LISTS LISTS LISTS

3 Ways I've Stepped Out Of My Comfort Zone
-DJing my own event
-playing music that nobody knows
-answering calls on the radio


4 Ways My Project Has Changed
- radio has become a sub-project
-my own event is no longer my final project
-i'm looking into the kareoke business
-I lost my source of income for equipment


3 Things I Wish I Did Differently So Far
-jumped off with more interviews
-taken set up- and clean- up more seriously
-securing my own equipment


5 Things I Learned About My project, Myself, Or Working With Others
-I have to tell others what I want to learn, not just expect them to teach me
-it's pretty easy to get started with your own DJ experience, just securing equipment is $$$
-I need to stick to a schedule... (typical)
-people are going to mess with your equipment, and style, it's your job to get them to F off
-THE MORE CONTACTS THE BETTER, gettin' my name out :)

Disrupting My Comfort Zone

This is actually something I've been thinking about lately. I've been stuck in a certain role with radio, I always go to Z95.5 and do the same thing, I'd like to find a way to change it up. As for event DJing, I want to learn to ACTUALLY DJ- with discs- scratching, not just picking songs to play. On that same note, I want to mix my own music but I haven't tried much simply because each time that I do, it's too difficult, and sounds like shit, so i stop. I want to force myself to finish a song project.

Ouch

so even though my mento meetings with Mr. Holl are usually on Tuesdays, we bumped it up this week to today, Monday because I wasn't in school all last week because I got my wisdom teeth out (OUCH). We talked about me DJing in April and also a little bit about junior prom, but then it came to the question, "so what are your goals for the rest of the project?" I had to stop and think, I had already put on an event on my own, something I had originally thought would be my final project, not my FIRST. And when it came to radio, I could mostly run that if I had to, so what did I want to do with my time?


Got it.
Two things.


First, I ned to be able to ACTUALLY run an event on my own without Mr. Holl helping me, meaning, set up and clean up. I could run music and lights for three hours, but getting there and leaving- I'm almost lost. So Mr. Holl had an idea, before my next event, we're going to arrive rather early and he's going to help me set up, but then we're going to take it all down. Then when it comes time to actually set up, I'll do it all on my own with him lurking in the shadows in case I need him, but he won't be instructing me on what to do this time.


And Second, I need to find a way to get at least some of my own equipment! I wish that I had more details on how this is going to work itself out, but I'm not entirely sure- TIME TO BRAINSTORM, I'll keep y'all updated :)

My Current Obsession

'Hello Fascination' - Breathe Carolina


So I've known about Breathe Carolina for a few months now thanks to a friend putting a couple songs on a mix for me, but i had yet to hear this until i just looked into them. I'm constantly looking for new music to introduce... possibly thinking of making a remix? hmmm...

Take 2

Time for Round 2! I was just recently, as of a few days ago asked to DJ yet another event at the CSMA for a fellow WISE member's final project on April 17th! I asked Mr. Holl and the equipment is free soooo yezzir, I will be doing it! It'll be very similar to the last event except my goal is to get almost COMPLETELY different music. Meaning I have A LOT of research to do to find new songs that not only I love, but that others will as well!... I love this :)

$2,300

So, DJing the Pennies For Peace dance at the CSMA went GREAT. Aside from two girls having to be *ehem* asked to leave for messing around with my equipment which Mr. Holl so kindly let me borrow, everything wen't according to plan. The club grossed almost $2,300! Meaning 230 people were there, the enjoyment of their night mostly resting at the tips of my fingers as i chose which songs to play. I came up with a system of sorts, all of the songs i KNEW i needed to play i put into a separate playlist and then all of the other random jams into their own. I'd uncheck the songs i'd already played and re-shuffle. One guy I've known since middle school but have never really been friends with stumbled past the stage where I was set up, stopped dead in his tracks and screamed "SHE'S THE DJ?!" Apparently he was somewhat surprised... Amari, the girl who asked me to DJ was apparently asked multiple times who the DJ was, how much were they paying the DJ, and complimented on the music selection! Even the one jerk who gave me shit throughout the event later told one of my friends that the music was "surprisingly good". All in all I think most people really enjoyed it and the club made out with a great donation for charity!

