Hi,

What is the track you start a gig with? This can be the one thing I sometimes have problems with!!

And I don't mean the 1st dance at a wedding

Depends what time were starting with,

If its the very first track needed to setup your rig-go for one with a good response across the whole of the audio spectrum and you know very well.

First to start party-I normaly start with pop, chart stuff (keeps kids happy) and it gives me the chance to judge the audiance plus I can get my bearings!!

After buffet into party stuff, get them on the floor-I find before the buffet you only get kids up but after its the adults turn.

For the sound test..with no punters around....

1 x cd, played for a few seconds in each cd-deck

1 x record, played on both technics, if I've got both set up. (rare nowadays).

1 x finger run across the drum machine.

1 x "1,2,1,2...Mary had a little lamb...the doctor fainted" into the mic....

Any CD or Record "does" just nicely for the above "no punter" checks...last week the first vinyl to hand, was the Red Dwarf theme tune...

With Punters around...then of course a little thought goes into it. namely the "how old are the punters who are in the room already....what was around when they were teenagers/early 20's ...usually does the trick.

I am not talking about setting up I mean when the guests have arrived and they come up and ask you to start the night? What do you play??

Thanks

Gav

To break the 'ice' on any gig - read the 'night' first to guage an approximate point, or check with the client.
What I mean is, judge the amount of guests by how many you were told would arrive.
It's a half empty / half full guage to go by, but you may know by now from experience.
It's not easy to judge - every gig is different.
O.k., is there food on the night or not.
If yes - great. At time of booking, I explain to all clients that the gig will 'take off' more or less after the food - 20-30 mins say.
Inbetween, as already suggested, play background. No one will immediately dance straight away....ask the client if it's alright to focus on pleasing kids with their requests until ITS TIME TO PARTY!!
On Weddings, after background, the First Dance (if asked for) is great to break the Ice for starting the Disco.
If no food, and just guests, read the night!
But I think that you're looking for particular songs to start a night.
Because every gig is different, it would be unfair to say "Yes - this is the tune to play...", but I'm sure we could all tell you what's a general track.

The only way to explain how I work is that (i think?!?) I tend to think in 3's & 4's. If I play an intro song, and people start tapping their feet or get up straight away, then I need a middle or follow on song. If that's cool, then a third. But the attention span of a crowd is so different to every gig, that's when you start reading the crowd and building the night.
But 3' & 4's will not work on every gig. It's an individual 'split second' decision, and you tend to go with instinct.


Note
look at some of the other threads on gigs and tracks played.
There are some good posts on typical functions / wedding functions.

QUOTE

when the guests have arrived and they come up and ask you to start the night?

In my early DJ years, perhaps when I was lacking a little confidence, or maybe experience...I did indeed used to ask the organiser, best man, whoever... to "give me the nod" when they wanted me to "Start the night"... but now...(except weddings, with their first dance traditions etc), I simply build up the atmosphere from "background" to "easy to dance to"...the low to mid tempo...as you seem to be after titles...ermm "Atomic Kitten: Whole again", "Elton & Blue: Sorry", pretty much any of the more commerical R'N'B ...anything that will get a few feet tapping.... I'll then choose a suitably long (or unsuitably short, but looped) instrumental break in a song to announce the welcome, myself, the request slips and text/sms requests, the bar times etc....and end the announcement by saying that the dancefloor is "Open for business".

For 18th and 21st's etc...R'n'B seems to be a good starting block to get things going. And "family Affair" has a wickedly recognisable bassline that goes over almost anything else to jazz it up a bit (for example: "Scandalous" doesnt do so well on the floor on its own...but add the "Family affair" beats to it...and they're off !!!

QUOTE (Gary @ May 20 2003, 12:02 AM)

1 x "1,2,1,2...Mary had a little lamb...the doctor fainted" into the mic.... .

A few years ago at a club called the Berwick Manor in Rainham Essex, (a famous rave venue) there were many top PA's. One of the bands were sound checking and the resident DJ asked them to sat "Cambells Tinned Soup" into the mic because it covered every sound they would be making (this was a joke), with 6 months every PA that turned up there and other venue in the south east were using the same phrase