How to be a GREAT SL DJ

Introduction

Hi, I’m DJ Cherrybomb (Cherry Breiz in world), and I’ve been a DJ in Second Life for over 10 years.  In that time I’ve seen a LOT of DJs, most of which were pretty decent, some of which were terrible, and a select handful of which I thought were great.  I’ve also done a fair amount of DJing myself, and I’ve had a lot of people ask me questions on getting started, how to get jobs, and how to be good at this.  I used to have a blog series on this topic up on that old SL blog site, but unfortunately, I was dumb enough to write it directly on the site, so when the site went poof it took my blogs with it.  I did have quite a few people comment on it while it was up, and one that even told me it was required reading for any DJ she hired for her club (that one really made me smile! 😊), so with all that being said, this document is my attempt to re-create, update, and hopefully improve upon that blog series.  

I hope you find this stuff helpful or useful in some way.  Please let me know what you think!  I’d love to hear from you, even if you disagree with me (Well ok, if I’m being honest I don’t want to hear from you quite as MUCH if you disagree with me, but I still want to! 😊).  Now keep in mind that while I do have a chapter on getting started this blog is not really targeted for the absolute beginner, but more toward somebody who has already figured out the basics, has a few sets under her belt, and wants to take her game to the next level.

So anyway, as with most stuff I write I’m going to do this pretty much stream of consciousness and just hope for the best, so buckle up and hang on, because I don’t know where this thing is going to go any more than you do!

Chapter 1 – So you think you’re great?

I’m going to start right out with a very hard question – “So Cherry, does this mean you think you’re a GREAT Second Life DJ”.  Boy that’s a hard question.  I honestly don’t think you can be any good at this without having some self-confidence, and some faith in your own abilities.  But that being said, Ego is a dragon slayer, and having a head so big it can’t fit through a standard doorway is ultimately going to kill your DJ career.  So I will answer that question like this:  I believe that the second you start THINKING you are great you stop BEING great.  The word GREAT is a word I reserve for a very select few, and I’ll tell you who a few of them are in a minute.  As for me, no I don’t think I’m great, but I to TRY to do a great set each and every time I go out there.  Do I succeed at that?  Hopefully most of the time, but I think there is always plenty of room for improvement, and I will not stop trying to get better at this until the day I stop doing it.

I hope that answer wasn’t a cop-out, but I think it conveys an important message – Always strive for greatness, but don’t ever be so arrogant as to think you’ve achieved it. As soon as you believe that, you’ve started on the downhill slide.

Ok, I promised you I’d introduce you to a few DJs I think are great, so here they are

Annita Dagger (DJ AD) – Annita is the complete package.  I walked into her set at Ohana Rock Club a few months ago and I was instantly impressed with her.  Annita is a textbook example of what to do right as a DJ.  She is brilliant on the mic, her song selection is impeccable, she gets requests on almost immediately, she’s lively and fun in local chat, and she has an amazing ability to read the crowd and play what they want to hear.  If I was opening a club, Annita is somebody I’d want to build a staff around.  Annita is still actively DJing, and you can catch her act at Ohana’s

Kayla Whittaker (DJ Kayla) – Similar to Annita, I recently walked into a set when Kayla was DJing at Old Lar’s, and I was instantly mesmerized.  Kayla has a unique skill set, she live mixes her sets, and she’s quite possibly the best I’ve ever heard at it.  If you’ve never heard a DJ doing live mixing, do yourself a favor and go check out one of Kayla’s sets.  I mean this girl is jaw-on-the-floor good, and she was even able to hold a private conversation with me while live mixing.  I’m the first one to say that I am not easily impressed by other DJs, but Kayla totally blew me away.  She’s still active and you can catch her act at Old Lar’s.

