Demo Discs?

ironclaw

Hi Folks,

Just thought this might deserve its own thread. In Ireland, what is the best way of getting a warm up set or an hour behind the decks at clubs?

On the Ibiza thread:

jonny68 wrote: »

Record a mix and burn it onto a load of CD's and go around a few bars and leave your number and e-mail and in no time (assuming your half decent) you'll get a few calls/e-mails.

So what is better, a 70 minute mix straight through or a 20 minute power mix? Or perhaps 10 songs that you've put together a signature mix to? Should it be a continous CD or should it have tracks?

Any recommendations?

nonsense42

Do like the rest of Dublin does and lick arse.Then hope that you're mates put on nights and they'll give you a slot.Thats how you see the same people playing around Dublin.

Chances are you wont be rewarded for any kind of talent around here because its all politics.But make the mix send it to people and hope for the best.Keep it short.30 mins will give any promoter an idea of what you play.

Hope it helps somewhat.

ironclaw

nonsense42 wrote: »

Do like the rest of Dublin does and lick arse.Then hope that you're mates put on nights and they'll give you a slot.Thats how you see the same people playing around Dublin.

Chances are you wont be rewarded for any kind of talent around here because its all politics.But make the mix send it to people and hope for the best.Keep it short.30 mins will give any promoter an idea of what you play.

Hope it helps somewhat.

Thanks for that. So just a few 30 minute sets then? Seems do-able.

When sending them in, who's the best to approach? Go personally or put in an envelope marked "Manager, Some Club, Dublin" ?

Executive Steve

nonsense42 wrote: »

Do like the rest of Dublin does and lick arse.

Chances are you wont be rewarded for any kind of talent around here because its all politics.

Rubbish.

Executive Steve

ironclaw wrote: »

Thanks for that. So just a few 30 minute sets then? Seems do-able.

When sending them in, who's the best to approach? Go personally or put in an envelope marked "Manager, Some Club, Dublin" ?

Best bet is to just hang out in nights that play the music you like - talk to the DJ's, find out who the promoters are, hang out in record shops, never leave the house with less than three CD's in your pocket, upload a mix or two to Mixcloud, every time a promoter spams you with a mail for their night spam them with a link to your latest mix.

Send mixes to heads who have radio shows, loads of them get guest dj's in all the time - it's a great way to get your name out; loads of heads who I've had on the radio have gone on to get regular gigs around town.

No point sending mixes to promoters who don't push the stuff you like - don't waste time spamming a drum and bass promoter with a hard house mix

If you support a night, go down regularly with a crowd of people then you will get a go sooner or later

ironclaw

[cm]tyranny wrote: »

Best bet is to just hang out in nights that play the music you like - talk to the DJ's, find out who the promoters are, hang out in record shops, never leave the house with less than three CD's in your pocket, upload a mix or two to Mixcloud, every time a promoter spams you with a mail for their night spam them with a link to your latest mix.

Send mixes to heads who have radio shows, loads of them get guest dj's in all the time - it's a great way to get your name out; loads of heads who I've had on the radio have gone on to get regular gigs around town.

No point sending mixes to promoters who don't push the stuff you like - don't waste time spamming a drum and bass promoter with a hard house mix

If you support a night, go down regularly with a crowd of people then you will get a go sooner or later

Thanks. Thats great advice and I'll take in onboard. Need to invest in a reasonable recorder so! :pac:

EvolutionNights

Spot on [cm]tyranny
Get a decent mix down and circulate it. Its how I got started and its been a great journey. Don't be afraid to approach a promoter. They have the same passion for music as you do.

As for nonsense42. Nonce!

nonsense42

Tell me how its rubbish.Look at loads of the nights in Dublin with the same boring line ups never really giving other people a chance unless they know them.
Its always just the same names,never released a record never going to people playing all the time.
Ive often talked about Tripod being a potentially great venue for launching new names through warm up slots but they dont.Download in Crawdaddy is the same silly line ups every week.I know acts signed to labels and great djs sending in mixes and never hearing a thing.I also know one well know Irish producer whose released on some big labels making the move to Europe because he's sick of this place,its negativity and politics.
How come you never see the likes of Matador,Kid Handsome,Steve Donaldson,Hypertic,Lersosa,The Parallel and the likes never playing big warm up nights?These are acts that are signed to proper labels(Lersoa released on Ostgut Ton!!!) but you see other djs who done nothing other than a bit of brown nosing or befriending getting regular gigs.
So dont for a second tell me Im talking rubbish because Im contsantly in touch with the main players in Dublin and I know exactly how it works.

Aside from this to the original poster you will have to go down to the nights concerned,talk to the guys and give them a cd.Thats how it works.

