Recording a mix tape or CD:
A mix tape is as easy as hooking up your stereo to the record out on
your mixer and pressing the record button. CDs will require a computer
with a sound card (for e.g. a Soundblaster Live!) and a CD-writer.
Your soundcard should have some recording software. Soundblasters have
the Creative Labs recorder. You will need to hook up your mixer to the
line in on the soundcard using an RCA (red and white plugs) to mini
jack (small headphone style plug).
Boot up the recording software and press record. You will make a big
sound file on your hard drive so ensure you have about a gigabyte
spare to record an hour mix. Once you have your wav file recording you
can burn it to CD using the 'burn audio disk' option in your CD writer
software. CDs are better quality and more professional than tapes. The
biggest advantage of CDs however is that you can cheaply burn lots of
copies so you can give them out to a number of club owners when you
look for work. If you have the time you will also want to drop a copy
off to the local radio station to try to get a weekly show.
You can cut the costs of this type of promotion by getting local
businesses to put their logo on the promotional material.
Part of the fun of
starting out as a DJ is doing this stuff yourself. You can make your
own theme in your promotion that people will identify with your music.
Use futuristic or fantasy images. I enjoy playing around with
Photoshop so have a go.
Here are some example flyers:
Take a look at the DJ
Bailey flyer. He's a top Drum n Bass DJ in London. Full colour flyers
look great and give your crew a professional image.
Full colour flyer for DJ Bailey
Here is an example of a two colour printed flyer. These two colour
jobs cost much less to print and still look pretty good.
Two color flyer. Cheap but still pretty
Remember to be original and put yourself out there. This kind of
promotional material is often the first contact people on the street
will have with you. You want to make a good first impression don't
you?
When your handing out
your flashy new flyers make sure that you take time to talk to people.
You've got to have heart if you want to get anywhere in the music
scene. |
