So you messed up in the middle of your set!!!

[lethal_pizzle]

A crotchet is a quarter note. In 4/4 signature a crotchet is 1 beat. There are 4 of them to a bar.

[Roo]

I personally never plan a set. I just split my songs into several playlists and listen to them again and again. And then just play it as it goes, feels much more natural.

[WDPK837]

So, after this turned into a music theory discussion...

Brian Eno uses a deck of cards that he calls his "Oblique Strategies" when he composes. They're used to break difficult creative deadlocks. One of the ones that I've always appreciated was "Honor thy error as a hidden intention." When you screw up a mix in the sense of phrasing (beatmatching is just a technical skill, get better at it, no excuses) look at the creative possibilities inherent in what you've done. Use the tools your software provides you like loops, cue points, effects to get creative with the mix. Ride the energy of what you're doing and even if it doesn't work out so well, you'll learn something for next time.

[Accidental-DJ]

I mix a lot of prog, An what i do after a break down or the start of the song, Every 32 count something different happens in the song. Same go's for each 16 and then each 8.

Just get use to counting in your head and before you know it you will be fine.

Also with a lot of dance music. If you start your mix with the the song has either 1.30 or 1.00 left to mix into the next song they "normally" will mix togather well with a basic bass change.

Alot harder then i thought trying to write it down, Have you got a mate who can show you?

[gbushkuhl]

its ok if you mess up! Just last week, this happened twice by the way, I was working reverb all the way until the sound drops and when I went to release the effect for the trail the music just absolutely stopped, out of nowhere, and not really sure still what happened but I acted fast and quickly pressed play...took me a little while the first time to realize what to do...but shit happens and you need to act on your feet and get shit done!

[Mylestec]

Im doing my first little friend gig on halloween right...

I got a pretty rad set that Im going to do, I got it all planned out and practiced.
Only thing is, Even sometimes I mess up during my practice section.
Is it bad that I have an exact one and only point where I throw in my next track???
Because every once in a while, I will throw it in one beat after or forget that I don't have the same bpm before I start the next track.

What do you do when this happens to you?

go ahead and plan ur set so that u feel comfortable... but when you feel comfortable try and read the vibe of the crowd and depart from your planned set... that is what being a DJ is really all about anyway.. reading the crowd and responding.

[Dj Kave]

Spin back is your friend

Also, don't plan out the entire set. It makes you inflexible. What if someone has a genuinely good request that you have? If you're using Traktor, prepare a playlist with loads of tracks you think would work, and then just comment in if a track goes with another as a reminder. That way you build a few micro-sets consisting of 2-4 tracks that fit together.

Yeah he's right. If you mess up really bad, just spin back and drop a new track. People will usually be too drunk dancing on the hot girl or raging too really notice. Have an overall level of confidence when you do it though.

[bartboy]

I don't see anything wrong with being so rigid at first but you can't get stuck in that kind of mentality as you want to be playing to the crowd and not for yourself even though you both may like the same track selection. You have to ask yourself "This track is good, but is it good for right now with this crowd at this moment?".

It's probably one of the hardest things to do as a DJ. It something that will only come with time. But I can honestly say my first few live sets with an unknown crowd I planned the sets down to the second. I quickly grew out of that as it really limited me.

[completej]

I'm at exactly that point right now, bart. I finally had a gig (outside of my normal bar spot) where EDM was on the menu and people came hungry. I planned my set down to the second, practiced transitions, planned extra special effects, and all that.

When it came down to it, the crowd enjoyed what I was playing, but it didn't feel like it was a unique connection or relationship. Maybe it was the night, but I'm pretty sure it had to do with being so unyielding when it came to track selection and staying on the list. I did get invited back for another round (coming up on the 21st), so I want to do it differently this time, though I still don't feel comfortable with my level of experience on going 100% off-the-cuff beyond the intro tracks.

Do you have any advice or tips that helped you to "grow out" of that? Thanks,

[CryderSteez]

My most common mistake is letting vocals run over each other since I play alot of top 40 electro(girls gotta have something they know the words to, and you're always playing for the girls!) so I base all 8 of my cue points around where there are and aren't vocals in the tracks. Also knowing what vocals look like on the waveform if you're not super familiar with that track is a good thing(hint: they're green LOL)

But nothing beats practice, practice, practice.