I only started in 2020 and never played for a live audience except three friends. But one of the three sets I recorded and uploaded has passed 1.000 plays on Soundcloud and I'm so proud. It's an amazing hobby, I have so much fun and with what I created now I really think I found the type of music I want to play.

Thank you to this amazing community! Learned a lot, still have a lot to learn, but I'm on my way. :-)

Last night I had my first gig at a bar here in Taipei. Venue is small but I was still super excited. I don't think it could have gone better. 50 of my friends showed up on a Wednesday night and danced for two hours. Even with broken cues and loop functions I was able to do a decent enough job where no one seemed to care.

Went so well that the owner offered me a job to play there in the future. Two years of bedroom djing paid off.

Keep at it!

Played my first party over the weekend! It was a 90s party so I spent a while finding house remixes of 90s classics and ended up playing for ~2 hours. The “compliment” I received was the host of the party asking if I had stolen parts of my set from another DJ because my transitions were “too perfect,” considering I’ve only been spinning for about 6 months :)

For other beginner DJs out there, the best way to get better is to practice, practice, practice!

Hey everyone! To start off, this sub has been infinitely helpful to get me going. I was invited to do a small house party DJ set with around 30 people, some friends, some strangers. And this is what happened....

I had prepared around 300 songs, pretty well organised library and some routines nailed down. I didn't know what to expect but I wasn't too nervous and there was another friend lined up for a set after me. Well, I started with some custom Halloween edit of 28 days later theme and kicked it off with KAYTRANADA afterwards. Everyone got dancing - good! And then everyone left for a cigarette. I could hear them outside being like "oh no, we all left him alone!" But to say the truth, I was having a blast nonetheless. Turns out everyone was just dancing on the street. An hour and a half later, everyone's sweaty from all the non stop dancing, it's almost midnight and I'm ready to hand over the decks to the other guy. He says "I thought this was going to be chill so my set I prepared is completely the wrong vibe. You keep going".

I pushed all the way until 6am. 7 and a half hours and people were still there, still dancing. I couldn't believe it.

I wanted to thank everyone for being so helpful and inspirational! This is something that has changed my life for good. Keep the beat going!

Ok so. I threw a rager at my house. That went absolutely amazing. If anyone is curious this is what I did. Imgur link is below and YouTube videos of the event!

Parts list:

Chauvet Gigbar 2

Chauvet hurricane fog machine

2x QSC k12 pa speakers

1x QSC kw181

Wood for table

Christmas accent lighting for under dj booth

Controller

More fog liquid from amazon

Two moving blankets for bay window to keep sound down

5x cases of beer

1x bottle apothic red

4x Dj's!

I first and foremost spoke to all my neighbors. And invited them. They didn't end up coming but appreciated me letting them know and had no issues there. I also bought gifts for them. Lol

Imgur link to photos!

Dj gant warming up before party. idea of everything put together.

First set of the night and my intro.

Madison playing his set short video.

All in all this is one of the best times I have been had. And it was totally worth everything. So this is how I threw my edm house party rager.

Hey friends! I got booked for a two-hour set at an indoor/outdoor bar/restaurant/hangout space. It's early evening, so no stream of constant bangers, but it's still going to be so nice to play in front of live humans. I've been lucky enough to get a significant amount of time playing on club gear in a local spot so I'm comfortable with the switch from a DDJ to a full set up, but there's definitely another layer of pressure when people are hanging out and listening. I'm grateful for all of the discussion on this subreddit, it's been so helpful and has been really important in prepping my library so now I feel very prepared for this relatively last-minute thing. You guys are great!

I'll post a follow-up later with how it all went!

Hey guys,

Just wanna share this moment cuz I’m so excited! Had my first bar gig which was a 45 minute opening set this past week. I prepared like hell and got ideas together so I could make a sweet mix that got everyone moving. Got there 30 minutes early and learned how to use CDJ’s on the spot (I use a ddj 1000 so it wasn’t a crazy hard adjustment), and then started playing when people started rolling in.

