Wanna be a DJ?

I'm 37 and so I'm fully aware that my age goes against me in a club where I'm old enough to be most of the club goer's father. However maybe that maturity helped in some weird and wonderful way.
I'm just out to see how far I can take this DJ thing without treading on other people's toes and selling out. I've spoken to a few lads at parties and they tell they are DJs too. Yet what they really should say is "I have a pair of CDJs at home I mix music with." When asked what do you mix, they all say"electro-house." Why does it always have to be Electro-house? I wish some lad would surprise me sometime and say something else for once. however I digress...

Once you've mastered mixing and you're mates think you're pretty fly on the decks, it's only natural to want to take it further. But how?
My advice is don't go straight to the clubs. All your friends know your a bedroom DJ so when it comes to their parties and their friends parties you should be there. Phone up local event companies and get the right PA system for the gig and they'll sort you out with some lights too and if you don't know how to set the stuff up, they'll do that as well. Yes this will cost money but that will get passed onto your client (mate) playing good music is only part of creating a good night, Having all the frequencies delivered to the dance floor is equally important, which means mp3 256kbs preferably higher and stick to no more than +3dB on the PFL. If you need it louder used the Master volume control not the gain control. If you reach your limit... Then you've reached it... tough tits, However; be aware that 95dB in the centre of the dance floor is bloody loud. After just an hour of exposure your ears will close to protect themselves and you'll be tempted to crank the volume. If you do then adjust it back down slowly during the next track. This will allow headroom again should someone ask you later to turn it up. Also a Birthday Party is a private function so you do not have to pay any broadcasting fees or worry about getting busted..

Why am I telling you all this? Playing loud music through a professional PA system is completely different to hearing it in your headphones or on a set of HiFi speakers or Monitors. As a DJ in a live setting you're usually behind the speakers which means all you will hear all night is BOOM BOOM BOOM. So either get a monitor or failing that elevate the satellite speakers above and slightly behind you, so you can use them as monitors.

Be as professional as you can about what you're doing. Don't get drunk because you're the one responsible for that gear which will be somewhere in the region of 6-8,000 Dollars,Euro or Pounds. And for god sake charge a reasonable rate for your hours of work,time and effort. You maybe living at home and not have the overheads of someone trying to make a living from DJing. Again; keep that in mind not for the sake of other DJs but the fact that because your overheads are lower, means you can make more profit. Meaning you'll be able to renew old equipment, buy new music, and keep your electronic and liability insurance in order.











Once you have a good sum of gigs under your belt,  you're now getting repeat and referral business and you're practically working every Saturday. Then you can start thinking about doing club work. You'll have to pick a weekday as you'll probably be booked for Saturday and believe me you'll be earning more on your private gigs than you'll ever going to earn in club until you've built an extremely big fan base.

The best advice I can give is, you need to think about what you can bring to the table. If you can just mix back to back that's not going to inspire anyone to book you. You have to have a theme a concept for a night that will likely bring a crowd. You may even have a good fan base already from your private gigs? Everyone is playing house, what makes you special, different? Where's your niche that the manager will be interested in giving you a slot.

For me; I First I thought about he music I wanted to play and it wasn't being played in clubs on any sort of regular basis.
Second I researched the clubs in the area that could accommodate that style of music. I didn't look for the best and trendiest clubs in town, I simply looked at whether it could create the right atmosphere and whether the regulars would be curious enough to come and listen. I went along one night to the club and very briefly got the attention of the resident DJ playing. I told him I knew he was very busy however; (and I gave him my business card) when he had time the following week, could he please give me a call because I had a concept that I thought would work really well in the club.

