Ideas on best R&B club DJ out there?

[soundinmotiondj]

It was a combination of the tracks

Finding new music is a matter of putting in the time digging the crates (or whatever). This is a well known process and there are a LOT of resources available to help you find the current hot songs.

and the way he was mixing them.

This one is harder. If this was simply a matter of "better skills"....then the answer is also "put in the time."

However, if this is a matter of the other guy "seeing" a a larger theme that you could not pick out in that same set of music...that is a different problem. Being able to rearrange and remix songs in your head into something that will sound good is another layer to song selection. This is harder to accomplish with "brute force."

Based on your description...and my own reading between the lines...I am guessing that given the "same" set of music to start with, you still could not have produced the "same" final mix. My best advice is to find this guy and go hear him play some more....that might help to inspire your own creativity in your mixes.

[RockingClub]

Well, I think it might be only a matter of this specific skills and not a matter of Djing skills in general. Maybe that guy worked out some nice techniques that impress you since you don't know them. The other way round he might not know all of your techniques. So it's just a different way of mixing...
If you are going to play with him again chances are high you will be able to have a short conversation with him or at least to have a look at his way of mixing. Sometimes it's only a special way of twisting the EQ knobs ...

[soundinmotiondj]

Based on your description...and my own reading between the lines...I am guessing that given the "same" set of music to start with, you still could not have produced the "same" final mix. My best advice is to find this guy and go hear him play some more....that might help to inspire your own creativity in your mixes.

Having thought about this for a little longer...


When I was CD based, I would take all the "one hit" CDs and burn compilations. I could condense my CD cases 10:1 that way. When I started buying from places with DRM, I would immediately burn to CD and rip to remove the DRM. Even today, when I get a bunch of new songs in, I burn a CD to listen to in the car.

In all cases, I notice that I tend to develop a preference for the order of the songs on the CD...even though the CD order is "random". One way to break out of that rut is to load a "handful" of songs into a playlist and listen on "shuffle" mode. That can help to break out of pre-conceived ideas about what songs flow together.