Tips for first house party gig and reading a crowd

[Rusty1]

The party was last night and it went ok. I found chewing gum helped with the nerves and a couple of drinks before hand. 

I thought I could have done better but everyone else though I was so good and really enjoyed it. It was hard to get people dancing but I found that playing tunes that girls love got it going and I didn't really notice how many people I had actually got on the dance floor until I looked at the photos. 

One problem I had was people messing with the mixer and my laptop. Luckily people didn't know how mixers worked and they touched the wrong jog wheel aha. 

I started playing at like 8:30 and I was playing by myself until like 12 and then my other DJ friend hopped on with more tunes and we did a mad B2B for like another 3 hours aha.

Thanks for all the help as well guys it really helped me and I really appreciate it.

[OxyKon]

good to see it worked out well dude, yea people fooling around with the gear is always a problem, i think it was Labrat that said try and barricade yourself in the DJ booth so people couldn't do that lol, it always happens, i've always found a few drinks will help with the nerves before a gig, and now that you've "popped your cherry" with house parties, future gigs will become easier as time goes on

[Cupe]

yeah man sounds good. only upward and more experience from here.

Keep hanging around the forums and let us know how you get on bruh

[LabRat]

2 hours ago, Rusty1 said:

playing tunes that girls love got it going

DJing 101 lol

good to hear it went well  

[Rusty1]

Alright thank you guys so much for the help really appreciate it!

[LabRat]

Happy to help  

[FabDJ]

I have a reasonable collection of playlists of various genres and I read the crowd, they will soon let you know if they think a song is crap.If they are all up dancing you know you have hit paydirt and I play some more similar songs Save your most popular songs for the ebb and flow on the dance floor. You don't want to be playing your best tracks while they are moving off for a piss or a rest.

  

[Mitch]

On 11/17/2016 at 6:06 PM, Rusty1 said:

Ok I'm pretty sure I'm going to organise it like chilled then hip hop and dance and then another crate with the bangers that everyone likes. Doing it like that I should be able to just play the chill crate at the start then move onto hip hop and then onto dance as the night goes on and mix in some bangers where I feel its appropriate. 

I have a playlist for each genre, as well as a playlist for each month, and a playlist for each musical key. Plus different combinations of all 3 of those things. Plus other 'special' playlists that I make at random to make it easy to find a certain vibe. There's no one way to do it, just whatever setup allows you to remember where everything is and be able to access it quickly. No matter how you choose to organise things, playlist folders are your friend. Also, I organise everything in iTunes, then sync it over to whatever DJ software I'm using (rekordbox, traktor, and serato all have iTunes sync). 

P.S. glad the gig went well  

[eggssell]

On 11/19/2016 at 2:31 PM, Rusty1 said:

The party was last night and it went ok. I found chewing gum helped with the nerves and a couple of drinks before hand. 

I thought I could have done better but everyone else though I was so good and really enjoyed it. It was hard to get people dancing but I found that playing tunes that girls love got it going and I didn't really notice how many people I had actually got on the dance floor until I looked at the photos. 

One problem I had was people messing with the mixer and my laptop. Luckily people didn't know how mixers worked and they touched the wrong jog wheel aha. 

I started playing at like 8:30 and I was playing by myself until like 12 and then my other DJ friend hopped on with more tunes and we did a mad B2B for like another 3 hours aha.

Thanks for all the help as well guys it really helped me and I really appreciate it.

nice one buddy. sounds like a success.

[DJ DAZZLA]

I did a year six graduation party the other night and I was nervous for that. it was only a couple of hours of just pop music with a bit of chilled house for meal time. but the kids started sing at the top of their lungs to some of the songs I played which was a great feeling to know I hit the spot. at the end of the night they all cheered me and the teachers were happy too. so it went well despite my fears and I may get a repeat gig next year. So this is why I dj to watch people having fun with me.