milhouse
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Posts posted by milhouse
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Im noticing an increased aggression in the bar market since New Year. Abuse directed towards staff and DJs, as well as doorstaff.
Just last night I was in a bar with a single doorman on duty, had a fight which he was unable to contain and I was "started on" by a local scumbag. Doorman took a long while before removing him from the premises and I had to put up with a random barrage of abuse for a while before anything was done. Constantly on my guard for him throwing a swing at me.
Disgusting!
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Fourth year in a row at the same place for me, a local party bar in the city centre. Was packed for the whole night, great atmosphere everyone seemed up for it. Was provided with a free bar by the managers which was lovely!
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Hi All
Just a quick question. I need to replace the woofer and was wondering if I can use any 4 ohm 15" speaker (with the same RMS rating of course) or does it have to be a Peavey speaker?
Thanks
Can be any brand as long as the technical spec is the same.
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Ive worked 7 nights a week for many years now... the solution is quite simple, get an "other half" who also works in the same industry... barstaff, manager etc... it worked for me haha.
However mine always tend to fall through within 12 months. Im now looking for a new other half.
DJing is my only and fulltime occupation, so I have to make the most of it... I have a mortgage to pay. The reason Im one of the few of my old school friends who has not yet settled down is probably due to my job. The money and lifestyle can be good but it is hard on relationships. I'm considering a "proper" job within the next 3 years.
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I experimented with many types of software for both bar/nightclub djing and functions. I settled on Traktor.
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Yes. no idea yet how they work, I assume its using some legal vhf frequency or inductive loop system.
Had a client ask about dry hiring one the other day, no idea why as I don't actively advertise hiring ordinary equipment anymore, let alone something that specialised.
Done a few of these.
The Master out of the mixer goes to a transmitter (instead of any amps) and everyone has a set of wireless headphones on the frequency of the transmitter. Normally the headphones have a switchable channel (A and B) and you have 2 DJs, one on each channel and the dancers can choose which DJ they listen to.
Here's the one I did
The company supplies the transmitters and all headphones (many hundreds of headphones). The customers pay £5 in plus £5 deposit which you get back if you don't break your headphone set. The venue supplies the DJs, mixers, lights.
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Hello fellow DJs!
For those who don't know me Im a fulltime DJ. I started around 10 years ago as a fairly standard function DJ, performing at weddings, birthday parties and corporates; both in upmarket hotels like The Hilton, to back street B&Bs in Blackpool. I moved into being a bar and nightclub resident several years ago and now work most nights of the week.
Last Saturday was a rare night off, and I was invited to a friends wedding, in a fairly expensive hotel.
I'll get straight to how the night went.
We arrived about an hour after the time on the invitation said, not wanting to be the first ones there. The room layout was pretty standard to a normal hotel wedding function. 10 tables with approx. 10 chairs around each, a dancefloor at the front and a full DJ setup.
The DJ setup from the front was first class. Two moving heads, two barrels, two scanners, and two colour changers. These were on a large goalpost which was tidy, no sign of any cables. In the middle is what appeared to be a mixer and laptop setup on a table.
For the first hour of being there, background music was playing out : fairly standard. It came to "first dance" time. The best man went behind the DJ setup and dipped the music himself. He shouted (without a mic) to everybody in the room to announce the first dance. Everybody applauded. It suddenly became apparent to me that there was no DJ. I had simply thought they were hiding somewhere during the background music / buffet period.
The best man faffed about on the laptop for a few seconds and on came the first dance. This went smoothly. The first dance ended, everyone applauded and there was a 5 second gap of dead-air. On came "Black eyed peas - I gotta feeling" and the dancefloor filled up.
I decided to have a quick nip behind the DJ setup to see what software was being used to playout songs. The laptop was running standard "Itunes" software, with a pre-loaded playlist. There was a bog standard Numark mixer system without a mic. I assume this was all dry hire and the laptop belonged to the couple.
When it came to song 3, the dancelfoor was empty. "I gotta feeling" ended and the gap in the segue seemed to go on forever. This went on for about an hour. Songs ended and there would be a big gap. The odd track however did get people up, and to be quite honest nobody commented on the fact there was no DJ, and I think everyone just accepted what was happening.
The bride would occasionally go to the laptop and choose a song from Itunes.
