Electronic Music 411 - 10 tips to get booked for live electronic music performance

Great article.

"8. Bring some lights," yes, yes.

On one old gig, the only flashlight we had was a cell phone. And we had to set up in the dark. Boy, did that suck.

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05/03/07 + frnortnr

great stuff. wish this had been around when i was starting.

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05/03/07 + ignatius

some good advice there for sure. i've always hated press kits though.

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05/03/07 + Roshi

I suspect the feeling is mutual, nacho. :P

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05/03/07 + skab

top tips!

i'd like to add
bring 2 vhs cassettes or books of the same thinkness. laptops never sit on top of 1210 lids because of the bumps, so you can dump them straight onto the turntable and put your lappie on top. plus you get to spin it round during the funky bits.

get some stickers printed. people always loose flyers, business cards and even promotional CDs, but stickers get put on fridges across the world.

and from personal experience - when playing outdoors in -3C temperatures, your behringer controller WILL die just before you go on. and then the vocalists vocal processor WILL fail 15 minutes into your set

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05/03/07 + Analog

top notch.
i saw some geezer the other night playing dnb etc off his laptop: nice tunes but massive gaps in between. people would rave for five minutes then just stand still in silence...

me kane kane (testrack) used to do sets where he had his laptop and me a turntable and dr sample. he'd play a tune, i'd beatmatch a record into it then use the sampler to fade to noise or a sample or whatever, then he'd bring in his next tune. it was good fun actually, playing beastie boys acappellas at 45 instead of 33 over his techno (then house acapelllas at the wrong speed over his jungle! ha ha!)

we used to do a 2 laptop set too. was quite easy to beatmatch the two through a DJ mixer...

second that thought about monitors though, essential.

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05/03/07 + owl

thas very useful for me, im just starting out, THANKS :P

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05/03/07 + 11t1

adaptors & ground loop isolators, most definitely. it's like every gig i've ever done has involved at least one person trying to figure out where the nearest radio shack is & is it still open

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edited: May 03 2007 + djugel

nice. Lights and visuals always help.

No offense to any chicago people .. but what is with Sonotheque? Why did that bar become the spot for music? I can't stand it. Awful in everyway except the couches are nice. sorry.. Empty Bottle and loft parties for me.. I'll shut up now.

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05/03/07 + quantazelle

@ skab: that is a great tip about the videocassettes--I'm going to metion that over there! thanks

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05/03/07 + hecanjog

neat, thanks liz! i have to say i'm of the school that doesn't mind a pause between songs - if what i'm doing is musically continuous, great. if my song has an ending, great - i don't particularly feel the need to fill the silence up. gives people a chance to clap

i don't go to a lot of dj sets and whatnot tho, mostly see bands and sit-down concert hall stuffs so maybe my approach is skewed.

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edited: May 03 2007 + djugel

Seemless sets seem like a thing of the past at the moment. More of a Rave, acid party thing.... Just write solid tracks and try and keep the downtime to a minimum... or do what we do and have interludes.. be it members that don't need to load anything... or have someone push buttons on a Dr. Sample or something.

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05/03/07 + ignatius

plaid just played here recently and they paused between every song. i think if it's a "party" then seamless is good otherwise i don't mind.

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05/03/07 + djugel

But even the parties I go to it doesn't really matter anymore... seems like an empty gesture or a nod to a nostalgic feeling that most people there didn't actually experiance. bitter..

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05/03/07 + Roshi

I think the seamless transition of the future will be skits.

Nevermind, just thought of all of the terrible skits on hiphop records.

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