How to know what to play next.... (noob alert)

[avsp]

hi everyone....i've been playing for 4 months know and i must say i've noticed good progress, of course thanks to my excessive lurking (DJTT) and some mentors...

i can have a lot of fun while bedroom djing and discover great mixes..but that doesn't really happens when people is around since at the particular moment i cant tell what to play next to go along with the mood or actually take it up a notch...my playlist just turns into a big pile of names and numbers...lol

I use MIK to identify the keynotes and separate song in genres but I could use a further advice on how to actually overcome this.

thnx!

[Garygary1]

load up all of your music on your ipod and listen to it all the time. Get to know your tracks and you will be able to connect the dots better when your mixing them.

[levvis]

load up all of your music on your ipod and listen to it all the time. Get to know your tracks and you will be able to connect the dots better when your mixing them.

+100. Pretty much the only way to do it!

[avsp]

thnx a lot for the advice i will get right to it.. also how do you manage your time between searching for new tracks and actually practicing?... maybe i shouldn't worry THAT much about getting new tracks and just practice practice practice? (i download tracks daily, can't say i add tracks to my collection with the same frequency though)

thnx again

PS: DJTT should definitely make a Forum app for mobile devices...that would make my day every single day. XD

[levvis]

Luckily I'm at uni so fucking around with beats isn't really a time issue. I listen/get music all day everyday.. Listen to your stuff a lot, and a good tip is to practice a lot with just your new tracks.
When I used to practice everyday I'd only use my recently added playlist. Great way to memorize their feel. Then I'd take the ones I loved and put them into my main playlist that I play out with.

It is a long haul knowing your tracks, but if you're into it enough it's never a chore!
Also another tip would be to be more selective when downloading tracks. I used to cop a shit load of 'ok' stuff and never use it. Now if I'm not completely feeling a track I won't even bother dling.

[mostapha]

Also, it just comes with experience. Eventually, you just get a sense for it.

It's no surprise that you don't "know" which track comes next after 4 months of even very diligent practice…it's not like a technique where someone can say "do this, get that result."

Welcome to the part of DJing that is actually hard…play more and it'll come.

[heaps]

Always play a song by an artist whose first letter of their first name matches the first letter of the former artist's last name.

[Rdperry]

Always play a song by an artist whose first letter of their first name matches the first letter of the former artist's last name.

this. always.

[theory28]

load up all of your music on your ipod and listen to it all the time. Get to know your tracks and you will be able to connect the dots better when your mixing them.

this!
in combination with loading the tracks in traktor and looking at the structure

like this track has an intro thats 4 groups of 16 (beats) with a break down thats 8 groups of 16

oh and look, this one has an intro thats 8 groups of 16, will these maybe work together since they have the same feel?

as for time management, like the pages of the artist. in the dubstep scene theres a lot of free handouts.
same with soundcloud, just follow people you like and boom.
a good way to find these people for me (mind you im talking dubstep) was to sub to inspecterdubplate, UKFdubste, Dubloads, quantumdnb/dubstep on youtube and look at the description for SC and FB links.

PS: DJTT should definitely make a Forum app for mobile devices...that would make my day every single day. XD

from what ive seen, dj dynasty is working on this.

[avsp]

thnx...lots of good advices!

Always play a song by an artist whose first letter of their first name matches the first letter of the former artist's last name.

Why would any dj in the world NOT do this...