First School Gig

What a time to do your first school gig huh? :sqrolleyes: Well it was a video dance so I dont have a playlist sorry...grade 9 only (junior prom) pretty fun night and no problems...no cord for our camera so we had to boot over to the source...no pics sorry the camera fed onto the LCD projector...Setup was 2 kareoke DVD players (sony) all the nessisarys, 2 strobes a bubble machine, fog machine, 18" JBL speakers...a disco ball and light for it...16 pan lights...a couple of American DJ lasers (sorry no details boss took em) dance was around 3-3 1/2 hours...no problems except girls kept asking me to go dance and I was like umm cant sorry haha and my request list had a load of msn address :sqlaugh: but not really a problem eh? Some of em even found out my name so I had some new Facebook friends...anyways my question is at school dances how do you read the crowd??? because theres so many diffrent kinds of kids like metal, pop, country and I tried my best but stuck to the top 40 stuff because of videos...any advice?

Reading a crowd takes years of understanding people. I'm not necessarily talking about profiling here...in fact, I can't think of a way to really explain how to do it.

Here are a few rules I learned, especially in college:

1. Get the girls dancing and the guys will follow.

2. Don't just check out the reactions of the people who are dancing right in front of the speakers; check out the wallflowers and people dancing farther away from you.

3. You can tell reactions from faces and body language.

4. Do not keep your head buried in your music (staring at CDs) or the mixer. Look up everyonce in awhile.

There's a little something I do because I'm a dancer and not a chiller. I step and/or move to the beat with the people who are dancing. That helps me determine if I'm going to get a positive reaction to a beat/tempo change. It works most of the time. ;)

That's all I've got, for now.

agreed... reading the crowd is not really something you can teach, you have to feel it...

It is one of those intangibles (sp) that sets DJs apart. I know some great DJs who can mix up a storm, but read a crowd? Nope.....

Playing Top 40 is always safe, when you break that mold and go out on a limb for the 10% of the kids that want a metal song, or something not the norm, that's when you know if you have them.

The more you do, the more you will learn. It just comes with time....

Practice in all aspects makes perfect Mason, you got very good advice above :) Have fun.

Mason give me a phone number (not in thread). Im in Surrey BC we could talk local Canuck shop and perhaps share some of my SECRETS!!!

Mason - There are 2 or 3 good, seasoned DJ's on the Island. Link up with them to talk shop...See if you can go out with them on a few events....you'll get some valuable info....

music guy which ones would you be referring to? I would say Alexander. If your planning interactivity he is a clown on wheels with his show.

Alexander's on the wrong island (wrong end of the country)....we're talking Prince edward

Tuck.. youve said in previous posts something to the affect of wishing you had someone you could take under your wing like i do with brian b down in charlotte.. here's your chance...

Mason- This is all great advice. Dont know you personally but most djs are extroverts so since you're a kid yourself think of the things you'd like and the things that would make you go 'ewww why is the dj playing that'

Whats your media, are you a cd jock ? If you are know your library and the location of the hot stuff. If you use cds in jewel cases think about color coding or putting more popular stuff towards the front, same with a book.

Are you using a dual deck cd player or tabl tops oh wait it says karaoke so just slot load single decks? I would tell you if you were using cd decks with scratch one thing you can do at a school dance as opposed to a wedding is back spin or scratch out if it bombs.

Space your super hits out because you know those will get people back on the floor if you loose them.

Be aware of whats going on around you. If the kids have been dancing 2 hours and all the sudden the pizza arrives in another room you may instinctively loose people at no fault of your own.

Mason us old pros (LOL) love it when the young guys show out here on odjt asking good good questions and are open to feedback we will help you every single time guaranteed.

The last thing is, post up before your next dance not after think of some questions maybe make a list of what you might do and get feedback then cherry pick the feedback to make one wholesome show.

Rock on buddy

Kyle yikes I got my islands mistook Im not really a Canook.. Canuck Tuck they call me but Im still learning. Thanks Steve for the heads up. Even an older than dirt guy like me has their moments. Wait what was I saying? I know Steve I knew it was on the other end of the continent yeah thats right. I was just testing ya. LOL

Kyle --- Mr. Tuck and Mason are 3500 miles apart.....

50 year olds have those moments.....:sqwink:

Haha I saw his post and im like Ummm long distance charges ??? Thanks alot 1CDJ!!!!

Reading a crowd takes years of understanding people. I'm not necessarily talking about profiling here...in fact, I can't think of a way to really explain how to do it.

Here are a few rules I learned, especially in college:

1. Get the girls dancing and the guys will follow.

2. Don't just check out the reactions of the people who are dancing right in front of the speakers; check out the wallflowers and people dancing farther away from you.

3. You can tell reactions from faces and body language.

4. Do not keep your head buried in your music (staring at CDs) or the mixer. Look up everyonce in awhile.

There's a little something I do because I'm a dancer and not a chiller. I step and/or move to the beat with the people who are dancing. That helps me determine if I'm going to get a positive reaction to a beat/tempo change. It works most of the time. ;)

That's all I've got, for now. Allow me to add #5, SMILE!!! I can't tell you how many times I have faked a smile, if I am not smiling I catch myself and smile, this helps ease people to the dance floor, people can see you up on the podium. If you look worried because the floor isn't packed, people will think you as not very confident. Fake it till you make it is my policy.