Resident-DJ

What do you do when you've been booked for a mobile disco at a party until 11:30, but by 10 o'clock most of the guests have gone home? This happened to me last night. I don't think that I was doing that lousy a job but the vast bulk of the crowd seemed to need to be somewhere else (in bed?) by 10pm, so I carried on playing the music until I noticed that the mobile bar had started to pack up and the organisers of the party were stacking up all the chairs in the hall (this was about half an hour later). I took the hint, played 'Angels', said my 'goodnights' then started to pack up my gear.

Depends what you were hoping to do with it. If you wanted to 'have a play' or practise at home and assuming that you have an amplifier and at least two speakers then that's fine. I wouldn't expect to start making any money from doing gigs just yet though if I were you. Do you have a large collection of vinyl to practise with? Is it current stuff or just the golden oldies?

Hi Robstar Firstly, let me say that I am sorry to hear that the enjoyment has gone out of your weekly karaoke gig. If you've been doing it for some time now then maybe it is time to move on, or your other option is to find somebody else to cover it for you for a few weeks then see how you feel and if you still feel the same then obviously it is time to pack that particular gig in. I always think that whatever job you do the money should not be the only reason that you carry on doing it. Who knows, if you were to decide to move on then you may find other DJ work elsewhere (not necessarily

Hi Chris I use Collectorz.com Music Collector 8.7 Pro (although I believe they have now brought out an even better version). It is not expensive at all, is easy to use and I have used it for years now without any problem. As you say, you can stick the CD to be catalogued into the CD drive on your computer and get the software to scan it for identification then it searches the various databases that it uses and gives you the choice as to which of the sources that it finds details for that disc to use. I think if you want to download it you need to go to www.collectorz.com/music and you have t

Thanks guys for those comments which I shall certainly bear in mind. As I said in my original post, I had no intention of criticising the dj I saw (and I certainly did not let him know my thoughts on the night) as I appreciate that 'one mans meat is another mans poison' - it just wasn't my particular 'cup of tea'. To each his own as they say. I'm sure there have been people who have been 'on the other side' when I have been DJing and they probably thought they could do better than me too! As I say, I appreciate all your comments and realise that we DJs need to stick together in order

Went to a friend's 40th Birthday Party as a guest last night. They'd hired a DJ for the night so for me it was a case of watching proceedings 'from the other side' so to speak. I don't mean to be critical of a fellow professional but my evening was ruined by the DJ's constant (well, every 20 seconds or so) use of the mic - either for inane banter with the 2 or 3 punters that were actually on the dancefloor or for singing really badly along with the track. OK, so not everyone has the same style or likes the same thing but I would be interested to know what you all think of this 'style

As a bit of a newbie to the DJing game, can anyone tell me why it is important to have a bag for your speakers? I realise that speakers are expensive items and probably one of the most important parts of your kit but do these bags serve any really useful purpose?

Last night was one of my many children's discos (aged 3-7) in a local school, which I have been doing now for about 6 years. 'Piece of cake', I thought. 'Money for old rope', I said. No worries. Simples. How wrong could I have been Just under an hour in to the hour and a half duration gig, disaster struck. My Numark CDN22 (Mk 2) suddenly stopped playing (ok, so I was playing 'Who Let The Dogs Out' at the time - you can hardly blame the poor machine). I immediately panicked and just started playing whatever was in the other slot at the time (well, who wouldn't). But

I store my CDs in two boxes - one for compilations, one for single artists. The single artists are (mostly) in alphabetical order, except for a few recent additions. The compilations box has a section of Now CDs followed by a Disco, a Party, and a Dance section, then finally all the rest are in 50s, 60s, 70s etc sections. I have all of my CDs catalogued on Music Collector (available from Collectorz.com).

As resident DJ for an infants and a junior school I feel well qualified to answer this query! Anything which involves lots of strange dance routines (Superman, YMCA, Macarena, Blame It On The Boogie and so on) or which is guaranteed to get the Mums (and occasionally the Dads) up on the dancefloor even though they're stone cold sober counts as Cheese in my book. Examples include DJ Otzi's 'Hey Baby', Baha Men's 'Who Let The Dogs Out' and DJ Casper's 'Cha Cha Slide' :drool: Need any more examples just let me know (I'll even throw in a 'Barbie Girl' for good measure!)

Still is a great school, though if you came back for a visit now you probably wouldn't recognise the place. Just in case you're interested we have a school website (with some pictures) - just Google Woolenwick Infants Stevenage and you should be able to find it. I'm using the school's kit at the moment Jim, but if I have any success (i.e. get more than about three bookings) I'll seriously have to think about getting some of my own. Hey, that'll be when I first start using this forum to get some good advice about what kit to buy. Yay! smile icon

Hi there Guys and Gals Well that's a great start, sounding like I'm Jimmy Saville or something! I'm new here, looking for any hints or tips as a budding DJ. I started off in life as (and still am, in fact) the Resident DJ at Woolenwick Infants and Nursery School here in sunny Stevenage in Hertfordshire. From this I branched out into (woo hoo) becoming the Resident DJ at the nearby Woolenwick Junior School too. I have done a few private gigs too, mostly children's birthday parties and the occasional residents association and every year I 'host' the school fetes too. Exciting stuf