The Clever DJ

Stepping Outside the DJ Comfort Zone - Preparing For Different Gigs - Ep #31

• Ilia & Nino • Episode 31

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Ever felt the jitters of stepping into a completely new DJing environment? We’ve got you covered! This episode is packed with practical advice from seasoned DJs Elie and Nino on how to ace gigs that push you out of your comfort zone. Whether it's a cultural wedding or a bar with an eclectic music preference, we emphasize the importance of in-depth research on your audience and engaging with your clients. Discover how to create a playlist that resonates with the crowd by blending timeless classics with contemporary hits. Tune in for our personal anecdotes and expert tips that will help you keep the dance floor alive and buzzing.

Facing the unexpected is part and parcel of a DJ's life, and we share some of our most memorable challenges and solutions. From the nerve-wracking moment of playing a new track to dealing with a soaked laptop during an outdoor event, we recount our experiences with humor and resilience. We also discuss expanding your DJ repertoire through online forums, platforms, and networking with fellow DJs. Understanding cultural nuances and being honest with clients about your skills can make a world of difference. Join us to learn how to balance versatility with staying true to your passion and strengths, ensuring you deliver unforgettable performances every time.

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Ilia:

Welcome back to another episode of the Clever DJ Quick intro about us and the podcast right before we start. For those who are just tuning in for the first time or one of your first times, whether you are watching us on YouTube or listening on one of the other platforms audio only. My name is Elie. I've been a DJ for just about two years now and I've done a variety of events. I hit the ground running after meeting Nino at a wedding where everything just took off from.

Nino:

Yeah, well, once again, my name is Nino and I'm a professional DJ. I've been DJing for 20 plus years now. I started off with clubs and bars, now I'm doing more private events, especially weddings, and now I have an established business with 15 DJs under my roster 15. 15 plus me, with 15 DJs under my roster 15.

Ilia:

15 plus me. So I don't do weddings by myself yet. Hence you know I'm a beginner. I've done a lot of other kind of gigs. I've done gigs like weddings. Like you know that, one birthday at the um, at the um, at the, at the hall, where usually at the hall weddings take place.

Ilia:

I forgot the name of the place, but uh, and the itinerary. Everything was so meticulous, everything was so specific. Um, there were a lot of things to remember you, but you were there to help me out too. Yeah, so we met while I was bartending.

Nino:

Yeah.

Ilia:

And I was like hey, man, I should join your team.

Nino:

And like I, looked at this guy. Who's this guy? This guy is a waiter bartender. I was a bartender. You were offering me drinks.

Ilia:

Yes, I was like, listen, man, your life as a DJ is going to change because I'm joining your team now. Sure enough, no call, nothing. Took him eight months. Well, at least they called you. They never call. It was a text actually, right, yeah, text. And then did you say you want to talk on the phone or something. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you did. Yeah, I still have the text messages. By the way, he keeps everything, um, but yeah, I, um, I've done a lot of a lot of gigs since then, slowly getting to the weddings, doing the, doing it by myself, but uh, yeah, I've been here like social media and, uh, assistant, yeah, yeah, for the most showed me a lot of value with social media.

Nino:

I'm like are you sure you want to be a dj? You're a great photographer and videographer man.

Ilia:

You don't want to do that yeah man, you think djing is expensive? Yeah man, oh my god, field is. I remember I bought my first camera, my dslr. I was like, okay, I'm gonna be a photographer. Now, dude, my friend was a professional photographer. I was like, okay, now we need this, this, this, this, that I'm like, yeah, I'm done.

Nino:

You're just starting, we're turning it to Costco.

Ilia:

Oh man, all right. So today we have a very special episode. It's how to prepare for a gig that is different from your usual style. So, whether it's a different culture wedding, maybe you've never done clubs An ethnic wedding.

Nino:

Yeah, ethnic wedding. If you've never done clubs or bars yet.

Ilia:

Just something you've never done before, whether it's because of the ethnicity or the environment.

