Playing the same tunes, but at a different party

Hey RB,

I would only wonder about this if you plan to play exactly the same set, track for track. THAT, I would consider creative poverty. Some painters have used only a few primary colors their whole life and yet managed to make every painting different, yet distinctively “their” style.

When I was still working my 5-star hotel gigs (4 months on end, 6 nights a week, 6-8 hours – monster set???- a day) in the vinyl days, you know I wasn’t playing a new set every day.

People will know if you play A after B after C after D every night. But A after C might be totally different energetically than A before C. So, don’t worry about the amount of stuff you are gonna play. Look at a) what is my core set, the tracks that are everyone’s favorites that they expect to hear and how can I change their order creatively and b) at some new tracks (trust me, 1-2 an hour can already be plenty in that respect) that you can toss in to keep things fresh. 5 classics/favorites with one new track thrown in then another 5 classics/favorites sounds different than 10 classics/favorites in a row.

And maybe you can research a little and find 10-20 more (semi-)recent tracks that are in line with the general trend of the night. There are so many smart playlists around (in iTunes and Spotify to name two popular ones, but also on the more DJ oriented sites), that with literally 10s to 100s of thousands of tracks per genre, it can’t be too hard to find those 10-20 new and 10-20 “older” tracks.

It’ll be fun preparation just figuring out which of these new tracks in your collection go well with others (harmonic mixing and energy levels should help you a lot with that process). You’ll discover new combinations and mixes and probably can’t wait to try them out live.

Let’s say you find 15 of each. That is 30 tracks. At 1-2 bucks a track, 30-60 dollars to buy them legally and in high quality. Have your friends pay you the 30-60 bucks or part of it (even if you are gonna play for free otherwise). If you play for another 6 hour set, you now have 5! different tracks per hour. That is about 25-30%. So, with those simple 30 tunes, you have brought down your set to be only 70-75% identical, purely based on the tracks you play. Toss those 70-75% in a different order and I doubt anyone will think you are repeating yourself. It will still be a joy of recognition with a few “hey, I haven’t heard that one in a while”, “oh, I had forgotten about that one” and “nice, hadn’t heard that one yet” moments thrown in for good measure.

Don’t sweat it, you are out there doing your thing. Which makes you stand out from literally everybody else present at the party! Just realize that they need you to make the night as much as you need them. For them the alternative to a live DJ for FREE! would be to stick in a mix tape. Not half as much fun :-).

Greetinx and break a leg,
C.

I should clarify that I do not repeat tracks in the same night, but from party to party.

I’ll offer an anecdote that may help, and a question to expand the topic a bit:

1) People just want to hear their favorite song over and over again
I had a weird DJ gig in NYC 10 years ago – a private restaurant for the ultra-rich. What made it even weirder was the owner insisted on playing a specific song once an hour, all night long. I got sick of it right away, but the regulars loved it. Every night the same people would react as if they had never heard the song. They’d jump around like teenagers getting a prized birthday gift. This went on for months. For all I know, they’re still dancing to that stupid song every hour, on the hour.

2) What’s your DJ honor code about repeating songs (especially for internet mixes)?
I try to never repeat the same song during the night. I’ve always felt it was “cheating” because a DJ should have enough good music to last the whole night and then some. I think most DJ’s follow this rule, too. This is more my own pride and snobbery more than the crowd insisting I not play the same song twice.

However, the ‘no repeat’ rule creates a dilemma for me as I move my mixes online. I don’t feel like I should repeat a music in a mix CD/podcast/stream as people are seeking out new material. However, I’m finding internet mixes tilt heavily towards highly specialized mix sets, and often there’s just not enough good material, “classics” if you will, to stretch out over several mixes.

I also find my mixes start leaning a little too much on one or two artists that do the specialty well. For example if I wanted to do a downtempo mix of dreamy female vocals, its hard to avoid a Bjork megamix. (actually, its probably not that hard, but hopefully you guys see where I’m going with this.)

What do you guys think?

RB75,

Djaying encompasses, Versitality, Creativity and Enjoyment.
The enjoyment part is both for your audience and for you the DJ
Chuck has made some very clever and valid points. From your post, it seems you have started getting bored of playing the same tunes over and over again.
If your library is as vast as you say, then you have the tunes only you don’t realise it

I’ll give you a tip. Try to create a random playlist of 100 songs from your library. Do this for each day of the week. Now listen to the songs. I bet you will be suprised of the hidden gems you had but never played or listened to cause they were forgotten in your library

Last week, i was 110 miles away from home when a friend called and said he was having a party and if i could play for him. I said sure, as soon as i got back, i just grabbed my gear and headed off, fortunately it was not far from my crib. I had no time to plan any playlists but i knew the crowd was one i had played for before a year ago. I played from 7pm – 1am. i know for a fact that i rarely repeated a song from the gig i played for the same crowd last year , regardless, the paty was a blast.
just imagine if you played Micheal Jacksons hits alone ( this is not an advice but just an illustration), you could swing a good hour from some of his hits.

In a nut shell, mix up your regular playlist with some that you have forgotten and have a swell time

different party+different people=90% different reaction. even if it is the same style of a party at a simmilar venue interacting with the crowd will tell you where to go with your mix.the requests from the newbies(top 40 requests) the requests from the more serious clubbers and the way people are dressed and react to your music selection will guide you how to continue with your mix. create multiple playlists, blend them if you need.many times i have started with tech house and finished with trance or started the same way and finished with trap and hip hop.
playing the same set is not always effective and narrows your djing skills