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Prepped Setlists vs. Improv

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  • August 2, 2014 at 5:36 pm #2047608
    Marco Solo
    Participant

    You do a combination of both. You prepare a list of tracks you want to play and you improvise based on that list. Make the list about twice the size of the set. If you think you’ll be playing about 40 tracks, bring 80.

    August 2, 2014 at 5:40 pm #2047609
    DJ Vintage
    Moderator

    I think it’s also good practice to cut these tracks up into mini-playlists of say 3 or 4 tracks that go well together (genre, harmonic compatibility, energy level). That way you buy yourself some time, when you play the first of the 3-4 tracks you know you have about 10-12 minutes to think of where to go next. Which means observing how the crowd reacts and taking your cue from that.

    It’s a lot better than full improv, which means that you have that “what to play next” question everytime you start a new track.

    Hope that helps.

    August 2, 2014 at 6:31 pm #2047611
    deathy
    Participant

    Good stuff, thanks!

    August 2, 2014 at 6:36 pm #2047612
    Marco Solo
    Participant

    The mini playlists are great. You do tend to end up with those automatically over time in my experience. Just play around, there is not one right answer. Also, make loads of mistakes. I was reading a book lately called “wie domme dingen doet wordt wijs” which loosely translates to “those who do dumb things become smart”.

    August 3, 2014 at 8:02 am #2047622
    deathy
    Participant

    Yeah, the mini playlists thing is already proving to be real nice, I am spending time focusing on just a few songs at a time and figuring out how the work together (at least as best as I can without having my controller yet). I think putting them together is a boon to my learning as well.

    August 3, 2014 at 10:12 am #2047629
    DJ Vintage
    Moderator

    Yep, teaches you to look at all the essentials:

    * know your tracks intimately. Nothing like repeatedly listening to your tracks looking for the best parts and bits to mix in/out of, grab vocals, set cues, beatgrid, etx. to get to know your material well
    * harmonic compatibility. Not because the keys match (sometimes non-matching keys give great mixes and the other way around)
    * energetic capability. Just because tracks are of the same BPM, doesn’t mean they have the same energy

    And in general it helps you develop that “mystic” quality known as musical selection.

    August 3, 2014 at 10:27 am #2047631
    deathy
    Participant

    When I first started to play around and get set up, I made the same mistake that I suspect most aspiring DJs make, I pointed my software at my full music directory and imported it.

    Yeah, that was a bad idea.

    Since then, I cleared the list and set up a new directory just for tracks that I think I can and want to actually use. I’m not adding a lot of music at once, just a handful at a time.

    Since this post, I now find that I am trimming that back even further as I find songs that I just can’t work with yet… not because they aren’t good songs, but because they will obviously require more skill to play successfully than a n00b like me can exhibit.

    August 3, 2014 at 10:40 am #2047634
    DJ Vintage
    Moderator

    You are on the right track, grasshopper!

    Yes, tight control over your library is gonna do more for your DJ-ing than buying yet another “better” controller.

    I dove into that trap head first too (45k+ tracks, ridiculous). I have tossed everything and am rebuilding entire core collection.

    One more tip, use a 1 in / 1 out system when adding tracks. This forces you to continously monitor your collection, refresh by taking out stuff that was good when you put it in but you don’t use anymore, that you thought you’d use but never really did, etx. It prevents your collection from bloating over time.

    August 3, 2014 at 11:57 am #2047637
    deathy
    Participant

    Yeah, I’ve already been thinking about using the 1 in/1 out plan, although I still need to find a good feel for how many tracks to get in first.

    Does it seem like it would be good to make it by genre, so if I add a track, I should remove a track from the same genre? (Not that I’m working with a lot of different genres yet, I’m trying to focus on getting a good set-list for the genre and its sub-genres that I’m personally the most interested in first, but my tastes are not completely vertical so I will start working on other genres eventually.)

    August 3, 2014 at 12:04 pm #2047639
    Marco Solo
    Participant

    I wouldn’t trow everything out and start over. You can also start making playlists ordered by genre, time of the evening, etc and work your way through your current collection this way. Take your time, Rome wasn’t built in a day.

    August 3, 2014 at 12:05 pm #2047640
    deathy
    Participant

    I’m not deleting everything literally, I’m just starting from a clean slate and moving songs into my software from my greater collection in smaller pieces.

    August 3, 2014 at 2:48 pm #2047649
    Marco Solo
    Participant

    Ok, I think that’s a good idea.

    August 4, 2014 at 8:36 am #2047670
    Lamid45G
    Participant

    Most of the DJ’s use Itunes to managed their play list, cuz its better integrated to any DJ software
    Start out with small amount of tracks, dont try to hogging them all in 1 playlist, you will get more headache lol

    Most of my gigs lasted around 1-2 hours, most of the time I know ahead of time what kind of club and music I was going to spin at, and build my playlist set around that,

    And of course like many already stated, in the LIVE event, its not always that simple playin track 1,2,3 and so on, sometimes you skipped a track or two, or moving in reverse or just random,
    But you can rest assured everything you need is just in that ONE folder, so you dont have to search and dig around

    August 4, 2014 at 9:15 am #2047689
    deathy
    Participant

    I really Really REALLY hate iTunes… but it does make me think, I could probably code something custom that would be able to PRETEND to be iTunes sufficiently to be a management interface for my DJ tracks.

    However, right now, I have a VST AND a VSTi that I’m in the process of writing, so… never enough time to do everything we want, is there?

    August 4, 2014 at 9:25 am #2047693
    DJ Vintage
    Moderator

    I never liked iTunes either (ok, hated it, but such a strong word). In the recent Digital DJ Masterclass Phil made a very strong argument for using it nonetheless. So, I’ve decided to use it now for my core collection management.

    Still think it’s really bad software (worst thing ever to come out of Cupertino imho), but sometimes it’s easier to go with the flow instead of against it and re-inventing the (better) wheel, eh?

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