uk smoking band july 2007 Off Topic Chat Discuss uk smoking band july 2007 in the The DJ Lounge forums; So what everyone's views on this? im genrally liking this as im not a smoker, although alot of my mates do smoke. im concerned it will split up groups on ...

[Paulie_p]

So what everyone's views on this?

im genrally liking this as im not a smoker, although alot of my mates do smoke. im concerned it will split up groups on nights out and if your a smoking dj you cant exactly go out for a fag brake for 10mins can you!!!!

[Ben]

I dont smoke so dont effect me personally really, and tought shit Im sayin for people that do lol but it will ultimately bring smoking down, I think .

[Jonny]

I'm all for the ban, however, i'd rather come out of a club smelling of smoke rather than everyones sweat and shite. lol

[Karlos]

The smoking bans been in place nearly a year now in scotland, as a smoker myself it took a bit of getting used to having to venture out in the cold each time you wanted to spark up.. esp in the highland winter, damn it was freezing haha.

But its def is a lot better than going into a pub that reeks of smoke.

[Reece Duncan]

im all for it being a non smoker, it can only be for the better

[Control1]

Originally Posted by Jonny

I'm all for the ban, however, i'd rather come out of a club smelling of smoke rather than everyones sweat and shite. lol

TRUE, the smell of smoke on your clothes the morning after working a set was horrible, but now clubs smell of sweat.

All the smells you could never smell, now stand out like a sore thumb.

I do however find it irritable that you have a crowded floor and then a dead floor, as everyone seems to pop out for a fag at the same time.

Strange or does that just happen to me?

[Paulie_p]

I was in a club a few weeks back and by about 1am it just stank of sweat!

im all for the smoking ban, but clubs need to start 'scenting' the dancefloor with something nice!

[James Beaton]

Yeah like Karlos said it's been in effect in Scotland for over a year now. It's true though.. you can really smell the sweat oders and everything else a lot stronger now, also you tend to get drunk a lot quicker if your drinking a lot because your going to hot to cold all the time which doesn't go well with alcohol.

It's a downer for DJ's though because there's always at least 25% of the punters outside smoking so you never get full crowd inside at one time which can really suck.

[DJShades]

The strangest thing about these smokers who complained about having to nip outside for a fag is that once they go outside for a fag they tend to stay out and chat for a bit! Definately not good for keeping a full dancefloor. However I even do it myself, until I realise its bloody freezing... then I'm usually the first one that wants to go back in while the others are still talking shite to various people! (It could have something to do with the fact that I'm sober while everyone else is three sheets to the wind... the joys of not living near the club of your choice and being too tight to pay for a taxi!)

One club I've been to, and indeed start working at on Monday, has come up with a semi-solution. They give you a little peice of paper with the time that you went out for a fag... If your not back at the front door with the paper within ten minutes you have to pay to get back inside again (entrance fee is not that much anyway, only a couple of quid I think... I wouldn't know, I don't pay entrance fees...... its not what you know....). So at least this limits the amount of time any one single person can be outside. I know some 'ingenious' people will just randomly take a pen and bit of paper with them on a night out to 'extend' their time outside (and some may even use it to avoid paying in the first place) but that is easily overcome.

Its an interesting point raised though about being a DJ and a smoker. I am one of these and I've been wondering how I'm going to manage nipping out for a fag. One solution would be to have a little DJ wannabe friend that I can trust enough to drop the next tune (mixed or not) while I'm outside killing myself. I'm also thinking about creating a CD full of two track mixes using tunes that I know ALWAYS go down well together. This is opposed to using a commercial mix CD that A) Doesn't have tunes that I absolutely want or B) people may recognise the mix CD, which does happen! My smoking tunes of the moment are the 7 minute versions of Justin Timberlakes Lovestoned and What Goes Around Comes Around (they don't have much of an intro or outro so really last the full 7+ minutes, can be pitched down quite a bit to last just that bit longer and have instantly recognisable parts so you know exactly how long you have left before you do that strange little 'rushing but trying to look like your not' walk to put the next track on just before it ends!)

[Paulie_p]

Originally Posted by DJShades

I'm also thinking about creating a CD full of two track mixes using tunes that I know ALWAYS go down well together.

This would be ok if your just playing tracks, if your beatmatching tho its defo not cool!

If I was in a club getting down to some tunes and the dj wasnt present wilst a mix was being done, i would not be impressed! For the rest of the night you would be thinking; Is he just faking it?!?!

[DJShades]

Originally Posted by Paulie_p

This would be ok if your just playing tracks, if your beatmatching tho its defo not cool!

If I was in a club getting down to some tunes and the dj wasnt present wilst a mix was being done, i would not be impressed! For the rest of the night you would be thinking; Is he just faking it?!?!

Yes I would be beatmatching and I'm pretty sure absolutely no-one would think I was faking it... especially when I am behind the decks and I think something is a good idea then it all goes tits up! (Hey, I never said I was perfect ... I never, ever pre-plan a set and always wing it so invariably some things do go wrong ) ... Bizarrely I like it when a DJ fcuks up (slightly out mix, totally bad mix or stopping the wrong track), at least you know the DJ is doing it live and not just simply standing there pretending, which is ultimately worse than banging a mix CD on for a couple of minutes when you go out for a fag. Besides, if you're quick enough you should make it in and out before the mix point of the next track (Its surprisingly easy to cut through a crowd of people with the right body language... and use of elbows!) but at least you've got the security that the music wont come to a dead stop should you not make it back in time.

In an ideal world you would have a little DJ wannabe friend to look after things while your outside but its not an ideal world. Unless your in a serious clubbers club I dont think the crowd particularly give a toss anyway if the DJ goes missing for a few minutes, as long as there IS music playing they are pretty much happy and often too pissed to care.

At the last place I was an LJ at I had to prepare a 25 minute mix so the DJ could go off and interview a couple of minor celebrities on camera who were doing a P.A. For the entire 25 minutes the crowd on the dancefloor remained on the dancefloor and due to the selection of tracks had, by their reaction, a bloody good time! Most people these days are pretty clued up as to the difference between an LJ and a DJ (especially when I had a bank of 3 15" monitors and 2 7" monitors, an assortment of keyboards and mice in front of me in a clearly visible DJ console in the middle of the room with an elevated level literally just being the DJ console) so most people, if they had of cared, would of noticed the DJ was missing... but did they care... not one little bit! Which just goes to show that most people in a 'Sharon & Tracey' club do not care if there is a DJ, let-alone who it is, as long as the music is good!

I think most people, where I live at least, are glad theres some good music with good mixes no matter what the source... there seems to be an awful lot of mediocre, lazy or just plain bad DJs around where I live! I got told this tonight by people who had been around town.... I even get people coming into the Gentlemens Club where I DJ just to listen to me.... Yes, yes I also DJ in a gentlemans club but you'd be surprised. I don't play much traditional strip club 'music' and the owner is really cool... I get to play stuff (house) that you couldn't get away with playing in the rest of town unless its been hammered on the radio or been out for months and people have slowly gotten used to hearing it!! Thats why I get people coming in to listen to me!