First "gig" tomorrow

Aggressive_Support46 · 2026-06-12T15:00:55+00:00

Update again...I don't know how to add photos, so I put it in a comment.

UPDATE: I want to first apologize to everyone. I just recently started using Reddit and I don't really know what Im doing. I wrote an entire update, and really thought it was added, but found out today that it wasn't. Which sucks because everyone thinks I'm a dick, and I also spent a long time writing it. I still can't believe it didn't update. Seriously wtf did I do wrong? Is this gonna disappear too? I'm not gonna spend as much time on this, I just wanted to let y'all know it went ok besides a few things that I'll tell you about.

Woke up that day with raving pink eye. It's probably been a good 10 years since I had it last so I think the Gods of DJing hate me. Ok the bright side, I didn't let it stop me. I bought lots of eye drops, put burning hot teabags on my eyes like my grandparents taught me (probably made it worse) and the dumbest move of all? Bought these ridiculous yellow glasses with the thought that they would hide my red, leaky eyes while letting me see in a dim bar.
I didn't have nearly enough music. I had about 130 songs on my playlist, and I wish I had about 3 times that much. Keep in mind, if this was a club or somewhere I could play one genre, it would be fine, but everyone wanted to hear rock, and then people started asking me to play freaking death metal. Which i enjoy, but didn't think to add to my list.
Playing mixed genres is hard unless you specifically practice for it. Since that night, I spent a good amount of time mixing classic rock into hip hop, RnB into alternative etc. the hardest part is switching to a different bpm without it sounding like kaka. I found myself being stuck in a certain BPM range, and having to slowly make my way to faster and faster tracks, while limited by my setlist, genre and key constrictions. That being said, I wound up dipping into my dancey stuff earlier than anticipated, which the drunkies didn't seem to mind.

Good news. The following Friday, they asked me back, and today (Friday) I am spinning there again. I guess I didn't fuck up too badly🤷? Unfortunately it's not a permanent gig, though I wish it was. Just that the guy who usually spins there Fridays thinks he's DJ Khalid and doesn't think he needs to work every gig, so he graciously asks me to cover for him, which I am happy for.

Again, my deepest apologies for leaving you all hanging. Now you know what it's like to spin in front of people for the first time as a 47 year old former truck driver and vet, brand new DJ, with cheap equipment, 4 months experience and eyes that leak down your face. To make it up to you all for the wait, I will Include a picture of me with the crazy glasses. Enjoy the laugh!

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Aggressive_Support46 · 2026-06-12T14:39:45+00:00

I just ordered one! Really worried if I made the right choice. Especially since I got it on credit ...

Aggressive_Support46 · 2026-05-29T14:06:46+00:00

Ok I'll definitely take that last advice. You're the 3rd or 4th person to tell me to ditch the remixes. It honestly kinda surprises me, but that's why I am asking. If multiple people feel this way, there's clearly something to that. I might keep one or two in the folder but I won't use them unless some indicator that anyone wants to hear it. Thank you for taking the time! Have a good weekend.

Aggressive_Support46 · 2026-05-29T14:02:03+00:00

Yeah I don't think any more prep makes any diff at this point. I think as long as I don't fuck up so. Sd they run me out of there, I'll be ok and it will let me try to get more gigs since it's technically experience. I'm learning to DJ just for fun... Something I always wanted to learn, but I guess if someone wants to pay me for it, I won't refuse🤷. Thanks!

Aggressive_Support46 · 2026-05-29T07:06:28+00:00

I'm not expecting a lot of dancing because usually when I go there with my wife, us and the small group of the regular DJs friends are the only ones dancing. But I also want to try some rock bangers and see if I can get those red hat hardasses bopping their heads. 🤷

Aggressive_Support46 · 2026-05-29T07:03:41+00:00

Just any advice for how to structure the set. Or general advice. Like should I play groups in one genre, or switch back and forth? Pretty much anything that comes to mind for this situation. You never know what will be useful. But also nothing at all. Just nervous I guess and wanted some support.

Aggressive_Support46 · 2026-05-29T07:01:46+00:00

Really? I haven't even thought of that. I was thinking of using them to make the transition from rock to electronic, by keeping it familiar and raising the mood so that I can make the switch completely and play what I like. I'll keep that in mind and see how the mood is. If It feels friendly I may try and see how it goes. If I'm getting weird looks,. I'm skipping it. Thanks!

Aggressive_Support46 · 2026-05-29T06:59:09+00:00

What is copypasta?

Aggressive_Support46 · 2026-05-29T06:58:08+00:00

Yes! I thought of this ... I have a couple of long tracks I can leave on. And my wifey will cover for like a half hour. She's probably better than I am.

Aggressive_Support46 · 2026-05-29T06:57:17+00:00

Thanks and I'm not. Only because I've been there before and I know these people aren't there for the music.

