What to say on the mic/How to use the mic Mr DJ

0:00 A YouTube user has contacted me and they've said right now then

Folks, a YouTube user has contacted me and they've said right now then. They do mobiles etc and what they want to know is when they're in a situation whereby they need to change from one genre of music to the other, in other words say they're playing hip-hop, all of a sudden the crowd want say house, or the crowd want 60s, or the crowd want say commercial like poppy whatever. How do you do it? Now then. You may be in a situation whereby you can't mix it because the beats, the BPM, in other words every beat or when you count the amount of beats in a minute is different from the one genre to the other genre you're mixing in. So in other words you can't, well when I say mixing in you can't actually mix it in but how do you do it? Now then, the key is the answer. I'm sure I've sort of crossed over this before but what you have to do is you have to listen to the last one you're playing prior to.

Bring it in, smooth transition from one to the other A verse, bang, straight in with the next one. Try and get a nice smooth glide or maybe just wait until one fades out so the key is a very slow fader and the other one comes in like so. That is the best way to go from one genre to the other. Don't try and mix it. If it doesn't mix, don't try it. There's no point in trying to mix it because it would just sound absolutely terrible. Now also what they've said is that they find it very difficult to use the microphone. They don't know what to say. A 21st birthday party where you've got some fit ladies and you're thinking, you don't know, you just don't know. So, you know, you can't sort of think right, well on the way there I'm going to say hello and how are you and I'm going to say no and I'm going to talk to them and I'm going to, you know, would you like to go to the bar or come up on the dance floor and forget that. What you have to do is when you get behind those turntables CD player mixer

3:17 This microphone here, so that's

You become a different person. Now the reason I'm saying that is simply this, alright? When you are at home, you are at work, you're at play, you're in the car, you're on the bus, whatever, you're you. When you finally become behind your decks, behind your mixer CD players, you need to have this persona about you, you need to be a completely different person. What you should be, and that is the entertainer. Now then, at that point you need to start doing something very important, you start reading the crowd. Now then, a lot of people think they look at this microphone here, so that's a microphone, and they look at it and go, bloody hell, microphone! And they don't touch it. Well, sometimes, but a lot of the time, the music will communicate between the DJ and the crowd, which is very true. But as well, you need this guy, not a hairbrush.

You need a microphone, because the microphone is almost the in-between. This is the go-between. The crowd is here, this is a microphone, this is you. Crowd, microphone, you. Without this, quite often, you won't get any contact at all. You'll get absolutely zilch. The music, yes, is fine. The crowd are dancing, etc. They're loving the music. But... They might as well just put a mix CD on, okay? Someone might as well have just mixed a load of tunes without the conversation. There is nothing. But what do you say? What do you say on this microphone? Okay, now then, I don't know sometimes. I'm thinking, what do I say? But all of a sudden, I'll like see some guy stand up, you know, and I'll look at him and think, Oi, why are you standing up mate? Has your missus just pinched your bum or something? You know, out of the blue!

But they love it. They love it. In fact, quite often, if you watch a crowd, say there's a table of people and there's one big bloke and you look and you think, yeah, he's the centre of attention. Do you know what? You take the piss out of him. You absolutely rip him to pieces. And do you know what the irony is? He will love it. Do you know why? Because he's the centre of attention. Everyone loves him and bows down to him. Alright, and he's the one, the big guy, big fat cigar, like this, you know. Everyone else is, oh really, really, yeah, they're all like this to him. All of a sudden you're taking the piss out of him. The beauty about it is, is that a lot of people think, oh my god, the DJ's taking the piss out of that really, that sort of bloke who's like a bank manager or something. But he's actually thinking, wow, he's talking about me. And he actually thinks it's cool.

5:57 It'll lower them down a little bit

And the people around him probably think, bloody hell, the DJ's taking a piss out of him. But, the guy thinks it's cool, then as soon as he thinks it's cool, the crowd around him thinks it's cool as well, and then you've got them, then you've caught them. Again, what I try and do when I go into a nightclub, not a night, nightclub sorry, say a wedding sort of function, you look at all the tables, and quite often you'll always have your quiet tables, but you'll have a rowdy table. Thank you for watching. Because quite often the rowdy table will get everyone else motivated, and by you being a little bit louder than the rowdy table as well, will just lower them down. That's psychology as well. It'll lower them down a little bit. They'll still be rowdy, but they'll realise, well, there's someone a little bit louder than us. So at that point, they will not be the rowdy table as such. You will be the rowdy table.

But they will still be noisy, but then the rest of the crowd work off that table. Believe me, there's so much psychology to this, but all the time you're thinking of things to say. But, this is the but, don't think of things to say in five or ten minutes. You need to read the crowd, you need to look at the punters and you need to think of things to say in one second, in three seconds, in five seconds. In 10 seconds, there's no point thinking, right, in 10 minutes time I'm going to wish that lady over there a happy birthday. Because if some girl comes up to you all of a sudden, oh, oh, it's Aunty Megan's happy birthday, it's her birthday tomorrow, she's 21. Just drop the music. Ladies and gentlemen, big shout out to Aunty Megan, there she is, table number 4, and she's 21! Do you know what? It doesn't matter where you say it.

It doesn't matter even if it's the crescendo of a certain song because that's it. The crowd has gone zhup and they're looking at that person and they're wishing her happy birthday. And you know what? She's happy, the table she's on is happy, the crowd are happy, everyone's bubbling, alright? Using the microphone, it's up to you. Just be yourself, alright? Just throw yourself at it. Enjoy it. ...is look scared behind that microphone, because if you look scared, then the punters feel that. They will get that vibe. Good evening and welcome and hello to the bride and groom. Forget it, alright? You can't do that. It's impossible. Good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the bride and groom. Here we are on Funky Sounds going around and we're going to play some 60s for you. But don't forget, we have the crucial sound...

As requested by the bride, because she's a bit of a totter you know, we have Donna Summer. I will survive and I hope she will survive her wedding night. Practice and enjoy.

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