Just sharing my experience about these first gigs...

I played most of my experience as a bass guitar player (+ keyboard + singing sometimes), been in a few very interesting indie band and a few metal band too.
I started producing more and more electronic music over the last 2 years.

Since few weeks I start getting gigs as a "DJ".

It was a long questionning... I'm really not up for playing hits and an extensive set. I was frustrated everytime I had to use actual decks, and I can't stand a "press play + beatmatch + crosfade" : I respect anyone able to do that and having fun doin' so. I can't.
The big worry for me and my friends : I won't be playing an actual instrument, this buttons might be plain boring.
I have quite an extreme relationship toward my instruments, stage, music... Screaming or crying on stage (just follow the vibe you know... it usually works) (edit: I did break my bass on stage and passed out at the end of the show once.. it's ok, it was a good show)

Despite I don't know or want to get involved with CDJs, I know Ableton inside out.
As a rock musician I started with a basic keyboard + laptop , for just organs and rhodes. I felt it was frustrating and static.
As the music in the post rock band i was playing with at that time got harder I started to use a Novation Launchpad (quite a funky stuff) : I made tons of macro for visual feedback, it was quite fun to play on stage, I could move a bit more and it was small , I could get back in the light.

For now the setup I came up with is :

- Novation Launchpad + heavily tweaked launchpad95 driver (it brings in a step sequencer), I added a second one.

- Berhinger BCR2000 : basic ableton mapping + a lot of manual mapping

- Ableton + Max (if you never tried Mapulator, it's quite great, cf DJTechtool site and google)

So basically : I have 8 track, going like this :
- DECK A => full songs 3/4 are mine , rest is weird stuff from friends or more famous stuff
- DECK B => same...
- DRUM => drums one shot tied to a step sequencer
- Bass => Just a saw + LP ; some macros will control stuff so it can go a bit further : filter enveloppe, unisono, drive, ...
- DR Loop => Some drum from songs I made, some loops I made (usually higher parts)
- BA Loop => Same with bass
- FX => some sounds... synth bridge, risers, such...
- PRC => another step sequencer with mostly hats and stuff.
Roughly : 1/3 of the music is my tracks , 1/3 is beats built-up live, 1/3 is friends' music (thirds may vary)

On the BCR :
All the tracks go through a LP to HP filter (mapulator involved), I can send any track to reverb and delay, I have a sketchy looper for each track too

I played at a party last week ...
Quite a frightening one... There the "awful gf's ex from hell" , which HATES me, because I don't come to his standard of coolness ... I wasn't on the FB event but I was told he bashed me quite hard, arguing on the poor quality of my music, and me being a complete moron , playing and producing gay poop (his words...). Asking the organizer not to let me play.

So it wasn't starting so well , but heh , I'm not playing for him....
2am.
Psytrance bashing since 4 hours, 2 persons dancing. Yo wanna play? Oh yeah , sure, give me 5' so I can lay down my gears and plug it in...

I wasn't sure how it wwould go , I was even expecting a prank implying a wicked ex, a beer, and my laptop, and also how would people react.
I was worried of how I would play : it's easy to get absorbed in the "facebook reading face" and being too static.
I didn't expect the whole crowd to come up and dance and scream
I didn't expect the wicked ex to be dancing ... until he noticed I was in the booth. (he still hate me)
All went fine!
I was in sweat

Police arrived 50' into the set. Party over.
Several peoples told me the cop would have come anyway, and thanked me for saving the party (it was mostly a pot and binge party till they started to dance)
Several people asked me how a nerdy guy like me got the french version of frat boy to dance. I was still hyped of playin'.
"I just think the quiet moment are as important as banger, it create tension, and it make you want to dance when it kicks back in. for the solidness of the set? it's just work, i frustrate my gf when I can't see her or my friends when I ditch party because I'm practicing, but tonight she's proud and people enjoyed themselves"

Moral of the story, if you're still in the bedroom, playing guitar or mounting bangers.

World is full of wankers, if you're ready to put up some commitment and some quality to what you do, and practice enough to make it easy for you to show a good pictures and some rage and catharsis up there : it just works. You're rare. You're wanted.
Don't take shit from downers. There will always be one. They're not the makers usually, only the downers, and they're everywhere.
Be proud of what you do. If you're prepared , it just work.
No one wants to dance to a DJ standing there, no one want to see some static rock musician, the dance should be in the booth too.
People feel the work, and they respect that, they just won't express it as loud as the downers.
I'm playing another rave in 3 weeks. The downer will be sitting there drinking. I don't know if I'll settle for another rock band, there's tons of fun in EDM too.
Nobody really care which plugins you're using.

edit : in the hurry, I forgot to press REC, next time I will , so you'll be able to listen to it

 

What's the point of this thread??

 

one of my favourite quotes ever.
thank you.

 

just sharing a cool experience, no definite point. ain't that the point of a lounge section ?

now tell me... what's the point of ranting like this on something you dislike ? just move along...

 

Thank you for sharing your experience. I like your setup and would appreciate it a lot if you post one (or two?) of your gigs.
I`ve a (small) selection of so called "DJ-Mixes" that are very inspiring for me and there is always space for another one.
Again, thank you for sharing your feelings.

 

So far I only recorded rehearsals , that are not so interesting since I try more things (and fail more too), it can get clumsy.