Gig log 40th Birthday party December 2013 Music by Lenny Fontana

0:01 It's the beginning of December 2013 and today I'm doing a private part

Alright guys, another gig log for you. It's the beginning of December 2013 and today I'm doing a private party. It's a surprise 40th birthday party and the lady in question who booked me has been organising this thing for like forever. So I take my hat off to you for keeping it under wraps and not letting him know, so great! Right, so... If you're not familiar with gig logs, it's basically me going to a gig, coming from a gig, doing the gig, a few clips and whatnot. And I did it first! Yeah, so I'm quite proud of that. So if you see all the millions of gig logs out there, it's because of silly old me doing something ridiculously interesting and different. Now what I always try and do is either before or after the gig log, talk a little bit and explain a bit about the DJ industry, mobile DJ industry mainly.

The one thing I'm going to explain now is about your setup. Now some people seem to think that the bigger the setup, the better. The bolder, the more fantastic it looks, the more interesting it looks, the more people want to book you because your system looks so shit hot, how can anyone else not want you? Well, that is the case, but also, I would say it's more not the case. It's not about how much kit you've got, it's about how you set your kit up. And if you were to think about one facet of the system you've got that is the most important bit, I'm not on about different kinds of lighting, I'm not on about different kinds of PA, I'm on about lighting as a whole or PA as a whole or your console as a whole. I would say the console is the most important bit.

2:30 Set up on a wobbly trestle table and had a cover over it

Why? Now, you may beg to differ, but I will give my reasons and then you can give your reasons. You can agree or disagree with me. You can say what you want. You can jump around naked in your bedroom if you want to, flapping your bits about. It's entirely up to you. Anyway, the console. Why is the console the most important part? Well, that is where you are most of the night. Now, I have been to functions where I've turned up and set up on a table. Set up on a wobbly trestle table and had a cover over it. And it doesn't look good, it doesn't look professional, it doesn't give the right impression. You could have the best sound system in the world, the best lighting, but if your console isn't good where you are, then it just doesn't give that sort of je ne sais quoi that you need.

It's almost as though when people walk into the room and they see the DJ, they need to see the centre point being and looking professional. And that's where you are. Because at the end of the day, when you talk on the mic, alright some people are going to be looking at the lighting, but they're going to be looking at you. And if you've got sort of bits of paper hanging about all over the place and you've got table legs poking out... You've got a bit of a dodgy blanket with a stain on it. It doesn't look good. And I can say this because I've been there, I've seen that, I've done it. I've had the crap table. I've had the crap blanket over the table with decks and cables going everywhere. So that's my little bit of info for today. Make sure your console looks pro. Now again, very important, that doesn't mean to say that you have to start spending an absolute fortune

4:28 A doory, the side flappy bit on some hinges that you can fold in

On a console? No, you don't. If you're a bit of a chippy or you know... Hold on, I'm in the middle of a bit of traffic congestion here in Mid Wales. It's about three cars. No, but again, if you're a little bit of a chippy and you're knowledgeable in the art of screws, screwdrivers, wood and chipboard, then make yourself one. Very simple. All you need is frontage. A doory, the side flappy bit on some hinges that you can fold in. Top of the door you put some sort of beading or, I don't know, two by two piece of wood and then a piece at the top that you can fit on and secure it down. If you have made something like that in the past when you're watching this video, then put it as a video response so people can see what you've done. Very simple. So your console, the most important bit. And then...

I mean, if you're doing a small function, all you need. A couple of tripods either side with a speaker on each one. T-bar behind you with a few lights. Small, compact, it looks pro. Alright, so we'll pause the camera and we'll start the setup. Here we go, all set up. That there is the Pioneer XDJ R1.

I do free events. I 99.999% of the time stay clear of them because when you're in business, DJ or for that matter, when you're in business, if you do lots of free events then you're not earning any shekels which means you can't pay your bills but The people I did the 40th for, very, very good friends and it wasn't a case, oh, I made an exception. It was a pleasure to do the gig for them. We had a wonderful time, stayed in the hotel, so I had a couple of drinks, I chilled out a little bit, which doesn't happen that often. Again, talking about drinking and DJing. My advice to any new DJs out there is if you are drunk, and I believe this is good firm advice, Any police watch this, hopefully will be going, thank you Jonathan. But the laws in different countries are different to the amount of alcohol you can consume if you do want to then drive a vehicle after said event. I personally would suggest you stick to this philosophy. Very simple, if you're going to work and you want to drink, don't drive. Or in other words, don't drink.

