A few days ago, I met an event coordinator looking for a DJ to perform at various locations throughout central Florida. Well, last night I had an audition and the tl;dr version is that it went well!
Here is how the night played out…
My audition was held at Shotski’s, a neighborhood bar in Longwood. The bar itself was pretty nice. It had a couple of pool tables, full bar, DJ booth, Karaoke and they served food as well. The audition was a solid 90 minutes and I was asked to, “play to the crowd.” I’ll admit that I spent a few hours trying to prepare for the audition, but ultimately, had no idea what the atmosphere would be like during my time slot. What if it was a southern crowd who wanted nothing but country music? I’d go down in flames quicker than you can say, “Bob’s your uncle.”
Luckily, the crowd was in the mood for a little bit of everything. Before I had completed setting up my equipment, I received a request to play breakbeats. Score! So I started the night with a quick breakbeat just to warm up a little and then moved into some top 40’s. So far so good… Next, I played a couple of rock songs followed by an unexpected twist of Marilyn Manson’s version of “Tainted Love” and then Korn’s “Word Up.” That was fun! People were really feeling that Manson track and so was I! I love that track (and the music video for that matter).
Later on in the evening, I received a few requests to play hip hop; when suddenly, I received the best request of them all, Dre and Snoop’s “Nuthin but a G Thang.” Another classic in my book! Finally, I finished off the night with a couple more top 40’s dance tracks followed by LL Cool J’s “Doin it” and Fat Joe/Big Pun’s “What’s Luv” to close out the audition.
After my set, I met with the event coordinator and they were very complementary of my performance. They offered some constructive criticism as well…Apparently, people had a hard time hearing me on the mic. Funny thing about that is that in the DJ booth, the mic was screaming! Ah well, can’t win em all and at least this wasn’t a deal breaker!
I’m looking forward to whatever’s next and the opportunities that are on the horizon.