Do you play a different set everytime you play out?
Hi,
I try and play a different set every time I play out. But I would like to know if this is common for most DJs. I try hard to mix different songs every time I play out, but is it really crucial?
I find it hard especially when I have several gigs to play in a short space of time, also my music collection isn’t extremely big. But I hate to be to repetitive, this is why most of the time, I try to make every set different.
I would just like to know how others do it, and your opinions…
about 30% is brand new, that doesn’t mean that the other 70% are the same tunes in the same order every set, but many familiar ones on rotation. You can’t expect the crowd to listen to a whole set of tracks they have never heard, unless you are deep underground, but even then it will usually only work against you.
The way I can justify playing a couple of songs all the time in most sets is that the crowd changes every week, and even if you have die hard regulars they love to hear familiar songs and don’t spend their life obsessing over music like we do, so you will probably tire of something long before they do. It’s a compromise but you are always injecting new music in, if it’s good add it to your rotation and soon you will become sick of it as you are constantly looking. But that’s a good thing in reality, just fight your ego when it tells you that something is old.
This. I play progressive house, so for most crowds I have to stick to the “big” tracks that they’re likely to have heard before. For me, that’s the difference between a crowd thinking, “yeah… this is okay”, to completely losing their shit when a track they love comes on. The more frequently you play certain tracks that they DON’T hear anywhere else, however, the closer they get to that “omg” moment when it comes on, because you’re essentially giving them time (over a period of weeks) to like the track.
lots of the same songs but not ever the same song in the same order. No way to play 2 a week for 4-5 hours and not playing any songs from last night or week
You sound like a little crazy - when you are playing multiple shows in one night, to very similar crowds across a country…sometimes you have to play very similar sets. It’s just the way it goes man, life as a professional DJ is different than playing every few weeks. Especially if you want to play alot of your new tunes.
Saying this however, not every single mix will be the same, I wouldn’t even remember the order, I’m just saying when your a busy DJ sometimes there is alot of duplication.
I remember hearing old rave tape packs when I was growing up and if you got one of the same DJ playing at both on the same date they would play exactly the same set. Crazy.
If doing a stint of shows one after the other, I will play the same set with tweaks here and there depending on how the crowd is feeling it. I am scouring blogs, digital purchase sites, and other mediums regularly so usually by the tird night Ive already switched out ten tunes just due to having new tunes.
When playing multiple gigs int he same city, I try to differentiate as much as possible tho. You never know when that person might return to hear you again.