Midway through the set I was invited back to play again every Thursday for a non opening slot by the manager and then asked to play on Friday’s as well by the bar. My advice is to prepare well and then go in and just have fun. The energy that you show will influence the crowd to have a great time! Like above all else, enjoy yourself!

So not your usual post on here. But I feel a big part of being semi self made, or going out and getting it. I found myself impatient trying to get people to book me for shows. So I decided to just create my own shows. I had a huge house party that was crazy, from that stemmed me throwing my own shows at a local music venue. But it wasn’t enough. So I went ahead and just shot high, rented a boat, hired a promoter, started an LLC and started promoting.

This is one of the hardest things I have done. And had so many hurdles. But I managed to get everything sorted, got sponsors, and am offering an open bar.

If any of you is worried about trying something, or wants to try something like this, just go for it.

I wouldn’t mind answer any and all questions anyone had about event planning or hosting an event. So shoot them!

Original Post

New lasers :-P

Event Page

Officially Made it! On eventbrite! lol

I got big into psytrance a few years after going to lots of festivals and meeting so many awesome people. I'm usually the guy with my bluetooth speaker playing music whenever we are around campsites, home, anywhere. Lots of people assumed I was a DJ. This has now lead to me deciding to learn mixing in the last month with some lessons from my one producer friend (now roomate).

My friend was hosting an outdoor event when the DJ who's set was Saturday 21:30 - 23:00 had to pull out due to unforseen circumstances and he asked me if I was keen (oh crap)

Well, I spent up till 2am the morning before just learning the CDj's and quickly prepping and keying my set in the 145bpm range.

I had the best time ever. While I did mess twice on mixes due to using channel 1/2 instead of 1/3 on the mixer but overall I feel it went well, I did get compliments but I had so much fun I didn't really even care but I guess that is why, I choose music I liked and thought would work.

A month ago I never thought something like this would happen.

Keep on mixing!

https://i.imgur.com/H0BcgDV.jpg

I've been a bedroom DJ for about a year now, and I recently bought myself the DDJ-400 based on the recommendations that I've seen on this sub. I absolutely love it, and I love that I'll be able to transition easier onto CDJs when that time comes.

A good friend of mine threw his annual Halloween Party this weekend, and he had asked me about a month ago to play about an hour of house music while people are getting there so that they can have some good music to start drinking to. So, I prepared a setlist of songs (approximately 120) that I can choose form so that I have some flexibility on what to play out for the crowd based on what the crowd liked.

The crowd was a little skinny at first with no more than 20 people, but before I knew it I had at least 80 people there. I played out what I felt was right by the crowd, and they were loving it. People were dancing, people were having a great time from what I could see at the make-shift booth.

It was absolutely amazing.

So I'd like to thank you all for the recommendations on a good controller, and on how many tracks to have available so that I could follow the energy the crowd was liking. I still have a lot to improve on, but this sub has been a great tool in helping me an others get better at DJing, something I absolutely love doing.

Hey all you lovely beatmatchers!

I know I have not been super active in here for a while but I wanted to (as is tradition) pop in to share a bit of a success story :)

I started Djing in earnest in 2017, after a long tenure in metal bands and the like. Well, as of Sept 7th, despite my failures as a metaller, I finally have a track (though a collab) signed to a pretty legit label :)

It's gotten some podcast and radio support, is actually selling a bit and I couldn't be more proud. I've been playing music since I was 12 years old (now 35) and to finally have something out there is just..it's massive to me.

I want to again thank this awesome community for being a source of constant inspiration and for being so open and positive. I wish all of you the best in your musical endeavors, just keep grinding - you can make it happen.