My first video Video 1
A lot of the night looked like this Video 2
Another example of a gap Video 3
However! After about an hour... everybody had had a couple of sherry's and the song selection seemed to improve. The gaps in the songs did not seem to be a problem, and the dancefloor was packed. In fact, if I had been DJing this function I would have been over the moon at the atmosphere and crowd reaction.
A video: Video 4
Another video: Video 5
The song selection was often totally random, and it really did not blend together well - and it was due to the great nature of the couple, friends, family, and the pints of stella, that everybody had a superb night.
I for one would defend to the death the need for a DJ at any function - Im a fulltime DJ myself! But this gave me a slightly different persepctive. I would think had everybody not been so close and enjoyed being there, a DJ would most certainly have been needed to keep the night together. I think out of the 100 or so people there everyboy had a dance at some point (including me!)
Hope you enjoyed this little review of my night, any comments are welcome.
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Don't play the birdie song then
:hide:Haha - I always play that peak time I didn't see there was a problem with it :damn:
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I've been Djing for years and this is the very first time that this has even happened. Well happened that I've noticed, so I would like to ask your advice for next time it happens.
Basically...
Tonight at my residency there was a youngish (for want of a better phrase chav) lad came up to the DJ booth.
Normally when people come to the DJ booth they ask for requests.
I saw him coming over and when he arrived at the wall I leant over so he could talk to me and he just ignored me. I asked him if he had come over for a request and he just stared me blankly in the face saying that he had just come over to see what was next. Fair enough I thought and I told him what was next on my playlist.
2 songs later he came over and stared blankly over at the screen and mumbbled how the song playing wasn't OMG by Usher and stared at the laptop.
He must have done this about 4 times before I statred getting really uncomfortable with his presence and just basically wanted rid of him as there was one point where he had stood there staring at me and the monitor for about 3 ot 4 songs. Well to be quite honest, his constant staring at my monitor and staring at me made me feel really uncomfortable and I was really close to pressing the bouncer button and getting the bouncers to get rid of him - To be honest he had more than enough to drink and I could tell just by looking that wasn't all he had had if you know what I mean!?!?
Anyway, this brings me to my question... How would you handle someone like this who is winding you up more than ever before?
I know this may just be him catching me after a bad weekend when I'm on a short fuse but I really do hope that someone else has had experience of this so they can help me for next time it happens!
I get it a lot! As a volunteer police man in my spare time I can usually handle such idiots, and can tell when something "isnt quite right" and may kick off... better to be safe than sorry. Anybody acting weird or in a concerning way gets thrown out my bars, end of. Doorstaff always support me and remove anyone I ask... its best to keep the doorstaff as your friends even if you don't like them really.
If I had tried to speak to him in your situation and he didn't speak back or give a decent reason for just "staring" at me I'd have them removed from the bar.
Just last night I had someone say to me "have you got nothing else apart from this f..... sh.....". Im not at work to be abused
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I had to get a guy ushered to the door a few weeks back for knocking the music off twice on my mixer because he didn't like the song, gave him a warning the first time but the idiot did it again afterwards. Maybe I'm just being nostalgic nut I really don't think this would've happened a few years back, I also have a karaoke residency that I started a few weeks ago, and the abuse I get is unreal, people coming up when it's not their turn and then refusing to get off the stage, getting called a :cense: when I won't let them skip the queue etc. All part and parcel of the job but that doesn't make it right.
I get it all the time mate - dont let it get to you. Just think when your out earning a living these people have probably never had a job in their lives and spend every night getting drunk!
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That sort of abuse is getting more and more common, I simply can't understand the mindset of somebody that would go up and treat the DJ like that, what utter ignorance. I often get clients like that, who want to dictate the style of music for the entire evening, yet will spend most of it outside smoking. And then the ones who ask for a request, which you play, they then come up asking for it again, claiming "but I was outside having a fag, play it again". I just think of the fee and grin and bear it usually, but some punters really wind me up at times I must say. I do think that alcohol has alot to do with it in many cases, but still, people should have more consideration.
On Bank Holiday Sunday I was in a bar residency in a city centre - there are hundreds of bars to choose from. These two 30-something women were sat sulking in the corner. One came over and asked for a song. I was polite - said yeh that is no problem.
Within a minute she was back "Where's my song?". I again kindly said it was on it's way and I'd had some requests already and I would play her song.
