IF YOUR A DJ OR PROMOTER YOU MUST READ

Great Ways To Get No One To Come To Your DJ Gig

POSTED BY DAN WHITE ON DECEMBER 4, 2014

66 Comments

DJ residencies and weekly/monthly parties are a staple in cities of all sizes around the world – from packed local bars to megaclubs on tropical islands. Much has been written on the ways to pack out a DJ gig, but today we’re going to talk about some of the deadly sins that too many promoters and DJs commit that have the exact opposite effect. 

Flyer Bombing/Carpeting

Guaranteed one person will read these flyers: the person who has to clean it all up.

A key reoccurring theme throughout this piece should be the golden rule of gig promotion: Try To Not Be Too Annoying.  Portlandia famously captured what DJ gig promotion feels like to the average person pretty well:

One tactic employed by venues and promoters is to go to a space where potential club goers are (bathrooms, dancefloors, college campuses) and literally throw promotional flyers everywhere. Here’s why this sucks:

• Someone has to clean that mess up.
• Your flyer is branded as throw-away and litter
• Most of the flyers are wasted and never seen at all.
• Adding more noise to the world is rarely a good way to be heard.

A variant on this is flyering cars that are outside of night clubs and sticking postcard-sized promos under people’s windshields. While both of these techniques may increase awareness of an event, they are unlikely to build loyalty.

Facebook “Invite All” Tricks

Most of these people probably aren’t coming.

One of the reasons that so many Facebook users have stopped caring about event invites is because promoters and DJs have figured out secret ways to invite all their friends to every single event, every single week. Here’s why this sucks:

• People who live in different cities will ignore the message (they might even block your invites, or unfriend you)
• People who have already been invited to every single event you’ve done in the past and never came will likely still never come
• Some people will just hit “attending” as a way of showing support.

Healthy Alternatives:

• Individually message the people you want to come and remind them in days leading up. This takes more work but is much more likely to succeed.
• Post the event on their wall and write something about why you want to see them there. Don’t copy and paste, write a real message!
• Invite people who you think will reasonably come – and then follow up with them!

Bad Flyer Design

DJ names censored for their protection.

Sex sells. So the best possible thing to do for your DJ promotional material is to plaster is with super-attractive models, right? This is a club night cliché, flyers that put scantly-clad women on the flyer in the hopes that it will attract more people to the event. It’s really tacky, and in general might work for getting dudes to come to an event – but will those supermodels actually be there? More importantly, will women who see these fliers ever actually consider coming to the gig?

Alternately, many promoters provide far too much detail on the poster or flyer- which misses the point:  convey essential information within a short glance. Here’s my own personal test for if a flyer is well designed or not:

• Get a stranger who knows nothing about your event
• Flash the flyer at them for .5 seconds to 1 second (no longer!)
• Ask them what the flyer was for and what details they can remember.
• The more they can remember, the better your design.

Charging A Big Cover / Having Rude Bouncers

Avoid people getting turned off from your night before they even walk in the door

This is a “point of entry” turn off – when the night club’s security is excessively overbearing or rude to people coming into the club. Get on good terms with the door staff, and make it clear the tone your party aims to set. Ask the venue manager to encourage them to be welcoming and positive while still doing their jobs. The bouncer is often the first person someone sees when they’re coming to your event, and having a bad first initial experience very easily taints the rest of the night.  Until your event has a large natural draw or something distinctly special about it, you have to walk a fine line in terms of how much you charge at the door (or to RSVP prior). The competition is literally every other activity that night, and if the price of entry doesn’t make sense, they’ll choose something else.

Expect The Venue To Do All Promotion

Many DJs who are starting out with their first or second residency or DJ night will spend all of their time prepping for the gig and expecting the place they’re playing to take care of getting heads through the door. Sometimes venues do have their own innate pull – but don’t rely on it, even if you always see it packed out. Do your own hustle and get people you know to come out, support, and bring their friends to at least the first few gigs you play at a venue. This shows the manager/owner that you’re serious, and is very likely to produce future gigs.