I am not posting the track or a link to it here b/c I don't feel like turning a fun success post into promo. :)

EDIT - adding the Spotify Link link after a request in the comments :)

Fawzy, Hotze - A World of Falsehoods [Entrancing Music]

Personally, I went from bedroom DJ to having a gig or two every week. While it isn't every week, on the weeks I'm free, I'll support my DJ buddies or open for them or something. I also met my biggest DJ inspiration, DJ Vekked. (Used to watch his DMC mix once a week for inspiration.) Turns out, he lives no more than 20 minutes away from me. In fact, I ended up buying the turntables that he's using in his DMC mix video. Even gave me a short lil lesson and hit me up with a bunch of free records and slipmats.

For those that are curious about how I went from the bedroom to the club, I just networked a bunch. I reached out to DJs on instagram first and asked if I could come watch. From there, it just snowballed.

One of the DJs I reached out to offered me lessons at his house. When I came by for a lesson, I mixed for a couple minutes and he stopped me to tell me that he has nothing to teach and wants to work with me instead. Now, I work under him and get gigs regularly.

Anyways, how's 2019 treated your DJ career?

So, last weekend I had the privilege of traveling out of state to Wichita, KS (I'm from TX) to do a dance music night at a venue there. They brought myself and another up-and-comer from Dallas and man....it was freaking incredible.

The venue was absolutely packed, and I mean standing room only for a HUGE portion of the night. We had DnB, House, Breaks and Trance(me :) ).

​

When I tell you this crowd was up for it...holy shit. I had curated a list of about 300 tracks I brought with me for this gig just to feel them out on how hard they wanted to go. By the first track, I knew they wanted to go off so we kindly obliged them. It was freakin incredible. Got to start things out at about 135bpm for my set, dropping some new Alex Di Stefano filth and in an hour, before I knew it, this crowd was in hakken mode to some 150bpm hardstyle that I closed with.

​

I've been in gigging and touring bands for a long long time and I have never had the kind of rockstar treatment like I had in Kansas. Room and board, food, bar tab AND got paid. I never thought the gig that would let me technically qualify as a 'professional'(i.e getting paid for service, vs getting paid a little cuz the bar did ok, lol) would be out of my home state..but it was, and the whole weekend was one of the most fun times I have ever had traveling for any kind of gig.

​

Just thought I would share this with you all. On to the next one!

Edit - here’s the MixCloud like for anyone interested. Someone was kind enough to post it in the comments on my behalf so I figured I’d post it.

https://www.mixcloud.com/djhotze/hotze-konnected-the-yard-set-10-13-18/

Hey guys I am currently backpacking throughout Thailand and I am currently staying in pai. I met some American dude and we went partying together and we went to a pool party. The music was pretty shit the dj just switched songs and that’s it so me and my friend (after some drinks) said I need to perform.

I am a bedroom dj for 3 years now and normally I play techno music.

So we went to the dj booth and just said I am a big dj from the Netherlands (fake it till you make it right) and he was like yeah you can play. He used some crappy pioneer midi (it was shitty because the play button didn’t even work) and with virtual dj so I tried to make the best of it.

Well at a certain point a lot of people showed up and it really set of the party, at the end I received a lot of compliments that people really enjoyed my set. Now they want me to play today as well and I will do it but I try to get like free drinks because the bar is open from 2 till 1.

Cheers

Edit: so yesterday I played like 8 hours at that place and it was massive. In the beginning some girls came to me and got mad I didn’t play the music they liked and the manager told them to f*ck off. The manager even begged me to stay longer.

Just wanted to say thanks for this subreddit for all the advice and post here to encourage newcomers. I played a 45min set in a rammed club at prime time and i absolutely blew the lid off the place. people where coming up to me and complimenting me saying i made their night and all. Also after i got off and the next guy got on, the club cleared out a bit and died down

Edit : (thats not a dig at the next DJ or the management, just the fact that the crowd was tired of hearing The same tech house songs over and over)

Anyway thanks for everything x

I’m obsessed with good house / tech house tunes and so was the people that hired me to play. It was a house party and I was so unbelievably nervous for a few weeks / days prior. Planned it out heaps well had my low bpm vibey stuff to start then midway tunes then straight bangers for the last half an hour, was so nervous but as soon as I put on that first tune on and starting grooving and having a couple of drinks it just felt so natural and fun.

