Resident-DJ
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Posts posted by Resident-DJ
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Hey all
Well I just wanted to "try out" DJing with minimal/no investment. I'd had a quick go on traktor (or virtual dj) a while back, but even with a midi controller it just seemed.... like the computer was doing it? I mean there was even an "auto" button on it that mixed between tracks for me. It just seemed a bit pointless me even being there, because the computer seemed to be doing a good job of mixing by itself.
Anyway, I went on ebay & saw some belt turntables (vinyl) with a mixer and microphone & cables, got it for £30. It's very basic and obviously being belt drive, its not going to be amazing. I'd looked into CD stuff before and it would be at least £100 which seems a lot to "try out" something. Anyhow, I thought it was a bargain considering its all-in-one, even if its not that great. So I bought it. I've just ordered an RCA to 1/4 cable as well so I can connect my monitors to it (I've been producing for a few years, just never DJing)
Did I do the right thing getting some cheap equipment to start with, maybe upgrade if I get into it a bit more??? Or is this doomed for disaster?
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?
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well i have been doing a venue on a friday and last night was the busiest it has ever been solid karaoke no music from 9pm till 1 am and unusually for me i hated every second of it.
It was a real chore , the night dragged and i cant stand some of the singers , one cant read or write and grunts in a low husky voice , his niece complained a track was Fast when it was the same track she always sings but was bladdered , i have a old woman who warbles and squeals war time songs and wants to hold on to the mic and do a few in a row and complains that she has to wait her turn like everyone else. I have serious karaoke fans who sing obscure tracks and kill the atmosphere with song choices. i had a aggressive guy who had an accident a few years back apparently and its not his fault hes just that way now.
now this pub the managers love me , they think i am the bees knees as i have promoted the venue , and its got busier , when it was quiet i pulled out all the stops on performance , i have used every trick i know to get people coming in.Last night it was the busiest it has been and all i kept thinking is i dont want to be here. In all my time i have never felt that way. i just dont get along with any of the locals , they are rough and rude and not on my wavelength.
so i am at a point where business comes in.. is the low amount i get for this gig worth my sanity? I generally leave my house at 7:00pm i pick up a couple of singers i set up and am ready to go at 8:15 i finish generally at 1:00 am ish i pack up and take the singers home then go home myself then un pack the car i was in my house for 2:30 last night £100 fee ...hardly seems worth it after the tax etc is taken off and me hating every second.
I know i can get function work but i do have a sense of loyalty to venues , that's where i started my dj career and i am not a quitter but i feel like quitting this gig.
sorry for this rambling but as this is a private area and not publicly viewable i posted it here
so my question is would you put up with week in week out doing a gig you hate just for the regular money?
I will feel terrible if i tell the manager i am giving up the night , i will feel i am letting them down
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 on a regular weekly basis) that you can do instead.
You asked for our opinions so here's my tuppence worth - I would pack it in tomorrow if I felt the way about the gig that you seem to. It's not worth it - have you worked out your rate per hour after tax? Not much more than you'd earn doing admin in an office I'll bet!
Saying all that, think about it over the weekend before making a final decision. Or, as I suggested earlier, find someone else to cover that gig for you for a few weeks and then see how you feel. Oh, and by the way, I would not feel too bad about letting the pub manager down - we all grow out of stuff eventually don't we?
Hope some of this helps
Vic
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Morning all,
It's been a while since I posted on here (always read up on what's happening though).
I'm after some software that I can use to catalogue my CD collection and then print for easy reference at gigs.
I did have some software a couple of years ago, all I needed to do was put a cd in my disc drive, it'd be added to the database then I printed out the list by artist etc for reference. However, that won't work in a vista laptop (I've lost the disc anyway) so want to get something new.
Any pointers would be great, obviously the cheaper the better, if there's any free software that you guys know about that I can download then even better
Cheers
Chris
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 the option of taking a free trial, or download the basic version at £24.95 or the pro version at £39.95.
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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 to survive in this tough environment that we find ourselves in today - that's why this forum is called Dj's United after all!
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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' of DJing where the poor old punter has to put up with this. In my humble opinion the people at a disco want to hear good music that they can dance to at a level appropriate to the time of the evening with occasional announcements between songs or over the end of one song before launching into the next track. Judging by comments I heard from some of the other guests at the party they didn't like this style much either.
What do you think?
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Hi,
Been searching for a long time now to find some speaker bags for my Peavey Pro 15 speakers. Does anybody Know where I can get some from.
Thanks
Tony
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?
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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 then after quickly trying several other discs in the slot that had failed realised that it wasn't going to play anything else at all, it was kaput. :damn:
And, to cap it all, no backup CD player :damn: :damn: :damn:
After letting the other CD player carry on playing another couple of tracks with me waffling on trying to fill the gaps in between (luckily it was one of those 'Various Artist - Party Time' efforts) I realised that I couldn't carry on like this for the rest of the evening, well the remaining half an hour anyway. I was racking my brains trying to think what I could put on when suddenly I remembered that I had a copy of 'The Very Best of Euphoric Disco Breakdown' in my CD collection - a neat collection of disco tracks that had been 'ready-mixed'. Hey, an instant solution that carried me through the rest of my time - phew!!!
Anyone know whether it's worth trying to get this CD player repaired, if so then where? If not, any recommendations on how to avoid this happening in future would be welcome.
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Hi there.
I've just been going through all my CD's as I'm finding that there are a lot of songs that I'm only remembering that I've got after, or whilst scanning through them I think "ahh bugger, that would have fitted in nicely then"
I want to organsise them into something more convienent.
How do you guys that have been DJ'ing for a while have your CD's organised so that you can find that certain song quickly ?
I was thinking of possibly
1) Starters/Background
2) Girls/Ladies (cheese)
3) Boys/Men
4) Oldies
5) Slow ones
6) Kiddies
Or would it be better to put them into Genre?
1) Dance/pop
2) Rock
3) R&B
4) Mowtown
5) Funk
6) 60's
7) Disco
Or any other way ?
Thanks
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).
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what are all the best cheese party songs? just doing a bit of research!
thanks
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!)
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Welcome Vic
I used to go to woolenwick in the early 80'S - Great School!
Cheers
Steve
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.
:welcome: to the forum Vic.
Do you use your own kit or do you use the schools?
Jim
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
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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 stuff I hear you say.
Well now I'm looking to develop even further as a DJ and maybe go on to doing loads of weddings, parties and bar mitzvahs (cause I need the money). Which is why I'm here and looking to learn from the masters (that's you lot).
May our relationship be long and prosperous...
Vic
What Do You Do When...
in D.J and Karaoke Chat
Posted
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.