Nino:

If it's a new bar of a club that just opened up too as well.

Ilia:

And you don't really know what's going to be acceptable there. How do you survive? How do you do well? So, yeah, uh well, you'll tell your story later. Um, so, first of all, you got to research the crowd and the music preference. So if there's any way to speak to the client and find out from the client what kind of what kind of crowd goes there, what do they like, maybe you can go and check, maybe you can actually.

Nino:

The promoter yeah, you can go into the actual night the club that you're potentially going to work at. It helps to see the actual what the DJ is playing and just to see if everybody's vibing with the, with the actual music and stuff and being the environments, because you're going to be playing pretty much the same thing right, yeah, cultural, cultural, uh, research, um.

Ilia:

Let's say, I had to do my first wedding, um, or not wedding, uh a birthday, an indian birthday, and I knew that they don't want just Indian music but they wanted a mix of both. So I have a lot of Indian friends and I am already accustomed to that music. I like it myself, actually, personally. But then I really did my research to make sure I don't skip something that might be important. I asked the client you know, just uh, really care, really find out what you can about that culture, about the type of event, the type of crowd, all that stuff.

Nino:

Ask for a list of favorite songs and genres. Right, yeah, you got to curate a new playlist.

Ilia:

So your playlists are great, but they're probably not going to work standalone.

Nino:

So what the couple or the crowd wants specifically. Ask them for a playlist so it'll help you figure out what they want specifically for the night.

Ilia:

Right.

Nino:

They're literally spoon feeding you Right and like okay, I like this song, this song, this song. Put that on your sets, take it. Take it how you can, because, trust me, hey, what's?

Ilia:

that's the best one. What's your uh most favorite spotify playlist? That's gold. Yeah, yeah, everything's gonna be on there. Um. You can then um get the music from different, uh reputable sources um, but you can find out from there what they're listening to um, and then mix the music. Mix old and new music, whether it's ethnic or non-ethnic, mix it together so it's not too kind of categorized in the night and then half the people are not dancing and the other half are kind of like, you know, having a great time.

Nino:

Yeah, have a good balance practice, practice mixing it and stuff at home, so you know you get familiar with the actual music. Yeah Right, because you already know like the English stuff is good. But mixing it in with the cultural stuff is a little different.

Ilia:

So got to practice different mixing techniques, right. Yes, gotta practice different mixing techniques right. Yes, like uh. The last wedding I was at was a uh chinese wedding with very uh strong emphasis on chinese music and it was like very like ethnic, cultural kind of music. It did not work well with, like you know, canadian or US top 40.

Nino:

Yeah, some clients and guests are straight from China or some country or India right so they want to hear what they're familiar with. So English is not going to cut it. So that's why pay close attention to what the client gives you and pay attention to the requests that you're getting right, Because they're gold.

Ilia:

Yeah, and again, learn how to kind of mix it in together properly. Again, it's not the most important skill, but it's going to make you look better. It's going to kind of not stump them when they're on the dance floor.

Nino:

right, be very flexible with how you mix, too, with songs that are coming in when they request it, because you never know what's good. Bpms are going to be totally up and down, right, so be prepared to just take them on the journey and make sure you can mix it mix it in properly, right?

Ilia:

yeah, be quick. Have have an assistant with you. We spoke about it last episode. Have an assistant with you. Yeah, preferably somebody who actually is from that culture or has experience in that kind of uh setting. Uh, whether it's uh the culture or a different kind of genre, you never what? If it's hip-hop, for example I don't have a lot of experience with hip-hop I'll bring him with me. Or if he's probably busy at another gig, I'll bring someone, somebody else, who I have a friend who loves listening to hip-hop.

Ilia:

He knows everything about hip-hop they can help you with certain songs and stuff you're bringing them along right, um, so I can do it, I can survive a night, but he knows everything. He knows the newest tracks, the best tracks, what to play, what not to play, yeah, it doesn't necessarily have to be a dj, it can be like a friend.