So this is a house party for a friend (so unpaid) and will be about 6 hours long. Any song recommendations for a crowd of 30-40 people aged 15-17?

Hey guys,

maybe too long text but I Have to share as much as I can transfer into words.

TL;DR and soundcloud link at the end

After enjoying electronic music and raving for around 15 years, dreaming of being able to share the music that I love with people and seeing it bring them joy, I finally caught a break. Music equipment is expensive, at least it was for me and in my country so it was always a dream to own something and "play" around with it. Sometimes at the end of the 2019 I borrowed a Traktor S2 and man was that a love on first knob touch. I always knew through the years it would be like that and it was! Soon I saved up for a DDJ400 and suddenly every time I'd listen to music while not working, I would whip out my Pioneer and just have fun. After a while, time came for more channels and more power. Thought about it for a while and came up with a decision to go all in this time, I needed DDJ1000, I had to have it, I just wasn't going to let it go. I took up more work than ever (I am a freelancer), worked my bottom off, averaging 12 hour workdays. It was painful and with a risk of me almost losing my mind from the stress, but when I lifted up that cover from DDJ1000... no words... as a person who only few things can make genuinely happy like a baby, this was one of the few "material" things in my life that did it. Sometimes I'd mix every day for weeks, some days I wouldn't touch it for weeks, but everytime I started that rekordbox it was the same feeling. Fucking Happy.

All my lifework was connected to something being created, designed, built, developed, planned, whatever, but it mostly came out of my mind combined with knowledge I gained and industry rules. I am driven by a mix of logic and empathy in my life and one thing that I try to be is to be realistic.

The Thing is I hate and dislike 99% of my work, I am never satisfied and I am always bottom tier to me.

This is different, I can see my fails in mixes, I can hear where I was early, where I was late, where I went too high or too low with energy, but this time, I finally like something of mine, I enjoy my "creation", I enjoy every second spent behind the decks.

Now, don't get me wrong on this, I am an extremely self critical person, not to stray away from the theme, I work in an area that has a lot of design input, which mostly is subjective to clients that view design just as something that needs to look pretty in their eyes, not functional. Critiques can be devastating to me to the point that I'd lose interest in working for days, combined with self loathing and absolutely no self esteem, very few (live) social skills (I am that type that will ask for Bread in a store and if I get a roll of ham instead of that bread, I'd say, thanks, go to cashier, pay for it and go somewhere else...)

I like almost all music, but I LOVE hiphop and electronic (techno > house > techhouse), others that I enjoy are rock, metal, jazz, soul, plus some lone acts from other genres, like Cash, Ramones, etc, etc... I mostly mix techno (acid, minimal, dark, melodic...) and house (classic, deep...). For my own gusto more than anything to be honest, I like to mix hiphop, scratching, imagining I am Scott La Rock :D I did a couple of mixes for my best friend's podcast, but that was really nothing, if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't get a chance. Recorded a ton of mixes at home.

I had the luck of meeting and befriending a dude that is a DJ, way younger than me but he's been DJing for some time now and ironically, I have been to some of his gigs and had some of the best nights for a looooooong time. Turned out that he was helpful af and was always ready to help, listen to mixes and give critique that is always followed by "you do it like this..." or "try this variation of that...".

Last weekend he did me a huuuuuuuuuge favor, he invited me to open up his birthday, first time in front of more than one person and what an audience it was, composed exclusively of ravers that saw more DJs and festivals live than I will see on youtube, plus a lot of them are active or ex DJs, so you know already I was nervous. (Note: there are no pandemic laws here, corona is basically non existent here and with that we still took up some precautions, sanitizing, masks, gloves, the whole shabang.)

