Newbie needs help understanding the genres

If a track I like fits in my set I’ll play it I tend to play Deep, Soulful and Tech House but I’ll drop a Dub step or Dancehall or anything that will spice it up and keep the floor moving. I bought tracks that were labelled as Tech House but to me sounded more like Dub Step or Soulful house that was more like Tech House. A lot of tracks will have mixes crossing over several genres. So I don’t really get hung up on genres I use long transitions and/or short samples and loops to make my own sound. The best DJ’s apprieciate all musical genres and will take what the need to make what they want.

I agree with Terry 100%, using Shazam has saved me from many sleepless nights of searching the net for a specific song, it’s seriously a DJ’s life support machine. Also, as far as genres go, the lines of “which genre is which” are being washed away by the second. You can hear a song and it will have the elements of so many genres in, the low bass, the highs, the soulful chilled section and then smash you in the face with a crazy wobble.

In my personal opinion, its impossible for somebody to just say “I ONLY like [insert genre here]” because I can guarantee they will have a song in their crate that has aspects of another genre, and that aspect will sound like a specific song from another genre, they will be shown that song and instantly love it.

In my eyes, you need to stop thinking about specific genres, and just play what you love. I could be playing some house music, and if the mood feels right (and with the right prep and build up) bring in a heavy dubstep track.

It’s all down to you

[quote=”Also, hopefully the songs I buy will have a genre tag attached to them to provide some road signs along the way.

Thanks!!

The majority of songs you buy will have provided they have been bought from legitimate sites (Beatport, iTunes)

Just stick to what you enjoy playing, and everything will fit together with time bro!

Even to some of us old hands, genres are confusing. I never understood the difference between hip-hop vs. rap or Drum and Bass vs. Jungle. One DJ’s deep house could be another’s minimal tech, and so on. Some people can get very pretentious and snobby about these distinctions, but don’t let that fool or discourage you.

If that wasn’t confusing enough, people will mis-label genres constantly. I remember a very bohemian salon hairstylist call a distinctly 2-step track “house.” I surprised at the mistake, this was a person who listened to cutting edge music all day long and had a very cool clientele that was very conscious of the latest trends.

I prefer to ignore genres too. Some interesting stuff can have you scratching yourself wondering what genre it belongs in anyway – that’s why it’s interesting!

John Alexander, post: 28010, member: 3847 wrote:

What has been happening is that I go onto Beatport or Mixcloud and search for tunes. But as I’m doing this I’ll search electro and not find the synth sounds that I’m looking for. I’ll search progressive but not find something that gets me that “amped”. Are the great, blood pumping tracks really so rare?

I just need some guidance so that I’m not barking up the wrong tree so often.

Thanks in advance!

This won’t help you with your genre, but it will help you with your searching problem.

1. When you do find a track you like, try and find what label its on and then search through that label. They are quite likely to have similar stuff.

2. When you find an artist you like, try and find their mixes onlune. It is likely they will DJ similar stuff to what they produce. You can get tips there.

3. If the producer hasnt put out much else or is on a small label, then search for other DJ mixes, and charts for that song, its likely the other songs will be similar.

Cheers

Cheers