opinion on playing multiple tracks from one artist during a set
I’m still very new to this and just messing around. I was wondering what you guys thought of using multiple tracks from one artist in a set or even back to back. not thinking more then 2 or 3 at most. It just seems like some producers have a great sound and their stuff goes really really well with their own stuff. idea would be to kind of build up through their sound for 2 or 3 tracks and then change direction slightly. It could be just my inexperience with picking music still.
I’m not a fan of repeating artists in a set, let alone back to back, and I think there are enough techno tracks that you can find things that mesh, but I know a lot of people that do it.
I’ve been guilty of playing artists too closely in a set. I’m usually never thinking about who makes the track but rather, the BPM and where I want to take my set. Take for example, I played a popular track by Modulate (dvlsadvct knows which song I’m talking about LOL) which was fine, but I also played a relatively unknown/unplayed track off their new album that just dropped a few weeks ago. Because most people would not be familiar with it, I figured no harm no foul.
Usually though, it’s a no-no to play the same artist within 45minutes to 1 hour of each other, unless you are doing an artist megamix/retrospective, or it’s part of the night’s CD release party for the artist.
it really depends. i played 3 tracks by spencer and hill and 2 tracks from vandalism(back to back) in the same set the other night. because i wanted to keep that mood and theme going. it did the job it was supposed to do. the only thing that i tend to say in mixes is making sure you arnt playing all old tracks. i try to keep my promo sets and and radio show sets and such to the last 2 months, 3 and most. keep stuff pretty fresh. but playing live, a 4 year old track might be just what the doctor ordered.
that is the real hard part of djing. knowing what to play when and reading the crowd. i could teach a monkey to beatmatch, you cannot teach crowd reading. that is something you have to just get experience with.
a lot of times DJs forget that we play music for people. if your in a club and you play 2 tracks by the same person back to back and it goes off great, awesome. but there will be some idiot DJ who is more concerned with your track selection and that you broke an unwritten rule then the fact that the crowd just went nuts.
think of it this way, you play a track that is less known. for examples sake we will say to the beat (sydney blu remix) and that causes the crowd to go, “oh i love this song, but you know what i really want to hear? Give it up for me!” then you drop give it up for me, which you already intended to do. that is both reading the crowd and guiding the crowd at once.
One of my best back 2 back sets was mainlining two artists, amongst a few others.
We started off with 3 tracks by Ricardo Vilalobos, and throughout the mix we used 5 John Tejada tracks and 1 other Ricardo Vilalobos track.
Playing multiple tracks by an artist all depends on mood and setting you want to create during your set.
Apart from creating settings and mood, all’s allowed.
[Rant]If I happen to have 2-3 tracks from one artist that go well together, then I play em together. I could not care less for some stupid dj rule that you have to play all mixed artist. I call it snobbish and stupid to follow that stupid rule![/Rant]
See, this is where Desolous and I come from a very different scene. I have seen sets by techno and house DJs where they are comprised of very few artists. Granted, no one would know. In the Industrial dance scene (all 15 of us) there is this unspoken rule about repitition. I think a big part of it is to keep things from being overdone, which can happen very quickly to a fickle crowd. Hell, I spun a rare remix four times and people were telling me it was overplayed. 4 times! I’m the only DJ in NYC that has it.
But, then again, the industrial dance scene is pretty silly on a lot of levels.
I’m guilty! I do it all the time, but hell when you play 80s New Wave and you have to keep the dance floor going…Depeche Mode, New Order never fail! (even back to back)
All I have to really say about this topic is not to over do it, unless is a megamix/tribe that your doing for that night.
See, that doesn’t bother me as much as wanting to keep it moving. My issue is that if I start spinning a lot of songs that sound the same it gets harder and harder for me to get out of it.
And while there are artists who have songs that go very well together, there are SO many artists out there I find it hard to believe you ever need to play the same artist twice in a row. shrug But that’s just me.
I dont really rekon its an issue to play 2-3 tracks from an artist (expecially if that inclues remixes by them). Back to back is a mad fail but otherwise its not 2 bad.
I remember Freestylers played 3 pendulum tracks in a row and I was like… FAIL. Fuckoff. Havnt listened to them since.
I don’t have a problem playing an original song and a remix of it back to back. Or playing a remix and an original song by the same artist in the same set. Again, you’re playing for a crowd, and I doubt the crowd knows or cares so long as it doesn’t become obvious.
i was listening to a set that a friend of mine sent me the other month and he played an original and then he played a remix back to back. it was awesome. the remix was a cutup dub one. it was great.
I think everything is fine as long as you think about the tension curve (dunno if that’s the right english word for it).
Therefore build up tension, then drop 2-3 big tracks (if the crowd likes that style it’s no problem to drop another track of that artist) but then again don’t stress too much, firing big tracks from all holes is boring.
I actually do this a lot… I like to mash up two different remixes together. Sometimes I start with the more familiar remix and then go into the less familiar as a surprise.
this will be only my second time playing live to people. It will be mostly friends and friends of friends. bar with what sounds like will be a descent sized sound system. people who are into dance music but i don’t expect to many techno aficionados but that would be fun too. =)
My goal is to really try to make the set flow nicely and program it as best as i could. Try to see what works and what doesn’t with the people and start getting some more experience.