Nino:

Anyone who knows knows that type of music or same, same ethnicity and stuff, right yeah, so it's really helpful.

Ilia:

Having someone with you is um. Another thing is to be prepared technically. So I was at middle eastern events where they would play, uh, like certain drums uh, I know, I know it's called the dorbuka, so they would and it would have to be mic'd differently. There were a lot of like live music. There were like different like looking guitars and stuff like that. There was a band and they had to closely work with the DJ and do sound checks and see if everything like plugs in correctly and it just it's. It's make sure that technically you're prepared for any situation. Go in, do a sound check, find out what you might be required to do that day yeah, the band you never know.

Nino:

Yeah, you're gonna play with a band back to back. Make sure you don't play the same songs or whatever. It's gonna be tough because it's ethnic and you probably don't even know the names of the songs and stuff. Right, yeah?

Ilia:

it's. It's which leads us to the next point engage with the audience. This is where you want to take requests. This is where you welcome requests. You want them to come to you and give you an ask for for you to play certain music again. It can backfire if they ask for the wrong stuff, but that's when you have headphones, you listen to it and you are prepared. Right, you did bring some stuff with you already, so don't waste it all. Don't waste it all, um, within half an hour yeah, you might need it.

Nino:

Um, there's, you know. You know if you're playing a banger, right. If people are just going crazy and just moving around, let it play for a little while, right, don't, don't cut it off really like quick right now. I remember that you used to tell me that't don't cut it off really like quick right now. I remember that you used to tell me that, yeah, don't cut it off too quick. They might get mad too, like it's probably like a big song or a song that they love. Uh, if you cut it off too quick, they'll be like why? In my early years I've run into this situation a lot. So make sure to play it out and and read the room, see, see their body language, how they're moving.

Ilia:

If they're starting to slow down and fizzle out, then switch the song I actually remember, uh, not too long ago, there was a wedding where you, honestly, you played the song quite like you played like 75 of that song. Now I was even thinking, is he gonna transition that soon? And you realize that they were really enjoying it. But you're like, okay, well, enough is enough. And then we got all these looks still right, and you found a really nice way because one of those looks came from the actual bride and groom, yeah, and you found a way to bring it back. It was just genius, like it was, so fluid it was. It wasn't like okay, wait, let me, okay, let me bring this back. You just you emceed it back into like I brought it back right and you brought it back in the right portion, like the 67% mark or something like right before that drop and just, and the volume control is so important.

Nino:

Volume is expensive, yeah, yeah, be flexible.

Ilia:

Understand that you'll be in situations where you won't be able to read the crowd that well, because because it's it's a new, it's a new genre. Right you're not, you're not used to playing this stuff new genre, new uh setting, setting like new environment, like it's.

Ilia:

It's not your usual go-to where you're feeling at home, right take the feedback, whatever you can, from whoever like the client, the promoter, the guests, anything that you can get, and normally you would actually get a lot of nice people coming to you who can tell you're bombing if you are, and they'll be like hey, listen, I think they'll like this song if you play this, they'll dance.

Nino:

You know what this is. This is my time waiting for you yeah so, and early in my career, um, I played an indian wedding and I was like, okay, I can do this, I can do this, I do the wedding all indian. They had dance performances, ethnic songs, pure like just. I was like, oh my god, this is out of my element right now. And then they I I learned that they didn't want any english songs. All their entrances, all indian songs. I'm like, oh my god okay, was that?

Ilia:

did you learn that when you were there or did you learn? Did you do your research because you were? You're a beginner right.

Nino:

well, not, not really a beginner, I was still learning. I've done a few, uh, indian weddings in the past, but usually they're mixed Mixed One another, ethnicity, right. So a lot of Canadian songs, a lot of US songs and stuff. But this one was pure. The bride and groom were both Indian, so it was tough. I looked at the time it's 10 o'clock. I'm like okay, I dropped a song. They're going crazy for the first 30 seconds and then they start fizzling out. I'm like what?

