Just had my first gig. My co-worker’s daughter’s 9 year old birthday party. The kids were requesting songs one after another and trying to touch my equipment. 😫😫
I am a 13 year old dj, had my first gig a month ago. A friend of mine got it for me, but it was for complete strangers (they were all my age). It was lit!! Everyone was dancing and the feeling to give people an amazing time is amazing. I really had a lot of fun, and I used all your dj tips! Thank you so much!!
Carlo is awesome as always, however, the thing that I like the most about him is that even though he is a pro DJ and works with higher-end gears, he always uses Pioneer's entry-level controllers (ex.: DDJ-SB3, DDJ 400, etc.) when making tutorials and other helpful vids for this YT channel. In a way, I believe that this helps a lot of newcomers (like me) to change their mindset about pricier/better gears = better DJing.
Sounds like what happens to me often in Serato at my last gig on Wed! Thankfully I have everything backed up in my iTunes playlists so I could refer back to those.
I would add one thing to your video. And that is that you need to read your crowd to know witch song to play and when to play it. That is my personal opinion. Otherwise all the things he said is also crucial, and for that thank you DJ decarlo for everything.
Thats a skill even best DJs dont have , and also i believe it is possible to have crowds that dont want to dance or are too shy to dance or just lousy and want to talk and drink.
The last tip is the most important!! My first gig: It was a private Halloween Party for the Filipino community here in northern Spain. I just had a few tracks (Bootleg Tracks coz I couldn't afford a DJ Pool or buying music that time) as I was just starting to build my track collection. I started with some halloween themed tracks which the crowd liked. I then played some Future House tracks, but the crowd wasn't feeling it. I then switched to Latin Pop or ElectroLatino and the crowd loved it. First Club gig: I was nervous coz this time, i'll be playing in front of the locals (Basque /Spanish people). I made a few errors (coz I was nervous), but the worst part of it was that I was so timid. I wasn't moving a lot. I didn't made much eye contact with the crowd. I was staring at the screens of the CDJs most of the time. It wouldv'e turned out great if I had just been more energetic on the booth. Which is why I stated that the last tip was the most important one.
yoo i appreciate this comment. I just bought my first dj controller (ddj ergo limited- quite an old controller but it is still insanely good and functional) Can''t wait to play my first gig! But who doesnt like future house??:(( i hope my crowd doesnt hate it when i play some housey tunes lol
I'd agree with almost everything you said - with the notable exception being the first point. On the many occasions I've tried to (or been forced to) adhere to the crowd's/venue's preference for music choice, I failed miserably - a mostly barren dance floor with the song/style requestors simply sitting and listening (and some smugly smiling that they managed to convince the DJ to play their track). _You're_ the DJ, _you_ know what songs work. Just because a song is nice to listen to (perhaps in an elevator?) doesn't mean it's suitable for dancing to. Oh, and as I said in a comment on another of your videos - if the floor starts emptying, throw on a track which'll entice the girls - the boys will be sure to follow! And _never_ be afraid to cut a track short if you can see that it's failing.
The most important thing is your sound. As long u can do a simple blend mix that is all you need. You don't need to be a mix master or a host and talk and cheer people. The party is about the guess and they will decide if they get wild or not. This will depend on how good your sound is of course don't forget about the lighting
Hey Carlo, my very first Gig was actually just standing behind my friend. He asked me to play my music, so I loaded this awesome 'Coco Jambo House Mix', played it and BOOM... hit the CUE button with my swinging earphones. Crowd was shocked, I was shocked, my friend smoothly saved the situation. Hell I felt uncomfortable in front of like... 20 people. Didn't play again this night. But my 2nd, and for me my real first Gig, was unpayed in the club I usually work as bar keeper. Played close to three and a half hour, starting with Deep House, going over diverse House genre into Dancehall, Hip Hop and even Happy Hardcore. The few people there enjoyed my music and even complimented like 'Whoa, you're doing better than most DJs here. Still got a little work here and there, but you got potential.' And there I was like 'Wow, thank you man, you really cheer me up!' By the way, your first tip is something I partly agree with: it's good to know what kind of music the people enjoy, but don't play songs you don't like. If you're playing songs you don't enjoy yourself, the bonus tip is not gonna work and you feel uncomfortable. Thanks for the video, Carlo. Cheers!
Lol in all seriousness you should never rip stuff if you're playing on a club system. You don't want MP3s to be any less that 320kbps and sometimes rips can be 128kbps depending on where you get them from, which will sound terrible on a big system (despite not hearing a difference on small speakers). You may be able to get away with 256kbps but any less than 200 and you'll really start to notice the drop in audio quality on a big club system.
@@jakob1031 Yes but no one does. The majority of DJs ripping their shit will just be from RU-vid to MP3 converters. Either way, any form of ripping is stupid, and if you're gonna play the tunes out at gigs, then you're an absolute scumbag if you do. You should always support your artists.
