When I DJ I try to do progressions (as anyone who has listened to my mixes can tell you). I like to start slow and then speed up, possibly slowing down again depending on the length of the mix/set. I try to think of it as taking the crowd on some sort of journey, taking advantage of the alcohol, drugs and adrenaline that as it gets faster they dance harder, obviously, and hopefully longer.
One of my good friends who I DJ with every week prefers to lock himself into a steady tempo and stay there. I find the crowd gets more exhausted quicker, but the transitions are more seamless.
What do you prefer? Do you not beatmatch and just mix/scratch the transitions together? How does it work for reactions?
I find that I’ll increase as much as 10-15 BPM even over a short set of 1-2 hours, but I think a lot of this depends on when you play (opening DJ? Don’t even think about ramping up 15 BPM), the crowd vibe, how long you play, who is following you and what they’re gonna be doing, etc. Personally I like the increase in tension that comes with steadily increasing BPM, then, as you say, maybe slowing it down to build back up if you’ve got the time.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with staying at the same BPM, but over a long set it seems to drag, even if the crowd isn’t as conscious of it. They just react as if there’s a certain monotony. But again, it depends on your track selection & dynamics.
I like to wave up and down as the night goes. I love hard and fast but I know that not everyone can do that all night. A lot of people get into the slower “dirty” songs. So I’ll play them around a fast songs, just to keep everyone interested.
How I do this is, say I’m play a track 140bpm. Its a good fast pace. Then I’ll try to find a good track to mix it with more like 120-130. Slowing the first track down on a break in the song… no one notices that I can tell. Now I’m mixing 2 medium speed track. Then I like to use some type of mashing or LPF or fade to let in the beginning of the next track at 90-110bpm.
I mix different genre of music, and the BPM dont always match. So lets say I’m playing Depeche Mode - Personal Jesus (130 BPM) and I want to play some Modest Mouse - Dashboard (+145 BPM). I have two or three choices I can do, Turntable Brake Effect (on Traktor) or Beatmasher @ 1/4 and tap every kick beat or every other beat to get a nice echo fade effect. Or if all else fails speed up/slow down the tracks to meet half ways BPM.
What are your limits, then, for pitching tracks? WIthout a key lock I don’t like going +/-4%, but with it I’ve gone as high as 15 or 20%, though a slight change can be heard. For basic beatmatching/mixing what are your preferences? It’s easier, of course, without vox in the track
Depending on what I am trying to accomplish. I will push the pitch to -50. This gives the snare a nice machine, industrial sound. Obviously this only work some times.
Got to hand it though, that the sets I play, don’t tend to be that diverse in BPMs. Most of the time fairly straight forward. Most of the tunes within the 8% reach, as that they can be pitch with an SL, or SL pitch correction settings.
I mainly do prog/trance at house parties for small crowds, i either start at 135BPM and stay there or i start at maybe 128/130/132 and move my way up… theres a point maybe 30 minutes in where i usually jump it up that 3 - 7BPM during a breakdown of a track and focus less on progressive housey type trance and more energetic trance.
