Members ckcondon Posted July 20, 2012 Members Share Posted July 20, 2012 So I just got off the phone with one of our main venues and they have decided to go with DJ's on Fri nights. (Queue music of doom) So I'm thinking... I own the PA and lights. I have a laptop. I've never DJ'd before, but I'm thinking I could work up a good dance setlist and cross over to the dark side. It's not like I'd have to pull off a Deadmau5 type show, but keep it dance-friendly. Anyone else doing this? What are your DJ setlists looking like? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tim_7string Posted July 20, 2012 Members Share Posted July 20, 2012 As much as I despise DJs and consider them the enemy, I have considered the possibility that some places are going to phase out live entertainment entirely (sans karaoke). So, since I'm investing in PA and lights, should that day ever come to pass, I would be able to put it to use as a DJ. I hope that day never comes, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nchangin Posted July 21, 2012 Members Share Posted July 21, 2012 Retired Drummer -----> turned DJ. Now I make 400-1000 a night vs 100.00 and I don't have to buy heads and cymbals and snare drums and bass drums and thrones and stands and cowbells etc. Oh and I don't have to wonder where/if that one band member will quit or walk out the day before a gig. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members KeysBear Posted July 21, 2012 Members Share Posted July 21, 2012 yes, absolutely! DJ work was all I did in the 90's so I have a lot of experience. I don't do a lot of DJ work now, maybe once a month, but it's good money when I can get it. If I have a DJ gig booked and we get a conflicting band gig I have a guy I call who does the DJ gig and splits the money with me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mstreck Posted July 21, 2012 Members Share Posted July 21, 2012 Tried it. Hated it. But the money was good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarman Posted July 21, 2012 Members Share Posted July 21, 2012 Yup, but only for my wife's hospital retirement parties. She's in charge of the retirement parties and they have a limited budget so she pays me half of the going rate. I had the mixer, speaker, stands and mikes already. I bought a some lights and effects on craigslist and a cd/mp3 DJ player on a Musician's Friend SDOTD. I have a 16 year old son and between the two of us, we had enough music for the target population. I get to do this once or twice a month for my wife and I get fed, paid and laid at the end of the night. edit:I provide the background music (soft jazz), karaoke for the Asian folks that wants to sing for the retirees (My Way...) and at the end of the speeches, I play the Chicken Dance, line dancing songs and some dance grooves for an hour or two. I'm usually packed up and outta there by midnight. Five hours including set up and teardown works out to about $100/hour. I don't DJ anywhere else. I've been offered jobs but I can't justify charging 'full price' if I ever decide to take one on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted July 21, 2012 Members Share Posted July 21, 2012 I included it in my business license, but haven't done it yet. I hope I don't have to. But it does pay well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted July 21, 2012 Members Share Posted July 21, 2012 I don't have any desire to DJ on the side but I've thought about getting some gear and learning to do it myself so we can offer it as part of the package. Once in awhile we'll do a wedding and they'll hire a DJ in addition to the band and I wonder how much those guys get. Last one we did, the guy played some background music for the cocktail hour/dinner, did the introductions, played the couple of 'special dance' songs, and then spun for about 30 minutes after we finished. Had to have been the easiest money he ever made. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MusicalSchizo Posted July 21, 2012 Members Share Posted July 21, 2012 I played a Christmas party once years ago where we were the band and they also hired a DJ. We split $1400, the DJ got $1000 by himself. I've been picking up the occasional DJ gig here and there ever since. I've always thought of doing it more, but I like playing music more than hitting buttons on a laptop. If I ever get desperate for money, it's high on my list of alternatives for cover band work as a side job...Brian V. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Howie22 Posted July 22, 2012 Members Share Posted July 22, 2012 How about the monetary investment to get enough of a music catalog. I would expect that a DJ needs to have anything and everything under the sun? How about software for a laptop? What kind of investment is that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members KeysBear Posted July 22, 2012 Members Share Posted July 22, 2012 How about software for a laptop? What kind of investment is that? Virtual DJhttp://virtual-dj.soft32.com/free-download?gclid=CLW-jpaUrrECFQgHnQodVRQAuQ the free version does enough Music is your call how much you want to invest. I frequent used CD stores and have found a surprising number of usable CD's in thrift shops. And then there are the collections.... 11 CD's of DJ tools CD's I got a long time ago will still get me through the majority of a lot of gigs. I have the NOW series to cover most of the current stuff. I also do some Christian DJ work which the WOW series covers. I will usually pick up a used greatest hits CD of just about any artist whose name seems vaguely familiar. Right now I can cover contemporary pop, urban, country, rock, oldies rather well plus a lot of Sinatra, Darin, Dean Martin stuff. If you ever do an Italian function there's a great two CD set called Mob Hits, lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members YeahDoIt Posted July 23, 2012 Members Share Posted July 23, 2012 Do you guys just play songs from CDs or mp3s? