usually not have enough ‘DJ knowledge’ to spot the tiny flaws you may find if you played the mix back to yourself.
If you get into trouble, just cut the track over quickly and move on to the next track. If you are doing your job correctly, the crowd will be enjoying the music selection too much to notice tiny imperfections in the mix.
Don’t Play A Pre-Arranged Set
This is one of my biggest hates. As a DJ it is your job to be flexible and adaptive with what you play. You should be able to read a crowd and play more pianos if that fills up the floor, or play more filth if the crowd are begging for it harder.
If you turn up with a pre planned set and you know what tune is going to go into what tune and when, then you are insulting the crowd by dictating to them what you want to hear and you are also lowering your own standards as a DJ.
Every time you play you should be finding that balance between your own style and keeping the crowd entertained. There is no way you can do this if you have your entire set planned out before you even cue up your first track.
Don’t Play Every Request
As a DJ you will get your fair share of muppets who will rock up to the DJ booth and ask you something stupid. They won’t quite get the idea of the night you are playing or even understand the concept of a DJ.
“Oh go on, play this track. Its awesome, It will get everyone dancing.”
“I’m leaving in 10 minutes, can you play this track before I go?”
“Please play it. Please. Pretty please. Pleaaasssseeee?”
It winds me up a treat. If you know a good song that everyone will dance to then YOU be a DJ. If you are leaving in 10 minutes, why wait? F**k off now! Please? Pretty please? No.
Whatever is a great track for one person might be the worst track in the world for someone else. If you get caught up trying to please everybody by playing everything they ask your set will not flow, it will be all over the place and you will find yourself spinning round in circles.
I find it frustrating as I feel it’s people trying to tell me how to do my job. Don’t misunderstand, there’s nothing wrong with playing a couple of sensible requests from people, but what do you do when they want a Drum and Bass track on a House night? Or you are playing some cutting edge deep House promo you’ve just been sent and someone asks for Katy f**ing Perry? You can’t tell them to piss off (as much as you would like to) as it’s your first gig and you can’t be rude to the punters.
If you need to ward off idiots, keep these in mind:
“Sorry, it’s a funky house night tonight, the management won’t let me play any Drum and Bass.”
“OK, cool, I’ll have a look for it. (have a rummage through your CDs) Sorry, I don’t have it with me tonight.”
“Yeah, I think I’ve got that with me. (pretend to play a CD) Aw, no! The CD is scratched!”
Charge for your time, don’t play a free set. If the venue is serious about you playing there, then make sure you get paid. Even if its only a few quid to cover your travel expenses or you should at least get free drinks for the night.
You want to DJ live and so you are happy to do a free set, I get that. I used to do it myself. But time and time again, promoters would continually take the piss out of me and I got fed up with it.
It’s weird but I actually found that by charging money (any amount will do), you will get a bit more respect from the promoter and charging a fee will actually increase your bookings. Don’t sell yourself short, you are good at what you do and that should be recognised.
If you must play a free set, then play your second booking for free, not your first. This way, the management gets you ‘half price’ for two nights and if you make a mess of the first booking, you have a chance to redeem yourself on the second night.
You Are Your Own One Man Publicity Machine
Get some business cards made up. They don’t need to be expensive. In fact there is a pretty good company that I use to get mine done. They are dirt cheap and high quality. Check out VistaPrint for more info.
You don’t need anything fancy, just something on good quality card with your DJ name and a contact phone number, plus email address and web site if you have one. Don’t print them yourself - you will look like a joke.
You never know who you might meet when playing out and it would be a shame if your favourite promoter walked in and you were totally unprepared. Unlikely, but you never know. Almost half of my bookings have come from someone I have met whilst at a previous gig.
Get A Contract
This is probably one of the most important things you should ever do. To find out why I think this, check out my previous post.
Take A Pen And Paper With You
I learnt this tip from a fellow mobile DJ friend of mine. You may not think it at first, but a pen and paper is an absolute godsend if someone is trying to communicate with you.
If the music is too loud, or the guest is too drunk or someone is trying to talk to you while you are in the mix (GAH!), then just shove a pen and paper in their hand. They can write down what they want while you carry on with more important things. Like mixing and stuff.
I’ve got one of these because its so simple any idiot can use it. Plus there’s a little mini-shelf to rest on too! Take about 50 cheap pens with you and keep them in your DJ bag as pens often get nicked when you need them most.
Ditch The Ego
You are not Mr Big. (Unless, that actually is your surname… in which case, I guess you are… well done) Don’t swagger around like you own the place and you are the best thing in the world. Be confident, but humble. Chances are your fist gig will be in a bit of a dive (mine was) and having a self-inflamed opinion of yourself will get you shown the door. And quickly.
Upsell
ALWAYS follow up at the end of the night. Go and have a word with the manager when it is convenient and tell him you really enjoyed the night (even if you didn’t) and you would like to come back regularly if he wants you to. Ask him if he enjoyed the night as well and when away from the manager ask the staff too. It’s always good to get the staff on your side because chances are they’re the first people the manager will ask for an opinion of the night after you have left.
Be polite, friendly and approachable. Just like with any employee, you have to have good people skills as well as being able to do your job properly.
Pay Attention to The bottom Line
The bottom line is always money. The manager does not care about how well you can mix. He cares about making money. He employs staff to serve the beer and you to serve the music
But you can make a good impression by filling up the venue on your opening night. As long as your mates are not a rowdy lot, get as many of them down to see you play as possible. A packed bar full of people loving the music, spending money at the bar and increasing takings will reflect well on you and will help you to get regular bookings.
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I’m not ashamed to admit that yes I am a big fan of 
So I thought I would share my tips in creating a new set of glasses for his forthcoming live gig in a few weeks time.
Once complete, wear them with pride! You have just made your very on Calvin Harris Fly Eye Glasses! Not bad for about five quid.
The old cliche of a picture tells a thousand words still holds true today along with the fact that your photo is the first impression that your clients will have of you - so you want to make sure it looks good and also that you stand out.
If you are anything like me, you don’t want to faff about sizing up margins in a Word document, or trying to cut out your track listing in a million different shapes trying to get it to fit.
There are even people out there that used to DJ vinyl, then gave it up for a while perhaps sold their decks and are now looking to get back into DJing using CDs but don’t know where to start.
A little while ago, I received an email from a DJ colleague of mine. She was excited about gearing up to go and play abroad and she came to me for a bit of advice. I thought it would be helpful to share this advice with you and offer up the same information that I gave to her.
This got me thinking that there isn’t too much sensible advice out there that is readily available on the subject so I thought I would offer up my top tips list based on the conversation that I had. This person’s first gig was in a bar rather than a big club so my tips are based from that perspective.
