Should I plan my set??

I plan my sets. It doesn’t hurt and it gives ya a guideline on where to drop out/ pick back up. Saying that, feel free to go off it at times and play other things. Think of it as a safety net.

I never plan my sets, because when I first played I usually found that any ‘plan’ went out the window after a few tunes. It’s a good idea to know pairs or groups of tunes that work together though, so a sort of ‘mini-plan’ rather than a full one. That way you avoid the other extreme of still thinking ‘what shall I play next’ when there’s 30 seconds left of the current track.

Caru, post: 10488 wrote: I never plan my sets, because when I first played I usually found that any ‘plan’ went out the window after a few tunes. It’s a good idea to know pairs or groups of tunes that work together though, so a sort of ‘mini-plan’ rather than a full one. That way you avoid the other extreme of still thinking ‘what shall I play next’ when there’s 30 seconds left of the current track.

^^^^
Pretty much what he said.

Two songs into my set and I’ll always get a trixie asking me to play something else. That’s why I just like “winging it”.

Plus you grow into doing things more improvisational. So you grow to having great sounding sets every time you play without much planning needed.

Spandryl, post: 10745 wrote: Alright everybody, gig recap! Went into this gig with 6 years of aspiration and 1 month of actual DJing. I’ve wanted turntables for years but never got around to saving enough money to make the purchase (stupid college loans!!). After seeing NERO perform in October I gave myself the ridiculous task of booking a gig and getting a set together in a month. Done and done! I used Ableton live, which I’ve had for a bit… Gig went very very well. Only one train-wreck and a few missed cues but overall I’m very happy. Yes I planned my set, but people seemed to dig it! Its the first time something like this has happened in my area and hopefully not the last!

Congrats on playing a good set man! Djing for a crowd is worlds away playing in your room but it’s such a gratifying (and at times frusterating) experience! 😀 I guess if you’re using ableton to DJ you don’t really have much of a choice about whether or not to plan. I couldn’t deal with having my sets “set in stone” on Ableton so I ended up having to move back to DVS. I tried to move from Traktor scratch duo and turntables to ableton for my live sets a few years back but I missed the “off the cuff” vibe that seemed to make djing fun. So I ended up biting the bullet and getting Serato and CDJ-400s. That way I had the ability to adapt to crowds but I can use the bridge to bring ableton into the scene. It gets rather techie but that’s how I like it.
All in all, I agree that 100% planning sets doesn’t really work unless you’re a big name DJ that people are coming to hear their original tracks anyways (think Deadmau5 etc). But that being said, I also think you should have tracks that work together (like 3-6 track “mini sets”) as well as having your tracks organised by genre, feel, key, type of crowd etc. That way you can adapt to crowds with ease no matter who you’re playing for, and you can still put together sick mixes.
At the end of the day, that’s what you’re being paid for: to be able to make people dance, buy drinks, and come back again! And if your set is already planned in and locked, then it’s harder to be able to do that. My way of planning sets (mini sets, playlists based on taste/keys/etc) is epically tedious to put together (especially when you’re still trying to keep your library up to date) but it makes you adaptable to any situation and crowd, and that’s what they pay us the big bucks for!

Wait so you had all the tracks warped, cue’d and ready to go? But they weren’t loaded in Ableton? I’m confused