Crowd Control:


When you're onstage its true that your owning your set. You control everything from the lights to the music and the stage is your throne with the club your kingdom.  If your not quite in a spot where your sequestered by a Dj booth you're going to have to deal with stuff you might not have expected before you've gone through it. I'm talking about having that one dude who comes up wanting to hear some old school Will Smith (no disrespect Big Willie) when you already got the party popping off with a hot new electro remix of whatever's hitting the top 40 right now.

    Unfortunately what you'll find is 9 outta 10 times you won't be able to just ignore that dude as you still got him coming up, distracting you, asking stupid questions and potentially even spill his drink on your equipment?! oh man. Ok so here's a few ways to deal with "that guy".

-Have request box separate from your DJ setup, but potentially accessible without leaving your equipment too far behind to venture to the request box.

-Don't use the request box often, as in don't actually take requests from it too often,
That way people will feel like they were able to get a vote in on the music they're hearing and chances are even if you never get to their request, they will have gone back to having a good time anyway and won't care.

-If they do care tell em you got em next week.

-Parlay that request box into cash if you want, make em pay for the tracks, nothing wrong with that since you've got the stage for the next few hours anyway its your call if you wanna sell some time off, just gotta balance that with how your crowd feels about hearing some fools flow. I do $50 for a 3 min instrumental track otherwise no sale. 75 for each additional, they probably only buy one.

-Have private security, your bouncer or homie , handle the situation by firmly explaining theres no bothering the DJ anymore tonight.

-Drop some tracks that clearly state: No requests

     If you try to reason with "that guy" during a performance you're only going to get more negative feedback and distractions while your supposed to be mixing and throwing out positive energy.  I've actually seen a Dj let the music go quiet because he was so involved in telling a group of females theres no way he was going to drop some usher in the middle of hard house electro night. Wrong night y'all, wrong stage anyway.

Follow me on Twitter @DJbasics for daily #mixtips and insipration
Also google: TheSampleHouse760 for drum sounds, synth sounds, akai kits, and swagg