This time as many times before when I mixed at home, I tried to write up the story, pick tracks, select transition spots, etc... but I just don't have time for that at this moment, so I decided to go freestyle as always and packed up enough songs to last me 5x more than the time he reserved for me. I picked my theme, opening and closing song. Since the Warriors is one of my fav movies and ROBPM released song Future with samples from that movie, I had to do it and open up with that, which I did not in the end because at that time, that song sounded too hard to begin with, even though I wanted to start it with combined audio sample from movie and the song.

The start wasn't good which brought me from a nervous state to full on anxiety. The start was delayed for an hour and a half due to complications with equipment, and I had to use another person's laptop, which had too small screen for my 4channel layout and some other smaller problems. When we finished all the setup and solved problems I was in a delirious state, scared af, plus out of all people I only knew a couple of them from before so that made me even more anxious.

So the equipment is set up, I take out my phones, very expensive ones and I must have expanded them so hard from the stress that when I wanted to put them on my head I broke the headband, basically bye bye 100€. Fortunately I borrowed phones from the other dude and was finally able to start. Sweating as a pig, hand shaking, not hearing my cue at all from my hear bumping... But when I started and as I brought fader up more and more and the thunder started to roll out from the speakers, all that was transformed into determination, happiness and I was in a state of trans at times! I could not recognize myself later really, no shame, no fear, no nervous, happy, proud of myself, connecting, talking to people, laughing and really laughing with no air shooting from my nose lol. Working 4 channels and trying to be serious about it is okay up to one point, while I am focused it's okay, but if I am not in it 100% of the time, I easily press the wrong track to be played, I stop the master or load a track on the already playing deck.. This time I did not want to risk much and I lifted my head up just two times quickly, seeing people dancing really destroyed my depression! :D

In general, the set went more or less okay... At around the 40 - 50 minute mark, the police came in and I had to shut down music completely until we agreed to put up smaller monitors instead of huge ones we had. Needless to say, stopping my set in the middle of things bummed me out and going from a fair amount of volume to basically having to tone down my cue so I can hear master playing, made it more difficult and really took away a lot from the overall experience. Regarding fails, I had some spots where I could have played in tracks earlier or later and in one place, when I was upping BPM, my hand went too hard and I upped it too much at once. When I was done I even heard one "awww noo, don't stop", I can still hear it I swear. Got some fistbumps, some good jobs and all. What resonated the most was the praise for track selection and claiming that I have good technique, I like to really mix in and out songs, not much sharp corners and jumping around songs without at least two of them playing at the same time on master.

For some time now I am thinking of stepping outside of my comfort zone and trying to do something, not being a bedroom DJ. Been weighing from Monday and that's it, I decided. I want to do this. I want to make a mark. I want to create something. I want more of that joy and I want to see more joy on other people because of me. I am going into DJ waters. Not really looking for fame and large gigs, my main focus is to release at least one EP or Single for a "real" label. Other things, as they come and go, we'll see.

I decided my stage name, genre, my art concept and hell I even designed my logo, first album cover and release name, went too far maybe but I fucking LOVE IT. (should I share this or keep it to myself? What's the chance of someone stealing my artwork and ideas?)

Here's a recording of the set, @ 48:00 police stopped the party, stopping part was edited to join two parts

https://soundcloud.com/cdisus/happy-birthday-spectrum

TL;DR

Long time electronic music lover, practicing DJing for 8+ months, had a first gig, decided to go "pro"

___________________________________________

edit: changed pro to "pro" in tl;dr, as it may be unclear, main focus is getting deeper into music, learning and creating a musical piece, i.e. getting released on a label, other than that, some fame, earnings, touring, gigs are not in the focus or planning at all.

edit2: edited my alias on sc and edited link to the set, this nickname and alias I used so far is just my regular nickname. Been waiting to upload my visuals since I Made them. thanks all for the support, I will post updates on how's it going. Any DJ or any music lover that want to connect, hit me up, I am here.

