Djing in a Club

Hello Djs,

I'm relatively new to djing, only been doing it for less than a year and I had a question about how do djs mix their
songs in a club. I mostly mix Electro Dance music so I know about beat-matching and all the basics, but my question
was just exactly how you would mix your songs in a club? What I've been noticing is when I go to a club is djs dont
play the songs for too long, they try to keep the excitement up and not have the crowd waiting for too long, but i
need to get more info. For example, do they have their own edits of songs to make them easier to mix (I saw a dj ata club mixing the drum beat of The Motto then Drake started rapping, but the original version starts with drake
rapping on the first beat)? How long should a song be played? How to know which songs to play(mixing in key)? How to time your songs right for the whole night? Things like that.. Any advice and tips from all club Djs out there would be helpful and much appreciated.

Thanks.

Hi IzReal,

Maybe this wil give you a head start: http://forum.djtechtools.com/showthread.php?t=3545

Many of your questions depends on your own personal style and most of all how your crowd react.
Yes, there are remixes that are not avaliable for us "simple souls"....

Click the link and read my friend. Also try to search the forum on your own.


Cheers!

Your probably going to get bashed for asking a "newbie" question ... because they'll assume you haven't researched anything. I don't really care ... If I feel like a chat all good.

I was in a similar boat as you. Started out early last year in a club environment. I was just tossed to the wolves. And worse the club owner wanted to market Dubstep on my nights ... and the crowd wanted Top 40's. The owner learned to trust my judgement and I found a nice balance of really a lot of different styles ... but I would never get to far away from the familiarities of Top 40's.

W/ top 40's ... I don't think I ever played a full song. Usually the first 2 verses or the best most recognizable verse. The hook a couple of times .. and keep it moving. But sometimes .. depending on the song .. if you don't give them what they want, it's anti-climatic. Like, for example, a 2 Chainz verse on something new ... that people are REVVED up to yell out the verse / punchlines as they dance ... then you take it away from them. Not favorable .. unless you have a MONSTER on deck that makes them immediately forget about that feeling. You'll learn and your instincts will become more accurate.

W/ EDM ... I keep it moving even faster ... I rarely play a 2nd "drop". And more so than with Top 40's .. I regard key and harmonic mixing here. Or I'll harmonically blend some top 40s stuff w/ the EDM. People love it. I used to mess people up with a mash I did last year of "Raise Your Weapon" (Noisia Remix) + Kanye West - "Mercy". After a MONSTER build up on the Deadmau5 remix ... w/ lows filtered off of "Mercy" ... Simultaneously w/ the bad ass Noisia Drop ... BOOM .. "Lamborghini Mercy ... "
Shock factor. The crowd will sense safety and fear. You have to eventually stop thinking and just do things. Take risks. I also mashed Prince w/ Skrillex. People love it! I would start with Prince "when doves cry". People would be like WTF? Then BOOM ... Kill Everybody In The World.

Another tip ... as the DJ ... You need to be up there having fun and dancing. You can make hesitant dance floors pop just by grooving yourself. This is important, I think actually. When I'm in the Lab producing ... When I stand up and play the keys or stand up and flip a beat ... it [for me] comes out more exciting.

And as far as what to play ... The club like I said wanted a Dubstep night .. and I did play Dubstep and Electro House every night .. But I would read the crowd or a pile of chicks and just really feed them. Screw the owner. I don't like to be embarrassed.

Before I would start sometimes .. I'd scope stuff out. I'd approach a big group of chicks and let em know that I was about to start and find out what they're wanting to hear. More so than to actually know or care what they wanted ( I didn't have half the garbage anyway) .. But it was to gain their trust and support.

One more thing ... You're gonna need this:



Thank me later. (Get the original, too)

Good looking on the input .. and those are some sick tracks you got there and helpful advice Jshawpro.. What Im going to do I think is just make my own edits on Pro Tools of Fl Studio for certain songs. I want to also start making some mashups of some cool hip hop lyrics and some electro (which has been done plenty of times but not with the songs I'm thinking about). Another question, when you mix hip hop do you also mix harmonically ? Because personally when I mix hip hop I don't always mix in harmony and it doesn't sound bad, same with some electro, I also think it has a lot to do with positioning am I right or wrong?

