Ready for a LIVE SET?????????

This topic has 2 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 2 months ago by ScottoRobotto.

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January 6, 2015 at 7:56 am #2116791

DJ Vintage
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Hey JF,

Yep, it can be scary being out there for the first time. Then again, the only place to actually learn to be a DJ is playing out. So putting yourself out there and accepting your are there to learn is the only way to go.

At home you have mastered the technical skills, now it’s time to go and learn the audience/music selection skills.
Be sure to enjoy it, you will only ever have one first night out and it’d be a pity if you can’t remember afterwards what it was like because of nerves or whatever!

Most importantly, unless you are a big name DJ/producer, there is very little chance of you getting away with playing a pre-determined set. Period. THE #1 skill you will have to master playing out is reading the crowd and adapting your set accordingly.

A good way to prepare is to cut up your long set into mini-playlists of say 3 or 4 tracks that go well together and that you know how to mix properly. Now on the night itself you can start with one mini-playlist, see how the crowd reacts and then decide on the next course of action. You can do this with single tracks, but that means you have to figure out the next track every single time. If you have 3 or 4 tracks you can play in a mini-set, you have some more time and some less stress.

Repeating tunes, imho, is an absolute no-no. Why would you play something twice with literally tens of millions of tracks out there. Make sure you have about twice the amount of music that you could fit into the set length. You can obviously just ask them what set length they expect you to play. It’s a valid question. If you are to play the entire night, you need twice the amount of music with you for that time frame. Also be prepared with a set of tracks that will work early evening (warm-up), the hardcore, fill the floor and have them flipping, sets for the main part of the night and some tracks that will help you work towards the wrap-up at the end of the night.

Know that the audience notices the music you play, not so much the way you mix them. Proper choice of music trumps, imho, technical skills. Obviously you want to try to keep the number of train wrecks to a minimum. But if you trainwreck into the right track, the crowd will forgive and forget quickly.

Good luck

January 6, 2015 at 11:13 am #2116931

ScottoRobotto
Participant

It helps to be familiar with the music you’re playing. I have about 4 hours of music that I’ve heard a million times so I know exactly what it sounds like, it makes it easier to think of something else on the fly.

I’ve found that it also helps to familiarize yourself with the music as a DJ. I practice alot where I’ll mix in a song, skip to the ending and immediately mix in another song, I’m changing songs every 30 seconds or so. The point is to try out lots of different transitions and song sequences so you have more options. Another thing I do is I play with the bpm and pitch alot. Some songs sound good after a massive bpm shift. I make a note that I can use it at the original bpm or at the shifted bpm. For example:

This is the original, it’s okay but a little slow, I bump it up a touch when I play it.

Here is a remixed version someone made that’s bumped up alot, there is long 30 sec intro you can skip past. I heard this version and liked it so I up the bpm to replicate it. Sometimes I use the high pitch, other times I’ll turn key lock on to keep the original pitch.
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