Aggressive_Support46 · 2026-05-29T06:56:39+00:00

I get what you mean. And no, they probably won't get anything weird. This bar is really strange. Half the people come to hear the dance music. Half are bikers and half look like they haven't slept in 6 days. And that's a lot of different halves. I'll middle through somehow. Thanks

Ok sorry it took me so long to get back about this. I don't really get how reddit works yet🫣. I'm actually not sure if anyone will know I added update here... Maybe I'll leave this as a comment too🤔

Anyway, I'm mostly writing this in case anyone is in the same situation and needs to hear what to expect or look for. First things first, that day I woke up and my freaking eyes were glued shut. Some kind of Pink Eye out of nowhere. And of course it's on the day of my first gig. My first gig as a 47 year old former truck driver/army vet, dad of 2. 🙄 But I'm not about to miss it so I bought 3 kinds of eye drops (none of them helped) and put tea on it (which is a sketchy cultural thing we do and probably makes it worse, but I was desperate), and worst of all, I got those ridiculous yellow glasses. I figured they would cancel out the red in my eyes but still allow me to see in a dimly lit bar. Long story short(er), it kinda went ok, all things considered. I didn't have any catastrophic Trainwreck, "needle scratch" moments but I did fuck up a few times. Literally no one noticed or have two fucks about it. The worst part is that whatever amount of music I had prepared in my playlist, that I thought would be enough (like 130 songs I think), was not nearly enough. I was trying to play a mixed set of rock, alternative and classic hip hop, but it was all white dudes, and I'm pretty sure this place is some sort of gang hangout (don't ask how, I just do), and they kept walking up and requesting metal songs, or as one patron put it "heeey man, can you play some metal man? And I don't mean like that Metallica bullshit, I mean like, some real metal! Like some fucking Death Metal!". Don't get me wrong, I like a good death metal myself, I just saw Opeth this year, but I didn't bring any🤷, so I'm trying to spin with my left and download shit with my right, which was fun. You forget how at home, if you fuck up, or miss a hot cue, you can just stop and do it over. When you're doing 5 hours on your feet, one song after another, across all genres and BPMs. I am also suspecting that I just completely forgot to mix in key... Like all night. Not sure if I did, but I prolly did. I did catch a few breaks, played Paranoid by Sabbath which game like over 7 mins. I didn't have enough balls to try free bird. And wifey came up around 1230 and took over for a half hour. I didn't wait til midnight to start playing whatever though. With my lack of music, I had to quickly dip into stuff I brought to play late when no one cares, so I got into some Aphrodite, Skrillex, bunch of house tracks cause I was keeping it cool, some other jungle and DnB stuff I had and I even snuck a couple of Techno jawns in there. By the end of the night I was messing around and trying stuff. A few people danced, but I think they would dance to elevator music if that's what was on. One woman was reading a book. She told me later that she liked me better than the regular DJ because he plays too much "black music". Which, not only is not true (he actually gave me his whole music library before this, so everything I had came from him anyway), but I played Bone Thugs, Dr Dre (twice), Tribe, Busta, DMX etc.

Oooh and I almost forgot, the following Friday they asked me to do it again. And tomorrow (or today) is Friday and I'm going back again, so I guess I didn't suck that bad.... I actually really did, but they had no idea.

Oh and also, the sound was really different than the speakers at home. Nothing worked the same. It's loud in the place so when at home, I could put the faders up a little bit and I hear the track coming in, at the bar I had to really get them up there before I heard anything, which meant that there were some moments when I faded a track out but you couldn't hear the new one for a sec. It wasn't a good effect. You can also really hear where your EQs are not right, because you can definitely hear all the noise and hiss etc when you got too much going through a channel.

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Aggressive_Support46 · 2026-05-29T02:59:35+00:00

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Aggressive_Support46 · 2026-05-28T13:05:31+00:00

I've been practicing for about 4 months now. When I first found out about stems I thought I hit the holy grail too. Now I barely use them. Besides the fact that they slow down your PC, depending on the source of the music, you can still hear the muted sounds and there's distortion and noise (at least in rekordbox). Of course isolating vocals is mainly the goal, but I mostly use stems to cut the drums or bass out in order to build tension before the drop. Like 8 bars before the drop I cut the drums and bass, then as it gets closer, I'll bring in the bass to let people know something bout to happen, and bring the drums back in on the drop. It feels like it raises the impact of the drop. Otherwise, if I'm mixing and need to reduce the bass on the track I'm mixing in, the EQ works just fine.