Two or Three minutes later she came over again. "Will you turn this sh.. off. Play something decent, where the hell's my song?". Bemused I asked her point blank, but in a nice way, "why are you being so aggressive?"
She said because the music was awful. I said to her well then leave, go somewhere else, I really don't mind. She carried on telling me how awful I was, so I ended up having the doormen throw her and her friend out. They were both clearly out to have a great night!
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Blimey! You did well to keep your composure in this situation, well done, it looks like you remained professional under pressure from the drunken idiots.
We all get it, I get it a lot in my bar residencies. It's when it crosses the boundary and becomes general abuse raher than a complaint about the music that I don't take lightly.
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Friday - Bar residency
Im here now. Its a party bar - Im under instruction to play up to date music at a decent level to get people dancing. Little old woman came over and asked me to "turn the bass down" as it's "reverberating" through her. She was sat next to the only bass bin which I was running at 12 o'clock, the bar is large as well.
Instead of causing an argument I turned it down a tad, as it was still early. She went away happpy. A large drunk Scottish woman stormed over telling me to turn it up NOW because "I can hardly f-ing hear it". Lovely. This overweight lady then approached me a further 9 times with demands for songs 'next'.
Its going to be a long night....
Saturday - Bar cover gig
Sunday - Bar residency.
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It's my time to take a two hour round trip I'd be more worried about than the cost of a cable LOL.
This pub may be cutting back on the live acts as this type of entertainment is quite expensive, and I guess they figure they'd try a DJ out for a night and see how it goes, thats what I reckon anyway so I want it to go well. Will take the advice thanks again.
EDIT: I think I may have explained mysefl wrong, they want me to plug into a single 1/4 " jack cable that is coming down from the floor above. In that case I would need a twin 1/4" jack to single 1/4" female jack cable?? Is it possible to get one of these?
Maplin should have something I would think! If not you can definately get a single female to single male. Then just run the mixer in mono and you'll only need to use one of the booth outputs (IE just left or right)
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Thanks guys, nearest Maplins is an hour away but I guess it's worth the drive. I don't want to turn up and say I can't do what they asked as I have a feeling they will be calling again with more work
Thanks for taking the time to reply
Curry's may sell what you need or any store like that - if there's anything nearer take a look but yes it'll be worth getting the cables, the initial cost will be worth it if they give you more work
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The sub output on the mixer should be a full signal as all the crossover processing will be done externally so you should be able to use that
The sub output of this mixer gives a bass only output - with a crossover knob on the actual mixer next to the socket (40hz-200).
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Hi All,
I've been contacted by a very large pub who want me to do a gig this coming Sunday, this pub is two floors and he wants me to use my own speakers in the main gig room, all well and good. However he also wants me to plug into their system piping the music throughout the entire pub. Problem is I asked him what input I can use and all they have is a single 1/4 inch jack input, which bands normally run through the headphone-out socket I am told (this pub is a live venue, and dj's don't normally play here). This is wired into an amp on a different floor so no chance I can use my own leads. I explained that I couldn't do this as I needed my headphones, and my main output on the mixer will be used for my powered speakers. So my question is what are my options here? My denon dn-x500 has a subwoofer / lighting output at the back, could I plug it in here? I also use a transformer / isolator which has 1/4 inch jack outputs but obviously I can only plug in one side, can I even do this when I am using the twin xlr outputs for my powered speakers. this sort of technical stuff is lost on me I am afraid. Can anybody offer any advice?
The dn-x500 has twin XLR outputs (for your own speakers) it also has a twin PHONO output (labelled "master" on the back) you can use that as well. Go to Maplin or a store and get a twin phono to single 1/4" TRS jack, you'll get one for around a fiver.
THE BEST OPTION, HOWEVER...
The mixer has a "booth" output out the back, which is twin 1/4" (same as the pubs input) and it has it's own volume control on the front of the mixer, so you can control the pub system volume yourself. You'll just need to get a twin 1/4" jack to single 1/4" jack cable from Maplin, use booth output for the pub system.
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Hi Rob
I know exactly what you mean have played gigs when everyone has just been talking and you can't but help think to yourself 'why am I bothering no ones listening!'