At the same time, do make sure the club/bar/lounge can use their resources to promote your event! To ensure the venue promotes your party and not the others, make it easy for them. Prepare a full media kit (images, event write up, etc) and send it to the venue well ahead of time. Score extra points by pre-writing a few suggested posts for social media that include a link to the event page / ticket purchase page.

Share All Of The Details In Capital Letters On Social Media

WHAT ARE WE YELLING ABOUT?

Have The Exact Same Gig Every Week/Month

Perhaps one of the hardest things about throwing an event where one to four DJs play music for a few hours while everyone drinks is making sure that it doesn’t grow stale after just a few repetitions. Constantly be asking: how can this event be more interesting or exciting? Here’s some initial ideas:

• Take control of the lighting in the club and set the mood. Learn to use the lighting board (if there is one) and trigger basic lighting FX to keep the energy going
• Work with the bar to come up with a unique drink special – this might seem simple, but it will stand out and potentially boost the bar revenue
• Have an aesthetic in mind and decorate your event to match
• Collaborate with one (or more) VJ friends – see if they’re interested in becoming a part of the event to curate a original visual look.
• (Your Suggestion Here) 

We want to know how you keep it interesting and avoid throwing the exact same gig every single time – let us know in the comments and we’ll add the best suggestions to the article (and credit you for the idea!)

Traktor Kontrol S8: Your Questions Answered

POSTED BY RYAN DEJAEGHER ON NOVEMBER 23, 2014

23 Comments

Native Instruments Traktor Kontrol S8 is just a few weeks old and people still have a lot of questions about it including everything from what software is included to how you can edit beatgrids on the screen.  To help clarify, we decided to pull together a bunch of  important questions and answer for them in one clear post. Ryan even goes further, explaining how you can beat match without jog wheels and get the most out of the screens.

What Traktor software is included?

The Kontrol S8 ships with Traktor Scratch Pro 2. This causes a lot of confusion for people. What’s the difference between Traktor Scratch Pro 2 and Traktor Pro 2?  The only difference is that Scratch Pro 2 allow you to connect turntables or CDJ’s to the Kontrol S8 and use Traktor timecode vinyl or CD’s to control Traktor’s decks/track playback. If you really miss having jog wheels or you’re serious about scratching, then having a turntable or CDJ may be necessary. (Note*: The Kontrol S8 doesn’t include timecode vinyl/cd’s, you’ll need to purchase these separately).

Do you need Scratch Pro 2 to use the Kontrol S8?

No, you can use the Kontrol S8 with Traktor Pro 2 as well. You’ll need to be running at least Traktor Pro 2.7 for Kontrol S8 compatibility. Anything version older then Traktor Pro 2.7 won’t work with the Kontrol S8.

How does standalone mixing work?

The Kontrol S8 can operate in standalone mode. That means you can disconnect your laptop and connect turntables or CDJ’s to the Kontrol S8 and DJ with vinyl, CD’s, or with usb sticks connected to a CDJ. When using standalone mode you can ignore the deck sections, the mixer section is the only thing that works in standalone mode. On this note you cannot connect usb sticks to the Kontrol S8 and use the screens in standalone mode. The screens will only work with Traktor running and your laptop connected.

How do you adjust the tempo of individual tracks?

You may have noticed that the Kontrol S8 is missing tempo faders, so how do you adjust the tempo to beat match? There are 2 ways that you can adjust the tempo. The first is with the main tempo knob that’s in the centre of the controller. With this you can adjust the master tempo or whichever track you have set to be the master. To view the BPM on the display, you’ll need to press the second button on the left side of each display. Now you can use the encoder beside the screen to adjust the BPM. By default it moves up/down in .01 increments. If we hold shift and move this knob or the tempo knob in the centre, the BPM will increase/decrease by 1. If you’re playing electronic music where the tempo never fluctuates i’d recommend using the main master clock and syncing all your tracks to it. This way you only have to adjust the main tempo knob and all your tracks will stay in sync and follow along. If you’re playing tracks where the BPM drifts then you’ll likely need to manually adjust the tempo instead of relying on sync. You can adjust the tempo of each track by disabling sync, then adjusting the BPM.

