This weekend I have been asked to mix for 4 hours. I’m used to mixing for maybe 2 hours max. I’ve never had the opportunity to mix for this long. I’m not really sure how to tackle this set. I’m not really sure how to create a setlist for this or what to play. Generally I stick with minimal then go into House and eventually into heavier bangers and some dubstep. Since I have so much time I’m not sure if I should just lengthen each of these sections or just to lengthen certain parts. Any help would be greatly appreciated. All advice is good advice to me.
Good luck dude, 4 hours is diff-i-cult. I’ve only done it a couple of times.
you need to give yourself time to BUILD.
You need to give yourself time to chill, it’s impossible for most people to concentrate that amount of time, find some long tracks, play them after a ‘peak’ in your set, let people go to the bar, allows you to take a piss and catch your breath etc.
there’s articles on DJTT about how you need to build up and break down in your set, find them and read.
-Dont burn through songs too often!
sometimes I get into the zone and just waste some bangers that I should have saved for later, allow yourself time to build into them.
-prepare to pee. Have a plan for taking a piss, especially if you’re like me and drinking on the job haha. usually a long song/mini mix works
-dont be afraid to try out things you normally wouldnt play. if it flops, you still have hours for them to forget about it
really good point. I remember DJing at a frat party with like 300 people crammed in their house. Had to go to the bathroom, but it was being used, had to turn around to mix into another song. Put on a 10 minute mix and barely made it back with time to spare
Back on topic though, feel free to repeat a couple songs throughout the night. Especially if they’re real bangers!
Ah but the longer the set the more time to really create something special!!!
At first 4 hours sounds pretty daunting, but I’m sure it won’t feel nearly as long as you think it will. Also, what kind of event are you playing, and at what time?
I’ve done a few 4+ hour sets (house parties, art show) and have always had a great time, even if I’m occasionally playing to an empty floor (hopefully you won’t, but really not the end of the world).
What I normally do is create a huge playlist, throwing in tracks that I feel would work at any point in the night, with the total time of the songs combined doubling my set time (8 hours worth of music for a 4 hour set).
-Make sure you have enough warm up tunes in case the floor is slow to fill (hence the larger playlist)
-Don’t wear yourself out in the beginning with fast mixing. I usually let tracks play out much longer in the beginning, as most people usually aren’t paying TOO much attention to the tunes and/or mixing.
-Don’t stick too closely to a set playlist: 4 hours leaves time for ANYTHING to happen. I’d recommend having several/many mini sets you can always use a “go to”.
-Just have fun, experiment. In a one or two hour set, a few mistakes can potentially kill a set. But with 4 hours, you have plenty of time to “redeem” yourself if anything goes wrong. And with that much time, no one’s going to think, “Oh yeah, he was good, but remember when he f***ed up in the beginning?”
That’s just my 2 cents. Hope it helped. And enjoy the set!
i do 4 hr sets every week. Where to start. lets say you start at 10pm and end at 2am. Midnight is when you start plahying the hits.
10-11 B-sides and mellow and chill/kick back music
11-12 Throwbacks, hits from +2 years ago
12-1 Hits, Classics, and add your personal touch
1-2 keep on playing the good stuff but bring the tempo and “bangers” down a notch or two.
Personally I find long sets fun, it gives me more time to play what I want. Anyways, my tips are to create mini-sets to play from, and as suggested, dont play your bangers too soon. I usually start long sets with basics just to make the everything is working an to prep myself for the long haul. I also say prepare yourself for for at least 2-3 peaks in the 4 hours, making sure to space those peaks out, if it help draw out a timeline and keep it in your pocket as a reminder. Think about your transitions, how does one set goes into another? Once you have those figured then you’re golden. As far as other things are concerned, figure out where the bathrooms are, dont drink like a horse, because you want to be straight as possible for most of your set. And save your heavy drinks till the end of your set when it doesnt matter anymore.
Another way to look at it, depending on how fast you mix, you figure you need at least 10 songs an hour on the average, so in theory you need 40 songs for 4 hours. I hope this helps and good lck on your gig.
10 songs/h, that’s 6mins per song - i mix a lot faster than that but that’s maybe because I only play for myself currenty and I get bored if i dont get to do stuff for 5mins