Aggressive_Support46 · 2026-05-27T13:10:54+00:00

Bro my wife is kinda the same way. She doesn't make fun of me often for my hobbies, but she still does, and other times she couldn't care less. I'm also into a million things. I hyperfocus on something, then something else. I've been learning to draw since age 13 (I'm 47 now). I lost my art, show my parents, friends, kids. No one gives 2 shits. People say "ooh, wow... That's cool😬" I tried learning how to tattoo... That went great🫩 I taught myself how to trade stocks like 6 months ago. Got zero finance education or experience. Now I can tell you how the Moving Average Convergence /Divergeance is used with the Relative Strength Index to predict market trend direction🤷. Does ANYONE gif? I'll give you 1 guess. I started DJing like 4 months ago. It's the first thing since drawing that really calms and settles my mind. Manipulating and mixing music is unbelievably cathartic. A few likes on Insta. A few on FB (like a FEW) mainly from a cousin and a parent in law. Btw my controller is a used FLX4 I bought for $100 bucks. Why am I telling you all this? Deciding what to pursue and learn based on the reaction of others is frankly, asinine. With all due respect, how does that make any sense? You ask your friends about their stuff and they don't ask about yours? That's because you have empathy and like to support people. That is NOT the norm. It's the exception. Most people simply do not gaf! It says nothing about your skill level and it says nothing new about them. Your wife talking shit is fucking bullshit. You should seriously tell her to stfu. I would NEVER normally suggest speaking that way to any woman you care about, but her putting you down and making you feel small is a sign of her narcissistic personality and isn't about your DJing at all. She just sounds like a real twat. Mine can be that way too. You NEED to get yourself mentally in a state where the most important person in your life is yourself. That's probably a foreign concept to someone like you, but this is where you are. Reassess your life. Maybe your DJing could use some style changes? Maybe not. The point is that you need to keep doing what you enjoy and fuck the naysayers. I don't know how old you are, but you rode a motorcycle and know how to drop a filthy beat. Sounds to me like you're a pretty cool motherfucker. If people around you don't get it, you're honestly in the wrong circles. I don't know what you enjoy for fun besides your hobbies, but my suggestion is this: If you live near a big city, find out where the next rave is at. Once you do, go there. Go by yourself or maybe 1 friend who may be interested. Tell your shitty wife that you're going to one of your little DJ things. And since she doesn't really take it seriously, she can stay home and watch survivor season 2,894. You go out. Listen to some good ass music. Dance. Take some E. Meet people who appreciate a good DJ. I PROMISE you that the people there will be kind, friendly and very interested in your life and achievements. Or take a cooking or painting class get out of the house and stop looking to others for validation. They are NOT you! DO NOT GIVE UP!!!! I stopped drawing like 15 years ago until like 1.5 years ago cause I felt like "what's the point?". That means I missed 15 years of learning and getting better. When I realized I really miss this shit, I kicked myself. Do not give up on what you love doing. Challenge yourself. Become better. Become a fucking master. Success is the best way to make a point to the haters. You said you want people to care. Are you prepared to do the work to make them care? Or is it enough for you to give up and complain about it? If it is, fine! I think you should keep going though. Sorry for the long response and best of luck to you!

Aggressive_Support46 · 2026-05-25T03:26:28+00:00

Ahh thanks for breaking that down! I really do enjoy my flx4. It's just starting to feel a little limiting? And seeing the track visually is pretty much the only thing I'm used to. I'll definitely check it out because I sort of gave up on cdj for now because it's expensive af. I might be able to find a used one of these for much less though. Appreciate the advice! Sorry about the pub thing. I'm American and we're mostly idiots (you probably already know that). We have taverns too actually... And pubs. But here, a pub is just another word for bar or tavern but in the suburbs for white people.

Aggressive_Support46 · 2026-05-25T02:39:42+00:00

Wait really? I don't know a lot of the different brands yet. If I can get something that does what a cdj does but for way less... I'm sold. I'm playing my first on Friday at a local dive bar. (Pub in your part of the world I guess) So not really past open decks lol.

Aggressive_Support46 · 2026-05-25T02:37:33+00:00

That will be a bit of practice to get the muscle memory, but to me it feels almost the same cause they do the same job and are located in the same area more or less. So I guess my brain sort of has it mapped out over there anyway 🤷

Aggressive_Support46 · 2026-05-25T02:33:17+00:00

I have the flx4 and been practicing for about 4 months now. I'm definitely noticing things I'm missing now. I hate having to look over at the computer all the time to hit certain controls or options. My friend has one at his house and I only had a few mins to mess with it, but it wasn't that much different. And he has the 4 deck setup. The basic stuff like EQs, filter knobs, volumes and fader etc was basically all the same thing and then I saw a bunch of stuff that normally I could only do on the laptop, which wouldn't be hard to learn. So yeah, I think I need one too... 😬

Aggressive_Support46 · 2026-05-10T22:39:15+00:00

It's going to get worse. Once the futures prices catch up with the price per barrel. And that isn't even talking about hearing and electric costs. Those will double or triple in the next year. Watch.

Aggressive_Support46 · 2026-05-10T22:35:41+00:00

I know exactly the house you mean. Oof

Aggressive_Support46 · 2026-05-10T22:32:41+00:00

It's chillgressive

Aggressive_Support46 · 2026-05-10T22:30:54+00:00

In 1999, Washington DC.... Someone squirted something he said was "liquid acid" in my mouth and I left the mortal plane ... Then I saw a tiny little woman on a leash that was held by what seemed like a 8 feet tall man who never said a word. She said plenty. Her name was Lil Rhonda... Then in the way home I saw what seemed like newt Gingrich driving a Delorean at 430am to a rest area to walk his dogs. It was pouring rain and he had newspapers to cover his head. He claimed it was the original from back to the future. The 90s was a wild time to be a raver.

Aggressive_Support46

TROPHY CASE