Besides effects, track loading, and remix deck views, what else can the displays do?

You can zoom in/zoom out on the waveform by pressing 2 buttons (square icons) on the right side of the display. You can also adjust the key of your track. If you have the key analyzed it will be displayed and you can adjust it up or down with the encoder. It will also indicate what the new key is when you adjust it. This makes it useful for harmonic mixing. You don’t want to adjust this more than a couple semitones otherwise it starts to affect the sound quality. You can also adjust the brightness of the displays by pressing the cogwheel to the left of each display.

Can you sort playlists?

Yes you can, you can sort your playlists by BPM, Import Date, Title, Artist, Key, and Rating. You can change how the playlists are sorted with the first encoder under the display.

Are you able to change the color of waveform?

At this time it’s not possible to change the color of the waveform. However the different shades of blue on the waveform can still be used to distinguish between highs, mids, and lows. The darkest shade shows low frequencies, while the lighter shade blue shows mids, and the the lightest shade which is almost white indicates high frequencies. Hopefully a future update will allow you to change the color of the spectrum (i.e. Spectrum)

How does beatgridding work?

With the built in screens it’s possible to adjust the beat grid directly from the Kontrol S8. To do this, press the edit button. Now you can adjust the BPM in whole values, or with fine control using the encoders. You can also adjust where the beat grid starts with the “offset” knob. Finally you can also tap the tempo in. With electronic music using the tap function is usually enough to give you a perfect grid.

With the remix decks, do you get access to all 4 pages?

It is possible to access all 4 remix deck pages. Since there are 8 pads on the S8, the cells are split across 8 pages. To scroll through them we can use the square buttons on the right side of the display. Of course our cells will change color to match the cells and we can also see what’s loaded in the cells on the display.

Full Review: Traktor Kontrol S8

Ever since Native Instruments released the Maschine Studio with large color displays, DJs have imagined a Traktor controller with full resolution displays. Last November DJs got their wish when Native Instruments released their first Traktor controller with fully integrated screens, the Traktor Kontrol S8. The controller has been out for a while, and our own Ryan Dejaegher has been putting it through the real world trials to see if it’s worth the investment.

Native Instruments Traktor Kontrol S8

• Price + Availability: $1199, Available in the DJTT store
• The Good: Best build quality of any NI controller, screens let you focus on hardware
• The Bad: Can’t be remapped, no pitch faders, no jogwheels may be deal breaker for some
• The Bottom Line: The Traktor Kontrol S8 is the best all in one controller for Traktor

When looking at the Traktor Kontrol S8, it’s easy to see the influence from other Native Instruments controllers. The screens are very similar to screens found on the Maschine Studio, the touch strip pulled from the Kontrol X1 MK2, and the pads, short faders and knobs borrowed from the Kontrol F1. With all these controls rolled together, the Kontrol S8 becomes the only controller a Traktor DJ would ever need.

Hardware: Build Quality + Controls

Native Instruments has continued to improve the build quality of their hardware over the years and the Kontrol S8 is their most well built controller yet. The controller has a solid weight to it, the faders are very smooth, and the large pads/buttons throughout are a nice touch. One thing that DJs will be happy to see is a brushed metal finish for the entire top plate of the Kontrol S8. This is a welcome change from the glossy plates used on the Kontrol S2/S4/Z2, which looked nice before turning into a finger print magnet.

