DJ fail of the year: Forgot my laptop power cable and thought I have enough power to finish out my set when my screen goes black and the windows closing sound goes over the PA system blowing one of the sub woofers.
Sebastian P yeah, it was pretty bad! Word got around quick and it was almost a year before I got another club gig. Ever since I carry two power supplies. one in my DJ bag, one in my backpack. Spair subwoofers are a little more difficult to carry around or board planes with. LOL
* Never upgrade your operating system or Rekordbox before your USB stick is ready for your next gig. * Never copy the contents of one USB stick to another thinking it will "just work". The receiving stick might have the incorrect formatting leaving you with one useless USB stick when you might need two. * If possible, always test your USB stick before a show. * Always bring a complete set of headphones - including the adapter! * Vinyl DJ? Always bring your own styli (complete) and a pair of slipmats.
My Dj Fail, Playing at one of the main room at Ministry Of Sound London for the first time, after Dj Kim Fai, Room Packed about 1000 people, his last song was Swedish House Mafia Don't you worry Child, Whole club singing along, i go to load my usb in the player with no music, only then on the player that was playing his last song, pressed link and loaded the new track on the wrong cdj, luckily every one in the room was singing along so i just pretended to lower the volume...
A really big mistake, especially when you are at the beginning of your career, is not to bring some spare cables for your gears. Usually big clubs have more decks and all the cables they need but in smaller venues it's always better to bring some power cable for your controller and possibly an extension lead
I've had a few lol. Loading a new song into the deck that's playing, Facepalm. I have done this 3 times but to resolve I have made it a habit to keep my hand on the fader or touch/look at the fader first before I load the track. Has saved me more then I can count. Started with wedding's so saying the name wrong, but one case is particularly bad. I would always write the Bride, Groom, and MC's name extra big on the side so I could do a quick reference. I announced the couples first dance and as I always say the brides name first, I ended up announcing the bride and MC's name. Ooops Probably the most important one, my wife was ready to go into labour any minute and again I had a wedding I was djing. I did the best I could mentally but was a bit distracted and worried about her. Clients said it was good, bride came to say thank you and all that but I ended up saying "Oh ok good to hear, I didn't think it went that well, it should have been better..." to which she promptly filed a complaint to my boss at the time almost verbatim of what I said should have been better, looking for some money back. Lesson: Shut up after a gig, take the compliments, and keep the criticism of your performance to yourself.
Told all my friends my gig was tonight, all came & then I found out, it was one month later hahahah😂 Emberrasing😱
6 лет назад
I told my friend to came to party the 15th September and he thought it was 15 October, so I asked him how he enjoyed the show and he asked me "it was yesterday? I wasn't there"
Not only do I learn so much from your videos but they are SO UPLIFTING as well!! Thank u for sharing 🙏🏻 Love how u incorporate your gigs in your vids. 🙌🏻
You are so humble enough to share your failures and allow us to learn from that...usually big artists would not talk about failures when they were young...Thank you so much!!:)
Hi Luke, Could you do a vlog on sorting music (like in Rekordbox)? After one year of practicing i think I have some DJ skills.. but the most difficult thing for me is: 1) Knowing what to play next.. 2) Knowing where to find my tracks... 3) Hearing a track and knowing where to store it in my collection.. I have everything sorted on 'genre tag', like 'HipHop Classic', 'HipHop Remixes', 'HipHop Drops', 'Beach/ Latin', 'Tribal', 'House', 'Future House', 'Rocking House', 'Bass House', 'Summer House', 'Tropical House', 'Tech House', 'Trap', 'Twerk', 'Swirl', 'Big Room', 'Dance', 'Electro Funk', 'Electro House', 'Funk / Jackin / Groovin', 'Nederlands (Nederhop)' ... And i'm using the 'Album tag' for my own energy score... allmost all 800 tracks are (hot) cue'd.. But still..I can't make it work perfectly.. if i don't prepare a playlist... the result is I'm jumping sound styles too rapidly that in hindsight don't match that perfectly. How should you really sort it? What to do? Im kinda stuck.
Luke, your message about never giving up and putting in the time to get good is key and I honestly wish more people took it to heart! So many of my friends were finally getting truly good and then they decided to quit, because them not already making it meant to them that they could never make it...that's crazy! Thanks for talking the real talk.
