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Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2012 5:37 am
by Chilli Poppin
Platypus wrote:A guy trying to pick me up even though I clearly stated I was the DJ and MARRIED, not a part of the singles group that had joined our dance for the night. He wouldn't leave the booth even though I pointedly told him to go. and then ignored him. What happened next? He slapped me on the rump.

Otherwise, the usual communication gaffes - like having two DJs show up at the same shift or once, when I DJed off of CDS, bringing the wrong folder and only being able to play music by artists whose last names were between N and R. :-)
I had a nasty one of these from an admirer who got very "touchy" despite my protestations that I was both attached and not of the appropriate sexuality to be interested. After he actually groped me I asked the doorstaff to eject him which they duly did, perfectly professionally. End of story in my mind until I received a call from the venue management asking me to pop in for a chat. They had received a legal complaint based upon the allegation that my new "friend" had been ejected solely because he was gay. I was named in the complaint. It never reached court, but I had a few concerned if not exactly sleepless nights over it. Mud sticks and all that.

By far the most disconcerting event I've ever had at a dance though was when I was helping out another DJ. I was getting uncomfortably close attention from a young lady, not in a flirtatious way, but a definite invasion of personal space and stares that were plain unsettling. When I asked her to back off a little she broke down in tears, at which point a friend of hers confided that the reason she was paying me the attention was that I was uncannily similar looking to her deceased big brother. Awkward. Not half as awkward though as when her mother appeared (called to bring her home) and had a fit of hysterics. I took an early night.

Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2012 6:07 am
by lipi
Mr Awesomer wrote:My worst DJing experiences involve being sent albums that are terrible and then being asked for a review.
Send them on to me? :o)

Re: What was your worst djing experience?

Posted: Sat Jan 04, 2014 8:38 pm
by HatCat21
I have couple of them:

I was asked to dj on international level so l prepared really good when my laptop decide to do suicide just before l left for event. So l asked organisers to prepare me extra laptop and will bring my external disc.l had enough time in front but borrowed laptop didn't want to recognise my disc. I asked people for help so they start running around asking who got comp to lent but didn't work either. My external disc was unrecognisable to no offered laptops.
The time was to start with music and panic was closer and closer, and l get more nervous sweaty when l think of my iPod!!! OF COURSE! That was brilliant escape but yet, battery was half full.
Long story short, l played music through the iPod, combine with music from my friend's laptop. Thanks to my music knowledge all event went smoothly, including dancing shows, birthday jams and Shim Sham =) But l was under a lot of adrenaline and really working my ass off, which repaid at the end. When event was finished a lot of people came to me and thank me for great time and terrific and joyful music!

Djing with vinyl records is really awesome thing to work with. It is challenging, very real and as soon as you loose focus you need to react fast. If not, than can be really messy and music can eat you alive:
When l was rookie in vinyl DJ-ing l was asked if l can bring records and open the venue for new swing scene in closer town. The organiser prepare party in a House Clubbing place with really hi-tech instruments to work with. Ok-ey....let's do this than. Everything was cool and dandy for a while, people had fun, dance, drink, till l hit the wrong song by mistake (it was live broadcast from Yacht Club Swing-Fats Waller) but in the middle of the song Fats stop playing piano and start talking... At the same time as l realise that l'd prepare the wrong side of the record, organiser run at me and start yelling "WHAT THE F**K I'M DOING!?!". I was in shock because l didn't expect that someone can be so pissed off in a sudden. He didn't really loose his temperament for a while, what make me even more distracted so l put on even worse song on. Oh boy! I was fighting my case really badly, l had this jerk yelling behind my neck and at some point that was over the line. I felt humiliated. I felt very small and low. it cross my mind to shout his mouth with my fist (oh that would felt so good at that moment, l even picture it), but because l'm not the type of the person who would pay attention on idiots, l rather payed attention to crowd and what l have to offer now. I put on the record of Firehouse Five Plus Two and just continue the whole evening in that happy jazz/charleston spirit.

I will never forget that man and these, now priceless experiences!

Re: What was your worst djing experience?

Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2014 9:11 pm
by Toon Town Dave
HepCat21, too bad you had to deal with a hothead. Better to stay calm tune him out if you can and get on with the job at hand. I'd maybe have asked him if he'd prefer I leave (and have no music at all) if he didn't simmer down.

My current worst experience was my first time on broadcast radio. Got in, got everything set up as commercials were playing between my show and the previous show. All ready to go, got on the air, read the live tag and did my introduction and hit play on my laptop then nothing, dead air. Realized I didn't have a CD cued up yet for backup. Panicked. Replayed the commercials, got a CD in eventually and then figured out I missed activating the aux input my laptop was plugged into. I was a bit nervous to begin trying to remember all the details to work the equipment and all the stuff a radio DJ needs to manage. With and a goof up right at the start I was literally trembling the rest of the show. Had a couple more smaller goofs but I at least managed to turn down the announcer mic before letting out any expletives. DJ'ing dances does not prepare you for radio!

Re: What was your worst djing experience?

Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2014 12:54 am
by Surreal
I've been doing the radio gig for a decade now and I *still* forget to turn on the aux input sometimes. Or I'll have it on but forget to bring up the slider.

Re: What was your worst djing experience?

Posted: Sun Feb 09, 2014 11:47 pm
by trev
For the first time in about 10 years of laptop DJing, iTunes crashed completely last night in the middle of a song. :oops:

I was pretty embarrassed, but quickly restarted it all and got it up and running. Still didn't prevent everyone from jeering.

At least it wasn't a comp or an exchange or anything.

Re: What was your worst djing experience?

Posted: Mon Feb 10, 2014 4:03 am
by philippecrhk
Thats scary !!

It happened to me too in Herrang at 230am in the Dansbanan. Itunes froze completely (but it still played the song out) . My trusty Ipad (1st version) came to the rescue !!.
Since upgrading to Itunes 11.1 I have had no more problems with Itunes.

Having a fully charged backup player is essential.

Re: What was your worst djing experience?

Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 6:03 pm
by Surreal
philippecrhk wrote: Having a fully charged backup player is essential.
A couple weeks ago after making announcements, JRiver froze on me when I tried to start my set back up. Scrambling to reboot, I dug into my bag of tricks and grabbed my backup mp3 player... only to discover the battery was dead! Thankfully, I had my backup's backup in my jacket pocket and set it up while I got my computer back into shape.