My very first gig was an opening of an upscale hair salon. They wanted things like House, Trance, Acid Jazz...all genres I didn’t know anything about at the time. But I did my homework and nailed it.
My transititions on my first gig were so bad by my standards now , as much as I practiced the nervousness still got to me at points and I missed many of my planned cues, what you said about having fun was important, the less serious I took myself the more fun i had.
I played my first DJ -gig two weeks ago. 6 hour set at a nightclub started with a deep house then slowly built up to bass house. After midnight went trap and dubstep and ended up with crazy moshpit at 3am! It was amazing to see people dig the music I was going hard at. 😎😎🔥🔥 P.S. Playing 6 hours solo is crazy high intense!
Id like to add something to that last one, DANCE WHILE YOU PRACTICE ! Can't stress that enough, my first gigs I was static and boring AF, once day I decided to practice dancing:moving while I was mixing because I was alone so no one can judge me and it just got in me as muscle memory to move along with the music :) I see people who don't even mix the track they just select and play them, but man they dance like it's the last day of their life, they look rediculous, but man they look like they're having so much fun and I just want to join them. So I'm trying to get into that habit too :P
The day of my first gig I was mixing for a few months (yes I was very lucky). I knew aproximatively the hour, middle of the night, so 2-3am. It was just after prime time and all my set was prepared from A to Z (that's what I thaught). I was scared has hell that my transitions and beatmatching could suck. But their is one thing I noted directly, nightclub speakers are very forgiven with low frequencies (bass). So after having a dry throat for the first 30min, song after song I began to destress and have fun. I began to look at the people, their eyes.. and that was magical. One thing he said is true, you are the DJ, you control and the crowd is just having fun ! Most of the time they are drunk too !! My best advice is that the choice of your music is more important than your transition. A transition is just going from a song to another but what matters really is wich songs. Also I had planed to play for 2h but the following dj had a problem and couldnt make it in time. I had to play 1h more and improvise. Guess what, that's when I had the most fun. You end up more proud of you too. We all know that playing a perfectly trained playlist isnt true djing right ? ;) (Sorry for my english and good luck !)
For my first public gig, I cut out the middle man and just threw my own small party. It went pretty well, had about 90 attendees. I was also able to play music that I'm I want to see in the local scene. My set was 3 hours 1 hour of each House, Techno, and Psy Trance that flowed from one to the next.
I played my first gig at a little party for about 1.5 hours. It took my about four weeks to prepare for that as I only got a few hours after work to do so. What really helped me was that I prepared the set in advance. And that I already knew the order in which to play the songs. I know you should not do this as you are then not flexibel enough. But for me this helped me a lot to overcome stage freight as I knew exactly where I want to mix in the next song. And being a beginner even getting the technics right was scary enough at that night ;-) in the end it worked out pretty well. Those four weeks of preparation time I sometimes thought I would not make it,getting the transitions right,setting the loops etc...but having the clock ticking and a fixed date to play out helped a lot!
Just played at my high school graduation. Put some really known pop/hip-hop music here and there and the crowd was really hyped up. Some festival/hardbass music also helped. I'm from Russia btw, here we got music that was played basically at every summer camp and new year's eve parties, so every student here knows these tracks and obviously sang along. This was the first time I ever played to the big crowd)
Still been a year i am practicing and still i don’t feel like ready to play front of a crowd, sometimes I imagine myself like playing in front of a crowd but as i start thinking like that, i get confused whats to play next. Hope this video will motivate me for my first gig. I wish this all went well that day. But one thing i gotta say once I started the party m gonna make every one of them dance on the floor, pretty affirmative that when i start playing i brings energy to the consol/set. Wish me luck bruh.
That’s why you have to prepare playlists - tons of them, for every mood they/you might have ON THE DAY of mixing. And adapt. No playlist is nailed in stone - change things on the go or combine, but in case you have no ideas... playlists to the rescue!
I came here back in June for my first gig and this video helped a lot. Now I'm back at this video because I have another one tomorrow! UPDATE: I completed the gig and everyone loved it. I think that will want me back!
Hi carlos ... Well my first gig ... I was so nervous .. When I started mixing like 5 times I failed on the mix... My hands were sweating from nerves.. But after that when the Crow turn crazy I feel more confident ... Thanks carlos you are awesome person.🙏... Saludos amigo...👊
Record pools are definitely worth it. I too used RU-vid before but record pools are so efficient. You can find and DL 100 songs in the time you dl 5 or 10 in RU-vid. Totally worth the money.
@@andrecardoso3247 I'm using BPM Supreme and they have an extensive library....i think somewhere around 70k + songs in a lot of genres, EDM included. I dont do a lot of EDM so i cant say how deep or up to date it is but i know they have it.