10:12 I felt about it from

Anything, nothing, not even half a pint. Okay, on the odd occasion, yes, admittedly, yeah, I'll have half a pint and then I'll drive. But if I do that, I'll get to the venue, maybe have a quick half a pint, and then three or four hours later I'll drive home. But again, most of the time, I will just not drink. I'll have water or soft drinks. Anyway... R1, what did I think of it? The R1 from Pioneer, I didn't use it with the remote box software or rekordbox, I just used the CDs. So I'm going to explain what I felt about it from a point of view, putting CDs in press and play pause and using it. Fine, perfect. I don't see any problems with it at all. The vinyl mode, well when I say problems, vinyl mode, if you want to maybe...

If you want to use it for scratching purposes, I did find that if you move the platter very slightly at the first beat, you did get almost a digital kind of sound. But that's not the be-all and end-all. Unless you're a turntablist, I don't think you want to buy the R1. It's not for you. Definitely not for you if you're a scratch turntablist. Don't go near it. But if you're a mobile DJ who wants something compact, it's all in one, you plug it in and away you go, then it's probably going to be a good choice. The closest thing they've got is of course the MEP7000 but then you do need the mixer, it's a tray for your CDs. This is all in one, it's all there, ready to go. So the effects are nice, the effects are bright.

12:32 It's a metal plug, jack, and then in the back

They're usable, they're easy to use, it's not difficult. The hot cues, great fun, but as an all-round entertainment unit for a mobile DJ, what I do like is you turn up, you stick it on your DJ console, you plug it in and away you go. I highly advise you as well to use XLR. Not the RCA and the XLR are the big round ones with three pins in, because you do get better quality sound. And what else can I tell you about it? Something maybe they should have considered doing, I'm just nitpicking now, is microphone. Maybe there should be the option of an XLR and a jack microphone, not just a jack. Luckily, you see again, I didn't check, I needed to check that. Because most of my cables are XLR and I thought, oh shit, a jack. But luckily I had a converter jack to XLR. So again, if maybe you are thinking about getting the R1 and all of your microphone cables are XLR to XLR, then don't worry about it. You've got a choice of getting a new cable, quarter inch jack to XLR, alternatively you could just get one of the plugs. It's a metal plug, jack, and then in the back...

You've got the connector for the XLR. So, the XDJ-R1 marks out a 10. What would I give it? I'd give it about 7.5, I think. I'm not going to start, oh, Pioneer, let's give it 11 out of 10. No, bollocks. I'm going to give it how I feel, 7.5. Let's say 1 is walk away, 2 is very iffy, 3 is well, you know, if you haven't got much money, go for it, 4 is well, it works but it's not brilliant. 5 is average, 6 is pleasurable, 7 is pretty good, does the job and it's worth maybe getting. 8 is yeah, like it, very good, all the functions work perfectly. 9, absolutely wonderful, I could fall in love with it and take it to bed with me. 10 is I will take it to bed with me and I'll marry it and have its children.

So we're looking at something that is very pleasurable, does the job and it serves a purpose which is what it does. So I will be doing more videos on the R1 in the future. Don't forget what I said earlier in this video about your console. Very important to have some form of good frontage whether it even if it is just a cloth even if you know you haven't got to the stage yet of having a console If you're going to set up on a table, take a cloth with you and this isn't crazy but make sure it's ironed, make sure it's not creased, make sure it looks good. There are companies out there that do these cloths that you can put over tables and you stretch them. Maybe think of one of those. And I'll finish off with, I'll put a link in the description to this video, there is the DJ Academy taking place in Dubai in February of next year.

Go and check it out, and it's over two weekends, and if you'd like some DJ lessons and you want to holiday as well at the same time, then go and check that out. And I'll finish off with practice and enjoy. Thank you. Nice one.

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