Advise needed: DJing

Jeroen · Post by **Jeroen** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 7:32 am

Hi,

So I moved to a different place, Malaysia, enjoying it, but there is no place to go for an evening with some good music and dance, and a drink. Doesn't matter too much because besides work and time with my newborn girl I can unfortunately not find time anyway for these things or messing with ableton ....

Now, suddenly there is an opportunity to get some parties organized at a nice hotel. Think sunset, cocktails and a nice swimming pool.. I wouldn't mind making sure the music heads in the right direction ...

Problem: not a lot of time, no experience at all DJ-ing, no real aspirations either besides having a good party with some good music

Do have: Ableton L7, Mac Pro, FF800, All racked and ready to go in 4WD, enough memory, some budget left, know how to warp songs but never found the time to make a full set, AKAI MPD32, Novation.

Like: Electronic music (Boratto, Villalobos), some jazzy funky stuff, latin, but no expert in anything.

Do not like: YMCA, ABBA, etc, etc, etc

Summary, I know what I like, but have no clue whether it work on a dance floor, and no clue how much time it would take me to make this work.

Any tips? I think technically I know my way around in Live, its just that I need a bit of a minimal prep set, no high sophistication etc.

J.

the_antagonist · Post by **the_antagonist** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 9:44 am

don't over think it. use the force.

Da hand · Post by **Da hand** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 9:53 am

The biggest part of knowing what will work on a dancefloor is experience. There is no DJ worth his salt that hasn't cleared a dancefloor at some points in his/her learning curve. It's all about picking the right songs for the type of event, the venue, the people attending and then once you're in the DJ booth you have to pick the right songs for that particular moment.

Jump in. Get your feet wet and see what happens

sweetjesus · Post by **sweetjesus** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 10:44 am

+1 on the tips from antagonist and dahand.

se your instincts on the floor.

go to parties and see what other djs are doing and soak it all up like a sponge and use everythng you learn as a weapon in your arsenal to inflict your awesome taste in music upon people.

Zygi · Post by **Zygi** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 1:03 pm

I'd say - if you think you can prepare yourself for a long live set - go for it.

Never deny if someone asks you to play and you think you can make it

navitus · Post by **navitus** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 7:44 pm

Just do it!!

ChiDJ · Post by **ChiDJ** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 9:57 pm

1- Do you have a group of hip friends there? Can you bring the party?

2-if not, then get to know the crowd. What is hot. You have to draw them to the floor. Then you can insert your own vibe. The biggest problem is you're at hotel so you have a transient floor.

**Unless, you can create a local following. That, my friend, is key.

cacti · Post by **cacti** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 11:11 pm

sounds like your pretty much ready to start DJing,