Learned a ton along the way but I didn’t analyze my tracks before doing my first gig, I spent so long looking for next tracks to play. Analyzing is huge. Another huge thing that made a difference for me was stop treating my library like an iPod. I felt like I needed every album, every song ever in my library (out of fear of not having something) which only made searching for tracks take sooooooo long I would miss all my mixing points. I would suggest only putting music in your dj library that you would actually play. Then create crates based on genres or moods. It stopped me from having to search for music all party.
few of mine: #1: if you are playing the entire night, wear a comfortable pair of sneakers lol #2: if you are a top 40 dj, consider investing in deeJay pro 2 by algoriddim. It ties to your spotify, so you can save a some $$$ since you won't need a record pool
DJ Carlo Atendido Likewise my good man. I’m moving to a new city, so this video was pretty relevant to me. Would love to see a video about networking and ways to go about securing gigs
I got some questions :D 1. Is it ok if I only transition songs by drop mixing and intro-outro? 2. Should I all the time playing only famous track or indie track? Thanks for answer me :D wish you all the best
I had my first proper gig in 1995. Room 2, Vinyl only, obviously. The first tune I had to mix to the previous DJ's tune and my hand was shaking so hard I could barely lift the tone arm onto the record. That first mix was a bit poor, but after that, it got better as I relaxed. At one point, I'd stolen half the punters from the main room. Good times.
I'll admit, ripping still helps many since we don't have money sometimes to help out the sites. But, the audio quality goes down and many can hear it. 256db & up is the target. I go to the producers/artists sets and support them in that manner.
I find this video the best advice of ALL your videos so far. Cannot stress the first point enough! If you get the set vibe wrong, that may be your last booking - I have watched promoters write off an otherwise good DJ because they got the vibe wrong (because it can actually cost them money). Remember, despite how important it is to you, the gig is NOT about you, or your debut! The way to most impress your promoter is to do the job they need you to do!
Excellent advice!!! Private parties I always ask for a list of songs they want played ....it takes the workload off me & satisfies my customer at the same time
i have lived 30 years as a dj performed in more than 1500 weddings , been resident st at least 10 clubs and never ever asked for the songs i have to play. for me there are the following categories of dj the ones that sucks the ones that plays whar people want (medium category) the ones that want to play the songs people want to hear (empathic) and the top category in wich are the djs that can create the atmosphere with watever they want to play! ( there are few of them)
I'd say the empathic one is also a very good category, because that means they can connect with their audience in ways deeper than any streaming service can. The ones who can create an atmosphere though are absolute gems!
I used to be a hip hop dj for Hip hop groups in europe in front of thousands with vinyl scratching and switching endless records to transition beats the old way (no bpm counter just good old headphones and practicing) . I want to start again and thx for your videos....will send you my first mix LOL
Tbh I got into djing through a paper ad looking for people who wanna be DJ's, it's more weddings and functions type stuff with a few birthday parties in the mix but 1 thing never changes. And that's music selection, I've learnt from a young age that if you don't read your crowd well enough then your gonna have a bad time. And I got told if you can bring the girls to the dance floor then the guys will come shortly after
What really helps me dj in front of a crowd is i put myself in their shoes and think about what i would like to hear, if it doesn't work out just play a banger on even a request from someone this way you will never freeze, something will Come up 😁
Great tip . Hadn't played out in over 20 years. Last time I DJ was at a night club in Houston hyperia . Man you rock. Been my teacher the past month . My first gig in over 20 years probably in a month. So I'm taking these advice .
I do house parties all the time nobody in the crowd even knows I’m the dj I just dance in the crowd it really helps you feel the vibe of the party and what everyone wants… last time we almost broke the floor into the basement there was so many people jumping
Carlo like your videos one thing some of you tutors forget is checking volume bass and treble by using an edit program like Appleton or one of those as a lot of DJs carry over volume over based music and it sounds terrible by reprocessing your music to sound natural like it should these programs are handy tools
first gig ko kagabe sir. at sa una kinakabahan pero nong nakita ko ang crowd na masaya. nawala yung kaba at eninjoy ko nlang hanggang sa matapos ako. salamat sa lahat2 ng natutunan ko galing sayo. nagamit ko yung iba kagabe kasi yung iba nd, kasi nd ko pa na peperfect. thank you once again sir..
