Residencies - How many new loops?

[DocSavage]

I'm working a weekly residency at a club called Surface, and am coming into this as a brand new VJ with not a lot of loops. Since I VJ primarily with VLight (SWF Files only) I've got about 75 files going every saturday. Right now I've only got enough files to replace the 'crappiest' animations. I don't have enough good ones to make a completely new show every week. On top of that I've hit the limit as to what FLA files I can get off the net. Everything from this point has to be created by myself.

So here's the question: How many new files should I be making a week to keep the show fresh?

[unjulation]

it's a good point and very dificult to answer, for there are meny factors that come to play.

1) your own indervidual perception of quility.
2) how much they are paying you for your time.
3) your awarnes of the crowed/night it's self.

personely i think it comes down to your own perception of what is quiliaty, and seeing as this is a pureley abstrat concepet, you, as an indervidual have a free range with it.

[eXhale]

It also depends on how quickly you get bored with the same stuff. I know that for one I get very quickly bored so I always try to capture as much loops as possible before a gig (easier to do that create your own Flash files, I admit). And as time goes on, you can start using some old loops/animations that you haven't used for age so that helps and reduce the need to work.

(Considering the few you told me you're getting paid, I wouldn't recommend to spend 50 hours a week to create content)

[MoRpH]

Yeah a VERY subjective call.

Personally I create far more content for specific one off events as
1. They pay more, so get more of my time
2. I find one off parties are better themed and have more variety

Depending on my time I tend to mostly create new material for my (monthly) residency when I get around to it and even then its normally quite generic material (not themed to the night) although I do occationaly bang out some new DJ titles and some logo stuff once in a blue moon for freshness, but I rely on the other stuff to provided the variety.

I also find that some of the not too specific stuff from my one off shows fits quite well into my general database so finds it way into my residency set.

Also as X said... once you have been doing it for a while you can go back to old CDRs and did out material you haven't used for ages and bring that back (also useful if you have moved city since then :) ) Personally I threw about 10 loops I haven't used in over 4 years back into my mix last weekend and they really worked...... and it was a pleasure to play with some old favs again :)

[vjpixylight]

new is always better, and the mix of new and old clips is always going to be alittle different, but one thing to remember, Unless you do a small weekly with the same ppl coming out to it, most ppl that see you perform, will be seeing your old clips for the first time, and sometimes it is nice to really know a set of clips you are using because it might work with the music better if you know what you are using...Whew,that was one long sentence...

[murph]

As far as new loops go, we usually try to have a few, or at the very least just change up how we're using things, but I have a different suggestion for you as well. If you can, I'd recommend finding more VJs in the area and set up a rotation. Doing a club night every week gets boring for you and the crowd, as you can only create/find so much new content at a time. We had a weekly for a while, and it got real old, real fast. Now I do the booking for Plush in Minneapolis, and each month we play once, two of the 4 other locals play, and I try to get one out of town act in. It's been a lot of fun seeing what everyone else is doing (all surprisingly different!) and once a month is managable for us content-wise. I still have to be there every week, as most of the locals don't have their own projectors, but I can spend most of the night dancing and watching cool visuals. =]

[MoRpH]

Yeah I agree with Murph there...

I was doing a weekly res for a couple of months and just just gets to be a grind in terms of new material, your performance and for the crowd... definately get others in to rotate.

Luckily my res night decided to scale back the club night to once a month plus internationals :)

[infopocalypse]

My residency has gone on for six months now... weekly.

[MoRpH]

Oh sooooorry...... well some ppl dig on the weekly residency personally I prefer variety still it doesn't stop me from doing 2+ gigs a week normally

[fluchtpunkt]

starting off with vj'ing as a weekly resident is rather tough for a very simple reason: you lack the amount of samples needed & you're not experienced in mixing yet. i'd recommend you to find at least one other vj. i seldom do my gigs alone, but have a partner. this has proven to be a very good solution for a lot of reasons. u can switch turns in mixing (so we too can shake our asses!), with both mixing (&filming or whatever) for the main two or so hours of the party for extra pressure. the viz are much more diverse when two persons are behind them, & each one gets a lot of creative input from the other etc....
as to the samples: in time this will be (as to the amount(!) not the quality - good stuff is always hard to find) less of problem, as you'll have old stuff to reuse. it's also a good idea to have some 'hit-viz' just as dj's have their hit-lp's they play often. another idea is to (re)sample your own mixes.
be creative & don't just play sequences of loops: mix, experiment, 'abuse' your gear (about 60% of my viz is what happens/i do during the party i.e. live) & in time you'll have too much material and too little time to show it.

get rockin'

[infopocalypse]

if I could only find someone to connect with mentally enough to have a partner in action... but I've really only got one competitor here and he is completely uninterested in tag-teaming.

[syzygy]

I try to use at least some new material for each night - that way you are evolving.

I do a bi-weekly residencey, two monthlys and some additional events. For the monthlys I tend to overhaul my collection of clips pretty heavily while for the bi-weekly I add a few new clips each time, keeping the majority.

Each of the clubnights I perform at has a definite 'theme' so I have made a concious effort to keep them separate with their own themes for visuals. I also try to move the theme for each night along a little each time, keeping the regulars interested in what is going on on the big screen.

For a weekly residency, I'd want to be changing around 5-10% of the clips each week (You might want to do this every two weeks or monthly)

Isn't there a tool that turns video clips into flash movies? (I'm sure I saw it in a magazine) That might help with getting more material.

Dan.

SyZyGy