TheReturn

The worst thing is when you cant do it because you’re away, which just happened to me now!

As a DJ you need to be able to judge what will work with your crowd.

Don’t base your selections on what you think they might ‘know’, base your selections on what you think they might like.

There will always be songs that people don’t know. In fact., every song in history started out as something that people didn’t know or hadn’t heard of. So don’t let that discourage you.

Also when you frame the question like the way you are now, you are passing judgment on your crowd and that isn’t exactly fair. For example, I think Armin Van Burrin is actually pretty mainstream, He is consistently voted in the top 5 DJs in the world, so he inst exactly underground. So if I was in your crowd I would still think you were playing too much mainstream and probably tune out or go somewhere else.

The point being, people don’t only like what they already know, they like what makes them feel good! You just have to try and learn what that is, and the only way to do that is by taking chances and observing the results.

Hey man, its all good. I’m not offended and if I was a purist, I wouldn’t be on this site.

But looking back, my post was a little terse. So sorry about that.

I just don’t think its worth ruling out. The more mediums you can play across, the more opportunities there will be to DJ. Additionally, because not every piece of recorded music has been digitized yet, you have 50+ years of amazing music to access and explore.

Pick a theme, a mood, a time of day, a story or any kind of narrative and build the mix around that. Your ideas can come from experiences in your life or from TV , fiction, history or movies or they can just emerge from messing around on the decks and stumbling across songs that work well together. Check these examples and the mix blurbs below.

A lot of mine are about creating a soundtrack to a real or potential experiences.

http://soundcloud.com/thereturn/dj-return-rotten-coconuts
You’re on a deserted island, all there is to eat is coconuts. You eat a bad coconut and it makes you trip out and run around the island a la Leonardo De Caprio in the Beach. This is the soundtrack to that experience

Where as others are about exploring themes within the music

http://soundcloud.com/thereturn/message-from-the-80s
This mix tries to capture a certain mood in the early 80s. All of these tracks tell a story of hard times, of struggle against racism, unemployment, poverty, drug addiction, urban life, Reaganism and violence. But most importantly they also say “there has got to be a better way” Many of these songs look to the future. Some are afraid that there is worse to come, while others view computers and technology as a positive way forward. However, the overarching message is that change is possible, especially if you take the initiative.

For me, one of the key reasons I went digital was to easily and cheaply expand the set of genres i play.

At the moment I am playing a lot of new wave, minimal wave, post punk and italo. Many of these records originally came out on 7inch. Serato allows me to extend the intros, enabling me to mix the tracks smoothly into each other and with other genres.

IN NO ORDER (six from me)

The Whispers – Keep On Lovin’ Me
http://www.youtube.com/embed/d6aRvVTSC0I

Hall and Oates – I Can’t Go For That
http://www.youtube.com/embed/ccenFp_3kq8

Gwen McCrae – Funky Sensation
http://www.youtube.com/embed/NLTAn6ltUi0

De La Soul – Roller Skating Jam Named Saturdays
http://www.youtube.com/embed/QYiQTkQ9VPA

Frankie Knuckles – Tears
http://www.youtube.com/embed/AqdZek8u3Us

Jah Wobble, The Edge, Holger Czukay – Hold One To Your Dreans
http://www.youtube.com/embed/0pQlO5SjjGY

D-Jam, post: 24254, member: 3 wrote:

Always think bottom line when you promote or manage a venue or event.

I agree with most of what you said, but you’re forgetting about he other side of the argument – In order to be creative you need to take risks!

If people just thought about the bottom-line and not about the experience of the party or the event – then every city would end up with an identical shit boring nightlife culture that only consists of top 40 and associated trash – because there is no risk in providing that. It makes perfect economic sense.

There is a whole swathe of punters out there who want to to experience something different than the majority and if you are a savvy and you love the music you will take a risk and capitalise on that, by providing something new or unique.

Yes, Vision NightClub may be the biggest in the Midwest…but will it ever be considered the greatest? Probably not!

The greatest clubs – The Loft, Paradise Garage, The Hacienda, Amenesia, Cosmic, Studio 45,Warehouse, Mud Club, The Roxy etc etc, all started by playing music to that not many people understood at the time. What they did do however, is create a unique experience. And from that grew hordes of loyal fans and a legacy of great music and musicians that we all benefit from today.

I know this all sounds very idealistic – but in reality – we need a balance of super clubs, underground clubs, warehouse parties and other creative events in order to create an exciting nightlife experience for all.

So from my perspective, i’d look for DJs that fit in with the mood or experience I wanted to create with the bar. I think the the idea of having them submit suggestions for songs at certain times is a good one. Depending on the size, I would either use an agency, a savvy staff member or an existing DJ network to fill the spots.