The following week nobody rang me... Unfortunately I knew that would happen. 4 weeks later I went back to the club, very early whilst it was quiet and approached him again. The good news... He remembered me. Again I said I had this idea that I thought could work for the club's Friday night event. I told him very quickly what it was I wanted to play and handed him another business card. He had a bit more time on his hands and I asked a few questions about how long he'd been playing there and so forth. I pushed the idea that the club was a great venue for the music I wanted to play. That I knew that it was only being played in a couple of clubs but maybe just once every couple of months, However; I was aware that people are wanting to hear it. So the following week the phone rang.. But it wasn't him, it was another wedding booking, Which was nice but again I didn't really expect a call from the club anyway. 6 weeks later I still hadn't heard anything, so I called the club and explained I'd spoken with the DJ and I was wondering if he had passed my card along. I was told that he had spoken to them about me but they were very busy but it did seem interesting and once things had settled down they'd look at their program and see....

As far as I was concerned that was it. 3 strikes. You don't need to pester that club anymore and it's not worth wasting anymore time on it. Time to move on to the next club. Yet; 2 weeks later I got a call from the club and they booked me for the whole night. Start at 10:30pm finish at 5am and just that genre to be played. Nothing else! The end result is that the bar took more that night that it usually does. I had 6 times as many people in the club than they usually have and I've been booked again.

I've been involved with music since I first got a synthesiser at the age of 11. I've learnt to play the guitar and made numerous mix cassette tapes with vinyl back in the early '90s. However a certain amount of occurrences in 2007 set me on a path to become a DJ and I've been professionally working for just over a year now. This month I did my 1st club night. It took me 3 months to get that booking. So you need to be patient but be keen. I will be honest though. I don't follow the club scene and other djs. With the private parties I get booked for, I don't get much time for clubbing. However; that doesn't mean I neglect keeping on top of new music. 

For all those budding bedroom DJs out there that want to get into clubs (and I don't mean to be disrespectful) but you will learn nothing about what songs to play and when to play them in your own home. You are probably very technically skilful no doubt better than me. However; the road to club work is a long one which for me in reality took over 3 years. Once you're happy with your skill at mixing, etc, you'll need to learn how to work a crowd and there's no better training than private parties. It's easy getting 500 people to dance but it takes a hell of a lot more skill getting 30 people to dance. Speak with a well regarded mobile DJ and see if you can tag along and help out. Although you probably won't get to play the music you like, you will learn how to setup equipment, fault finding, working to a program, how to read a crowd, how to interact with a crowd, how to work in requests and how to use a microphone with confidence. If you do not have those skills in a club then be prepared to fail on your first night out.

VCI-100 MK2

First impressions:

As you know the main points about this unit has been the plastic casing. Well it is certainly lightweight and initial impression is "is it durable enough?"

Most people tend to look after their belongings and unless you're really going to go mad try and bash living daylights out of it then the VCI-100 Mk2 is sturdy enough.

The Aluminum top does make up for the underside and adds a certain mount of quality that is lacking on other controllers. The dials have a good solid feel and are no different to the rubber used by top brands like Allen & Heath. The Cue and Play buttons are better than the spongy things that Denon use but there's a certain amount of travel when pressing that initially doesn't feel right but you get used to them after a couple of hours of use. The pitch controls however are no where near the quality of the Vestax VCM-100 and although slide well are a bit wobbly and you can actually grate the stalk on the side of the housing slot if you deliberately push the slider to one side in order to find the centre indent point. The Jog wheels however are of very good construction and have a great weighted feel to them. The blue LED lighting doesn't make the unit look cheap and in the dark looks quite cool.

Quick sum up: On the whole ok in appearance and feel, some bits are spot on and far better than expected but a few areas could be better.

Usage:

When using a MAC life is as it should be; plug in switch on and load Traktor Pro.

In the 'setup wizard' you just select you have a MIDI/USB device, Followed by Selecting Vestax and the VCI-100 MK2 PRO option. If you have an Native Instruments Audio 8 device then you can select this too for the output routing. Otherwise you can just go ahead and use the onboard sound card.