Ilia:

am I gonna drop next? So I have sweating I'm sweating.

Nino:

I'm like, oh my gosh, what am I gonna drop next? And then people request and I'm like, oh my god, okay, give me a song, give me a song, and then and then I play it, and then I play it, and then they go crazy, and then after 30 seconds again you start fizzling out. Oh my god, I'm looking at the time it's 10, 15, 10, 15. I got three more hours of this. I'm like that was tough man and yeah, I don't know that's get a five-star review from that one. I don't know, I don't know I don't remember.

Nino:

I don't think so, I don't think so, but I did well, they were happy at the end, but they didn't know what I had to go through and you know, even the guests didn't know, they had no idea. There was just people randomly, um, uh, asking for requests and I was. I was really, really like hanging on them, right, how many years ago was this approximately?

Ilia:

I don't know, man, like probably 10 years ago, yeah, and so back then was spotify yeah, spotify was a thing, back then it was just starting, I think yeah, so we didn't have the same tools back then yeah, no, no, no, not, not at all youtube was already a.

Nino:

Thing yeah, it was just starting to get big at that time, I remember it was 10 years ago.

Ilia:

No, it was no, it was already like okay, yeah it didn't come out like 2006, or yeah, yeah, okay, okay, but still, yeah, we didn't have all the tools back then, right, like all the same kind of not what we have right now at the moment like Spotify, uh, apple playlists.

Nino:

I'm not sure exactly when all that stuff came out, but uh yeah, yeah.

Ilia:

It was like in the middle of it, uh, of it's, uh. So yeah, that was a.

Nino:

That was a tough one for me and I've been in certain situations where it's similar like that, but I've I've done a really good job, like a decent job, like yeah, good job to my standards at that time, to my standards, I rocked it all right, you know what?

Ilia:

and then, speaking of rock, I almost forgot what I was gonna say. Thank god you said that because that's what sparked that memory. We met when you were doing a rock event yes, it was either your first or or, like your most, like intense rock it was because it was all rock too right, so that that was another one where I was.

Nino:

But but no, I was prepared for that I.

Ilia:

I got a lot. It wasn't easy, right, it wasn't easy, with somebody asking you what you want to drink every two minutes. Yeah, this guy gave me like 10 cokes I, I.

Nino:

So he just kept on giving me cokes so like, okay, I used to spank them with rum. Oh, that's why it did so well um, but that was tough, man, I was, I was sweating, but no, I was, I was, okay, I I actually. It's not. It's different when it's english.

Ilia:

You can still understand what they're saying right, I couldn't tell you had a tough time because it seemed like you were doing really well.

Nino:

I mean, like I couldn't tell you were stressing out that the thing is you have to keep your composure, stay professional the whole time. But I was, I was. The dance was full. Yeah, there is a sunday.

Ilia:

I was gonna say it was a sunday wedding it was a sunday and it was just it ended. I remember it and it's so late. Yeah, the management was like is he gonna finish soon?

Nino:

like it ended late and then it started storming outside. Yes, I remember my gear got wet because I brought it outside too early.

Ilia:

Oh yeah, but yeah, did anything suffer like? Did you suffer any losses? No, no, no, okay, luckily. Oh man, I remember your laptop one day got soaked, dude, did it not work, or?

Nino:

something it. It actually started that cpu. The actual the keyboard got soaked when I was doing the ceremony outside and then I had to do the reception still inside. I noticed some of the keys weren't working.

Nino:

I was like, oh my God, what am I going to do? I couldn't. I couldn't even check my my playlist or all my sets, I'm like. So I was playing pretty much off of my phone, a playlist, while you're like drying. Well, I'm trying to dry that. Yeah, I had my my my fan blowing on the computer. Luckily, before the dancing started it, it started working.

Ilia:

I was like, oh, and you're still using the same computer, right? Yeah, and this guy has a brand new macbook.

