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Help! Gig coming up and need advice


kounter_sync

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Rigth lads im needing a good kick up the arse of what to do for a gig i've got on the 25th... i'm wanting it to be a nice scratching set... 15-30 minutes is about the time i'll be on....

 

I can only really scratch with my left hand, but i've got a few doubles of records for juggling which i'll make an attempt at... but i just need some videos of sets that aren't too complicated but i need something good as its about 300 or more people... this is my 3rd gig and the last 2 i didn't do much scratching but i want to get known so i have to really pull something good out.

 

any advice would be much apprieciated

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I say work out a half hour of blends, and cut in between blends when you feel comfortable. Based on the files I have seen I think would be a good safe bet. 20 mins of straight aaaahs can be a bit much for an average crowd especially if you have to stop in between beats to change records.

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i agree with dub, work on a quick set of blends with scratching here and there. dont attempt to juggle if you havent been practicing it already. show your strengths and coneal your weaknesses.

 

have a plot to it, not just some random arrangement. make your set build up all the way to the end and work on something really dope to end with. (you can do this by beat selection, bpm's going up etc).

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i agree with dub, work on a quick set of blends with scratching here and there. dont attempt to juggle if you havent been practicing it already. show your strengths and coneal your weaknesses.

 

have a plot to it, not just some random arrangement. make your set build up all the way to the end and work on something really dope to end with. (you can do this by beat selection, bpm's going up etc).

 

Take some classic hip hop shit that everyone knows and as the chorus is ending (or begining) drop a dnb track on it let it play out for a while (i.e. 1 verse + 1 chorus) and then cut over the dnb track. It'll sound nice.

 

Do this with Geto Boys damn it feels good to be a Gangsta or something. Its kind of like Zinc's remix of Ready of Not except live, making it cooler by default.

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Don't Juggle out unless you are really really confident. Unless you are 150% you can do your juggles without messing up do not do them in front of a big audience when you do not have much DJing experience. I can absolutely guarentee if you do you will get nervous, fuck them up and make yourself look shit. I am not trying to discourage anyone, just help. I can guarentee you do not have to do intensive juggling and cutting to impress people.

 

I would completely advise instead to spend the time you would on practicing the juggling on working out a mix with some fast blending and simple cuts done very tightly. Another thing is work out some tempos and drop some accapellas over other beats. This will impress them. Finally, I presume you are playing hip hop. Try and squeeze a few unlikely things in there and mix them with the hip hop.

 

You'd be suprised. As most DJs just play straight blends these type of things will impress people more than you think. I can deffo guarentee that if you come out and do these things tightly you will impress people more than if you do juggles that cause you are nervous come out a bit sloppy. I'd leave that till you have more experience of playing in front of a crowd.

 

I hope that didn't sound down as just trying to help.

 

Cheers, D

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I can guarentee you do not have to do intensive juggling and cutting to impress people.

 

definitly, if you can't beatmatch, then just cut the next track straight in, its worth doing if you're nervous and 62% of hip hop heads can't tell the difference :d

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Rigth lads im needing a good kick up the arse of what to do for a gig i've got on the 25th... i'm wanting it to be a nice scratching set... 15-30 minutes is about the time i'll be on....

 

I can only really scratch with my left hand, but i've got a few doubles of records for juggling which i'll make an attempt at... but i just need some videos of sets that aren't too complicated but i need something good as its about 300 or more people... this is my 3rd gig and the last 2 i didn't do much scratching but i want to get known so i have to really pull something good out.

 

any advice would be much apprieciated

 

 

I'd end with some sort of scratch/juggle routine tbh- if I'm in a club and someone comes on and cuts straight away I usually get bored. People wanna hear tunes etc - if you blend/drop tunes quickly then that'll impress a few heads, esp. if it's classic material or the upfront US stuff. You could even cut up the god-knows-how-many-mixes of 'Drop It Like Its Hot' - easy to do, but the crowd will think you're doing something really complicated.

 

Acapella mashups are, like Discuss says, something that will make you stand out, and make your sets more interesting.

 

But if you got probs with beat matching - drops are all good. your audience will most probably be pissed so it's all good, even if on the off chance there is the slightest mistake!

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I LOVE YOU GUYS!!! this advice has really set me on the right track now... i'll be playing tracks to start with... accapellas, new songs, then come in at the end with something good at the end... i could go for straight up cutting... which i've done before live at my last gig so that would be easy and all the people at the end of that gig were like wow (people who have never seen live scratching before think even the bad stuff is great :p ) but yeah im gonna concerntrate on a good opening track.... and something more technical to end with...

 

cheers :d

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but yeah im gonna concerntrate on a good opening track.... and something more technical to end with...

 

 

If I may... Dj Kool - Let me Clear My Throat

yeah man checking it out and if i like it i'll see if i can get hold of it... glasgow isn't great for hip hop records

 

EDIT: Oh i've heard this before defo i think i'll be hunting this record down :p

Edited by kounter_sync
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i agree with dub, work on a quick set of blends with scratching here and there. dont attempt to juggle if you havent been practicing it already. show your strengths and coneal your weaknesses.

 

 

 

 

 

I aint dub.

 

he just wants to be dub :)

 

Dub wants to be me. refer to our battle files!

 

I smoke dub does that count.

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DJ Cool is a perfect starter, nice shout whoever that was !

 

Also, if you can throw in some 2pac (eg california love, or similar) and delinately some save the last dance, like fatman scoop and ice cube, man, you'll have them eating outta your hand, and thats BEFORE you start blowin the roof off with your skratchin !

 

Good luck man ...

 

P.S. Wanna stream it live ?? I'll do ya a good deal !! :)

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lololol aye stream it live... i don't think so mate :p im only going to be making like £10-20 out of this so its alright lol

 

so do u own a server or summin? i've been thinking of broadcasting some stuff from my house once a week or summin.

 

thanks for the advice... still haven't got "Let Me Clear My Throat" anyone know a website where i can get it for £7 including P&P???

 

otherwise i've made a track list... quite a few new tracks so far with a couple of instrumental and accapella mixes...

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It'll probably be pretty hard to find the actual let me clear my throat track, but the instro with the horns is the 900 number by the 45 king, you can find represses of that for about 7 or 8 bucks most places. I'm not sure what the other break is on it but the horn intro is hollywood swingin by kool and the gang.

 

I think it'd be pretty cool if you rebuilt/remixed that dj kool track with the original breaks behind it, some maybe hard to find soon tho lol.

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