Expanding my music horizon?

When I started mixing, old Bad Boy Bill hot mix tapes were the music I’d get into. It was very commercially clubby music at the time. As I kept DJing, I became exposed to rave DJs, and the new breed of underground DJs that popped up in 93 and 94. From there I kept expanding and experimenting. It’s part of why I have a disdain for most commercial mainstream music.

Go out there and find live sets from DJs you like and respect…listen to them. Then check out others that might play with them. When you shop for music, always check out the suggested stuff that appears when you pick out tunes. Go on Beatport and look at the top 20, but then look at the suggested tunes that accompany the tracks in the 20 you like.

Check out Fatboy Slim if you like Guetta and DP. Check out Krafty Kuts and the Stanton Warriors. Check out James Zabiela. Just explore and always listen to mixes that have tracklistings…so when you come across something that catches your ear, you’ll jot down the tune. Believe me, I listened to recordings of Ultra Music Fest sets and was punching in titles on Beatport at the same time.

There is nothing wrong with playing mainstream stuff…I just think every DJ like you should make the effort to educate and entertain. Play the SHM track everyone knows, then look for 2-3 other tunes that carry that energy and vibe, but the general public hasn’t heard. That’s your start.

Hey Bradley,

That’s one of the things I also had to manage when I first became interested in electronic music and DJing : )

What really worked for me was to listen a lot to online radio stations that covered the genres I was interested in and wrote down every Artist and Track I liked, then looked up other tracks of that Artist and tried to find stuff related to what I just discovered.

Next thing I did was to get a Beatport account and browsed through their toplists and checked out the related stuff there which really got me forward a lot.

Same thing with YouTube, just looked up the stuff I already found and made my way through the related videos and tried to fetch some information from the user comments, there’s always a guy posting a track he thinks is way better than the posted one, sometimes they’re right, sometimes they’re not, but most of the time you’ll at least get some new stuff you can continue your search from.

What else worked pretty well for me was to check out gigs done by some local DJs, most of the time with free or very low entry, and the guys (and girls) playing there are usually chilled enough that they’re up for a little chat afterwards to tell you about what they currenty like to play and why. And if not, you can always check out during their set what that killer track is that’s currently on the decks.

Basically that’s the same stuff D-Jam already posted, just thought I’ll add in my suggestions anyways ; )

Some help to get you started:

http://www.youtube.com/user/OMGITMTV – lots of Electro House and everything that goes with it

http://www.youtube.com/user/MoombaBlastaOfficial – mainly Moombahton which isn’t my taste really, but from time to time they post some really great Moombahcore as well

http://www.youtube.com/user/UKFDubstep – As the name already states, mostly Dubstep and some DnB

http://www.di.fm/ – Didn’t listen to their radio stations for some time now, but at the very beginning that was my main source for new music

Hope there’s something useful for you in this post : )

Cheers,
Kubin

I think that the selection of tracks is actually more important than your mixing skills, although you won’t make it without the latter as well.

But having tools like Traktor or Ableton nowadays it’s a lot easier to do beatmatching and transitions rather than with CDs or Vinyls, so making a decent mix using some basic techniques is something you can achieve pretty quick if you dig into it.

Of course it’s getting more fun as soon as you’re getting more familiar with the programs you’re using and your skills developing, and that really helps you in getting attention as well, but making people dance relies much more on the track played than on the super-fancy high-skilled transition that usually only you and maybe a tenth of the people in the crowd are noticing.

Getting gigs with a decent amount of people coming there and listening to what you do isn’t actually that easy (at least it isn’t here), so practicing at home and doing some mixtapes (and Mashups ;P) is really something you should focus on before playing live. Doing a mixtape you’re comfortable with provides you with more confidence when playing live, and it gets you something you can promote yourself at local clubs with and to get some acknowledgement from other DJs who are already big enough to attract a bigger crowd and maybe want to have you as their warm-up because of your mixtape.

Phil Morse, post: 18212, member: 2 wrote: Good question and nice answer, D-Jam. Anyone got anything else to add? I think there’s a blog post here!

