How organized are you with your sets?
Hello DJTT,
Just wanted to get your opinions on how much effort you put into prepping for a gig or set. I know personally I try to make it as live as possible. By this I mean, knowing my songs and putting them in a folder, but I try to read the crowd and play throughout the folder. Not This songs here, and this is next, etc etc.
So how do you play? Pre-recorded, or to the extreme of purely winging it.
I have my songs in folders by genre mostly. I also have other playlists of random stuff, some I’ve just thrown in groups or some on days I’ve bought music. (iTunes smart playlists ftw).
I usually just go with my genre folder… and wing it. Because some of the best combinations I’ve found have been from digging deep, and mixing stuff that’s both old and new, and I might not think about unless it’s right there in front of me.
Really though, I’m honestly terrible with song names unless I see it right there in front of my face. I know some folks are amazing with them, but I generally listen to music on shuffle. So while I may KNOW all the songs, I don’t always know the name off the top of my head. I’m usually pretty good about making the connection if it’s right there in-front of me though 
(Just an honest truth. I know some folks are masters of the memory game, I am not one of them)
Organisation is everything. But you have to make it completely personal. Everyone’s organisation technique is different.
Winging it/playing it by ear - it’s all just an excuse for not putting in the up front effort of getting organised. Preparation is where all of the hard work is - good preparation pays dividends.
As long as your organized, you should be able to show up, read the crowd, pull up the correct folder or playlists, and go to town.
Well, I have to admit, I’m not as organized as I want to be (but in the end: who is?). I have 2 big “crate playlists” according to a subjective feel of the tracks (actually, I’ve just started a third one and others could follow, just depends if I get a clear idea how to categorize further) and I try to fit the tracks I buy into those (of course any given track could also be placed in both). All in all those two playlists probably contain around 550 tracks at the moment. Then before a gig I try to create a specific “crate playlist” for that gig with a reasonable amount of tracks for the timeframe I have to play, I usually aim for 5-6 times the number of tracks I’m likely to play (approximately 150 tracks for a 2h set), but most times I can’t really reach that aim and end up with like 250 tracks or so (maybe some more time for the “distillation process” would help, but I usually waste that time beforehand looking for new tracks on Beatport) - but that’s still somehow managable. And even then I sometimes find myself falling back on the big playlists. But all in all this system works for me, of course I could be more rigid in the process, but there always will be room for improvement (if there isn’t, you’re doing something rome), therefore I’m quite content with my workflow at the moment.
I agree 100%
I’ve been trying something new, organizing playlists by BPM lately. Seems to be working nice for me. It’s nice to see some different styles in the same folder that mix well. I played some remix disco last Thursday & everyone loved it. I would have never pulled that folder up in the past.
I do 2 hour Livestream DJ sets every week, so taking the time to plan out a set while working (I have a job that requires me away from the computer constantly), practicing general DJ techniques (still relatively new) and barely living is a pain. For those sets, I usually have 15 new tunes from beatport each week and try to use these throughout the set. Even so, I usually dive in to my regular playlist as well as I progress. Most of the time though, I don’t plan out which tracks to play; I plan my first and second track and see how the mood progresses and harmonics flow.
For live sets, I usually build a playlist with the tunes I think I’ll play or tunes that might be requested or are big crowd pleasers. Most of the time its overstocked and I still dive back into the entire library due to an inspirational moment during the set. Even so, usually just the first and second track is planned and I progress from there.
Finally for in-house mixes or demos, I take planning to the extreme. I find each song I want to play, determine good mixing points, ensure harmonics mix well, and plan the few FX I will use. I practice the mix 2-3 times, fix any discrepancies and then play it for real. Perfection is required for these types of mixes (I believe).
my crates are unvelievably organised, i have a crate for every year since 1989 for house, 90’s onwards for hip hop etc… main floor fillers, general time fillers, loads of warm up folders etc… BUT when it comes to actual live organisation, nothing beats reading the crowd, yes all of my tracks are categorised but that has very little to do with my actual set, it just makes things easier to find, 99% of my live set is crowd reading
I have my crates as well…
HOT ← anything that is hot right now and a must play for the younger people
Medium/Slow ← hot tracks as of now that are a little slower
Intros/Special ← tracks that I start my set with, special tracks like happy birthday etc..
Promo ← I got a lot of friends in the hip hop game that are up and coming artists so I throw all their stuff there so I can squeze some of their tracks on my sets
Those playlists I edit them all the time… stuff gets imported or deleted from there
after that I have playlists by music gernes that all my colleciton is there
i’m fairly new to traktor and i am currently working on prepping a bunch of deep house cuts of various vibes. what i am going to have in the end is semi genre specific playlists that contain a spectrum of sounds (ie electro/progressive/breaks, deep sounds, etc) that can work well together over the course of a set. i have them all sorted by key and then bpm. i am in the process of making sure grids are correct and while i’m doing that i rate the song as well as use a 1-5 system for energy level (which i write into the catalog field i believe). i add cue points in songs (with notes) to show where major events happen or where a loop can be used when it’s not obvious. i use cues to cut out portions of songs that are too long or have bits i don’t like. i also add little modifiers to the genre field to breakdown the vibe even further. so if i have a deep house track thats funky i’ll throw an F in there to signify this, or P for progressive, T for tech, etc. if i find songs that work very well together i will also put in a comment so i know i can fall back on any number of tracks that work…i just have to pick the direction the crowd and i are feeling at that moment. Like Bassline Brine i am not very good with memory so having notes is very helpful for me.
this system does take me some time to prep but it works very well for me when i’m currently practicing live. i can play tracks completely on the fly and will be able to work with crowd reaction while still feeling very comfortable since i have many helpful tools and notes in place.