Nino:

I do macbook pro yeah, I'm getting, I'm, I'm making the transition soon, soon enough, making. How long has it been, man?

Ilia:

it's been a year or two, but it's hard when you have so much stuff on that laptop, yeah, and you are blessed with like 20, 30 gigs every couple weeks, so and you have this team to run like. So I'm just saying he's not lazy, he has lazy, he has a lot of stuff to do.

Nino:

I have a lot of stuff to do, so sometimes time is very important for me, man, and you don't have a lot of it, right?

Ilia:

He actually won't be at my birthday party.

Nino:

Sorry, are you butthurt about?

Ilia:

that.

Nino:

Well, you know. I thought you'd be there but whatever, I know it's a Sunday, but you know sometimes they do.

Ilia:

Sunday. I thought you'd be there. Like I made it on Sunday on purpose so everyone can show up. Sorry, I should have. I should have. I should have booked you a long time ago. I should have booked you. Yeah, but it's okay, we're going.

Nino:

we're going to go for dinner right after this dinner yes, okay, we'll tell you it's 1, 0, 5 am. They're closing at 3. So yes, last call is 2. We can make it right technically it's dinner for us.

Ilia:

Yeah, right, so we'll make it. Oh, this is like our tradition we eat pho. Yeah, you say pho, right, it's, it's pronounced pho, it is pho yeah, no, no, no, it is pronounced pho yeah, I mean, I mean it's. It's spelled as p--O, but it's pronounced pho, right, yeah, yeah, I am excited.

Nino:

This is our thing, the best soup ever made, ever On the planet.

Ilia:

Yeah. So stay calm, stay professional. You'll probably get certain requests, or whether it's songs or just certain like requests, to do certain things that are not the usual things you're used to. Just, you know, adapt, be adaptable.

Nino:

Stay calm, professional, just like how I was. That's why you can notice like how I was sweating. I didn't notice, I had no idea.

Ilia:

you were like stressing out yeah, um, and dress appropriately. Very important. I don't know why, I just like pointed at you, but, uh, dress appropriately because, uh, you, uh never know how important it is to them, right? If you're, obviously you don't have to come in their like traditional clothing, but you need to ask, find out how they want you to show up. Yes, yes, exactly if it's something out of the ordinary.

Nino:

Now, appropriately is like if it's a beach wedding, you wear beach attire but you never know like like what. If the couple is gonna, he's gonna want you what if? Everybody's decked out in suits. Yeah, exactly right. So, and then you're in shorts and yeah, yeah, um, what else, what else?

Ilia:

so, really, that's, that's most of it. I one more thing. We spoke about it before. Uh, I was at a chinese wedding and all some of the songs I downloaded were with Chinese letters. Yep, Characters Characters yeah, and Serato wasn't reading it correctly, so I had to, like, prepare, rewrite everything and know what my music is. So be really prepared, because the last thing you want is to have all the music but not have it correctly in a playlist, right? So be flexible too. Be flexible.

Nino:

Be ready to put in that work on that day, man Cause it's going to feel like work.

Ilia:

Yes, yes, so yeah that, and, like we said, bring someone with you who can really help you out. If you have a friend or maybe a fellow DJ or maybe an apprentice who is, who so happens to be from that culture or had some experience that you maybe didn't have right, it helps, definitely helps. And um, go on forums, go on. Uh, um, there's a sites like a DJ tech tools. Uh, there's a route of forums. There's um digital. There's a route of forums. There's digital dj tips.

Nino:

There's just so many places where you can go and learn certain things, that certain playlists and songs that go with each other and like crate hackers yeah, crate hackers too right it's a good app soundcloud, mixcloud, all those yes, that's where you can get all your music as well.

Ilia:

So, really, you will discover what it's like only when you do it.