DJ fails I see all the time is when DJs start out saying I only play XXxX genre of music and they are not flexible. They get turned down easy at every lounge, bars, and most clubs. These djs who only play one genre need to know the I are going to play for the crowd. The venue owners are not paying money do that the dj can play what he/she like,s they are there to play to the crowd. The reason why big name djs can do what ever they want is because the crowd is there particularly for them. Specializing in multiple genres is a sure way to open more doors to more gigs,
on numerous occasions: in the vinyl days hitting the Phono/Line switch by accident switching it to line level and finding out the next track didn't had the proper volume level.
You are the best Luke!! Very strong how you handdeld the passing away of Avicii! But i have a question for you can you make a video of mixing in key? My question is is it a live saver or a way how to dj properly. because i dont now how the 1000's of genres fit together is key mixing a propper solution?
my biggest dj fail yet was actually a combination of things that happened to me in my first set with my dj academy. i was going to perform at 7:30pm and I arrived 7:50. then the other guys who were before me just kept playing until 8:30. at the moment of putting in my usbs, i realise that i got the wrong ones (not the ones with the music that i prepared). at that moment i thought 'well okay ill have to play future house, what gives'. i press play and my music doesnt go off after 15 seconds. switched usbs between my decks and then finally that worked. one or two minutes into the set, the music starts to freeze three seconds at a time. after all that mess, i managed to record the set and eveything went well at the moment. i get home with the recorded set in my usb and i put that in my pc. it had echo and some crackling noises, no way to fix that. to this day I have my set all with those noises running around...
For the backup fail, I actually started backing up to gdrive / dropbox. I have my playlist in there as well as a copy of my USB on there, so if anything happens, I can buy and load another USB pretty quickly and be ok. Also works if I need to do a unplanned club set, since I can borrow a friend's laptop and just DL my playlist and be able to play out. I actually put any files that I might need to DJ in the dropbox / gdrive. Serato control cd files, serato DJ setup file, anything you can think of. And if you have gdrive / dropbox on your phone, you can access your playlist to listen to tracks any time and any where.
I performed at the same venue twice. Once in April and once on Saturday. April was such a better set because the crowd didn’t care what we played. On Saturday however, there were significantly less people and they walked out on me for almost every song I played, because I played what the promoter told me to (side note: I don’t take requests during sets).
For backups this is what I do: I play on turntables with traktor vinyl, I've had traktor freeze up on me only once but luckly I always bring a pair of cdjs and a book of cds and I rock with those until I can get everything up and running
few of those happened on my first big gig. arrived to see Alan&Heat mixer I never played before, had 1 hr closing set but dragged in to 2.5hrs. luckily had a back up USB with some older songs to finish the party. Was a good lesson for me to be always more prepared than you might think you need. good vlog Luke.
Curious to what usb sticks do you use? I’ve had some that work okay and some not okay. Seem some run faster and smoother than others. I’m using now for my prime setup a regular 32gb sandisk regular one from Best Buy and works pretty good. Working good is different that reliable. Just something to prevent things like gnhos blog.
Youre videos are so inspiring and informational! Always the highlight of my day. 😎 Maybe a video on how you got started as a dj and moved up to where you are now?
I did a drum & bass tag team with a fellow jungle producer and DJ, and we didn't have spare CDJs so we had to use his weird complicated laptop setup. I was not used to how the decks loaded tracks. Some laptop decks force you to choose which side of the decks to load your track onto and I picked the side that still had the current track playing totally by accident!! The sound completely went silent..I also had sound insulated headphones on so I didnt notice immediately that the music had stopped. Thankfully this only happened for a second so I just faded back over to the track I had playing previously..but it was still awkward.
I always enjoy your videos, thanks for sharing with the world. I have a topic suggestion for Vlog related to some points you mention today, what the balance or decision on having a wide range of track and styles with you to play or be more producer focus and stick to your type of sound and style if you know what I mean!
Hey Luke, Question for a vocalist how do you go about selecting, or finding a vocalist for your tracks, Reason is I remix a few tracks so vocals are already there but foran original works I find it so hard to find vocalists. Whats your ideas on this. Thanks in advance and i am enjoying the vlogs. Thanks
Inspiring Millions ........thanq so much sir for another great vlog ........ive learnt a lot from you ...n is learning with every vlog and tutorials of you out their ....all your production tutorials ...your dancefairs dj masterclass ...n all the djing tutorials ..everything is just somuch to lern from ........thanq so much for being such an amazing person andmentor that you are .....i really hope n believe ..will meet you someday. #lukeforever
My biggest fail was loading and mixing the same track in to the one that was already playing. Half way through I thought "wow this transition sounds good, these tracks work so well together". Take out Track A and confused everyone on the dance floor. Best thing to do is laugh it off, we are all human after all and mistakes happen! See you in Sydney Luke soon, great to have you back here.
