30 songs?! Thats enough for like 3 sets?!

Eh? You might not be sure what you're going to play beforehand. You might change your mind, the room might influence your choice, or the other DJs might. If you were playing vinyl, would he expect you to empty your crate beforehand? He doesn't know what he's talking about

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Originally Posted by Janky

Heard this the other night when going to my friends place to play some tunes.

Scenario detail: My buddy calls me out of the blue to play some tunes at his place. About 10-15 people, 4 or 5 of them local DJs, others being some promoters and some being regular club goers.

Loaded my USB with about 30 or 40 tunes, mostly new stuff I downloaded, a couple accapellas, etc. One of the local DJs was already playing some tunes when I got there and my buddy told me I could play next if I wanted to.

Plan was to switch every 4 or 5 tunes. I make my way behind our makeshift booth to the Technics, plug in my USB and it starts to load up my songs.

Some other background info: Guy before me wouldn't call himself new, but hes been playing tunes for about 2 years, but doesn't own any equipment. Type of guy that likes to only buy off the front page of Beatport and any tune over a year old is considered "old school". Ive been playing for about 10 years, but its only been the last 2 years I switched to digital format.

He sees me coming over, makes some room and lets me plug in. He takes one look at the song list from the USB and starts freaking out.

Takes off his headphones and starts yelling for my buddy, wondering why I am going to play such a long set. I explain to him that we're switching every 4 or 5 tunes and that I probably wasnt going to play all of em, just wanted to have enough for any scenario.

He scrolls through the songs and asks me why I carry so much music, which prompted the thread title : "30 songs?! Thats enough for like.... 3 sets?!"

The rest of the night was fun, just some beers, talking shop with other DJs, talking about DJ Shadow lol, and trade songs.

At the end of the night, the DJ before me says I played well, but should be considerate when playing with other DJs, as its rude to assume you can play for more than 1/2 an hour.

I brush him off, but as im driving back, I start thinking about todays DJs and how 1/2 hour sets are starting to become the norm, hour long sets are frightening to most and 2 hours is an eternity to most everyone except the older guys. I prefer to play at least 2 hours but to each his own :p

What do you guys think? Do 30 songs = 3 sets or one?

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Actually, would not even invest time in that guy....
I'm all for being friends with fellow dj's but if they start bitchin' then I just blank them out (same goes for obnoxious guests / drunkentards). You are there to do you thing (based on what the host asked/ is expecting), what does he care how much tracks you brought ?

Personally, I would not be bothered with a 5 track switch schedual...and pass it up.
Not that I'm booked solid, I just have some personal opinions regarding what a good dj / set would be.

To each their own.

I carry thousands of songs with me. Before I went to digital (USB's & Traktor X1) I carried a CD wallet.

Held 360 CD's. 10 tracks on each CD. 3600 tracks with me at all times. Eventually I filled that and could fit a small 40 cd wallet inside that wallet, giving me a total of 4000 tracks. And that was all house music, nothing else.

Be prepared. Simple as.

And sorry but 30 minute sets? Nah.. They're good for newcomers I reckon, break them in gently. In Liverpool they used to run an event called the Bar Red All Dayer where up and coming DJ's would send in a mix, and the good ones would get selected to come down and play a 30-45 minute set on the night. Brilliant to break someone into the night out DJ'ing scene who doesnt know what to expect.

I play from 9pm/10pm - 3am/4am almost every Friday and Saturday on my own. Can be hefty. But 30 minutes you can't show jack. I use my first 30 minutes to warm up.

I always carry thousands of songs, incase what i'm playing doesn't work the crowd you have something else to switch to. I dont care how long or short your set is you should be taking as much music as possible, it can't hurt to have more than you need. I often play 3-4 hour sets or multiple 1 hour sets on the same night in the same room so its crucial to have lots of tracks.

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Originally Posted by SquireC

But 30 minutes you can't show jack. I use my first 30 minutes to warm up.

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Absolutely, the first 30 minutes to an hour are to get into the groove. The real fun starts sometime after the 2h mark.

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Originally Posted by 3heads

Absolutely, the first 30 minutes to an hour are to get into the groove.

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furthermore, also to get a good feel/observations of the crowd aswell...of course the "feel" of the night progresses with the influx of alcohol in their systems, but also those 1st 30-45min are crucial to see what response is like to certain styles/tracks.

Sometimes the crowd just isn't that much into the hardest of hardcore and they want throwback familiarity all night...other times they want experimental pushing the envelope stylized grooves that even I'm not so sure about...
Learn to read your audience, and go with it.
It's almost like having sex with hundreds of people at the same time trying to please each and everyone.

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Originally Posted by Culture_Shock

That guy just sounds like a nitwit. That isn't enough songs for that many sets, and even if you did want to play for an hour straight, he doesn't have to throw a fit about it. I think switching between djs every hour is quick, and switching every five or so tunes wouldn't even be worth doing.

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Looking over my initial post, I think I might have skimped on the details of the night. This was just a little get together with some friends, not a club or bar environment. We do this about once a month or so, mostly just to hang out and show off some deeper tunes that we might not play.

When we "set-up" its usually just a mixer, turntables and a laptop. No one brings there own gear unless we're showing off some new kit. Its bring your own tunes and headphones.....and beer.

Its also not a hard rule of 5 tunes, if someone is really into a mix, we just let em go. Or if they start getting thirsty :p

Be prepared.
For what other djs may throw at you, for how the crowd reacts, for how your own mood might change.
When TSP is an option, even though I don't have to worry about a 50ish record limit in the bag I do organize things a bit in the software with smaller crates of maybe up to a couple hundred to make things a bit easier. A tagging strategy you're comfortable with helps with that (Comments, ratings and what have you)...
When working like this, of course you won't play everything you set aside but it helps you along the way...

The good thing : just export one of those crates to a couple usb sticks and voilà, known good working emergency subset of your collection that you can pop into the CDJs or someone else's laptop :)

Bringing just enough for your estimated play time is setting yourself up for failure if what you picked doesn't please your crowd. Simple as that.

30 songs would be a really long tech house or techno set to be fair...

Here is my answer to that. Dat Tracklist.
https://soundcloud.com/getcryphy/roc...ousand-maximum