Fletcher Waddington (DJ Unkle Fletch) – I’ve known Fletch since his very first day in SL and in fact I was the one who gave him his first job and taught him DJing in SL (he already had RL DJ experience).  Now Fletch likes to give me WAY too much credit for that whenever I go to his sets, but the truth of the matter is I had very little to do with his success.  See that’s what I think makes Fletch great, his ability to set his goals and then do what it takes to achieve them.  Fletch always wanted to be more than a DJ, he set his sights on managing and ultimately owning his own club.  He worked his way up the ranks, and now he’s the owner of Blackhearts, one of if not THE best rock clubs in SL.  Now don’t get me wrong, as a DJ he’s rock solid.  What makes him exceptional as a DJ is his consistency.  He never does a bad set, does everything perfectly, he’s fun, and he’s great on the mic.  But, what truly makes Fletch GREAT is his drive.  Fletch is still active, and you can catch his act at Blackhearts

MelQT Tannenbalm (DJ QT) – I’ve never seen a DJ work harder at being great than QT.  We both learned to DJ at the same time.  I pretty much chose to stick with only my favorite genre (rock), QT not only branched out to multiple genres (she started off as a Trance DJ, and then branched out into Rock, Funk, and probably others as well), but she also taught herself to create mashups and live mix.  And she didn’t stop there.  QT was the embodiment of fun during her sets.  She was a total blast, making people laugh, playing great tunes, and just generally being awesome at what a DJ is really supposed to be doing – making the place FUN!  I once told our club owner when we were discussing an upcoming Battle of the DJs contest “I hope I never have to go up against QT in one of those contests, because she’s the one DJ I don’t think I can beat”.  I think QT is currently retired from DJing, but if you ever happen to see a notice for a set where DJ QT is the DJ, do yourself a favor and go.  I guarantee you will have a good time!

Before I get to my selection for the “Best of the Best”, here are a couple of honorable mentions:

Becky Aker (DJ HeartBrAker) – Sizzling hot, both in looks and in music.  Becky Rocks the house and takes no prisoners.  Has been on a long hiatus from DJing but is just now getting back into it.

Caliente Lemon (DJ Caliente) – Rock-solid dependable and incredibly versatile.  I don’t think there is a genre Cal can’t do a set for if you ask him.  Was retired from DJing, but I think he may be getting back into it slowly.

And now, the Best of the Best…

Azrai Barzane (DJ Bad Azz) – What can I say about Az beyond she is the best DJ I’ve ever seen in SL.  The first time I saw Az DJ I just walked into a set she was doing at some club (that seems to happen a lot huh? Lolz!), and I thought she was just amazing.  I was DJ manager at Heroes at the time, so I IM’d her and practically begged her to come work at Heroes.  She took the job and worked there for a few years, and in all that time I never saw Az do a set that wasn’t awesome.  I used to say that Az could play static for music and I would STILL have a good time at her set.  She just did everything great, from talking on the mic to chatting in local to song selection.  I really don’t know what else I can add here, she was simply the best DJ I’ve ever seen in SL.  Unfortunately I believe Az is currently retired from DJing, but to this day I’ve never seen anybody better.

So there you have it.  There are a lot of great DJs in SL, and certainly a lot more than I have listed here.  But these are the ones that have made an impression on me, and if you want to pick a DJ to model yourself after, any one of these would be a great choice!

Chapter 2 – Getting Started

Ok this isn’t really a blog about the mechanics of DJing so I’m not going to go into great detail here, but I will tell you what you need to get you started in the right direction.  If you're already set up and streaming, just skip to the next chapter.  Here’s what you need in a nutshell:

1.      A computer.  Yes this seems kind of obvious, but I’ve actually had people ask me if you can do this from a phone.  I’m honestly not sure if you can or you can’t, but I do know that you SHOULDN’T.  Use a computer.

2.      Streaming software.  This is what you install on the computer and where you build up your song library.  This will also be your biggest learning curve as you will have to learn how to set up and use your software, learn how to organize your library, etc.  SAMs is probably the most popular.  A couple of others I know of are Virtual DJ and WinAmp.  WinAmp is free but it’s not friendly to set up and it really does a poor job streaming.  If all you want to do is be able to stream music for your friends at private parties and such then it will probably suffice, but if you want to do this professionally in SL, work for clubs and earn money then WinAmp won’t cut it. 

3.      Music – Yeah this is another obvious one, but still, a big part of your time is going to be spent finding and organizing music, and having a good library to start with is a very good idea.