FLYNN-DOG

nonsense42 wrote: »

Tell me how its rubbish.Look at loads of the nights in Dublin with the same boring line ups never really giving other people a chance unless they know them.
Its always just the same names,never released a record never going to people playing all the time.
Ive often talked about Tripod being a potentially great venue for launching new names through warm up slots but they dont.Download in Crawdaddy is the same silly line ups every week.I know acts signed to labels and great djs sending in mixes and never hearing a thing.I also know one well know Irish producer whose released on some big labels making the move to Europe because he's sick of this place,its negativity and politics.
How come you never see the likes of Matador,Kid Handsome,Steve Donaldson,Hypertic,Lersosa,The Parallel and the likes never playing big warm up nights?These are acts that are signed to proper labels(Lersoa released on Ostgut Ton!!!) but you see other djs who done nothing other than a bit of brown nosing or befriending getting regular gigs.
So dont for a second tell me Im talking rubbish because Im contsantly in touch with the main players in Dublin and I know exactly how it works.

Aside from this to the original poster you will have to go down to the nights concerned,talk to the guys and give them a cd.Thats how it works.

great post, you're damn right. time now to do some homework on this Irish guy who's produced for Ostgut......

Executive Steve

nonsense42 wrote: »

Tell me how its rubbish.Look at loads of the nights in Dublin with the same boring line ups never really giving other people a chance unless they know them.
Its always just the same names,never released a record never going to people playing all the time.
Ive often talked about Tripod being a potentially great venue for launching new names through warm up slots but they dont.Download in Crawdaddy is the same silly line ups every week.I know acts signed to labels and great djs sending in mixes and never hearing a thing.I also know one well know Irish producer whose released on some big labels making the move to Europe because he's sick of this place,its negativity and politics.
How come you never see the likes of Matador,Kid Handsome,Steve Donaldson,Hypertic,Lersosa,The Parallel and the likes never playing big warm up nights?These are acts that are signed to proper labels(Lersoa released on Ostgut Ton!!!) but you see other djs who done nothing other than a bit of brown nosing or befriending getting regular gigs.
So dont for a second tell me Im talking rubbish because Im contsantly in touch with the main players in Dublin and I know exactly how it works.

Aside from this to the original poster you will have to go down to the nights concerned,talk to the guys and give them a cd.Thats how it works.

Massive lol @judging the Dublin scene on who gets booked to play warmup slots in the main room at Tripod tbh.

BaZmO*

I think the most important thing to do (and [cm] has already alluded to this) is to become an active member of the scene you want to be involved.

No point in being a Superstar DJ (in your bedroom) if you're not involved in the scene.

nonsense42

[cm]tyranny wrote: »

Massive lol @judging the Dublin scene on who gets booked to play warmup slots in the main room at Tripod tbh.

You just dont get it do you?Ive just named a list of far more accomplished acts who dont get half as much exposure as they're talent deserves because the same old people play the same old gigs because they all no each other.Thats my whole point!!

And i also dont judge the Dublin scene on the Tripod.If you take the time to read the article im saying that as an example of the biggest venue in Dublin showing such short sightedness.And it is a reflection of the scene here.

Take that Movember gig.Giles k,Conky,Bren Black,Diggers blah blah blah.Same old names playing gigs but after a few years in the scene havent done anything.Im not putting them down per se but it gets a bit tiring heaing people playing other peoples tracks all the time.

Try giving something to the scene by making music that you'll play out instead of waiting for others to do something that ultimately gets you a reputation.

Dublin is a pox of a place and so many will agree with me on that.Extremely close minded.

jtsuited

seein how i got mentioned in this thread i may as well attempt to address something nonsense said that certainly has some merit.

the fact is, for many of us up and comers who have fairly significant international releases, dublin really is of no interest.

Most of us are very young guys (well i'm speaking for me and gav [matador] here) who are trying to slowly build long-term production careers internationally, so playing a monthly gig in Crawdaddy to a bunch of pissed up dubliners who don't give a sh1t about the music really doesn't appeal (for me anyways).
We work our balls off trying to somehow make a career out of this and realistically having our productions do well internationally is the only way to do that.

That's no easy challenge and playing around Dublin is really only done for fun as opposed to actually any career benefitting exercise.

As far as getting the gigs goes. As soon as my releases starting getting out there, I was playing around a good bit. No arse-licking required. I know that's not the case for your average dj who doesn't produce.

I think that most other producers really don't see the point of playing warm-up slots for a simple reason. Nowadays Djing is pretty much the way fulltime producers can make a living. In order to get paid sufficiently, your release profile must be big enough.

Warm up slots don't pay and so aren't really worth doing for guys focused on a more international and longterm career.