Some tips for your first gig! 1.......Take your own headphones! Decent ones with closed backs! 2........practice being able to mix with both tracks playing in the headphones as well as just one track in the headphones! (All venues have different monitor speakers with different latencies!) some may not even have a monitor speaker! So to be able to practice compensating for this will be a big advantage!) 3.......know who else is playing on the night! (You dont want to play the new “mr magic remix” of barbie girl if mr magic is also playing a set that night!) 4.......take free cd’s to give away to the crowd! Printing 100 wont cost much and it may get played at afterparties! The more people that hear you and like your style and talk about you the better. 5.......get somebody in the venue for free on the condition that they video your set! More content for social media! 6.......hype the night on your social media! You want the promoters to see your pushing their night! (Even better try to get a bus load of your friends there!) 7.......expect to play for free! You more then likely blagged your first set anyway, (you can start to charge once they are ringing you for gigs!) a lot of places give you free drinks for djing anyway so you just drink your monies worth haha!
DJ Carlo i like your videos, as they remind me of the journey i took. I have been djing/producing for over 20 years, signed by ministry of sound and im still learning. (Old dogs can learn new tricks!) I love your tip on learning to take constructive criticism this was a big lesson i had to learn. Nobody wants to hear criticism on something they are so passionate about, but it cant be overstated on how importent this is. I also appreciate the dedication and time you put into your craft and that you share the knowledge you have learned.
My first gig is just today😅 its my Bday Party with only like 25 People but im still a Bit nervous to fail the transitions😅 im trying to interact with the crowd aswell🙏🏻
Ang bait mong mag explain tha k you for that, walang BI na f... walang bad gesture na kagaya ng iba, kaya confident ako na manood ng video mo ang anak ko na gustong matuto. Thank you!!!
Funny story- My cousin asked me to bring my equipment for his gender reveal and I said “okay sure no problem”. I have DDJ SB3 which I just started learning to use and I have these beautiful ALTEC Lansing Powered speakers I bought on amazon plus I’m running serato pro on my laptop. Anyways the day I played for my cousins gender reveal I didn’t realize so many people would show up and I got nervous and let tracks play without mixing😂 in addition it was in a backyard with 96 degrees weather that I was fearing would damage my equipment especially my $900 laptop. People enjoyed the music but I’m sure they were thinking “isn’t he supposed to mix from on track to another” 😆 My cousins bf was there and he was like “oh can I play with your equipment?” and I was like “yeah man sure” but deep down I really wanted to say “SAVE ME!” I went into the bathroom as he played some merengue and suddenly the music shut off I can hear the awkward silence inside 🤦🏻♂️😂😂😂 and his transitions were 🤢 BAD but no pressure on him I’m sure, it was a shit show lol...... Fast forward 2 days and my cousin called me and said that his in-law asked about me and said he wants to pay me to bring my equipment on August 3rd and I’m now considering that my first gig although he didn’t say he was paying me to “DJ” he said “bring your equipment” lol but fuck it I’m practicing and downloading music and this time good or bad I’m mixing that day.
My first time playing was at my friend's birthday party, no song analyzed, didn't give a damn about KEY and BPM. Before that I've DJed like 2 hours in my whole life, crowd was having a good time. Gig went out well.
My first gig was last night, we had a school disco of the whole year level and It was so much fun, I took song requests and played a bit of the music I like. I don’t have a DJ controller yet but I did it in the sound booth and I used a Alan and health 32 channel audio mixer, which is what the school uses in the theatre. The music staff had all ready set up the booth and the lights ready (turned the sound desk on and the lights) which saved some time. My teacher was on the computer playing the songs and I was on the sound desk controlling the mic and the music. The disco went for about 1 hour and 30 minutes. The night was so much fun, I would love to do more school discos in the future and even outside of school one day as a hobby.
I don't know if i called it my first gig because i dj/mix with a laptop and i had fun and all the people didn't complain they dance till the end, so my first gig went well. People in the crowd thought that i have a set but it was my keyboard 😂,i really wish i had a dj controller
My first gig was just a laptop and songs I had in iTunes. Wasn’t expected to dj but the family’s son was planning on playing Pandora all night! Had a feeling it would bomb, so I prepared a playlist just in case It was needed. I was right, Pandora sucked and I took over! Even the family dj was dancing...lol My advice, always be ready to play anywhere at anytime if you’re a dj. It’s so much fun and can make a difference for others and a brighter future for yourself.
I don't have dj but I am practising edjing because I'm thinking that I can be a dj when I WILL be dj like you because I think you are best and when I am bored I am seeing yours
Dj Carlo, Thank you so much for exist bro! I did not know your work but tomorrow is my first Gig, it’s a friend of me party but I’m nervous as f***. This video makes me comfortable and I’m gonna give my %100. I’m from México Bro, btw you have a new subscriber. Thank you so much for this.
Your advices are always relatable and helpful, Carlo. I have a question for you, I have been told that songs ripped in 128kbps sounds terrible in a club or a party. Is it true? (Most of the songs on my playlist are ripped as I'm just starting out) Caught your joke with the tissues btw. Good one! 😂 Thank you for another helpful video, Carlo.
