I don’t know about all of you, but it seems to me more and more DJs are premaking, preplanning, or using a load of mashups in sets more than they used to.
I’ve seen entire sets filled with mashups, others that seemed to play what they came there to play rather than what the crowd actually wanted..
This lead me to think about something.. how many people are planning out the tracks they play before they go out? Am I missing the boat by trying to keep it “on the fly”?
I’m not talking about DMC or controllerism routines, those are separate from a live set I feel, and sometimes need practice to master..
..but I find more control when I don’t rely on a set playlist, or even benchmark songs. Mashups are very limiting because I find it more exciting to perhaps cue up and drop a different song on the fly?
Not trying to hate, I just wanted to know if people are using a combination of preplanned element or if everyone is trying to make every set live and improvise?
No I don’t plan my sets. Recently however, I have created a playlist containing 100 songs that suit my particular style that I have crafted for myself. With this playlist I plan on adding and subtracting songs as I see fit, as time progresses. This playlist gives me at least 3-4 good hours of messing around with room to improvise. Of course I deviate from this list when I feel the urge.
When you have too many songs, it is probably in your best interest to “narrow” down the good songs from the so-so songs. This is what I have done and I don’t find myself pulling hairs trying to find the next song to mix into.
I spin techno and house, so no mashups for me unless they’re done on the fly. The most I’ll do is maybe combine two tracks into one for a pre-made intro but that is it.
I play open format and always play tons of mashups mix in with plenty of orginals as wells. I used to plan my sets to the T, untill I got very comfortable with my songs and which ones went well together and my “go-to” transtions, etc. After a while I just started creating crates by timeblocks 10-12am warm up 12-2am Peak 2-4am closing. 400-500 extras. This way i didn’t have to go nuts looking for tracks. I’d say now, 80-90% of the tracks I play in a night come from these crates unless i am inspired to play something on the fly I think the crowd will like, but I used mashups and especially remixes that add some funk to a track.
That cause these DJs do not know how to DJ. Throw em a request and they would not know what to do with it.
There is a lack of skill with todays DJ. Ask half of these kids to go on vinyl and do a transition. They would not know what to do. How to count bars. How to phrase a song for smooth transition or even how to beat match without looking at the screen.
This is due to software DJing. To much reliance on cue points. To much reliance on wave forms. To much reliance on auto BPM counters. So the basics go out the window and makes it difficult to free form a mix and go outside of your set. Also a lot of software DJs nowadays tend to not do open format, so they don’t know or can’t or don’t want to read the crowd.
Software DJing is fine. I do it. I use the most hated software out there, VDJ. But one needs to learn the basics before even calling themselves a DJ. I wholeheartedly believe that EVERY DJ out there start off with vinyl and the basics before moving on to CD or worse software.
[QUOTE=Bl4ck3n3D;397492]No I don’t plan my sets. Recently however, I have created a playlist containing 100 songs that suit my particular style that I have crafted for myself. With this playlist I plan on adding and subtracting songs as I see fit, as time progresses. This playlist gives me at least 3-4 good hours of messing around with room to improvise. Of course I deviate from this list when I feel the urge.[/QOUTE]
Pre planning is kinda lame improv all the way and improv mash ups for sure hardly ever will drop a mash up unless spinning top 40 then I don’t care cheddar is cheddar and mash ups are cheddar lol. Trance and house ill do on the fly mashes but mostly just really long transitions 2 to 3 minutes. I have done entire 45minute sets never having less then 2 tracks playing and most the time 3. I have done break sets using 3 tracks the whole time. You have to be spot on beat matching tho to do these kind of things.
Heres a good tip. Dont assume whats good for you is good for everyone.
Programmed sets have their place. They can be a great way of getting a great set down perfect.
I play a few sets each week that are totally improvised, based around a very very lose collection of playlists but ive also totally 100% winged it with no prior setlist, just open the laptop or cd wallet and play. Its great when it goes well but theres no-one that does it completely blind.
You have played all your tunes before, you know where they are. There is no such thing as a complete improv set unless you have picked up someone else bag of CDs by accident.
Also 45 minutes… thats not a set in my eyes. Its a slot.
A set is over an hour at least (just my opinion, nothing else).
Playing at a festival or BIG GIG that caters to a certain style of music, I arrange a set before hand. A playlist. I choose new tracks that I know the crowd will like.
If I am just playing a club gig with a wide style of genres…then you gotta play it by ear.
i tried often to do something planned but i never managed to to so.
In the end when i am playing for the dancefloor, the first few tracks are fired and i receive the first reactions from the dance floor they lead me to play tracks i didn’t thought before ^^
long answer: nope. you should be comfortable enough previewing on the fly to be able to tell “is this going to work with the current record playing?” and “is this taking me the direction i want to go for the next while?”
if you cant figure that out on the fly, you arent a dj. (i mean that in all seriousness)