Got a chance to DJ at a club that were looking to sign a resident. Brought my computer and was ready to play, but not to my knowledge, I had to connect to a Rane from where I could use my Serato (at that time). The latency on the CDJ was so bad I could not mix. I was so used to using a controller at home that after 3 tracks of me screwing up, the music director told me that 'that's enough.' Learnt from it, started using USBs after that.
Hey Luke! Have you done a video on how if you are famous you don’t have to buy your tracks because you know the other Producers in person. As opposed to people who don’t, has to buy their tracks I.e. from Beatport or other music stores. Love your work keep it up! 🙌🏻
My biggest DJ fail that happened couple of times is pressing a wrong CUE button on a running track! Especially having only 2 decks! Now whenever I have 3+ decks I always have one deck set with acapella, break or drop cued up just in case something like this happens! It's a good safety tool! Good point about having 3500 tracks on usb, I have about the same and that helped me so many times!
So you talked about bringing a good variety of music to all events, which makes it so much easier to pivot if the party changes throughout the night. With that in mind and with the rise of streaming services like Pulslocker, Spotify on DJay Pro, RU-vid potentially coming out with their version of a music service, and apple music; how do you think this begins to play into the world of professional DJs? The limitations of Spotify on the DJay Pro Platform is obviously the need for an active internet connection, even though it does cache recently played files on your computer. If in the near future RU-vid, Apple Music and Spotify integration into DJ software were to incorporate a local library, for download before sets similar to Pulselocker, do you think that this will become more of the norm for DJ's as the higher end hardware allows for this to be incorporated?
here are some of mine: knocking the needle off the turntable when drunk(if i am djing on DVS) , forgetting to place the crossfader to the middle when transitioning to new song(small gap of silence), and not resetting all the EQs and levels for the next song.
I got the opportunity to play MoS in London and was DJ'n from a Serato and SL3. I tried to plug in my kit at the start of my set but whatever I tried it just didn't want to work with the clubs pioneer DJM Nexus. I had no back up CDs, nothing! I had friends all cheering me on and waiting for me to start. But I simply couldn't play. I had to ask one of the other DJs that played before me to jump back on and cover me. Worst night ever. Luckily got another chance to play there again and this time I had back CDs and USBs and my SL3. I chose USBs instead of being embarrassed trying to plug in a SL3 in the heat of the moment lol. Had the best night of my life! BRING THOSE BACK UPS PEOPLE!
During one of my first bookings I scrolled through my folders, selected a track which I wanted to play, but forgot to load it into the deck. So I played the same track again and the crowd was like: "Hey, we heard that track before..."
I love that hand over the ear "DJ and Producer" thing you do at the beginning of your videos. It always makes me smile and do a lil imitation of it; every damn time.. lol. U got a great energy man Ive always liked your outlook and personality. Dont sweat the fails tho everyone makes mistakes. But i gotta say its hard to match the level of hate and disgust your receive from a crowd that isnt in to your style of music. That must have felt super shitty - I feel for ya on that one buddy.
So with 3500 songs of differing genres. How do you set them up on your player/USB? There is no way you know the name of all 3500 tracks. How do you know the names, how to find them, and be quick about it? If I got this answer it would be amazing. Because even with me mixing tracks to have for myself to listen to, I do come across not knowing what to play next. Now this is me recording like 3-5+ hours, but I have right now 1300+ tracks, and can't always remember the location of a track, name or artist for track, then I'm mixing in late, play something else I didn't want to, etc. Thanks Luke!
blackoutkiller Just try to put these kind of songs in a folder with a name that will you remind you off that song. If it has a funny lead call the folder EDM Funny Leads or whatever
Can't stress how important back ups are plus back ups of back ups, had a USB card taken from a cdj live at a gig, emergency loop kicked in and my backup failed and I managed to pull off a few effects on the loops while I plugged in the 3rd which saved my bacon. Keep up the excellent Vlogs, rave safe 😎😎
One DJ fail I have experienced and maybe some of you guys have as well , when you get someone come up too the booth and accidentally spill over there drink on top of the decks
Hey what's up Luke I had the same problem: I played on a smaller party right here in Germany and 30min before the club time was over, I don't had tracks anymore. It was more or less an House music Party, BUT I had luckely I had from the most of my played tracks an Electro House remix. And the funny thing is: These Electro House was so epic that the crowd was super energetic, more than bevor! That was really funny because the genre is so different :D Greetings from Germany Luke!