There are number of controls that are both new, yet familiar. The Kontrol S8 has 8 RGB pads per decks that control a number of functions: remix decks, hot cues, and loops/beat jumps. The pads are a nice size, larger then the Kontrol F1 pads but smaller then the full size Maschine pads. Overall the pads feel great, however they are “click style” just like the F1 pads. Having a click helps confirm that the pads have been triggered for things like the remix decks. For finger drumming it can take some getting used to, as many people do prefer the feel of a MPC style drum pad or even the Midi Fighter’s arcade buttons.

DJs that are familiar with the Kontrol X1 MK2 will recognize the touch strip. The functionality is very much the same, DJs can slide their finger across the strip to pitch bend the track, while holding shift lets DJs quickly scrub through the entire track. There are LEDs above the touch strips that indicate the phase of each track (orange in the middle when the track is in sync.) The LEDs also indicate the track position while the shift button is held. DJs can technically “scratch” while the track is paused, but for anyone that’s serious about scratching it’s best to connect a turntable.

The touch strip is missing some functionality from the Kontrol X1 MK2 such as touch loop rolls and touch fx control. Hopefully these are added in a future software update. In general, however, since each touch strip is dedicated to a single deck – we found they performed better than X1′s and were easy to use. 

Touch sensitive knobs have started to appear on more controllers. Most of the functionality has been focused on touch EQ knobs that act as kills or touch FX knobs for quick FX triggers. On the Kontrol S8 they serve a different purpose that’s important to the usage of the screens. The touch sensitive knobs will cause the parameters to appear on the screen. Anytime DJs adjust the FX knobs or the encoders beneath the screen, they’ll notice the parameters will appear on the screen. This helps keep the screen clean and avoids cluttering it with parameters that aren’t actively in use.

Full Standalone 4 Channel Mixer

The Kontrol S8 has a 4 channel standalone mixer so DJs can connect up to 4 CDJs or turntables to switchable phono/line inputs on the back and mix without a laptop. The VU meters are nice and large. Another cool feature of the mixer is the filters now have a on/off switch, which makes it easy to do filter sweeps and then instantly kill the filter. The faders on the mixer are all very smooth and according to our sources at NI, were even custom built for this controller.

Each fader features a reverse slide position, so any liquids poured into the mixer will never cause problems with each faders’s performance. The crossfader has a nice loose feel which is great for rapid cuts,  and there’s an adjustable crossfader curve, which makes it suitable for scratching. A first for a Traktor controller is a removable/replaceable fader section. Should there be any issues with the faders or if DJs want to upgrade to an innofader this should make the installation easier.

Finally the Kontrol S8 has RCA and XLR master outputs, and a dedicated booth output, something that DJs have wanted ever since the Kontrol S4 MK1 was released.

New Features: Freeze mode + New Remix Deck Controls

The Kontrol S8 was released alongside a new Traktor update which included a few new features to compliment the new controller. The first major feature is “Freeze mode”, which has existed in Traktor DJ (iOS) for sometime but now shows up in full glory on hardware. For those unfamiliar with the feature, freeze mode lets DJs quickly chop sections of their track into 8 temporary slices/cue points on the fly.

The freeze mode is probably the S8′s one stand out “must-have” feature. No other NI controller features a fully integrated freeze mode with all 8 slices and the screen to show you what slice is playing.  These two together made it surprisingly easy, and fun, to slice up songs and do multi-part juggles on the fly.  Eventually, freeze will probably replace all cue-point juggling entirely, since it can be applied to any part of the song.

The latest Traktor update also includes 2 new controls for the remix deck slots, and the S8 is uniquely designed to leverage them: FX send and pitch adjustment. FX send allows DJss to control the dry/wet signal of FX per remix slot, allowing for more subtle FX application that is very appropriate for electronic music parts. Pitch adjustment is also fun with electronic parts such as hi-hats and rides, enabling the classic 909 pitch down ride effect found in most throw back house tracks today.