4.      A music downloader.  Your music library is always growing, and you will also need to be able to download songs on the fly to fulfill requests during sets.  I’ve gone through several download options over the years, but the one I’m currently using is called MP3 Rocket.  There are others that do a similar job but that one works for me.

5.      A music stream – The stream is how you get the music from your PC to play in SL so others can hear it.  You configure your Streaming Software to use your stream and then when connected it will broadcast the music you play to any connected listeners.  It’s really not as complicated as it sounds although it’s a little daunting at first, but once you’ve done it once it’s a piece of cake.  You can purchase your stream in-world (they usually cost somewhere between 400-1000 L/Month).  I currently use TurboDJ as my stream provider.

6.      Land you can stream to in SL – Once you have your music playing on a stream, you need to be able to pipe it into SL so people can hear it.  To do that you will either need permissions to set the music stream directly on the parcel, or you have to be set up in a shoutcast system that will set the land to your stream when you log in.  If you own your own parcel you should be able to do this at home, or if you have any friends that own land that would be willing to give you permissions to set your stream (or set it for you).  Ultimately when you work in a club the owner or manger will usually set this up for you in their shoutcast system.

That’s pretty much everything you need to be a DJ in SL.  How to set all of this up is beyond the scope of this blog, but it’s really not all that bad.  Your best bet is to ask a DJ who uses whatever system you decide to use to help you set it up. 

Once you get all of this stuff working, congratulations, you are now a DJ!  From what I’ve seen, I think for the vast majority of DJs in SL that’s good enough.  If that’s good enough for you, then you can stop reading now because you’ve reached your goal.  On the other hand, If, like I’m hoping, you want to get a better understanding of what it takes to be a GREAT DJ then keep reading.  The rest of this blog is for you.

Chapter 3 – So what is a DJ’s job Really?

Well that’s obvious, it’s to play the music right?  I think lot of mediocre DJs believe that, and if I’m being honest, yea you can get away with being a glorified jukebox and still have a decent DJ career.  I think most elite, Hall of Fame level DJs will give you a different answer though.  If you want to be great at this, you have to look at it a different way.  The way I view it, music is the DJ’s TOOL, not the DJ’s JOB.  The JOB of the DJ is to entertain the guests of the club.  For many DJs, playing the music is where it that job ends.  For Elite DJs, that’s where the job BEGINS.

Here’s a newsflash for you.  We’re all pulling from the exact same pool of music.  Other than live mixing which is a different animal, there aren’t any songs I can play that you can’t.  Now how unique your song set is depends almost entirely on how hard you’re willing to work at finding hidden gems, but that’s a topic for another chapter.  Right now I want to talk about your presence in the club.  Every set is really a big party, and it’s the job of the DJ to make sure that people are having fun.  That is really what the job is, making the set fun and entertaining so that when people leave, they leave saying “Wow that was cool, I’ll be going back to this club again”. 

Now I’m going to expand on a lot of this stuff in future chapters, but let’s take a quick look at some of the things you need to do to be an entertaining, and dare I say GREAT DJ. 

1.      First and foremost, you absolutely must be active in local chat.  This is probably one of the most common mistakes I see DJs make.  They set up their song list, start it playing, then go to sleep other than to occasionally mumble a few words on the mic (and yes we’ll have a chapter about that as well).  Meanwhile the chat level in the club is deader than dirt, other than the poor host who is desperately spamming gestures, hooing, and screaming out how she loves every song that comes up because the DJ has hung her out to dry.  Don’t rely just on saying a few words on the mic in-between songs.  That’s good enough for a lot of DJs, but it’s nowhere near enough if you want to be great.  Put down your magazine, get on the keyboard, and help your host generate some conversation.  It’s hard and it takes work, and sometimes it seems like an uphill battle, but more often than not you will be successful in getting some conversations going, and what’s more your host will love you.  I’ve hosted before, and believe me it’s incredibly hard to have a conversation by yourself, and there’s nothing worse than hosting for a lazy DJ. 