One of my biggest fails (probably happened to a lot of dj's): I had only 1 minute left to search a good track in the library on my cdj matching to the vibe of the venue.. the moment when i realised hat i was searching and also loading the track on the wrong cd player was at that moment when the "awkward silence" came out.
Hi Luke, great video as always. Question: with tons of tracks, I want to know how you separate/classified them? I`m scrolling all your video but find none about this (please show me the video in case I missed it). But it would be great to make one if you haven`t do so. cheers!
I was opening Chicago Social Club in Amsterdam (the big room) and had forgotten my hard drive at home. At the time this was probably by far the biggest party I had been booked for. I biked like lance armstrong all the way back to my dorm in east Amsterdam, picked it up, and biked back. Took me 45 minutes in total but I got back right on time. I was drenched in sweat but luckily the set ended up going really well :)
One fail I was my laptop that was running Rekordbox ran out of battery even though it was plugged in! But switch wasn't on on the power outlet. Lucky I had my USBs and SD cards!!
Probably my most frustrating fail was a loose tempo slider that kept vibrating from the bass out of time causing me to transition into a double beat. Had to pull one track out before I wanted to just to save it.
Did a B2B with a friend, we were taking it in turns every couple of tracks, and on one of the changeovers he’s turned off the song that was playing! Luckily I had the outro of another song on as well so semi saved it...
Multiple backups is always good in those situations. I would bring around 4 USB sticks (all labeled). You could even bring cd's (yeah, i know cd's), but those players still have cd slots right? So...
You know luke, i think you are sometimes to sweet with this feedback thing. If you dont hear from us, we are to busy and you dont suck.... thats so kind, but we all know when we continu that we sucked back in the day. You gave me some really nice feedback a few years ago and when i listen back it was so bad. Like I said, you are such a sweet guy. Je bent echt een held!
Luke, it's nothing to be embarrassed about everyone makes mistakes what annoys me the most is when people think all DJ's and Music Producer's don't make mistakes and they're all god like also some of the Dj fail compilations on RU-vid are pretty funny but I bet it's pretty stressful for the mistakes but I love your vlogs and keep up the good work
Luke, could you do a "powerfull drop" tutorial someday? I know there's one from KSHMR already, but I would love to check out some tips from you. Also, it would be awesome if you could name the most important roles in a DJ crew, like tour manager, VJ, etc. If you're a beginner, who should you search for to add to your crew first?
I can't make my profile done for the demo drop he crashes at my phonenumber its like a error and what comes on my screen "The mobile phone seems invalid" can you help me?
Is the forum site still active or are you still helping new producers? If not can you pls tell me a person wich you believe can help. If any of the people on the comment section would reply I would be grateful too.
Once (15 years ago) I was playing my residency at a big club in my city, dropped the next vinyl on the current vinyl playing. Needle screeched, crowd stopped and looked up. I was too smashed to see what happened (regrettably unprofessional) but a friend who was standing close picked up the needle and dropped it into the break section. Worst moment ever.
I need to know the name of the track that is being played when the countdown numbers are shown. i think the producer of the track would atleast want it shown as well : )
How about tips on how to stay positive ? As in someone who has been producing for years and hasn't gotten recognized. How to combat the "maybe I should give up".
If you haven't recognized yet maybe you should practice more and learn more things.Or maybe you know everything about DAW but you are writing wrong melodies.Study,Learn,Try,Fail and Fail Harder.But never give up.Then success will come by itself.Never wait for it.Just do the thing you love.Don't complain about why Martin Garrix is recognized in his 16 but i am 16 too i deserve more than him and things like that.Don't try to sound like others.Just try to make your own sound.And keep it up.
I typically have two hours worth of music I think I'm going to play, some of it might be stuff that is new and that I'm very familiar with, maybe even large blocks that I have been practicing playing together. However, I also bring another hour or two of different genres and music that is attentive playlists, stuff from a few months back. I can drop into any one of these playlists or go rogue and just play to the crowd if something isn't working, but I make it a huge priority to understand the audience and have a decent idea of what I will be playing, but that didn't always work, maybe I'm going on after another DJ and to get the crowd where I want them i might need to start my set or end my set differently if I feel that I can play off the previous DJ or set up the next DJ for success. I want the entire party to great, not just my sets, that is why I talk to the other DJs and try to understand what to expect, what genres are they playing, sharing playlists or mixes of my own to get their feedback.
Having the correct connectors to Speakers or Mixers( RCA or XLR cords, etc). This might help Djs who do multiple locations with different wiring setups!
