I’ve been asked to do a warm up set for a friend at a club tonight and i’m bricking it.. I’ve only ever played in my bedroom and the odd occasion at his house.

Madly trying to get some tunes together now and see what goes together

If all else fails I’ll just fade each one in and out

any tips?

it’s something to do with the breaks and the drops..

don’t play all the tunes from his set

don’t drink too much before your set, don’t try over mixing your just warming the crowd up

enjoy youll love it

youre kidding right? You dont know what goes together or how to mix and you agreed to do a warm up set?

facepalm!!

Stick with what you know. If you’ve a few tried and tested sequences then use them, quick fades or cuts for everything else. It sounds like the biggest obstacle is going to be nerves and in that situation it’s really not worth trying out anything new or too tricky live.

If its going well and you gain a bit of confidence then you can try being a little more creative but get the basics sorted first.

Get there early and familiarise yourself with the installed equipment, it may be quite different to what you are used to.

Of course i know what goes together and i can mix.. It’s just been a while

His wife has hired it out for her 30th. I’m only doing an hour and her friend is playing after me and she can’t even mix so it’s all quite casual.

The ‘proper’ Dj will be on later in the night.

most of them will be under the influence of something or other and up for it,

a pal of mine DJs to the trendy mod kids in the pubs around town and just bangs on his fave dub, reggae, motown, punk etcetcetc.
has got loads of work off people asking ”whats this tune mate”

just pick your faves or classics you cant go wrong. 8)

edit, my pal doesnt even mix,, just drops them in,,, sometimes really badly 😀

Given that description I would say that the heat is entirely off. A one hour set for friends! go nuts, nothing bad will happen. 98% of the audience won’t have a clue whether it’s going right or wrong and won’t care so long as it’s not silent.

As it sounds like you’ve the first hour, you’ll be lucky if you’re playing to much more than the bar staff.

maybe change your name to dodgydisco

I have Dj’d for last 15 years, played across europe and i am now semi retired from it all.

Best advice is too play to the dance floor and not to yourself, some nice early doors grooves, nothing peak time build up the music slowly, observe the clients and see what they react too. Main thing is to enjoy yourself and relax, a beer or two before does take edge off things. Just dont get smashed. Let us know how you got on! Good Luck!

why not play it canny, just stick on either herbaliser/dj format’s Fabriclive album then throw down shapes for an hour. can be as leathered as you want then, so long as you remember to theatrically wave a record around now and then.
‘s what i’d do anyhow.

Get pissed, you’ll be brilliant.

why not play it canny

+1.. more than once I have observed a plate of spag bol or the makings of a spliff morosely rotating on the slipmat during the peaktime set of a headline DJ..

just download a suitable mix from soundcloud or somewhere and plug your Mp3 player into the mixer..

Try not to make it too hardcore if it’s an opening set. People like to be gentle caressed into a night at a club, not beaten with the musical equivalent of a hammer.

If your normal style is something like hard house/hard trance (mine was back in the day), choose something a little more… accessible. harder than club tunes, but not by much. Let people get comfortable and have a few drinks, then gradually ratchet up the pace.

Dammit. I sound old now. It was only 10 years ago!

You’ll find the monitoring a bit odd at first, hopefully the club will have a decent speaker near the booth but even so the delay between that and the main PA can be a bit off putting at first.

Take your own headphones.

Record your set if you can.

It’s a warm up so play good but laid back tunes, even stuff that is a bit leftfield is ok as long as you’ve got a nice groove going on.

Don’t worry about playing something that might be played later but stay away for really big tunes.

It’s a wicked feeling, been 10 years since I played out (pretty big clubs and parties in London), seeing people dancing on the tables to your set, hollering and whistling, addictive. I miss it.

Drop an E 30 mins before the end of your set 🙂

Don’t play trance, it’s shit.

Cheers guys

If your normal style is something like hard house/hard trance (mine was back in the day),

Absolutely no way.. Got some old funk to start with and some mellow house/Balearic house into some deeper house

Probably won’t play all of what i’ve got

WHen i say friends.. I only know my mate and his wife. She’s bringing about 50 people i don’t know.

A load probably won’t turn up until after i’m done.

EDIT: oh god.. mate says the other dj can’t make it tonight. Must find that lead to plug the ipod into the mixer!

hijak- Tricky I can’t get the full day to ride at E6 as I need to cover for family stuff 😥

Have a stonking Rollapaluza on saturday night chap and I’ll catch you soon for a ride (and to mug you for payment for the stem :wink:)

Cheers mate.. Busy weekend

Will drive to catton straight after Rollapaluza so probably get there about midnight.. Unless i don’t make it past the qualifying stage!

Got some old funk to start with and some mellow house/Balearic house into some deeper house

You’re on the right track. I was going to offer one word, “funk”. Gets them moving.

I had my Dj’ing debut after necking a couple of microdots back In the day . I thought I was ‘Sasha’ but got kinda carried away scratching house Accapellas into big Trance tunes (Age of Love) and strangely only ever got too play again when It was the barmaid and her dog on Thursday nights.

Lost my balance once after helping myself to the freebies on offer at a free party in Germany.

Fell on one of the decks, took the applause and got invited back to play again 😀

YOU SHOULD BE RESTING!

The whole of Bristol and the South West are pinning their hopes and dreams on you winning Rollapaluza.

GET TO BED!

If you ask me, it’s the tunes a DJ plays, not the way they’re mixed. I’ve heard some great mixing of really boring tunes, and just fading in/out of wicked stuff, and I know what I prefer.

Well.. what an awesome night. Ended up just me and my mate taking it turns to DJ. We both brought along a load of tunes ( i went record shopping this week to get some recent stuff)

All went well. The mixer was very strange to start with and took some getting used to. Loved seeing people dancing to tunes I was playing.

We’re gunna hire the place again and put on another night for friends (Just an excuse for a party)

Agree with Elfin.. It’s always the tunes not how good the person is Mixing.

Tootall.. On it now.. off to bed to rest those legs

Let’s see if i can rip some people’s legs off tomorrow night.. Although the guy from edinburgh is looking fast

Well.. what an awesome night.

Posted at 12:30am? 😕

Can’t be that awesome otherwise you’d just be in the middle of it about now! 😉

Seriously though, well done, first gig is always the hardest, getting over the initial nerves of even just playing to a few mates is sooooo hard, but once you’re done, it gets easier every time. To the point where you hardly think twice of jumping up on stage in front of 800 people (I know, I’ve done it a few times) and keeping them dancing for hours.

God I miss playing out! NEED to get some DJ gigs again ASAP… 😛

Nice one! I used to enjoy playing out – quite a buzz especially when it goes well.

LOL at the nerves – I used to hate getting “record block” in the middle of a set and not being able to decide on the next tune. But it all comes good in the end.

After I did it seriously and then got a proper job, me and mates went on to organise a load of nights which were just us arranging to go boozing for free and have a mix – it was a right laugh. Best memory of those nights was me DJing while my mate was catching some water in his hand that was dripping through the ceiling, his look of puzzlement on his face turned to horror when I told him the toilets were overflowing above us!! LOL!

Posted at 12:30am?

Can’t be that awesome otherwise you’d just be in the middle of it about now!

The room was only hired 7 – 12.00am.. I would have loved to have carried on but the big chill Dj’s came on then.. Playing really down tempo stuff 😕