2.      Do a contest.  No, I don’t mean run a “Best in Silly Blue Hats” contest for 500L.  That’s what I call buying a crowd, and it not only brings in the wrong kind of people but it’s not a sustainable business model.  That’s a topic for another blog though, and if the club owners want you to do it  you’re kind of stuck with it, but avoid those if you can.  No, I’m talking about just doing an off the cuff fun type of contest that actually requires some crowd participation.  My favorite is to just have music trivia and do a “Strip the DJ” or “Strip the Host” contest.  Now obviously you need to be in an adult sim for this, but it’s fun, sexy, and people love it.  If the club doesn’t allow nudity you can still do the trivia and either just not have a prize (I guess a naked DJ is the prize in the above scenario lolz) or give away something goofy just for fun.  Use your imagination here, if you do I’ll bet you can come up with some stuff that I’ve never even thought of!

3.      Use Props  - This is another one I’m going to have a chapter on (sheesh this is really getting long!) so I won’t say much on it here, only that a few goofy props can really help in keeping the conversation flowing!

4.      Pay Attention! – Remember, you are the DJ and music is your tool.  If you see the conversation flowing toward a particular song, band, or something you can play a song about, then get off your ass, download the song, and play it!  This leads me directly into my next point…

5.      Don’t be married to your song list – Your song list is a base, not a finished product.  I will be brutally honest here, if you ever play a song list you set up start to finish with no changes, you are probably doing a crummy job DJing.  Pay attention to local chat.  If you see an opportunity to play a song that fits in with the conversation, jump on it, and don’t be afraid to play a couple of songs on a topic.  Don’t worry about all the songs in your set that you won’t have time to play because of this, next week is another week, and since you are striving to be a great DJ you will probably have a lot of the same people back to hear the ones you didn’t get to 😊.

6.      Get requests on immediately.  Seriously, I mean like the very next song if at all possible, and the one after that if you can’t quite make it.  Remember, you are playing for your crowd, not for yourself.  If somebody requests a song, they want to hear it now, not 7 songs from now.  If you have to put off a request for a legitimate reason (you have other requests ahead of it or are in the middle of a block or a double shot or something like that), explain it to the requester with the promise that you’ll get it on as soon as you can, and then let them know when it’s coming up.

7.      IM the quiet ones and ask if there’s a song they’d like to hear.  This one hard because it’s very easy to forget about somebody dancing in a corner by herself and not really joining in on the fun in the middle of a busy set, but it’s a really good thing to do when you can, and it sometimes bring somebody into the thick of the fun, and occasionally wins you a dedicated fan.

There are probably more things I could list here, but I hope you’re starting to get the idea.  Honestly, if you asked me to describe the job of the DJ in one word, I would say it’s to have fun!  Fun is infectious, and if the DJ and Host are having a blast it’s very likely that everyone else in the crowd will be too.  As for my 7 points above, the average DJ will maybe do a little of #1, and hopefully at least a little bit of 4, 5, and 6.  Hall of Fame level DJs will do all of this and more, and they’ll have a blast doing it.

Chapter 4 – Programming a Great Set

Without a doubt, the base and most important part of the DJ’s job is playing the music.  Now choices of music and genre is very subjective, and no two people will like all the exact same songs.  There are also a lot of differing opinions on how you should structure your set.  All I can do here is give you my own personal views on the topic, but this is just my opinion and not necessarily the one and only way to do things.  This is just what works for me.  I am a Rock DJ and my examples will be for Rock, but I would like to think the principals would apply to any genre.

First off, my feeling is that you are better off being a specialist than a generalist.  To be more specific, I think you are better off picking a music genre and sticking with it, absolutely in a single set, but even in terms of your career direction.  Now there are plenty of successful DJs who jump around a lot musically, but I honestly think you can build up a loyal following faster if you stick to one thing.  And I’ll tell you why I think that.  Say you take a job at a club that features multiple music genres.  If you get out there and play a set containing some rock, pop, blues, house, and hip-hop, you will almost certainly play some songs that everybody in the crowd will like.  You will also unfortunately play a lot of songs that everyone in the crowd hates, and as a result you will end up being very forgettable to every person in the crowd. 