Thanks a lot! Glad I could help.

With Hip Hop ... I try to still as much as I can to regard key ... But it's not a priority. I use my ears at all times ... but much more so with hip hop. A lot of times ... The vocals start kicking in and you can't really do a lot anyways.

My first goal is to be sure my selections and transitions are exciting regardless of key. 2nd is key / harmonics. My ears are the judge ... my intellect offers up options that should work based on key code. In hip hop there are plenty of recognizable and fairly KEY NEUTRAL loop points ... to transition to or from. EQ / Filter can make clashes less noticeable when the loop is not completely neutral.

It's great that you're into producing as well .. because I have and am still building an archive of only Key Neutral hot beats that I produce in Ableton. I have several options across the tempo range ... 70 - 145 (I grid my dubstep double time).

It's awesome because no matter what ... I have hot beats that can briefly keep people interested and dancing as I go anywhere I want .. or get out of a jam.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by IzReal

Good looking on the input .. and those are some sick tracks you got there and helpful advice Jshawpro.. What Im going to do I think is just make my own edits on Pro Tools of Fl Studio for certain songs. I want to also start making some mashups of some cool hip hop lyrics and some electro (which has been done plenty of times but not with the songs I'm thinking about). Another question, when you mix hip hop do you also mix harmonically ? Because personally when I mix hip hop I don't always mix in harmony and it doesn't sound bad, same with some electro, I also think it has a lot to do with positioning am I right or wrong?

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with The Motto, you can go to the end where the outro has just the instrumental, and then go from there and mix in to the intro for that same effect. A lot of songs are like that. Also there are tracks made with intros like that, some of them are extremely useful when there is literally no spot with 4 bars of instrumental to loop in a song

Ahhh ok you got my wheels spinning.. and jshaw with those "key neutral hot beats" you speak of are they hip hop or? And do you have them uploaded somewhere and maybe some other beats you have so I can have a listen?

And Dfinch good info as well that's exactly what I was just now thinking and practicing..

My bad i just saw your soundcloud link haha..

I have them in every genre. If you go to my Soundcloud ... listen some stuff and imagine deleting everything but the drums.

That's actually what I do most of the time ... I've been making beats and producing for a while now (10+ years). This is a great way that I've found to utilize hot stuff that I didn't finish or whatever ... that would sit forever otherwise.

I'll share some stuff when I hit the lab later.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by IzReal

My bad i just saw your soundcloud link haha..

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by jshawpro

One more thing ... You're gonna need this:



Thank me later. (Get the original, too)

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nice call. If you dont play wobble in your set you have failed every guy on the dance floor. Because when girls hear "wobble baby wobble baby wobble baby wobble yeeeeeeah"

They go to the dance floor and make it wobble baby wobble baby wobble baby wobble yeeeeah.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by numarkaddict

They go to the dance floor and make it wobble baby wobble baby wobble baby wobble yeeeeah.

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True. Story.

And before anybody .. to some degree, rightfully .. critiques the cheese factor here. Please note that the guy asked about club venues of which he suggested Top 40's stuff would be expected or appropriate.

Also note. That just because something is cheesy, or hyper commercial .. Does not mean you can not deliver it in a means that's non-cheesy and unique to your style.

I admittedly need to polish up the "Wobble" remix that I suggested earlier ... There's some harsh areas in the spectrum. I know where they are so I filter it when I'm playing out. AND I'll play the original in a heartbeat ... depending on the crowd.

AlSO, on lots of other songs ... If you set your filters appropriately .. full highpass on the sub and kick ... pretty tightly rolled up to as high as 300 - 600hz depending on your selections. (watch out for the snare of the original .. it's tough to notch out) but .. You can leave room to fill that whole area with a bad ass beat and sub ... that will make the filtered original sound very different. In a sense ... live remix / redrum on the spot. Takes planning and for things to be in key, though.

Good times.