I would pick original versions over club mixes; some edits are great and resemble the original song, but if it is too much of a remix you get the problem that people don’t know the song.
With mixing anything goes. I have some techniques I use regularly: loops, backspin, dropping at the break and filtering out the former song. Your imagination is the limit, YouTube sometimes helps to expand your imagination 
I get a lot of ideas just watching others perform.
For me it depends on how old the song is. If it’s newer I’ll play the original mix. If it has been played to death for months I’ll drop a remix.
Or sometimes I’ll start with the original and mix in the remix with the 2nd chorus (especially if it has a big drop). I don’t do too much of that technique you describe with Top 40, but I tend to with House music in the same key. Lots of looping is involved.
^this
lol toilet tracks
It’s good to have a rough idea of what tracks you have in your crate. BUT don’t plan down to the letter, I guarantee nothing will work exactly to a schedule. Rock up, get the vibe of what people are looking for and play based on what the crowd reacts to.
The key to this method is being familiar with your tracks so when you are playing you can pick the next track on the fly based on how the room feels.
If you’re running short on time tho I’d suggest planning a few 15 minute set lists (5-7 tracks) for a range of genres or moods. That way then the whole night isn’t planned, but you have intro sets that you can confidently kick off with whenever you hit a mental block or want a genre change. That 15 minutes should give you enough time to work out if the crowd is enjoying what you r doing and whether you need to kick it up a notch, drop it down a bit or keep firing along the same line 
This is the first song I bought from Beatport! (Big deal 3K9) Then I found out about Audiojelly and moved there, cos it’s cheaper. Great tracks for money spent ratio!
Ok, so for the ‘Top 40’ or so, what other not that popular tracks should I play in between, to make it a ‘rollercoaster ride’? Upbeat House?
I’ve decided to use Traktor. Just one problem. The BPM readings on both CDJs are well off the actual BPM displayed on Traktor. I remember seeing a question asked by somebody on this. But got no time to stroll looking for it. So can any Traktor users reply? How do I calibrate them?
Fingers crossed for no random bluescreens, computer restarts while using Traktor on Friday!
Thanks.
Ahhh, it was great, nervously playing in front of drunk friends! They were that drunk that they didn’t mind beats going off!
Though it was annoying them messing with the platters. =/
Had a technical error with Traktor, had to use USBs.
My laser machine that I ordered didn’t arrive in time, had to use my LED disco ball. Da fog machine went off!
I don’t really count this as my first real set though. I was bloody hell unorganised!
As this party was with everybody that I knew, I had a great time! =)
Me. 
Ok…so knowing what you know now…what advice did you find helpful? What advice would you offer to someone about to take on their first gig?
