Asked to play dubstep gig, anything special I should know?
I was recently asked to play a dubstep gig, something I am really unfamiliar with. Im going to sit down and listen to some mixes but while I am doing that does anyone know of some great dubstep tracks I could check out? Any tips on mixing? Im used to long mixes but seems like that wont go to well with this genre… Of corse I said yes its a chance to see new things and push myself but I’m just stumped on how to approach this stuff.
Help?
good music in any genre is a subjective thing. you’re just going to have to get on beatport, soundcloud, bandcamp, or whatever site you get music from and listen to a bunch of tracks until you find what you like. you can also search for dubstep blogs to open yourself to new sounds.
as far as mixing it, i used to do a lot of quick cuts because it’s a very busy style of music that doesn’t have much in the way of long intros and outros. you can interchange drops and breakdowns pretty easily. you can also blend some breakdowns ok if you find good tracks that fit well.
yup, just listen to a bunch of dubstep mixes and see what works and what sounds horribly wrong. i tend to hear people try to mix it like house with long blends, and two tracks both blasting on 10…just don’t do that.
when is this gig?
Thank you thats the kind of stuff I’m looking for! 
Late January.
alright, if you’ve got a few weeks that’s not too bad but you will probably be kind of busy trying to find the tunes and practicing.
do you know if they want strictly dubstep at 70/140 bpms? a lot of people playing that genre tend to also mix in drumstep, drum & bass and the bouncy 100-110bpm dubstep sounds. if so, you’ll also have to find good ways to transitions between tempos and usually the trick is to not linger in one tempo range for too long or it becomes kind of a shock when you switch.
you can check out my 2 mixes of that style…not sure if you’ll like them but it shows how i went about putting a set of those sounds together. i did a lot of short mixes because i don’t want to listen to a full dubstep song since it’s going so crazy and tends to sound like the same song pasted together twice to me.
here’s more of a dnb flavored short set:
i was told by one person (who runs the we love dub blog - check them out for tracks too btw) that my imaginary friends mix had too many quick cuts into other songs and not enough blends. i tend to disagree, especially with the tracks in the beginning, but i guess it’s just a matter of personal preference. i did some pretty long blends in areas, especially in the end, sometimes with a few tracks going on at once. i went through a huge dubstep phase, but i burned myself out and don’t really want to listen to it any longer.
well, maybe you will like it and can pick up at least an idea or two from them.
I assume they don’t care I was just told “Dubstep” I think I will be fine if I add in some other stuff for fun, seems like it will make it interesting, THANK YOU for the mixes kind sir! I like they idea. 
no problem, i hope i could help even a little bit. good luck on your gig and keep us posted on your progress.
quick transitions and using the build of one song into the drop of another is a regular way of mixing dubstep. Dubstep normally has long intro and outros aswell if you are wanting to build up the croud or break it down.
This, also use samples to end a song (as in loud swoosh, bomb sounds, etc..) and then start the build up of the next song…
If they weren’t to specific about what type of dubstep then I am going to assume they want the ‘this’ kind…so…
(obviously) Skrillex
Datsik
Excision
Kill The Noise
Vaski
Borgore
Tomba
Downlink
12th Planet
Bare
Flux Pavillion
ALSO just look at the UKF Dubstep channel on youtube, if you’ve never played dubstep and they hired you for the gig then I assume the crowd will be a bunch of yuppies, so throw down any UKF track and they’ll enjoy it. If not, then I’m sorry. 
Once you’ve looked into that enough you’ll see them doing collabs with other artists, just check them out.
Kill The Noise will probably go down with a crowd the best as a good chunk of his tracks just have a 4 of the floor rhythm and don’t have wild/technical drum patterns.. easier for people to bop their heads along too.
well as for music, here are some famous mainstream people u should check out:
skrillex
skream
doctor p
flux pavillion
feed me
nero
datsik
dream
here are less famous mixes that i think u should check out
https://soundcloud.com/eos/atumnal-equinox
https://soundcloud.com/madzler/fuck-you-2012-dubstep-set?in=madzler/sets/live-mixes
and watch the ones i said above on tomorrowland
also some deadmau5 will fit and maybe try and put some dutch tracks in
as for mixing try this technique:
play one songs intro and build and drop, then find a drastic stop moment (they’re common in dubstep) and cut to another track drop
and play it until the break then on the build up try and mix it with another build up and play the other track drop, i found that very easy and useful
hope you’ll have a nice gig
does anyone mix dirty robot sounding electro house into dubstep? I found that both at 135 can sound pretty good if they are the right tracks. Ive also found that there are a lot of people that “love” dubstep and have no idea that Im throwing house in as well.
one track for you: Krewella - Killin it (killagraham remix)
I do believe Krewella has their Play Harder EP for free download on their facebook page.
throw in some trap, people go crazy for it. sure, it’s a bit “flavor of the month”, but it really is crazy popular with North American dubstep crowds and it mixes very easily with dubstep.
Nah, just turn up with your hastily cobbled together dubstep set. It doesn’t matter if the punters know much more about Dubstep than the DJ. You’ll be fine!
+1
to the op:
why in the hell would you agree to play a set with music you know nothing about? imho this is pretty deprecatory to this genre… sorry man. you should get to know your stuff well, before playing a set…
Just dont throw down the most nasty, disgusting drops you can find. Build it up to that just like any other set. There’s some Breakbeat, Future garage, Roots Dub and Grime that sits quite well at the 140 mark in a dubstep set, and can break the set up a bit and out of that lethargic BumpBumpClap that sometimes kill the set if it goes on too long.
I use stuff like the vids below to spice things up a bit before playing the face melters. Do some digging!
Oh! And check out Swindle, MindFlow and Joker. They do some really funky/electric-ee type dubstep/grime stuff. Again personal preference and all.
I wondered when a response like this would come along. 
I told em that I am not that comfortable with dubstep to have the reaction of, “Nahh! You will be fine!” Plus I’ve always liked dubsetp and it seemed like a good opportunity to push myself and learn about a genre.
Thank you everyone for the great tips, already working on getting stuff together.
Btw, I am going to be playing for two and a half hours.
x2
what´s wrong with my response? did i overreact?
+1 million battletoads.
no…usually someone is in quick with a “you shouldn’t take gigs outside of what you do”. Passing the work on to someone who is versed in dubstep is the right thing to do. I recently got asked to play a 18 year olds birthday party. I took the gig called a friend and passed it to him. I understand the excitement of playing out and wanting to play out. We have a saying in golf, “the course is not the place to practice”. (people do it anyways…because hitting balls on the range is soooooooooo boring)