Playing To An Empty Room
There you are totally pumped because you’ve got a gig lined up for the night. You’ve packed a couple of USB drives just in case disaster befalls your equipment. You know exactly what tracks you’re going to start and end with. You’re dressed and ready to go.
Once you get to the club, though, you notice that the place is strangely silent. You quickly identify the problem: you can count the number of people in the crowd on one hand. Now what? All that hard work you put into creating your set list was just a waste of time. What’s the point of playing to a small handful of people? Creating a vibe in that room is going to be challenging.
Hold on a minute. You’re a DJ. You’re prepared for anything, right? You can get that crowd moving even if you have to redefine what “crowd” means.
There’s another reason playing to an empty (or nearly empty) room is a good thing every once in a while. It gives you a chance to practice some skills that you might not otherwise get to use. When you’re in your studio, you scratch and remix to your heart’s content.
In an empty club, you don’t have much of an audience to begin with, so go ahead and do a little more scratching than you normally would. Try remixing on the fly. Practice word play while you’re at it, too.
Have you ever played to an empty room? How did you handle it?
5 comments
I think of it as PAID PRACTICE and then get to work!!
It was probably best because at the same time yes you get to try new things as stated before, but there’s no pressure!
It’s you and an empty room, just a way (from what I found out by experience) to just have fun with it
Really something I didn’t mind at all!
This is exactly what I do in these situations! Sometimes I have more fun practicing and playing to the empty room then I do when it is full!
When I’ve dj’d to 10 or so people early in the evening, I invite those early birds to give me up to 5 requests of tracks they love to dance to. Once I have this I mix then into my set so st least they’ll be dancing as others arrive and hopefully they’ll hit the floor as well. Also acknowledge to the few that although it’s empty they’re as important as a full house and get them on side! Then as more people come I revert back to my planned set.
I don’t like to play to an empty room