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members n9ne Posted July 23, 2012 Members Share Posted July 23, 2012 Just out of curiosity: for those who are DJ'ing or dabbling in it.....are you doing it in the more traditional sense, and playing songs in a more or less straighforward manner? Anybody incorporating any beatmatching, or doing their own mashups and/or remixes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members KeysBear Posted July 23, 2012 Members Share Posted July 23, 2012 been beat matching since the old days with turntables and vinyl. Virtual DJ makes beat matching easy. Mashups are fun, really depends on the crowd. The stuff I do now is all low key private parties by referral. I haven't done club DJ work since the late 90's but I did some fun stuff including poolside at Daytona Beach. Got my MTV mic cube around here somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MusicalSchizo Posted July 23, 2012 Members Share Posted July 23, 2012 I just play music and segue songs cleanly - not much layering/beatmatching for me. No real "Artistry" involved...just good clean work keeping things flowing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kmart Posted July 23, 2012 Members Share Posted July 23, 2012 I don;t DJ as a standalone at all; I do select and handle break music for a couple bands I play in, and for the primary band, I use the dJay app on my iPad, which allows for automatic or manual beatmatching/segues (backspins, fades, full breaks, etc.). Have it set on random auto segues, and some of that functionality sounds/works better than others. The app allows for recording, so for that band, I'm currently working on using the app to create blocks of music that are 15-20 minutes long (aiming for longer than a break), but really creating well-thought pieces that include mash-ups, use of the onboard effects, etc. The thing I will say is the software makes it incredibly easy to sound decent real fast; better than just a fade in/out, and the cost is minimal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ckcondon Posted July 23, 2012 Author Members Share Posted July 23, 2012 The biggest things I'm looking at are setting up my songs/playlists and figuring out how to build the show from pub background music into more pumping dancefloor material by the end of the night. Also deciding if I can do it all with a software solution or if I should look at an external controller.I've done our break music for years, but never did anything more than make playlists on my ipod.Have plenty of material and can purchase additional tracks to round out the "Top 200 DJ requests" list. I know one size doesn't fit all, but it's a good starting point. I'm also interested in eventually adding more of a performance aspect with synths or e-drums. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted July 23, 2012 Members Share Posted July 23, 2012 I'm also interested in eventually adding more of a performance aspect with synths or e-drums. That could be way cool. I've seen a few guys doing the "DJ with sax" bit. Works really nice for background music/cocktail hour type gigs. But a slamming DJ/dance show with a guy playing electronic drums and percussion to give it a "live" feel? Done properly, I could see that being really good. Is there anyone doing that sort of thing already? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kmart Posted July 23, 2012 Members Share Posted July 23, 2012 I know some guys from an industrial-metal band that was a mid-level success national act, and whose almost as successful side project featured the two principals doing live electro-industrial mixing, occasionally with live drums...like drum & bass but louder/harder/heavier. It CAN work.But then again, so can pretty much anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ckcondon Posted July 23, 2012 Author Members Share Posted July 23, 2012 No one is doing it here AFAIK. It could be fun to see how it goes over.Nice twist on the acoustic singer songwriter replacing a drummer with a drum machine... I can replace my whole band with a laptop! LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SpaceNorman Posted July 23, 2012 Members Share Posted July 23, 2012 I don't DJ per se - but do use a laptop connected to our PA to handle "walk in", "Dinner" and "break" music. Currently, I'm simply using iTunes playlists in which the tunes have been specifically selected. I've got numerous playlists - with the material being selected by genre. I've got setlists for numerous genres - including "Beach Music", "Motown", "Classical String Ensemble", "Smooth Jazz", "Big Band/Swing", "Pop/HipHop", "Country", "Americana" as well as some ethnic stuff - "Italian Wedding Favorites", "Polka Favorites". I've got mutlple playlists for some of the genres I've listed that lean in various directions - for example, I've got a "smooth jazz" playlist that leans towards stuff like that found on George Benson's "Breezin" album ... and another that leans more towards "Tower Of Power" stuff. We also offer our wedding clients the option of picking their own "playlist" that I'll pull together for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nchangin Posted July 23, 2012 Members Share Posted July 23, 2012 Just out of curiosity: for those who are DJ'ing or dabbling in it.....are you doing it in the more traditional sense, and playing songs in a more or less straighforward manner? Anybody incorporating any beatmatching, or doing their own mashups and/or remixes? Problem I see with all DJ's is either A. they are stuck in same style of music all damn night or B. they run remixes. Re remixes: all fine and dandy, but I'm sorry if your changing the main song every 4 bars, what groove is there or dance? You have minimal time to get into the tune and oh song change, after about 5 minutes it sounds like noise to me. Re beat mixing and "turntabling" I don't, I try to a lot of beat matching and use the software (vs hardware mixer) to swing from one song another and mixes the tunes quite nicely, this way I can decide how long to keep a songeat before mixing in the next selection. Generally I group by genre, 50 & 60's roll together, countrycountry rock roll together, and of course hip hophip hop maybe mix in some classic stuff in there if beats are similar. There are some pre mixes that work nicely for all of your "conservative" crowds, i.e., Jive Bunny - Swing the mood Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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