Nino:

This is something really stressful, but it's gonna elevate you to a new level it'll get it'll, you'll get better as you go along, and it's it's true for me. Um, like how I see it though, um, if you're not really comfortable with doing like, say, like a wedding that you're not like, especially like um, an ethnic wedding, right, if you are totally, totally out of the dark, I would honestly leave it up to a professional, like someone who knows if you're really out of that element, if it's out of your element and you don't screw it up and if you're not gung-ho in learning it and if you're not, going to in the future, if you know what kind of dj you're going to be element and you don't want to screw it up, and if you're not gung-ho in learning it.

Nino:

And if you're not going to in the future, if you know what kind of DJ you're going to be, right, and you don't want to go into that like ethnic route, right, give it to someone else that's more qualified to do it. Yeah, because you know you don't want to ruin someone's day, right?

Ilia:

And I never did, but it could have been better. Or if, like, you're a club dj and you like edm, but then you're getting a wedding that's completely out of your, out of your element, yeah now if you're going home to do it you can do a good job.

Nino:

Yeah, you can. You can get away with it. You can do a good job and probably kill it right, depending on how if you care how, how, if you care, if you're flexible and if you you know, just go for it Right. But there's some DJs that don't want to do certain genres Right. So stick to someone that knows what and how you can do it properly.

Ilia:

Yeah. So, um, maybe you can, um, give it to another DJ, uh, for a finder's fee, maybe you can just, you know what, hey man or hey girl, I'll give you this gig and maybe you can give me something that is more like my type of gig next time.

Nino:

So build relationships. Build relationships with other DJs, right, because you never know, like, what they'll get, what they'll give you. As well, you can be transparent with the couple and tell them you know, this is not really my forte, but you hired me for a reason so I could do it, but it would be different. Yeah, Let them know that. No.

Ilia:

Hey you should maybe go for, for example, I had an event and it was again another birthday. I do a lot of, lots of birthdays and they were all newcomers from India and I told them hey, by the way, I have lots of Indian music, I've done Indian events, but I have some contacts who are the top here in Toronto. They are the ones you want to hire Now it's different.

Nino:

It doesn't matter If you have the music, that's great, but it's different when you understand it and you know ethnicity is.

Ilia:

You got to really understand their ways.

Nino:

The cultural nuances.

Ilia:

Yes, and you know what they will appreciate, not just music, everything, but sometimes music is one of everything, but some of them, music is one of the most important things to them, right, which makes sense at certain events. And uh, I told him, listen, like I have like the top three DJs for for you, but I can still do the job. Just be prepared that you know, maybe I won't know everything about your, your event or what you're looking for, so you'll have to work with me and give me some information and we can do. You know we can prepare, we can plan the event correctly.

Ilia:

And they said that they couldn't hire those DJs because they're extremely expensive. Yeah, of course I wouldn't charge that much because that wasn't my forte. So I'm definitely not charging, overcharging or anything like that because that wasn't my forte. So I'm definitely not charging, uh, overcharging or anything like that, because that's not an event I usually do and I wanted to kind of get into that, that, uh, that type of event. So I just wanted to get more experience. So it was great for me and you know what they loved it because I let them know ahead of time you were transparent with them.

Ilia:

You let them know I learned a lot, you learned a lot.

Nino:

So many playlists that's the whole thing. You can get better, so much better, as a dj. You can play any, any event, any genre, any ethnicity. You want to strive for that right to be the best yeah, and that's because I wanted to.

Ilia:

so I have some friends who definitely I told them hey, like you can make a lot of money and grow your business if you don't just do clubs. I mean, do you like playing top 40 music? And like, would you be okay with learning how to mix certain things that you right now you're not very comfortable with? They said, there's no way, no matter for how much money, they're not doing it, they don't like it.

Nino:

Yeah, right, so I understand that too. Yeah, you have to understand it, so you have to understand it.

Ilia:

So do what you love, do what you love, and if you don't like something, think about their event. Give it to someone else, yeah it's the right thing to do. Alright, it's the right thing to do, well there we go, another special episode another banger of an episode yo so thank you very much for joining and see you next week.

Nino:

See you in the next one, guys, guys.