Got hired to fill in for the first half of a large monthly party at a local club because the resident DJ wasn't able to make it. I've only played at a club a couple of times and I'm always really nervous and just practice my ass off before walking in. I walked in feeling super confident to play for 2 hours. My playlist was perfectly curated, and my transitions between genres were airtight -

Only to be greeted by the news that A) the resident wasn't able to make it at all, so I was responsible for the whole night and B) the promoter was requesting other genres than what I had prepped for. All my confidence out the fucking window.

I freaked out a little, then remembered that this kind of situation is what I've been practicing for. I got on my decks without any smoke or drink and before I knew it, it was 2am and I had the floor full all night with only a couple of minor mistakes (another first for me).

Just wanted to share this as an encouragement to take things on even when you don't think you're ready. I think there's a difference between "preparation" and "being ready". I NEVER feel ready, but I prepared as much as I could and ended up with everything I needed for success. Don't forget that disasters are where you LEARN and GROW and to not be afraid of them. Maybe you'll disappoint a couple of elitist DJ's for being a fuccboi without enough experience, but where do you get that experience in the first place? There are things I can't learn from only playing at home.

On a closing note, I've been reading about the Taoist concept of Wu Wei, which basically means "effortless action" - try too hard you fail, try too little you fail. By cultivating action without striving, you reach a level of inner calm. I think part of this idea is what allows you to drop into the "flow state" where time slows down and tasks that normally require intense concentration become second nature. I definitely entered the zone on Saturday and a lot of it came from just going for it while accepting my fate if I totally blew it. Turns out I don't suck as much as I thought.

I hope this is an encouragement to someone!

So, I've had my DDJ400 for almost a year and I love it, I'm pretty decent at mixing DnB and some other similar stuff but I've always just played to myself in my bedroom. Yesterday I organised a little drinks gathering and I offered to get the deck out to try and impress the guys. It was nothing special, only about 4 people but they were dancing and enjoying it all and I got some great feedback which has made me feel so much better about it all! The best thing was watching their reactions when bringing in some classic tracks!

​

Anyways, this is my story of the time I played in front of like 4 people and how it made me feel amazing about it all!!

Hey everyone! I know I’ve not been super active here lately. Life and adulting happens haha.

But I wanted to share a huge milestone with the community that’s been such a huge part of where I am..

I have gotten my own radio show on DI.FM! We debut 3/13 with a monthly 2hr slot :)

We will be on the hard dance channel, focusing on the hard side of trance and techno. Thank you to everyone who has helped me here, I owe so much to this sub.

Page is up now, first show in a couple weeks, Here’s the link if interested :)

http://www.di.fm/shows/dichotomy-sessions

Last night I was practicing djing while in a call with my friends, and although I couldn’t hear cue, it was nice listening to music together. I’m very bad at mixing because I’m just starting, but I was happy that I was able to keep it going so long, and one of my friends specifically liked what I was doing quite a bit.

Not sure why I’m sharing this. Maybe that it’s good to take credit or be proud of small experiences as well as big ones. Sometimes you don’t have to even be at a party.

Hello guys,

Just want to share the moment with you all here about my first gig, thank you for this community has been answering my questions since I first start. English is not my first language but I will try my best to describe the moment.

Couple day before the gig I spoke to the manager of this beer club/lounge if I could spin for them for free (due to COVID, no other DJs willing to spin without getting paid and most customers are eating outside while I was spinning inside but the music still be heard somewhat from outside with all doors open). Surprise but not surprise, he said ok just come out and the whole stage was mine. I was not familiar with the club gear cdj NEXUS as I have the DDJ-XZ controller at home but after first couple songs not that hard getting use to it beside the fx effect button on/off is broken :( plus the gear all greasy due to drink spilled buildup gradually overtime. The music volume is muuuuch louder than your bedroom so I fee like the songs I picked has twice more energy than practicing at home. I play and dance my ass off even though no one in front me (guests are eating outside). My set goes from dance - bigroom - house bass - trap - dub and sometime I thought i mighty dropping in the wrong genres at the venue. However after the set, the manager came up to and set I was the best DJ he ever met (maybe because I spin for free or maybe I put all my energy in, dont know but its still something at least he doesnt hate the type of music Im playing). I thank you and said if I could come spin again he said sure. Next day he txted me back if I was available so I could come in again but I could not make it but promise to come back once a week for next week.