My Current Obsession

Lady GaGa, Shakira, Pitbull, Madonna, Akon - Mega Mash-up


Found this in my search of music for the playlist for the dance this coming Saturday, I'm easily playing this!

nervous is an understatement...

So on Tuesday evening my friend Amari (IHS Class of 2011) sent me a facebook message. She is part of a small group who are all throwing a dance this weekend on Saturday the 12th. It turns out that their DJ fell through and she had heard that I was learning how to DJ for my WISE project, so she asked me to DJ the event!


Yes, I'm insanely nervous. This is going to be my first event I DJ on my own!


I'm getting very excited starting the playlist for the dance, but I'm worried that people won't like my selection :/ Anyway, I'm thinking after I get into the even a bit it will run smoothly and be a BLAST!

Planning

Mentor Meeting 3/8/11

So I met with Mr. Holl for our weekly meeting again today. I'm going to look at the CSMA for my personal event. We are also still trying to set up a meeting with Mr. Mills to figure out the specifics as what I have to do to put on my event because it can in no way be affiliated with the school, been a few weeks and he hasn't gotten back to us...

Oh and then there's the possibility of me DJing Junior Prom! :)

In Class 3/8/10

Today was all about what makes a good WISE journal. To me, it's all about the voice. Who wants to sit there and read a boring ass journal entry simply stating plainly what you did one day? No one. Details, details, details! Then there's the organization, making sure that the reader knows where to go and what they're going to reading about. Keep it a bit spazzy, and of course, original!

My Current Obsession

'One Of A Kind' - Mac Miller

So I was slightly disappointed that Mac didn't preform this song last night, as it's my favorite of his, but the concert was still a blast and I still can't get him out of my head. :)

KIDS (Kicking Incredibly Dope Shit)

So on Sunday night I (and about half of IHS) went to a Mac Miller concert at The Haunt. Helping him out on stage, as well as between performers, was a DJ. Before Mac was on stage, he played all sorts of music to pump people up, it was an absolute BLAST! I hope to be able to have that affect on people eventually, where you can play a song and just have everyone immediately smile, start screaming, and jumping up and down. It was awesome. I can't wait to have that opportunity!

Sweet Caroline, BA BA BA

So my first experience DJing was a blast!... for the first 2 hours :) in the very beginning we had an issue with not being able to hear the vocals, it turns out the mixer simply didn't like the jack we were using and we switched to a different jack and everything was then fine! There were a couple of times when I had to announce things that I froze up a bit before hand like I do at the radio station, but I got over it pretty quickly, except for one time where I had NO idea what to say. I had to come up with something exciting to say about maple syrup- WHAT IS THERE POSSIBLY TO SAY ABOUT THAT?! Sheesh, that wasn't the best... but other than that everything went fine! With the exception of a couple parents mis-hearing words, thinking they heard "i wanna make love" when the words were actually "i wanna make up" and getting pissed because making love was inappropriate for their children, the music went over well. Oh and my friend Geoffrey (a hard core Yankees fan) didn't appreciate my choice of Sweet Caroline (somewhat of a Red Sox anthem), other than that, it went great! And according to Mr. Mellander I sounded really confident on the mic, which I didn't even think so myself! That gave me a great confidence booster!

Research

DJ'd my first event! The IHS/ Camp Good Days Winter Carnival! I learned about the necessary items for DJing. I used 2 speakers, on stands, an amp, mixer, and then a laptop for the music. It was a pretty basic set up, but easily enough!

Planning for the carnival!

So Mr. Holl has asked me if I would like to DJ the IHS Camp Good Days Winter Carnival at the school! Obviously I said yes! (duh) So on Thursday the 3rd, I spent about an Hour planning out the 7 1/2 hour long playlist for the 4 hour carnival. I'll be edting it as I go along at the carnival. It was slightly difficult because I had to make a mix up of different genres of music as the carnival is all ages. On Friday the 4th, I went and picked up all of the equipment and loaded it into my car. It wasn't all that much of an ordeal. And today is the carnival!