If you need me to write it, let me know. Email me what points you want me to hit and the overall vibe you want it to push.

Bradley Stone, post: 18227, member: 1519 wrote: So you think its a case of listening to as much related music as possible, even though the majority of it will never make it to a live set?

Yes. I would just listen to DJs and grow. In 1993 I heard BBB’s rave mixes, but then I turned on the radio and saw other locals playing the music. Found loads of new tunes that Bill didn’t play. In 1994 when deep house made a big splash, I heard Derrick Carter and thought he rocked, then later sought out other DJs like him in that scene (Cajmere, Mark Grant, Lego, etc). I’d go to the record store and ask the guys what they had that was like that.

Now you have the net. Listen to mixes with playlists, and shop from there. I still do that now.

AND…the only things that make it to a live set are the things you like. Never sit on the “oh the crowd will never like this” viewpoint. If you believe in it, play it. If the floor clears, then at least you tried. When legendary DJ Ron Hardy played DJ Pierre’s Acid Tracks at the Music Box, the crowd initially hated it. He still played it three more times that night. By the fourth time the very drunk (and high) crowd went crazy, and acid house became huge. Imagine if Ron decided not to play the record those three more times?

Bradley Stone, post: 18235, member: 1519 wrote: Would you say finding the music to play is one of the MAJOR steps apart from actually mixing the tracks up?

To me, it’s EVERYTHING. Even when someone’s blends are nothing spectacular, great song selection will win me all the time. It’s why I mention Fatboy Slim many times. I didn’t hear his recent Ultra set yet, but I remember mixes he’s done over the last 10 years, and how he had amazing song selection, despite that his blends were short and quick. Larry Levan didn’t really do any complex blends at all…but he had amazing track selection.

Bradley Stone, post: 18235, member: 1519 wrote: I understand that getting out their and getting gigs is the best way to learn and get heard but I feel learning for a good while in the bedroom is the best way to start? Any input on this one as well?

In the club, you learn to deal with people and how to read crowds. In the bedroom, you craft your technique and discover the music you love. Go to clubs and just sit by the booth. Watch the crowd and you’ll learn a lot.

Bradley Stone, post: 18240, member: 1519 wrote: Well this is what I was thinking, only the eagle eared minority of the crowd can actually appreciate a fancy transition anyway and like you say it is definitely down to the track that is being played that creates the atmosphere!

I agree. Most people really aren’t as adamant on the transitions as they are on the tunes played. Only horrible trainwrecks get noticed. Most people just want a good time. Nothing more. Tunes they like, drinks, drugs, hot women, sex, popularity, etc.

Like mentioned above, youtube’s related videos are the way to go, and the “Watch Later” playlist has been the death of me :). I’ve always got around 15 or so in there waiting to be heard. Pandora helped me when I was just getting into EDM as well.

Do you guys buy single tracks in iTunes or beatport, albums or compilations?

I kinda dig good compilations, but it is really tiresome to dig through them on itunes as there are so many bad ones (mostly those with 50 tracks on them) that have maybe 2 good songs and the rest is real crap. But there are a few really good ones that are really more bang for the buck than buying single tracks.

Any chance you guys can point out some interesting compilations you heard.
I am looking especially in typical EDM, House, Chill-House, Chillout (or typical Lounge music) up to hip-hop and electro. So i have a really wide range. Maybe there are some “typical” compilations that most get. I know from the scene I come from (Industrial, EBM) there were some typicals like machine music, electronic for the masses etc. that every DJ bought (or got the promo mailed…)

@Terry_42 I prefer mixes to compilations. You’re right about the 50 track compilations that contain only two decent tracks. I’ve found it’s much easier and time-efficient to just put on a youtube or mixcloud mix in the background while you’re doing something. When you’re not really paying attention to it, you’ll be able to catch only the tracks that truly stand out to you. When one does, it’s usually easy enough to find the track name either by the mixcloud tracklisting or the youtube comments. You can then go get that one song rather than a whole compilation that you’ll never use.