That's the one. Best you tell me your side of the story then as I know their side ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie Brown
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That's the one. Best you tell me your side of the story then as I know their side ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie Brown
Well, you're getting a saturday review instead of a sunday one....
Tonight's gig was spot on. I had reservations about it beforehand because I had nothing to go on, no requests in advance, no idea about what the birthday boy (40) liked or anything so I was going in there blind.
On arrival I made my way straight to him and asked him what he was into....he wasn't that bothered actually. Anyway, loads and I mean loads, of kids! Once again, just like last night...I used them to help me out and they didn't let me down. This was the first gig for a long, long time that I have not played any 60's, 70's, Indie, Alternative, Rock or Cheesiness. It was current chart and dance all night and it was a refreshing change.
For the early part of the evening I let the kids tell me what they wanted to hear. This worked for a round 2.5 hours. Later on lots of people started to get up and dance and one couple in particular kept asking for 90's dance classics. I have to admit that ages ago I used to know everything about that era and I would have no trouble putting a decent set together but tonight, I was lost. Luckily the couple came up with decent requests and my memory started to come into action and I came up with some gems.
You know when someone on the dancefloor really appreciates what you are doing and keeps praising you? Well, that's what this couple were like....
The Original - Luv You Baby, Candi Staton - You Got The Love, Wildchild - Renegade Master, Bucket Heads - The Bomb, Strike - You Sure Do, Robin S - Show Me Love, Faithless - Insomnia, Delacy - Hide Away, Nightcrawlers - Push The Feeling...these were just some of them...
What it made me realise is that I really need to print out some playlists or something with certain era's, especially this era as without having CD's to search through, I was a bit lost. As I have said before, the controllers etc are excellent but you need to remember what to search for and rely on memory. I had no backup system tonight either as I was using the laptop for Photo Projection which went down well. I would usually have everything connected up aswell but the laptop case with the controller, HD and soundcard was in the van....D'oh!!!
Great gig but I do need to sort out the playlists, either soft or hard copies.
Well tonight for me was one of those gigs......
Was DJing at Larmer Tree Gardens, a lovely venue in Wiltshire for a very multicultural wedding (Bride was Polish-Canadian and Groom was Russian-Australian with a selection of guests from all nations to match).
The booking was originally from 8 until midnight, but from our pre-wedding Skype meeting, I thought that it was unlikely that I would be able to start at this time as this is when they had planned their speeches to finish.
Anyway, I arrive at the venue at 7pm and phone my venue contact who advises me that they are running late. I am not able to even start setting up until 9:10pm when everyone finally vacates the room and the top table where I need to be setting up is cleared out of the way. Bride and groom apologise for the overrun to which I inform them that it is not a problem as all guests seem to be having a good time and that a lot of weddings to tend to overrun.
I aim for a quick set up and managed to have background music going within 30mins of unloading all kit from my van with the lighting up and running and ready for the first dance another 10 minutes later. During my set up, I had to switch sound cards for my back up card which is a Native Instruments Audio Kontrol 1, as my MacBook informs me that my new Traktor Audio 10 interface that I have been using for the last month is drawing too much power from the USB socket (despite having a mains adapter plugged in!).
All is well, the first dance goes ahead, it is quite a slow swing-jazz song so I build up the pace with a bit of Sinatra and Andy Williams and then on to some 70s disco with a busy dance floor throughout considering the small number of guests. A few songs later and Traktor crashes, something which on average happens less than once a year (a very rare occurrence considering that I am gigging up to three times a week). After about a minute of silence that seemed to last forever, I had my genric backup CD playing whilst I got Macbook number 2 on the go. The generic CD unfortunately cleared the floor for a bit due to a change of pace. Despite Macbook 1 being backed up onto Macbook 2 the previous day and having checked that everything worked, Macbook 2 then decided that it could no longer locate the directory where Traktor Pro, or Traktor Pro 2 were installed. I have two versions of Traktor installed on each computer in case I get an issue with one of the installs due to software updates etc.
Getting a bit stressed by this point, especially considering the lengths I go to to maintain an adequate backup, I give Macbook 1 a quick reboot and Traktor is running again. It was probably just over five minutes of generic CD, but felt like a lifetime. Thankfully there were no more breaks in the music for the rest of the night and the dancefloor picked up again straight away!
So, I go back to the 70s disco for a few songs and a friend of the bride requests the bride's favourite song which happens to be Daft Punk - One More Time, which is also on the playlist that they gave me. I get there via Room 5 - Make Luv and Stardust - Music Sounds better to try not to make the transition from the 70s disco music too obvious. The bride and most of the younger guests are loving the music and the dance floor is still busy.