Now let’s turn that around.  Instead of jumping around you play a set that’s all rock.  Maybe there are 12 people in the crowd, and half of them like Hip-Hop, so you will probably lose them pretty quick.  The other half like Rock though, and if you follow the suggestions coming up in a bit, there is a very good chance that those 6 will remember you and come back for your future sets. 

So doing it the first way, everyone in the crowd thinks you’re “eh” as a DJ.  Maybe nobody leaves the club, but nobody is going to come back to see you again either.  Doing it my way maybe you lose a few that just live outside your zone, but you are going to hit the ones IN your zone right on the head, and there is a very good chance they will come back for future sets.  Again, this is just my opinion and not everybody agrees, but this is what works for me.

Now let’s talk about your song selection.  For a Rock DJ, you can do just fine playing stuff like Dream on, Bad Girlfriend, Radar Love, Stairway to Heaven, and all the other songs everyone knows and loves.  In fact you can do that and be considered a very good DJ.  The title of this blog is how to be a GREAT DJ though, and to be GREAT you have to take your music to another level.  My theory on building a set is this:  I try to play 75% songs that you LOVE, and 25% songs that you WANT.  And it’s that 25% that really makes the difference. 

So what constitutes songs that you want?  Simple, things you don’t hear every DJ in SL playing.  I’m talking about stuff like mashups.  Covers.  Instrumental remixes.  Deep tracks.  Basically, hidden gems that kick-ass that most of the crowd most likely has not heard before.  Now I’m not going to lie to you, finding these hidden gems is a TON of work.  I can’t tell you how much time I’ve spent looking for things like this, and the worst part is you have to wade through a ton of crap to find the really good ones.  Yes, we’re all pulling from the same pool of music, but it’s the ones who are willing to take a deep breath and dive into the deep end that will really stand out.

Finally, I’d like to talk about the structure of your set.  One mistake I see DJs make (and in fact I’ve done this myself) is they don’t vary their tempo enough.  If every song you play is a “turn it up to 11!” ripper, it starts to become white noise after a while and it loses it’s impact.  Conversely if your whole set is made up of slow songs and ballards it can get dreary and depressing very quickly.  You should be able to visualize your set like a wave that rises and falls.  Obviously if you’re a metal DJ your wave will run a lot closer to the peak and if you’re a Ballard DJ your average flow will be a lot lower, but if when you visualize your set the wave looks more like a straight line, then you need to throw in some variance to change it up. 

At the same time you should try to avoid awkward transitions if at all possible.  Going from Enter the Sandman from Metallica to Wish you were Here by Pink Floyd is an awkward transition because the tempo falls off a cliff from an extreme high to an extreme low.  Try to bridge that gap with something somewhere in the middle between those two such as something like Sweet Emotion by Aerosmith. 

When awkward transitions do occur you can actually have some fun with them.  I will occasionally leave one in the set and say something like “And now for tonight’s entry in the ongoing worst transition ever contest I have…”.  Awkward transitions aren’t deal breakers, and they will happen despite your best efforts, but we’re talking about becoming an elite DJ here and they are something elite DJs will try to avoid.

Chapter 5 – What the Eff are Party Sheep?!

If you’ve ever been to one of my sets you’ve seen them – The Party Sheep!  Quite simply, party sheep are props, they’re 3 “Shaun the Sheep” sheeps that walk around in a circle which I put out at my sets and call “The Party Sheep”.  So what good are party sheep?  You would be absolutely amazed at how much conversation these little guys generate!  And that’s really the name of the game isn’t it?  Doing whatever it takes to keep the conversation flowing.  Having a few props handy can help a lot with that, and most times once you get the conversation kick-started it will build and keep going all on it’s own. 

I’ve built up a pretty good-sized inventory of stuff I use in my sets, including the sheep, a dance platform that I can raise and lower, a lion that eats bad requests, a bunch of different signs for things like “No Sheep”, “No Shatner”, “No Spiders”, etc., a water hose for wet t-shirt contests, a kiss thrower for thanking tips, tons and tons of various particle effects (make sure the club allows them before using particles!) and even a couple of things I haven’t gotten around to using yet like a voter for the Lion so guests can actually vote on requests. 

