read the crowd or prepare your set ???

[MisterMoleyMole]

Hi All,

Discussion time...

So there is lots of talk about the right and wrong way to dj from many people and thers a couple of points that i find totally contradict themselves

1 - Prepare your set

2 - Read the crowd

If youve done 1 whats the point of doing 2 as youve pre planned and if your doing 2 how the frick can you do 1 as it would take a hell of a lot of preparing and a few different mapped out routes based on what the crowd are writing out for you to read.

Anyway i guess my question is if you do 1 how long do you take preparing a set and what sort of things do you prepare, full tracklisting? how do you remember exactly where to bring tracks into other tracks as thats soem memory in my eyes...

Ive been a bedroom dj for some time and never really got programming down as i've never really known how to approach it.

Lets talk
Gav

[BentoSan]

I think its a little bit of A and a little bit of B.

You should be finding out before hand what the crowd digs by scoping out where your going to mix and what gets the people going there get into - failing that you should ask someone who knows if you havent already been informed.

Using that information you prepare for your set by organising the tracks you think your going to need.

Then when your actually doing your thing you should be reading the crowd to make sure your along the right lines and change it up if need be.

Dj notation might help your programming out more as you will be more easily be able to identify tracks that fit together.

For instance if the track your playing is finishing with a bassline then you know that you can bring in another track with for example start intros with a drum beat. You will be able to know what the your tracks start and finish with just by gazing at your dj notation you created for your songs. Its using tools like this and other tricks(like finding the keys of your tracks, setting cue points and loop points) will allow set preparation and mixing based off reading the crowd to meet somewhere in the middle.

I think balancing your set preparation with your ability to read the crowd is whats going to make you a really good dj.

[wrong chris]

^very well said bento

to add to the subject of dj notation, i find it extremely helpful to make a detailed notes in my setlist regarding Cue Points, Loop Points, Key Changes, FX etc. to remind me of the best way to mix in and out of tracks in my playlist as some mixing techniques will suit certain tracks/transitions better than others. With software like Traktor it allows for some very complex technique and for the absent minded professors among us, there's no shame in writing yourself a script beforehand to help remember what worked(and what didn't) while preparing the setlist in the studio.

With that said, I've never stuck to one of my scripts 100% while playing live gig ... Sometimes I'll play songs longer or shorter, switch up the order of what I play and even play songs I hadn't originally intended on playing etc. Sometimes this is because of inspiration striking while in the moment, but then sometimes it's because of distraction striking and missing a cue; so the only choice is to compensate by changing things up a touch.


My personal approach to live performance is probably 85% prepared, 15% improvised.

[DvlsAdvct]

At this point my sets are the opposite, 85% improvised and 15% planned. I have mixes I know are going to work really well and build a lot of energy, but in the scene I run in planning doesn't get you very far.

The thing is, though, that you can plan an entire set that just doesn't work on the dance floor. Think about it. You sit at home and painstakingly put together a 2 hour set that you think is going to rock the house. The crowd shows up and 30 minutes in you don't have people dancing. You need to mix it up and fast. Now the improvisation comes in and reading the crowd.

In the end there is a large chunk that is completely blind luck but with enough practice that blind luck becomes skill.

[wrong chris]

I have mixes I know are going to work really well and build a lot of energy, but in the scene I run in planning doesn't get you very far.

what kinda stuff do you play bro?

[DvlsAdvct]

I mainly spin goth/industrial music. I'm starting to drift more toward hard trance and hard dance stuff, mixed with a dose of psytrance, cause, well, the scene is boring me.



What about you?

[wrong chris]

aah an industrial/goth dj, cool!! i've a friend who promotes events for that scene in vancouver but I'm not to familiar with it myself.

I play different styles depending on the gig.

for club/rave events that cater to the electronic dance music crowd I play a mix of house,techno,electro,breaks and dubstep.

for events that cater to the hiphop+funk crowd I do a mash-up show.. which is basically a blend of nostalgia and humour mixed with funky dance music. everything from classic rock, classic country,television/movie/videogame theme songs, jazz, funk/soul, disco etc. blended with hiphop and electronic dance music styles...

[EanGolden]

prepare small "bits" 3-4 songs that work well in context and use them when the crowd wants it! This allows you to develop a specific routine or series of brilliant mixes but not making your entire night pre-programmed.

[Diesse]

I'd say : you should prepare your set, but not entirely. You should know of what genres you'll have to play at this time, and at the other, when you'll have to make the transition from softer to harder tracks etc.

But you don't have to prepare all the tracks, it would take the fun out of DJing. I feel myself happy when searching for a track into my traktor's list, and when I find something I really like, I'm like glowing!

[nemo]

For me, again it comes down to: Knowing your tracks.

With digital djing, we do have the advantage of bringing 100x more music than we used to bring when we had cds or vinyls. This way, you can change course pretty fast, and not be limited to what course you change to.

For me it is kind of easy, as I only get booked for Techno/Psy/Chill gigs. So I can imagine that if you get booked to parties where the genres is "undefined" is a bit harder, but it still would come down to : Know Your Tracks (for me)

And yeah, it is VERY important to read your crowd, but reading the crowd wont do you any good if you do not know your tracks hehe. Knowing your tracks and not being able to read the crowd is an equal bad, as well.

You can plan your set from A to Z, but you should have room for improvement!