Finding your way round any new piece of equipment isn't going to have you at one with the unit in minutes but with the VCI-100 MK2 the layout is so well done that you start to get into the flow of things with just a couple of hours of loading, cueing and tweaking. Another good note is that when playing decks A/B the LED's are blue. Flick the either switch to C/D and the corresponding LEDs turn green. So you can't not stop the wrong track if you just check what colour LED is lit first. If effects are your thing then the VCI-100 MK2 is a dream to use. I only had 2 FX banks running whilst I was testing it (Delay T3/Beatmasher/Phaser for FX1 and LFO:92/Reversegrain/Gater for FX2) being able to control the Wet/Dry and Intensity was a real pleasure. The effect that really surprised me was how often I engaged the extra Filter dial to exaggerate the end and beginning of a new phrase in a track. The jog wheels not only feel great but work great too. They boast 2400 pulses per revolution which give almost 2 and a half times more definition than Native Instruments own 4 deck controller. Be careful not to have the sensitivity to high of otherwise you'll start scratching instead of pitch bending. However; again once you remember not to press down at all then everything becomes natural. In practice the pitch faders aren't as loose or flimsy as first impressions suggest but a few times Traktor didn't respond to my + Inputs and I first has to slide the fader upward to see it copied in software before I could actually speed the track up; which is what I wanted to do originally. (I found out later this fader glitch isn't unique to the this unit and I've experienced it on other controllers recently. I'm starting to wonder whether this could be a TSP issue but that's for another entry). After a few hours of straight out the box mashing around I was adding all sorts of blends, tweaks, backspins and effects that far out weighed what I've been doing lately with my current setup.

Last but not least:

From a DJ point of view; the VCI-100 MK2 gives you immediate control over Traktor from the go. It's a shame that Vestax doesn't offer a 2nd .tsi that also has hotcues mapped when pressing shift. I understand that some people might not want those particular buttons mapped as 4 Hot cues when shift is pressed but I would like to have had the choice. From a Non-DJ point of view I fear that some people might see the VCI-100 Mk2 as a toy. As I pulled the unit out of it's original boxing my wife said, "What; and you're going to do your gigs with that thing?" I've currently been using 2 DN-S1200 CDJs with a Xone:92 mixer. I've put them all in a carry case and at about 25/30kg it certainly doesn't look like a toy. You just don't plonk it on a desk and away you go. The surface area is the size of 6 VCI-100s put together, so in that respect scaling down from that to something I can quickly setup in a club with minimal fuss and disturbance to others in the DJ booth has it's pros and cons. The VCI-100 is great as what is does but there will certainly be more than the odd occasion where this little box of tricks will not make a convincing story for a professional DJ. It's not just this controller; I fear it is all of them except the NS7 and Xone:4D which puts on a very compelling act of "I mean business!"

Another important point is that in a very dim lit room you can't read the text under the buttons and dials. It means you're going to have to learn this unit inside and out before you take it on the road. Dials are not the problem but the LOOP section could well get you in a pickle if you haven't been practicing.

One of our biggest fear as a DJ is our gear not functioning. If you buy a van for deliveries you can, if required, hire another one in a few hours and carry out your duties. Yes; your a bit delayed but your customer received their goods. If your gear stops working at a gig then it doesn't matter how much money you have; the party is over! No music, no party; that's just the plain facts. I've not read one problem with the actual functioning of the VCI-100 Mk2 but unfortunately it did stop working and I could resolve the problem. Such a system failure can happen with all the 'top-shelf' brands of which personally I feel Vestax has a place but it does put a question mark over Vestax's quality control of this unit. I'm a bit fussy when it comes to things like this even though I do have a backup system.

The VCI-100 Mk2 is a lovely little controller and has had a bit of a bashing from the DJ media that has caused a wave of derogatory remarks from people who just take their word as gospel.

My recommendation would be, if you have traktor installed on your laptop then ask a shop if they have tester you could try out. Maybe you don't have to as critical as me on a system failure but one this is for sure the VCI-100 Mk2 really is a cracking controller that's been specifically designed for Traktor.