The Screens

Let’s just get this out of the way, the screens on the Kontrol S8 are gorgeous and it’s the best thing about this controller. Native Instruments has almost taken away any need to refer to your computer’s screen for information. There is a huge list of what the screens can display including: track collection, scrolling/zoomable waveforms, FX parameters, remix deck cells, remix deck controls, loop size and so much more.

While the remix decks are a cool concept, one of the challenges with them is trying to remember what is loaded into each remix cell. The only thing DJs have been able to do is try to color code their cells or keep referring to their computer. The Kontrol S8 screens solve both these problems. When DJs switch to a remix deck on the S8, the screens will display a 4 x 2 grid of the remix cells with the title/names/wave for each remix cell. In practice it makes you feel like the S8 is a real remix machine, and not just a remote control.

For track decks, DJs get the essential track deck information displayed on the screen including scrolling waveform, full track stripe, artist, title, BPM, and key. At this time DJs don’t have the ability to change the deck details or where details are displayed on the screen.  The graphics on the display are large and clear so they’re easy to see. DJs also have the option of viewing a small waveform for Deck C/D under the Deck A/B waveforms, very handy for DJs that like to mix 4 decks.

The last major benefit of the screens is being able to view the track collection. The screens give you full access to the entire track collection: playlists, remix sets, and any other folder trees. When scrolling through the track collection, DJs will be able to see artist, title, BPM, and key. To speed up the search, DJs can also sort the library by artist, BPM, import date, and others. One thing that could be improved is the scroll speed while going through the library. With a big collection or playlist it can take a long time to scroll through all the tracks.

What’s Missing?

When looking at the Kontrol S8 it’s obvious that a couple very common controls are missing. The most noticeable are jog wheels, but these were probably a required sacrifice in order to make room for the screens and remix deck faders. A fair trade off perhaps, scratching for true remixing. In actual DJ use, the touch strip is a fine substitute for jog wheels, the only thing it can’t do is scratch. For DJs that want full surface scratch control, the Kontrol S8 ships with Traktor Scratch Pro 2 allowing turntables with Traktor timecode vinyl to connect into the S8.

The second thing DJs will notice is there are no pitch/tempo faders on the Kontrol S8. Instead the tempo can be changed for each deck using the large screen encoder on each side. There is also a tempo knob in the centre of the Kontrol S8. This controls Traktor’s master clock. The idea here would be for all decks to sync to the Traktor master clock, then use the tempo knob to adjust the master clock as needed. With this kind of setup Native Instruments is really pushing sync and negating the need to manually beat match at all. It makes sense since the Kontrol S8 is really focused around 4 deck mixing or 2 deck + 2 remix deck mixing. It wouldn’t be very practical to manually beat match each remix cell that a DJ drops in.

Finally at the time of this review, the Kontrol S8 cannot be remapped. This is disappointing for DJs that want to customize their controllers and workflow. The word we heard is that the screen integration made it impossible to support custom workflows or special mappings, however a single mappable “section” (likely the remix deck faders and encoders) might come in the future.

The Best Traktor Controller Out There?

For DJs looking for a high quality Traktor controller with control over almost all of Traktor’s functions, this is definitely for you. For DJs that want to stop staring at the laptop and focus on their gear, the screens on the S8 will definitely let you do that. However the controller isn’t for everyone and many will be turned off by the price, weight/size or possibly it’s focused intention.

There are DJs that still want jog wheels, and who have no need for the remix deck control due to more traditional DJ sets involving mixing a wide range of tempos. For them – the S8 might be feature overkill. The largest obstacle many face is considering this controller is price.

While the Kontrol S8 is expensive, a DJ would need to have a Kontrol S4 and 2 Kontrol F1′s to have close to the same functionality. For roughly the same price,  DJs can get the Kontrol S8 with superior build quality, built in screens, and a Traktor Scratch Pro 2 license – which does makes it a good value if you want to go all-in on the Traktor universe.