Now these things won’t turn a lousy set into a great one all by themselves, but they can often help kickstart a conversation and break up a stretch of dead air.  Don’t over do it (especially the particles), but keep a few things handy in your bag of tricks for when you need them!

Chapter 6 – Talking on the Mic

There’s no doubt about it, talking on the mic is the single scariest thing there is for being a DJ.  In fact, it’s so scary that I didn't voice at all for the first several years of my DJ career!  Now I have special circumstances, I have a speech impediment which kept me from voicing initially.  I've since developed a method for using voice that allows me to do it.  There are a couple of compromises with my approach, but there are some benefits as well. That's all well beyond the scope of this blog though, but I promise I'll expand on that in a future blog.  Now I always got by just fine without voice by doing the stuff  I’ve talked about previously in the blog, but voice has gotten to be much more of a requirement at most clubs over the past few years.  You can still have a decent DJ career without it but it will be a lot tougher getting jobs and some places won't even consider you if you don't voice.  I personally don't agree with this policy, but that's how it is and it's not likely to change so I definitely recommend learning to voice if at all possible.

The problem with using voice is it’s a double-edged sword.  It can really propel you to the next level if you use it effectively, but it can also derail an otherwise great set if you don’t.  And that is the rub.  More than anything else involved in DJing, voice is something that, if used HAS to be used properly because it has the potential to ruin a set as much as it does to enhance a set. And I’m going to be brutally honest here, most DJs I’ve heard do not get this right.

The bottom line here is if you decide to use voice, you need to get it right.  I’ve been around DJs and clubs since my day 1 in SL, and because I was a DJ manager for several years I instinctively pay very close attention to any DJ I hear, how they operate, how structure their set, how they interact with the crowd, and, how effectively they use the mic.  So, while I have a different method of voicing than most DJs, I’ve studied lots of DJs with different vocal styles, and I can tell you from lots and lots of observational experience what works and what doesn’t.

Ok so that’s my best pitch.  Either you will buy what I’m selling here or you won’t, but I hope you will at least read through this and consider it, because I think it can help you be a better DJ.

1.      DO NOT TALK OVER THE MUSIC! – This is my absolute number 1 cardinal rule. There is nothing that annoys the crap out of me as much as when DJs do this.  There is nothing you have to say that’s so bloody important that it can’t wait until the end of the song.  Remember the music is your number 1 most important tool, and nobody wants to hear you flapping your lips in the middle of their favorite song!

2.      Speak Clearly and Know What You are Going to Say – There’s nothing worse than having a DJ interrupt the music to mumble something incomprehensible on the mic, or fumbling around for something to say.  Practice this, it's the only way to get good at it.

3.      Don’t Monolog - You’ve heard this before right?  DJ Blabbermouth comes on the mic and starts yapping away for like 5 minutes.  Meanwhile everybody out in the crowd is dancing to this guy’s incessant jabbering and looking like fools.  Be concise and don’t fall in love with your own voice.
Note:  There ARE DJs with spectacular voices who are exceptions to this rule.  My “Best of the Best” DJ Az was one of those.  I used to joke that she got more requests to say stuff than to play music.  These DJs are rare though, and far and away the exception.  For the vast majority, stick to the plan and keep it short!

4.      Be Fun and Interesting – I mean seriously, if you’re going to talk on the mic, have something to say!  I don’t need to hear a list of what your next 11 songs are going to be, I’ll hear them soon enough when you play them.  I also don’t need to hear you say hello individually to every person in the room, you can do that just fine in local chat while the music is playing.  So what SHOULD you be saying on the mic? 

a.      Requests and Dedications should always be done on voice if you use it. 

b.      Any song you want to highlight and really bring attention to. Remember those hidden gems we talked about earlier that you have spent countless hours mining?  This is a great way to really make them pop!

c.      For the love of God don’t be afraid to laugh and have fun and bring up stuff people say or do in chat.  But always remember the cardinal rule and don’t do it in the middle of a song!

d.      Occasional reminders to tip your host, dancers if you have any, and the club are ok.  And I do mean OCCASIONAL, do not do this after every other song!

e.      Any announcements the club wants you to make.  Again, keep it as short as possible.

f.       Greetings at the start of your set and acknowledgements for the previous DJ and Host

g.      Goodbyes at the end of your set and introduction of the next DJ and host

Also, don’t talk after every song, that just kills the flow of your set too much.  I would say at the most talk after every 3^rd song, and after every 4^th or 5^th is probably better.

