Help please!

[robin m]

Right then - I've just come back from pretty much my first set out in a club, and to cut a long story short - the monitors weren't working, I didn't get the hang of the mixer at all and my mixing was a complete f*cking shambles.

How then do I prepare for the next trip out from the comfort of my own room? The only thing I've come up with to emulate the experience is to feed my housemate a gram of ket and tell him to unplug things, fall into me and generally cause as much annoyance as he can. Not really ideal...

Anyone got any tips to prepare for playing out for the first few times that don't cost £15 a gram and risk severe damage to my stuff?

Cheers...

[MARKEG]

welcome to the world of djing!!!

don't worry, don't get scared, just deal with it!!!

respect for doing it. now get on the long, hard road of perfection. live and learn ;)

[robin m]

respect for doing it. now get on the long, hard road of perfection. live and learn ;)

Really much appreciated Mark... nice one ;)

(though I was hoping for something more along the lines of "you see that button on your mixer that you never spotted before? Well press it and it'll all suddenly start avin'it" :lol: )

[Mirsha]

The only thing I've come up with to emulate the experience is to feed my housemate a gram of ket and tell him to unplug things, fall into me and generally cause as much annoyance as he can. Not really ideal...

Please select me to be this emulation. Teh last time I had Ket was when the daleks were on Dr Who and I kept pretendig I had antanae and asked people the most strategic location to hife behind the couch, whilst proclaiming the floor was evil.

[robin m]

Please select me to be this emulation. Teh last time I had Ket was when the daleks were on Dr Who and I kept pretendig I had antanae and asked people the most strategic location to hife behind the couch, whilst proclaiming the floor was evil.

You're hired :lol:

[Mindful]

:lol: Marks right mate the onley way to deal with such things is to just keep doing it.
It gets better trust me.

[Dave Elyzium]

haha reminds me of playing a free party in south wales under a railway arch with the sound bouncing back on you from all directions whilst it satrted raining so everyone piles under the bridge - people knocking the decks then the generator starts having a hissy fit and it all grinds to a halt, then trying to find my mate who had gone on a mushroom ramble through the fields with the keys to his fuel cap on his car in pitch dark and the opnly way to find him was to send him text messages so his phone lit up like a beacon in the distance so we could siphon the juice...

basically youre not the only one :)

[dan the acid man]

haha reminds me of playing a free party in south wales under a railway arch with the sound bouncing back on you from all directions whilst it satrted raining so everyone piles under the bridge - people knocking the decks then the generator starts having a hissy fit and it all grinds to a halt, then trying to find my mate who had gone on a mushroom ramble through the fields with the keys to his fuel cap on his car in pitch dark and the opnly way to find him was to send him text messages so his phone lit up like a beacon in the distance so we could siphon the juice...

basically youre not the only one :)

haha :lol:

[anode]

haha reminds me of playing a free party in south wales under a railway arch with the sound bouncing back on you from all directions whilst it satrted raining so everyone piles under the bridge - people knocking the decks then the generator starts having a hissy fit and it all grinds to a halt, then trying to find my mate who had gone on a mushroom ramble through the fields with the keys to his fuel cap on his car in pitch dark and the opnly way to find him was to send him text messages so his phone lit up like a beacon in the distance so we could siphon the juice...

basically youre not the only one :)

which reminds me of failing dex, water being put in the generator, cue buttons ****ed , no headphones... :lol:

[Dave Elyzium]

no headphones... :lol:

yeah man leaning over the record tryiong to hear the hi hats from the needle haha

[Dj Swannie]

Not huge amounts you can do really. If things are really bad i tend to listen to both 'cue' & 'master' throught the headphones & try & mix that way. That theory is all well & good if you know how to work the mixer...

I think the more you play out on dogey setups the easier it will become to mix on them, like anything practice makes perfect.

[piginabush]

the only tip I can think of is practice mixing in the headphones only, then if the monitors are shit/dont work you should have a bit of a helping hand

I played out in Holland at the weekend and their mixer was old and useless, it didnt have a crosasfader and I hate mixers without them, but as Mark says you just have to deal with it when it happens (and things have a habit of happening a lot )

[eyes without a face]

yeah happens to everyone, and can only be avoided by most clubs sorting their systems out, there's no excuse for not having a monitor really, but it happens and yeah the best way around it is to mix in the headphones..... this happens at all levels tho too remember its not like its a "oh its a smaller club happens all the time" thing... i know djs who've played the biggest clubs in the uk and complained about monitors not working and having nightmares mixing in teh headphones...

all part and parcel

[RedRob]

ye, i started mixin just under a year ago and did me first set in a club bout two months ago. i used my decks, mixer and headphones. i did out a map beforehand in my head. i knew my set inside out and back to front (nerves). im grand and solid in my room or at house parties but as soon as i stood up there i got well nervous. i was supposed to be on first warmin up but got moved up to second at the last minute. the fella before me was fairly horsin but i stuck to my warm up buzz cos the only other tunes i had were pure nosebleed. played the wrong tune third one in, got cut short so didnt have time to build up properly at all. lesson for me was dont make any maps. just bring a bag of tunes and play whatever. didnt do myself justice and was real conscious of the fact that i ws playin warm up tunes after yer man bangin it out. in future im just gonna bring me nosebleed and lash it out, get messy with the mixer and bounce around the shop like i do in me room. get known for playin the tunes that i really wanna instead of what i think i should be playin

[Dave Elyzium]

:clap:

thats more like it fella