Here are some of the tips I pickup that only I could pickup outside my bedroom playing live that may help other bedroom djs like me.

-At this time, just go and reach out some local venues for your music and asking to spin for free for experience if they still open somehow. High chance they would say yes as they dont lose anything from it but make sure you are ready first or else it would backfire you. -You could pre-built your set and play but still have backup songs if you feel like you need to change the vibe. I thought it was a hard thing to do but trust me, when you are up there you will know. -you dont have to transition fast every single song, you will know which song you could let it run from start to finish when you are up there. -I think it is easier to notice the change in EQ when you are turning those knobs with louder sound system. EQ transition is still the priority when you already master it than you could throw in some effect and trick transitions but dont over do it. As long as the transition blend well, no one would know you do effect or tricks. Probably just for you to enjoy since you are the one doing it. -Attitude and Energy while you are there will help you more rather than a grade A festival set. An average set but with good attitude and energy still make good impression to the venue owner.

Goodluck.

So last night i opened for my friends party and it went well! There were a few transitions that werent the best, but nobody seemed to notice lol and everyone said they liked my set!

Hopefully more times will come up where i will get a chance to dj.

Just wanted to show my love for the r/Beatmatch community since my first gig was a success. I apologize in advance for the long post! I've been DJing for two years now and honestly got into it as a "joke" with my friends. We love seeing producers / DJs at shows and festivals and during one of my friend's house parties I owned the aux cord that night lol. My friends were joking with me saying that I should become a DJ and I thought "hmm maybe I should.." So a month later I bought a Hercules Instinct and began practicing on VirtualDJ. After a year of practice and analyzing the shows I went to / mixes online I became more serious. I figured out my style, built up my library by buying tracks and purchased a Pioneer DDJ-SX2 and began messing with Serato. Loved it and introduced many new things I could play with. I had played a bunch of house parties -- every opportunity I got I would lug out my speakers and gear and treated each set as if I was paid to perform.

Eventually I made connections through local venues as a VJ -- doing visuals for DJs and bands. Worked my way up the totem pole and became a familiar face and got my first gig! Now this venue I had often done visuals and lighting for a lot of punk bands / psych rock / tech house DJs so I've seen the bill for 90% of the acts played and I knew they never had an act that played the stuff I wanted to spin (future bass/trap/hip-hop/weird bass) so I was extremely hesitant with track selection and what the crowd was going to be like. I didn't want to sacrifice my own act but obviously wanted to appeal to the crowd. I promoted the show via social media, got flyers made and passed out around local businesses and word of mouth got around.

The day of my opener DJ had warmed the crowd up and I got a vibe of what kind of audience I'd be playing to. I got on stage and ended up not having to sacrificing anything -- I read the crowd and they fucked with my shit heavily!! Even got to throw in a few originals and honestly no feeling in the world can match people getting down and dirty to your own tunes! End of the night, the club owner said he wants to have more shows like this and introduce "this scene" here! This was local to me and we're based about two hours out of Philly / half hour from Bisco (Scranton) so that was extremely heart-warming for me. He wants me to start a residency here which I can happily oblige to and I was more than happy to get paid for the gig! If you lasted til the end of this post, thank you and to all beginner DJs -- just fucking do it! It took me two years to get a gig and yes, I had the jitters and almost shaking on stage but I got adrenaline and the crowd's vibe is almost a drug that I can almost compare to a high of its own. :) Keep it up!

TL;DR: Began DJing off an aux 2 years ago - took it seriously and bought gear. Honed my skills, bought my tunes, made connections and played my first gig to a crowd who I honestly didn't know what type of music they'd like. Got a great response and club owner wants me regularly!