Top 40-- Be Honest

[WhatsADJ?]

Hey guys im trying to experiment in mixing top 40 for public parties (Frats mainly.) Tell me what you think the normal public would think and also what you think of it. Be brutally honest because I feel I can get great experience from the DJTT public.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FE8D4...el_video_title

[Topps]

Not too shabby

Avoid layering too much, I can't remember the technical terms but in general avoiding mixing too much background music overtop of each other, just as you don't want two vocals clashing you don't want the background to clash either. Less is more.

Could you post the track list please? I was really digging the 'Just a Dream' remix.

[WhatsADJ?]

Thanks bro. Got my first gig in about a month. Been practicing like crazy.

1. Not sure of the real name. Tech-n-stuff- Unknown
2. Memories- Kid Cudi ft. David Guetta
3. Sexy Bitch- David Guetta
4. Super Bass- Nicki Minaj ( Liam Keegan Explicit Mix)
5. Just a Dream -Nelly (Joey B Electro Mix)
6. All of the Lights (Joe Maz Remix V3)
7. Pursuit of Happiness- (Steve Aoki Mix)

I got a lot of the remixes from dirrtyremixes.com its pretty tight.

[Topps]

thanks! I've used dirtyremixes before, they have some sweet stuff

Keep practicing, it might feel tedious at times but over time you'll see some great progression

[WhatsADJ?]

still looking for critiquing and Im damn sure its not perfect haha

[Slater]

man that's a good start! i started the EXACT same way you are now haha trying to mix for frat parties and the such. basically, you have an amazing time ahead of you. i'm playing bigger clubs now in the real world but i would trade it again for one more year to spin back at OU! you're on a good track, one thing you need to watch out for is clashing melodies. this comes from what i call from "DJ ADD" and you are so pumped for the upcoming song that you cut the current one short. that's exactly what i did in this mix. but for the rest of it, i settled down and you can kind of see how my style has adapted into blending hip hop top 40 and house.



there's also some crucial steps for frat parties. lasers and fog was the best investment (besides my old vci) that i ever made. also, bring a crew with you and some alch. my friends would run around and get people dancing and pour drinks into girls mouths etc. it ups the mood, and the drunker everyone is, the more house-ish you can get to the closed mind college type.

a few gigs deep and you can start playing more of what you like because they will adapt to you. just get ready for some dumbass requests, 'haters' (i despise that word), and drunk people messing with your stuff.

it's all worth it though man, and again, great start! best of luck

edit: oh and for songs check beatport.com, dancingastronaut.com, and podcasts. i find a lot of stuff on zippyshare.com too cause its fo free

[WhatsADJ?]

Damn dude you're exactly the guy I wanted to talk to lol. Ive already experience the techno haters. Basically their opinion is that lil wayne and drake are the SHIT!!!... yeah.... haha i cant stand blending hip hop but i find myself doing it just to please the people. Nice to know there is someone out there that feels my pain. Ive been seriously involved in Djing for about 2 months but started in FL studio about a year and a half ago but quickl lost interest. I bought a VCI and had a lot of fun so i bought an S4 about a week ago mainly for loops and ableton type samples and love it. I'm also wondering how to really get my name out there. I live in a town with no clubs, just bars and such (I'm from Indiana lol) and don't really know where to start. I live in a dorm so owning speakers to do weddings and such is kinda unrealistic. I feel kind of stuck and not sure where else to go with it. Advice at this point would be awesome. Thanks in advance guys. I sincerely appreciate all the advice you guys are throwing at me.

[Slater]

Funny thing is I will be playing an ultra lounge with everyone wearing suits/dresses, martinis, rich ass people, and STILL get requests for stuff like "black and yellow". Basically you're on a perfect start. The S4 is all you need, because to be honest that's what I use for clubs lol. I don't understand why people drop 8k on a pioneer setup when my S4 can do more, unless they're playing festivals on world class systems. Basically just keep doing what you're doing!

If you want the most musical freedom, you want to stick with parties while you're in school and get a crowd going. Once you get some fans definitely try to do a dance night at uptown bars. My friend made a whole event out of it (facebook.com/daverave) and is getting all kinds of success and just played in DC.

The key thing to note is to still be sensitive with audience desires, and make sure your songs blend. Song A should sound a little like song B which sounds a little like C and etc, unless you do a huge drop or something. You definitely evolve throughout the night though. The key is to watch the audience and their energy. Basically a blanket tactic is that if they're not dancing, you're not hip hop enough. If the energy is up there and everyone is dancing, try more house-ish stuff until people get moving. I wish I could send you my whole college library of songs haha but a great start are the torrents for DJ Lito's top club/dance song of "random date". It's kind of old now but a lot of them go over well with the college crowd. Also check some newer top40 because it definitely has a beat you can mix.

I wish I could tell you everthing haha but truth is a lot comes from experience, and I had literally no help to start and ended up where I am now, so I have a lot of faith that you'll do amazing! Good luck bud and don't let the critics get you down. Just keep playing what you love and you'll end up somewhere great

[WhatsADJ?]

haha slater your starting to make me mad... mainly because I know I won't sleep tonight and just keep mixing haha. I'm pretty amped now. And if you don't mind me asking what is your set-up. Obviously the s4 that you mentioned, but do you have a MF or X1 or any of that. I kinda want to add more effects such as gaters and filters into my mixes for the optimum buildups and since you seem to be the nicest person ive met on here I figured you might have an opinion on that matter. Thanks again bro.

[Slater]

No prob man! I'm about to crash for the evening but I just run pure S4. If I do really fancy mashups, like some on my soundcloud (i.e. the Wolfgang Gartner v Taio Cruz) I'll make it in Ableton before hand. A lot of DJs do this, and it allows you to make more complex mashups while opening up your time when you're playing live to read the audience, pick bomber songs, and have a great time.

In my opinion, there's two different ways to DJ. There's the concert setup, where everyone is there to see you, and you can do crazy effects and dedicate 100% of your time to mixing. Then there's the typical DJ setup where you're there to amp up the energy and make sure everyone has an awesome time. The latter is by far the most common, but you definitely still have room for some fancy stuff every now and then. One of my fav things to do is take basic parts of songs like intro/exit beat or a breakdown, save them in the banks, create custom beats on the fly.

That being said, I do regularly use (in order of frequency) filter, reverb, beatmash, delay, gater. But again, most of your time at parties or standard clubs is going to be making sure the energy is high and your mixes are flowing like willy wonka's chocolate river. All of this, I can do on-board the S4 better than most DJs I've seen in the area and I'm extremely confident in my super basic setup. Plus when I'm in the booth no one can tell I DON'T have a full pioneer setup with a lemur or whatever expensive thing anyways. Hope that helps!