First gig advice/help

[DJVendetta]

(I've copied and pasted this as I posted it on djtechtools)

I'm djing at a party in 2 weeks time (It's a charity event to raise money for Japan) and I've got a few questions...

I think there'll be 150+ people attending and the venue is fairly small. I think I'll be djing on a table or something at one end of the main room (This sucks because I'm quite tall and I don't want to be bending down for the whole night). I don't think the venue have got a PA system so I'll have to try and rent one from somewhere (what is a typical price for a pa system, and are there any specs I should look out for?) I also think they want lighting but I have no idea what to suggest.

The organisers are a group of girls (18 years old) and after I'd agreed to DJ she said she'd want me to play mostly top 40 (which I can understand, in a way) because she went to a party there before and nobody was dancing (probably because they didn't have a dj ). I said I'd play a bit of everything, I'm primarily a dnb dj so I'm thinking of playing cheese for the first hour, then moving on to house, trance and finally dnb. It's worth noting that everything I play is club-suited, I don't play jump up or minimal dnb, it's mostly all mainstream sounding stuff, I also have a LOT of remixes of popular tracks which I think will go down well. I said to her that I'd record a few 'mini-mixes' in different genres so she can have an idea of what kind of music I'll play. I agreed to DJ for free (I haven't played anywhere big before, just a few small parties, but I've met a promoter and I'll be djing in a club soon at one of their nights) and I wouldn't have agreed to do it if the conditions were 'play top 40 all night'.

Do any of you have any tips on how to get people dancing and get people to come to the dancefloor? I emailed Phil Morse (editor of digitaldjtips) and he said play the music a bit quiet and turn it up a lot when I start playing one of my sets (let's face it, I'm not gonna be mixing for 5 hours). But what if people are elsewhere and I want to start my set? How do I let people 'know' that I'm gonna start mixing?

Another thing I'm worried about is, if I'm just on a table in the corner of the room, I'll have people coming up to me all night requesting stuff and being annoying. I only know 10-20 people that will be attending the party and a mate is coming along but I know I'll be at the table on my own for most of the night. What if someone gets aggresive or starts messing with my gear?

I know that drunk people = dancing people but the only way of getting alcohol is from the bar at the venue so I don't think people will be spending lots of money on booze. Do you think getting the organisers to buy a few crates of beer would be bad? the venue would probably take it off us but if there's any tips you can give me regarding this they'd be appreciated.

I think that's it haha, thanks in advance

 

[Thin and crispy]

for a small venue for 150~ people ur probably only looking at 2 decent sized (500w+) speakers and 1 sub and an amp... for lighting i couldn't say but if u have ur own dekcs and mixer and monitors then that should shave a good chunk off rental prices but id say about 50 quid give or take a bit for the day maybe? u'll have to shop around but good websites or if u ring people should be able to advise you anyway.
As for the music, just play some cheesy top 40 stuff, not too loud so people can still talk and hear each other relatively well... it doesnt sound like a rave rave so the focus isn't solely on getting the people moving so you want people to still be able to socialise, then id say just throw in some bangers every now n then and you will be able to tell when people are wanting to dance more than socialise as the guy said notch the volume up a bit and let loose haha. As for requests i'd let them for as long as your playing top 40 n shit when u start moving a bit harder/faster hopefully they will be having too much fun to bother you at all but don't let people blag you. Be firm and say no, no ifs buts or maybe's, if its out of the question just say no

 

[Agent Smith]

i'd say on the request side of things, for the mainstream stuff I'd accept most of the requests, especially early on. But when your rolling through the DNB just tell em to enjoy it, especially if your raising money for a charity event!

and i'd look after your stuff. Any drunk who doesnt possess any records and/or decks would not appreciate the care & attention most of us give to our equipment. I've had drinks spilt on valuable records through no fault of my own, and knocking the fella's lights out doesnt help.

Normally most DJ areas are cordened off or in some sort of booth, you should be fine.

 

[DJVendetta]

Thanks guys, it's just hard because I wanna rep dnb and play a proper set sometime in the night. I'll probably think 'fuck it' and do it anyway haha.

 

[DJVendetta]

bleh, it reeked of 'too good to be true' and now they're not having it at that venue because of concerns over underage drinking. They're looking at another venue and bouncers and a dj are included in the deal. Haha, well, I didn't know what to say so I just said for her to let me know what's happening as soon as she knows...