Kudos to your amazing organization. Had I the time, and were I a more full-time DJ, I would definitely get this organized with library settings. Perhaps I can try and squeeze out some time of my busy weekends and do this on Sundays.
Completely wing it myself. Never been one for too much pre-planning, takes the fun out of it.
I have a playlist or two usually (some newer stuff, stuff I want to try fit in) and a well tagged library (key, bpm and genre) that’s it, I treat it like when I played records, I can just take more with me. I use the “Preparation List” playlist a lot each gig, kinda like throwing the records in a pile.
Never been one for intensity levels or notes on tracks, I just don’t see the point personally.
i know there’s just not enough time in the day for most of us, but if you can find a little to get a workflow that helps you it will pay off in the long run i think. the good thing is you can implement it into your method slowly while you still continue to dj the way you normally do. that’s what i’ve been doing with traktor cause if i had to only prep and never play it would make me crazy. that’s part of the reason i moved away from ableton. or you could try and do these things while you are playing at home, but i find that i get a bit sloppy when doing that so i keep the two separate.
i also just picked up a maschine and i’m now trying to balance time into learning that and making some beats as well.
i get that, but prepping a track doesn’t really take me that long, usually just a few minutes each. sometimes if i just feel like listening to the whole track it takes a little longer. for me, my fun gets killed when i make the wrong choice and i’d rather be a bit more prepared but still able to play a set and completely wing it…just with some assistance.
i guess it just depends on what type of music you play and what you prefer. i have a vast library with many genres/vibes and a bad memory so for me to be able to narrow my track selections down based on these elements quickly is amazing for me. where you stop your prep work is personal to your preferences and workflow. you are keying your tracks and making sure your library is tagged properly so it’s all part of the same process.
I tend to play tech house/minimal or Boys Noize style electro, but I have done quite a few commercial house/top 40 gigs but that’s a whole different library that I keep separate I can’t see how genre makes much difference. It’s definitely a case of personal preference, I think a lot of it comes from being from a vinyl background, the idea of extensive prep seems excessive, I try to just “know” what’s in my library. I’ve been key marking records long before I discovered Traktor, so if anything that’s become way way easier.
Its a pretty rigid screening process to get in the library in the first place, so with the combination of knowing the tunes and the key being tagged usually gives me a damn good idea of what’ll work and what won’t, and generally the waveform will tell me about any breakdowns etc. I may have forgotten were there, “needle search” is also an incredibly useful function for those moments where you just aren’t sure.
Actually agree with this, although I was never apart of the vinyl tradition. I can see where the pile of vinyls idea comes into play with a set playlist. I got a slew of tracks I have capabilities to play, to say I remember every second of every song would be crazy, but then again that is why I have a cue button.
i hear ya. for me, i would rather put in a little more time prepping up front to make it consistently easier on myself later while still allowing me freedom to play on the fly. i don’t always worry about reading my notes either as they are just guidelines that can be used. the most important factors i always look at are the key, bpms and usually energy level.
I listen to all of my new tracks and assign them a rating on the 1-5 star scale: 1 star = early mood tracks / these are great for a warmup set. 3 star = great middle of the road tracks, can play all night/day with these. 60% or so are in this classification probably, if not more. 5 stars = massive peak time tracks. I try to be judicious about using the 5*. I use 2* and 4* as placeholders for those tracks that I feel can go both ways, i.e., can be an early track, but also can also hold its own in the middle of the night, maybe for when it seems like a break is needed. same with the 4*, can use to go big, but can also be perfectly fine in the middle of a set. I tend to try not to use 2 & 4* too often. These are my guidelines - its less about tempo and more about the energy of the track.
I have folders based on genre, although I do make cross-over folders, i.e. when a track can go between house/tech-house I have a folder for that, same with tech-house/techno. Within that, I tend to organize by my star structure. I also make comments about the energy and feel of the track (e.g., “tribal and groovy with long break”), note if a certain element that is prominent, or if it has a break/intro/outro that is unique that needs my attention. Lastly, if the track has been played out by a DJ I know, then I tend to include that information. For example, “Bonaroo” to me means that Sasha & Digweed played it at Bonaroo in 2007. I know that set like the back of my hand since I’ve listened to it like 50 times, so if I don’t immediately recognize the name, that triggers my memory. I also have all my tracks key’d, so that’s another organizational tool at times.
I’m always interested to see some people arrange their library by date/year of release. To me, that is not something I really consider when programming a set.
Now - if you’re programming an 80’s set or a 90’s Hip-Hop set, you’re gonna want to know the release date/year. But most of the time, for me at least, the date is completely irrelevant…
For me, it’s Key, BPM, Artist, Title, Genre (maybe even Sub-Genre), Energy (still trying to work this out, actually! The star rating can be little restrictive…), Notes/Comments.
Your organisational technique HAS to evolve over time. It’s one of the time consuming elements of being a DJ that REALLY pays off.
I am REALLY considering starting to use iTunes for my library, and setting up a whole bunch of smart playlists… I know that time spent doing that will REALLY pay off!
I tried the star-rating thingy at some point, but it didn’t work for me. I realized that estimating the energy level of a track is highly dependent on the context you play it in, so I gave up on that.