How do you read a crowd (For Dummies)
I have my second gig coming up and I’d like how do you read the crowd. I know once you see people leaving the dance floor you dun screwd up. Do you abrubtly end the currently playing song and throw on a lifesaver song or let the first song play out then throw on a lifesaver.
what you could try is let the song finish the current section (8, 16, 32 bar) have it filter/reverb out fade the song out then half bar silence and drop the next track. a little tension and release track. Make sure the new track is a banger based on what the crowd/venue enjoys.
Firstly. No easy dummies guide to this, experience will teach reading a crowd, secondly, this is based on my own experience, and I been at this carry on nearly 20 years, You need to have an idea what the venue/gig is.. that’s pretty simple.
Reading a crowd is not easy, and please don’t think that just because people leave the dancefloor that you are doing a bad job - I used to think that back in the early days. Ya gotta remember that people go to a venue firstly to socialise.. Dancing is always a secondary or even tertiary reason to be in a venue. People will leave dancefloors for all kinds of reasons, not just because your music is shit. If you drop a fart, no sweat, it happens to every single good DJ that’s ever been, but never ever do things that make you look incompetent - like abrupt stoppages, unless there is a really good reason or follow up for it, then ya think about a big hitter or another option. Consider some clever mixing or clever effect useage if you must. During gigs, I like to drop tempo to give the party people a ‘rest’ (they can’t dance ALL night) for the grand finale which does reduce the dancefloor load until the next big tune, Don’t play tunes outside the remit of the venue’s music policy.. (exaggerated example, slipknot in a wedding venue) unless it’s a private function, stay within the rules of the place, and you’ll be fine. Don’t ever think you’ve screwed up at a gig, we all do silly things occasionally.. and most times it’s by listening to a drunken buffoon requesting something bizarre or just shit.
On another note, consider what you would expect a DJ to do / not do, what would you say if you were at a family wedding, party or just a night out with pals, and the DJ ‘panics’ just because some people leave the floor for bathroom/bar/sit with friends for a rest! Would you expect him to just stop a track just to fill the dancefloor again with another big tune? What would you think of that DJ? Those people aren’t coming back to the dancefloor until they are ready!!!
Break your night up into sets where you allow the people to drink, enjoy company, and hit the bathroom.. and still have the option to chuck shapes..
I watched an interview with DJ QU and he said that when he plays out, he always starts his sets by playing a wide variety of styles, to see how people react. Then he plays the rest of the night based on that.
If you’re not playing the whole night or four hours or whatever, you can watch how the crowd seems for the opening DJs to give you an idea.
Also the crowd will get their confidence from YOU. You’re in charge, be bold without being arrogant. Be sneaky without being cheesy.
Exacly.
This is of course a joke, but every joke has a kernel of truth…
Most importantly, don’t freak out if people leave the dancefloor. As someone else mentioned, this does not have to be due to something on your part, and once you freak out, it’s not getting better, believe me. For the rest: if something appears to not be working, try out other stuff (just normal mixing, nothing abrupt) and stick with what is working, maybe you can get them to appreciate the other style (that wasn’t working) later on in the night. It’s hard to explain, like so many other things with DJing it is about getting a feel for certain situations.
Also, never ever arive with only one genre of music! You can’t change to plan B if you don’t have one. You should have at least plan B, C, and D.
In my experience … save the psytrance till 1 hour before closing 
unless the entire night is psytrance 
I’ll never forget, I was doing a prom, I wanna say somewhere around 96 or 97, and the dance floor was packed. The banquet manager comes over and says they are about to serve the food, can I get everyone seated. So at weddings, that was always my cue to throw on the sing along type songs like piano man or sweet caroline but this was a prom so I wanted it to have a little better flavor so I throw on Snoops version of Lodi Dodi, needless to say, the dance floor filled, even more than it was before. Now half the banquet managers are full of shit and ask you to seat people 20 min before the food comes out and you’re the idiot they are all looking at because the music is designed for people not to dance but not on this night, within :30 sec of the song starting the servers come out with the food and this guy threw me the dirtiest look and I let it play for like another min or 2 before fading it out to, you guesed it, Piano Man.
So depending on the event will depend on what you do as the DJ. You are in control and I would always use the beginning of the night to play different sets of music to read what the crowd was into and adjust accordingly. You will have nights when the dance floor will be packed no matter what you play and other nights when no matter what you play, no one dances, use every gig, everything that happens as a learning experience.
Takes time…
Proper reading of crowds takes a long time to master. You just need lot’s of practice!
Lots of great advice in here. From DJ’ing lots of weddings, I have learned that sometimes people just wanna talk and socialize. Which isn’t a bad thing, and it’s not your fault. All we can do is keep the vibe of the party fun, by playing great music. Try making a “Party Favorites” folder on your playlist, and go to those when you wanna put on a sure fire party starter. And never look frustrated or bummed out. More people are watching you than you might think.