You know, when you get right down to it I can sum up the rules for talking on the mic in 4 words: be TIMLEY, be CONCISE, be CLEAR, be FUN and INTERESTING.  Ok so that’s 5 words.  Deal 😉

Chapter 7 – So What Else is There?

If a DJ plays a great set and nobody was there to hear it, was the set really any good?  There are certain situations you can’t control in the short term, but there are no situations you can’t control in the long term.  If you’re in a bad situation working for a club that is not bringing in a crowd, or is bringing in the wrong type of crowd (ie: buying a crowd with “Best in Silly Blue Hats” contests), then you have to know when it’s time to move on.  Becoming a great DJ is not an easy task, and it won’t make it any easier if your ownership doesn’t support you or your host sucks or the club is a big drama pit.  Find yourself a great host to team up with, and then find yourself a great owner to work for.

Now I admit, this is easier said than done, and it’s not going to happen overnight.  You will almost certainly have many DJing jobs before you find the one that’s right for you, and most DJs work at more than one club.  Look for clubs that get a decent crowd and have a lively chat without running buy-a-crowd contests.  Be reasonable in your expectations here.  I don’t mean insist on a crowd of 20+ people for every set, because even the biggest clubs don’t always get that.  Look for clubs that have a handful of dedicated VIPs, and staff and management that come out and support the sets.  If you have that, then you have the foundation for building a good crowd.  So, here’s a few things to look for and to avoid when looking for a place to work:

Look for clubs that encourage chat and discourage Hostomatic-2000 crap (Hooing, Gesturebating, Runaway Spanking, SHOUTING, etc.)

Look for clubs that have reliable, dedicated staff, and avoid clubs that are constantly begging for covers because their DJs and hosts aren’t showing up.

Avoid clubs that are inbred nightmares where it seems as if every staff member is somebody’s Auntie or Sissy, or Daddy, or Grammy, or whatever.  Just trust me on this one 😉

Avoid clubs that are jam packed for a silly blue hat contest, only to empty out to nothing as soon as the contest ends leaving the poor next DJ to play to crickets.

Avoid drama pits.  I don’t think this one needs any further explanation.

Avoid clubs with a long list of rules.  This one probably needs a little explanation.  I call these clubs a NFZ, or No Fun Zone.  In my experience, if the club is hiring solid, professional, dedicated staff then they don’t need a bunch of rules, so for my money if the club feels they NEED all those rules then they don’t have any confidence in the professionalism of their staff.  There may be a few that are valid such as no nudity in a PG rated club, but for the most part a bunch of rules probably means a bunch of drama and a weak staff.

Look for clubs that want you to do an interview and a trial set before they hire you.  This is a clear indication that the management has a clue, and they are looking for staff that fits in with their club and plays music their guests will like.  If you walk in off the street and they hire you on the spot, I can pretty much guarantee the management is clueless and the club is destined to fail.

As for finding a great host to work with, having a regular host to team up with isn’t NECESSARY by any means, but it sure as heck is nice when you DO have one.  I’ve been fortunate enough to work with a couple of really fantastic hosts.  The first was my sister Codi, who hosted with me for several years before her RL got too busy for her to continue.  The other is my current host Synna, who is my pick for the host version of “Best of the Best”.  Seriously, if you ever want to see what a GREAT host looks like, check out a set Synna is hosting.  Preferably one that I’m DJing, I could always use a new face in the crowd! 😊.

Well that’s it for now.  This got to be a lot longer than I originally planned, but I hope you’ll find at least parts of it useful.  If not, then oh well.  At least writing it kept me busy for a while! 😉

Here is a link to Part 2 - April 2021

Advanced SL DJing

XX – Cherry -XX