As a vocalist I have also had the gigs that I am due to sing only and the odd guest believes that it is alright for them to grab my 500 quid shure mic and murder Mack the Knife or anything at all and I'll be happy for them to do it! That has caused a few tense moments when I have turned off the music explaining that I am a professional vocalist and not karajoky (no offence!)
But being 6'5" tall it usually helps calm things down when they see I'm not messing about! :lil devil:
But then I get the cash at the end of the night and remember that I'm the one leaving with the cash and the free kebab on the way home!
I recall a friend of mine who was playing a hotel recently and was due to end at 1am so he duely wrapped up the music and started to pack away, but the guests wanted more and he had to polietly refuse explaining that the venue only had a licence ill 1am and he simply could not play anymore.
Well one guest took great exception to this and subsequently began to pour the contents of his pint glass all over my friends gear, laptop mixer and all almost causing a fire and personal injury, not to mention about 3,000 pounds worth of damage that took weeks to sort out with the associated lose of revenue etc!
So everytime I get a bad gig I remember his night and think it could be worse and ensure I do my best to make the next one better!
So good luck with everything and keep posting as I find your comments both helpful and amusing!
Ah yes drunken idiots! Gone are the days of people going out, having a few drinks and enjoying themselves. People go out to get as sh... faced as possible, causing them to do things like this. I had a woman literally screaming in my face on Sunday saying my music was (rude word).
I politely lauged at her and told her she needed to leave the venue. She was only out to cause problems, couldn't handle her vodka and clearly was having a great time.
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CDex is a great peice of software that will even recognise the song titles.
You can choose which tracks off your CD you wish to rip and the final file type (wav or mp3) - and if you choose mp3 you can choose your bit rate.
It will even normalise the volumes for you should you wish.
Whats more it's open source and FREE.
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My dad is a big fan!
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I think a lot of the evening games start at 7.30pm so by 9.30 it'll be over. I have a gig one night I'm meant to start at 8pm (its the 1st England game) I have beeen told to get there for 9 and I'll be paid the same.
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One of my favourite regular bars gives staff and DJs free drinks on a certain selection (soft drinks, cheap redbull and certain bottled beers like Stella). And at the end of the night you can have a pint if you like. The venue turns over around £2m a year so they can afford it. I know some people have a few bottles every night - I tend to be quite health concious though and limit myself to one bottle every 2 weeks!
Other places I tend to take my own bottle of water and/or Red Bull, and very occasionally I treat myself to buying a pint when I begin (at 8pm, by 2am its out the system). I never expect free drinks though.
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7 nights a week certainly gets to me - by Sunday I'm shattered its just a releif that my Sunday gig is usually only busy for an hour or so, so I can chill out and faff about on my laptop for a few hours with a coffee in the dj booth!
I've started taking more time off, the odd weekend here and there and I feel better for it.
The only gear I take into venues are my CDJs so I don't spend any time setting up or packing down, I dont think I could handle that! I dont have a day job (apart from my voluntary work) so once I'm out of bed at midday I have the day free until it's time to work!
What Bugs You At Gigs?
in D.J and Karaoke Chat
Posted · Edited by JonWhittaker
A good post. I'm a Special Constable in my spare time, which has helped me immensley in dealing with work related issues and has opened my eyes to what I can expect to happen if I was either assaulted or needed to assist someone who was being assaulted. I'm far more aware of making myself visible to the CCTV cameras, and know exactly where they are pointing now, for example.
You are quite right in what you say, the police obviously have a job to do to investigate everything. As you say, the other person is quite within their rights to accuse you of assault and police are bound to investigate that, and arresting you may be a necessary part of that investigation process. It is however very traumatic for most law abiding people if this was to happen.
The only time I have felt truley unconfortable at work was the other day I referred to where a lone doorman was powerless to break up a fight. I did go to assist him restrain one lad, however going through my head was making sure the cameras could see me, and to do proper techniques. The point at which the lad got away from us, and picked up two glass bottles, was the point I legged it and left it to the doorman, summonsing assistance from elsewhere. Since then, I have told management they need two doorstaff on and this has been done.
Again last night in my bar, a lad decided to extend his middle finger and shove it in my face, simply because I did not have the song he wanted. Luckily, two members of doorstaff were on duty (both of which I get on well with) and he ended up being dragged from the premises.
Its not a nice world out there sometimes. 99% of customers are great, it's the 1% to ruin it.