First set here I go. 6 hours long... need some wise advice.

[3K9]

Ok DJTTers,

I've created this thread to seek some advice for such a long set from 7pm till 1am this coming Friday 21th, my first time ever DJing out at a house party to celebrate the end Year 12 for my school year.
I'm downloading tracks like there's no tomorrow, simply because I don't have enough music!
I dunno if I wanna use Traktor or not with my Pioneer 400s setup. I don't know how to use it well enough. Should I?

Here's my plan.

Warm up: 1.5hrs with Deep house.
Then play Electro house/House for 1.5~2hrs.
Bangers/hits for ~2hrs
Then progressive house to finish off.

Obviously Im a noob, so I need to plan out my first set. How does it sound? Any tips to improve, especially for such a long set would be appreciated! One of my mates going to da party is a bedroom DJ as well, so that's my chance to have a short break, socialise with friends, then back to work.
I will not drink, cos I do not drink alcohol!
I volunteered to do this, Im feeling the pressure already.

I'll post up a few pics from the party and tell you guys and gurls how it went.

Cheers everyone.

[photojojo]

Don't drink, pack some snacks and water. Setup a couple of long 10+ minute songs or short little mixes so you can go to the bathroom.

[ctg23]

7 hours of just house music is enough to piss off alot of students.

get different genres, house , dubstep, drum and bass, hip hop chart music etc.
because you will get hassled for chart and hip hop music

[Otacon]

I +1 the mixes for bathroom breaks and snacks and such. Thats a super long set to be playing for a first, but Id do like ctg said and get alot of diffrent genres since it will be a school thing, you wanna cover all of your bases.

[DubluW]

House party? Music you can get shitfaced to. Like Indie Music etc. And as stated by ctg23, Lots of different genres, as you'll be playing to the LCD, who's musical taste's likely dont expand outside the charts!

[3K9]

Don't drink, pack some snacks and water. Setup a couple of long 10+ minute songs or short little mixes so you can go to the bathroom.

Thanks for your tip! Although food and drinks will be available!

photojojo, I gotta question; is it ever ok to eat infront of guests at clubs, house parties, events?

[photojojo]

I wouldn't stand over the mixer eating a burger and fries, but going to the side or turning your back to take a bite is okay.

[ToOntown]

Test your entire sound system before the night of the gig. So many people doing house parties are making the mistake of showing up to a sound system that doesn't work...

Make sure you have music for everyone--not just what YOU like. The crowd can turn against you in a second if you don't have any music they like.

If people start getting shitty with you, don't get shitty back. Keep your cool and if you need to, shrug it off and tell them you're doing this for free/fun.

Pre-make a few 10 minute mixes. Like photojojo said, you will need bathroom and food breaks in the span of your gig.

[teambama]

Good advice. I have around ten pre made 12 min mixes called pee break rap, pee break dance ect ect... they save me a lot

[Rowanov]

What I usually do is playing some easy-going house music while the people are entering the club and getting their first drinks. The most important part is that this music sets a nice atmosphere. An example of track fitting the category is:


Next thing to do is filling the dance floor. The best strategy in my opinion is trying to get the chicks to move. Unfortunately, this usually does not happen playing fancy house music. At that point I usually switch to Top 40 type of music, building the tempo gradually. Eventually you can start to play the well known party house. Over the night I progress towards firmer beats, mixing in songs people won't know with some well known songs. Eventually, I break it down a couple of times to play hiphop and speed it up again towards progressive house. This usually works for me.

Ofcourse it is way easier to play just a couple of hours, instead of a whole evening.