At this point I am approached by an Elderly gentleman in his 80s who informs me that the music I am playing is 's:Censored: t' and that I should play some good music instead. I politely inform him that the song I am playing happens to be the brides favourite song, it is her wedding and she and her friends are enjoying it. I tell him that I will play some older tunes again later. I am told again that the music is 's:Censored: t' before he goes back to his table. Bride asks what he has said to me and I relay the conversation. Thankfully she was very happy with my response to him.
There is a happy end to the story as from here on in I have a very good gig. Dance floor is busy all night and I even do an extra half hour after the bride and groom have left as the venue is very remote and there were still a number of guests who were waiting for taxis.
I suppose that there are a few morals to this story...
-Even those gigs that start of badly can turn into good ones.
-Back up equipment is always a lifesaver even when half of it decides not to work.
-Asking me to play some 'good music' is the thing that is most likely to wind me up out of anything a party guest can say (I don't mind so much when a guest then goes on to give me a few examples, but 'good music' is very subjective). Thankfully this doesn't happen very often.
For those of you who have read through this, thanks for reading the newbies stupidly long forum post/rant. If I ever give up the DJing, I think that I might take up writing novels :)
Good review and glad it went well.
Welcome to the elite novel writing posse.....!
Excellent review. I too cant stand guests that come out with stuff like that. I cant stand guests that are rude full stop.Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy Tippetts
Great review Andy.
I was at the Larmer Tree a few months ago and it really is an enchanting venue. I think that may be the problem, it's such a beautiful location people just want to soak it up and everything runs late. Such a shame there's not space for an early set up - the turnaround is such a pain. i think I did about 90 minutes when I was there.
Sorry to hear about your play-out problems - not what I expect to hear from a Mac user :eek:
As for "guests" there's always one who doesn't know how to behave. I'm glad the Bride was on your wavelength .
Terrible event last night.
Bride had booked me for a good six months in advance and floated the idea about Karaoke on Wednesday. I asked a few questions about why she wanted it and turns out the groom had it on his recent birthday bash at a local pub and I did say that Wedding entertainment is different.
Long story short she called me when I was on the way to my gig on Friday night to say she wants Karaoke so had to do some ringing around to get the screens and machine (thanks Pete).
Not only that but had one punter who without doubt was the rudest person I've had at my events. Kept coming behind the booth and I asked him (as I do with every guest) to take the drink away or at least move it arms length away. Point blank refuses too and then starts swearing and offers to kick my head in a few times.
Not only that but had another guy during the entire evening making comments and appeared to have the view I was there to DJ for him and nobody else and kept saying "stop playing this :Censored:. I inform him that there are other guests with different tastes, some songs are requests and that I will mix it up to keep everyone happy. Clearly didn't get through as he came up a couple times after that to say the same god damm thing.
Bride comes up to me later and says how she is enjoying the evening but some of the guests have asked for "older music". Would of been fine but I had just done an hour of 60's, motown, 70's and 80's and had just gone to chart because some of the young kids (who were dancing) had requested a few songs. This was in a small room so why would you in effect complain about the DJ when A. What they told the bride was wrong and B. If they got off their arse and come to me then they could of requested something.
Packing away I had to pass the rude chap and an old couple and he kept making comments with the sole aim to get a rise out of me, by this point I just didn't have the energy to argue. Naturally by the end he had reverted to calling me several names none of which I can repeat on here.
Not good :(
I agree completely Shakermaker.As you get older your memory doesnt click in quite as easily.I always take a ring binder with me with all manner of printed playlists from posts on all dj forums.
Doesnt your laptop remember your playlists of any given date.
Mine does but I havent worked out how to output them as a document.
Fantastic review Andy. I'm looking forward to reading more of your posts. :approve:
Sorry to hear about your troubles Neil. Did you play here 'older' music in the end? ;)
DJTrev - Yeah, the laptop does remember the playlists but I didn't have VDJ open and the HD was in the van so I couldn't even browse and jog my memory.
I did something too which has always peeved me off. I was playing 'Renegade Master' (original mix) and was trying to remember what I used to mix it with. As the song got nearer to the end, I still couldn't remember it and then a couple of songs later it suddenly came to me To the beat of the drum' by La Luna. It was too late for it by then as I had changed tempo a bit but I wrote it down so that I could remember it. I was also amazed that I couldn't find the dance remix of 'Space Cowboy' by Jamiroquai and I knew I had it somewhere. Did a search and then a string search and Space Cowboy was there but by Jonzun Crew (good track) and by Jamiroquai but the original slow version.
I'm spending this week creating some mixes, some playlists and updating the system big time. It's frustrating when you know you have the tracks but haven't put them on the system!