If Clockwork is taking about promotional vinyl pools....from what I know... 1. You must be a mixshow, club, mobile or mixtape dj, and be able prove it. 2. You must pay member dues...usually monthly and sometimes an entry fee. 3. The larger pools require you to submit monthly charts of say top 50. 4. You must break new records....you must play new songs and sometimes write reviews for them. Yes alot of it sucks. On top of that...newbie members usually get last dibs...senior pool members get dibs on exclusive remixes, doubles, lps and special releases...newbies get whats left. Its very hard to join the good pools so if Clockworkorange can hook someone up then jump on it. Upside- I get 80-100 records a month (Been a member of my pool for 7 yrs) for about $200 monthly dues. Also get 40-60 records from another pool I've been with for 3 yrs. The longer you are a member the better the ratio of hot tracks to whack tracks. Downside - Small pools get only regional and some major labels. Sometimes as a low level member you might not get certain records at all. Smaller pools target their area....meaning if your pool is a SE texas pool don't count on getting the latest Rawkus. It takes awhile to reach a level where you get the best stuff. Record labels provide you with cheap vinyl so you can break their music...and thats what its about. Most large pools are very strict on the rules...there are lots of folks waiting to take your place. Generally you get whats going to be commercial/ mainstream (Big labels are gonna push their high priced acts). I still buy vinyl on my own. While you do get advance promos most of the time we're are talking weeks or days before the release dates rarely months. For example, Jae Millz will be advanced and Jay-Z won't. I got a bedroom filled with stuff I haven't touched since they were shipped to me... So it ain't all gravy. Thats my experience...I don't know how all pools work though.
Thanks for the offer, but I am actually up in DC now for the time being, so that won't really help me much. I will be down in Houston next weekend for a little private show though. (I cant wait to get back to Houston for a few days ) At any rate, I am actually a trance DJ, but there is only a limited market for that, so I have to cover my costs by playing top40 type parties and whatnot, thus the need for updating my collection of the latest hits. Thanks again for all the help. [Shameful plug begins now] If any of you are at all interested, I have a radio show tomorrow night, and every Wednesday night from 7-9pm CT. I spin techno, mostly trance, live on the air. Cheack it out at www.wgtb923.com/webcast.html [Shameful plug ends]
I realized after posting that radio plug that it might be against cc.net rules to do so. If it is, i apologize and please remove it.
This is an interesting topic. I'm also a DJ, I do little events and gatherings, and put together mixes for artists or groups for their events. If we could start our own MiRC channel, or even post what's the newest beat someone's heard over here on the BBS in this thread, it could be alot of help to others who need it.
i agree, it sounds like a great idea SLA . . . it really depends on what kind of DJing you intend to do. Do you want to do clubs, adult parties, kids parties, college stuff, etc? To be good enough to play in clubs is always very tough and normally takes a few years, unless you have some sort of hook-up at a local club or something. Another important decision is what kind of equipment you want to play on, i.e. turntables, CD Decks, mp3 players, minidisk players, etc. All have their pros and cons. In all likelihood you will have fairly large start-up costs as the equipment does not come cheap, so you should consider that too.
It takes lots of practice and patience...not as easy as it looks. Like Rockets10 said the gear is quite an investment. However, if you are interested in DJing as a hobby than you don't need all that much gear. The quality stuff will last a long time and its not too hard to find used equip.
jwun thanks for the info on the record pool. I'm not a DJ or anything, just a hip-hop head thats all.
Jwun is right for the most part, but he also did say record pools differ. Yeah there are member fees that you would have to pay my friends. They are mix show/club dj's here in the Houston area. They actually head their respective pools. We have connections with all the record labels, so if something is missed we can get it from someone else (haven't had to yet). If you are looking for rare vinyl (such as rare breaks or original songs that are sampled from), I can get that from one of our guys. His storage has over 14,000 records which are rare (ex: Common's song: The Light, we have the original version). JamesC, do you live in the Houston area? I'm a huge hip hop junkie. Do you hit up any spots? Should come check out some of our joints or what not. Hit me up.
Clockwork, I live on the Northwest side of houston. I didnt have a ride for a while so I wasnt hitting up any spots in particular. I do go to a lot of sporting events, though. I'll hit you up though.
clockwork orange do you listen to the radio crap. or do you get stuff like swollen members, mf doom, masterminds and the like???????
I do listen to some radio crap...haha! For the most part I like "underground" type ish. There's actually a pretty good MC scene down here in Houston such as: VG Skillz, Kaotix, etc... I'm pretty deep into the whole "hip hop scene" being that I'm a dancer in hip hop (b-boying, popping, locking, etc..). I graff as well, well not that much anymore. I actually used to be part of this group called Zulu Nation (not sure if you heard of it). I don't really feel the whole "jiggy" scene even though as a member of a particular production company here in Houston that's deeply associated with it. Peleincubus and JamesC, if yall are down for checking out any joints or what not, I'm always down.
I consider myself a well rounded listener. My tastes range from N.W.A. westcoast to Ludacris, David Banner, to Boot Camp Clik (Black Moon, Smif-n-Wessun(Cocoa Brovas), Heltah Skeltah) M.O.P, Biggie, Jay-z to Mos Def, the Roots, Tribe Called Quest, Pharcyde, Jurassic 5 and in between. I try not to limit myself to just one style of rap in particular. As far as "underground" hip-hop goes I listen to some of it. I remember KTRU 91.7 used to come on Wednesday nights at like 12 am. They used to play a bunch of underground stuff and stuff that 97.9 wouldnt play.
