Our reader wants to know whether his practised mixes and cross-genre style is going to rock or bomb when he plays it in front of a crowd.
Reader Diogo Ferreira writes: “I’m just starting in DJing, but some doubts are starting to annoy me. I’ve got no problem with mixing techniques, and no problem with harmonic mixing, which I love and with which everything sounds perfect (at home, at least).
“But my problem relates to this: I’m taking DJing seriously, and I want to get recognised for my own style. My concept is to play highly melodic electronic music (mostly lesser known but great tunes, the kind of tunes I would love to dance to) in many different styles: techno, IDM, tech house, experimental, minimal…
“I may slightly adapt the set to the club I’m playing at as I read the crowd, but the issue is this: The core of my set has tunes of very different styles which makes them difficult to mix any other way or with any other tracks than those I’ve practised (it’s like a prepared mini-mix of tunes), so once I’m on it there’s no turning back.
“Also, how will people respond to these variations in styles and melody? I think the tunes are good and the mixes are very good, but will this change of both styles and melodies, even if mixed very harmonically and flowing well, work with the crowds? Or should I do what 90% of DJs already do and just play safe?
“Will it give me an distinct identity or style or no nothing at all?”
Digital DJ Tips says:
It sounds like you’re committed to the art, and that technically you’re getting there, and it also sounds like you’re a naturally musical person. Also, you know what you want to do, which is more than many DJs at your stage! All of this is good, and because of it, you’re already well on your way to getting a distinct identity. Never play safe if you’re not “feeling it” – always follow your heart.
There are countless genres of music, and Diogo has chosen a DJ style that takes in several different genres. He's worried how it will go down when he plays live, though...
There are two issues here, though: One is whether your wish to “mix things up a bit” will go down well with the crowd; and the other, will the fact that you’re practising mixes at home that you then don’t feel capable of deviating from when you’re playing them live affect your DJing, because you won’t know what do do if they’re not going down well.
On the first point, developing your own style is vital, but you’ve got one ingredient missing: The crowd. Only by DJing in front of an audience and watching and learning can you see what parts of your style work and what parts need to be rethought. DJing is not something to be theorised about in your room: It means little unless you’re doing it in front of a crowd. That’s where the learning happens. Book a gig, any gig, and find out! Then do it again, and again…
On the second point, it is good to have mini-mixes in your set that you have practised and that you know sound great, but they’re no substitute for knowing the right record to play at the right time. How you mix is not as important as what you play. If you can get cleanly and simply from the current tune into the best possible tune to play next, that’s better than playing the wrong tune but mixing it in well.
So by all means have mini-mixes but limit them to two or three tunes in length. If you have lots of “mini-mixes” suiting different moods and crowds, then there’s nothing wrong with stringing them together to make a whole DJ set – but don’t plan the whole thing beforehand. Again, the reason is that you’re forgetting the most important ingredient: The crowd.
What advice would you offer to Diogo? Have you developed your own style that works well for you? Do you prepare mini-mixes on even whole DJ sets, or do you play completely ad-hoc depending on the crowd? Please take part in the comments below.
Now go to:
5 Times When You Should Plan Your DJ Sets
6 Reasons Why Not To Plan Your DJ Sets
7 Set Planning Secrets Of Professional DJs
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Tags: mixing, set planning
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I’ve learned there’s two types of people who go out to hear DJs.
1) Those who only like it when it’s familiar tunes.
2) Those who want familiarity tossed out and they go to hear what that DJ has seen/heard and wants to share.
Crowd #1 is what you’ll mostly run into. It dominates the consumer base for this industry. Every bar, wedding, corporate event, trendy club…all those spots get crowds who can’t handle “unknowns” and only like “familiars”.
I think it’s fine if you want to put a spin on your own mixing. Even in the trendy spots you can get away with a lot now thanks to digital and mashups. You can pop on a whole set of some interesting remixes and/or techniques as long as the crowds get their familiars to cling on to. So you might intertwining some real offbeat tunes you love, but layering on it the vocals of Katy Perry and Def Leppard. The crowd will mostly be happy because they will only pay attention to the pop stars you’re bringing on.
Some crowds though are stubborn and won’t tolerate remixes. They want the originals, and even at times hate the whole EDM/DJ Culture thing. Just come in and be a jukebox basically. Those gigs pay decently, but suck for the creative mind.
Crowd #2 is a wondrous thing if you win them over, and I suggest you follow the “How To Succeed At DJing” series Phil and I are doing. If you want find that niche crowd of open minds and win them over, then you’ll go places in that scene. Just beware that many are also just plain anti-establishment…and will scoff at anything that even remotely comes to the ears of the “mainstream people”.
All in all, you need to pick and choose your gigs. Don’t just take any gig, but take the ones you know you can play well. It’s pointless to end up in that sports bar playing hair metal and lite rock favorites when you want to tear it up.
I also agree with Phil in that you need to be able to change up your set at a moment’s notice. This is why I never plan my sets out and why I love digital. I can show up, play the way the promoter wanted me to, and if things aren’t working I can save the night by changing to what will work. It was worse in the old days when you have an unreceptive crowd and your record box is only filled with stuff they didn’t want to hear.
Try posting your mixes online, tap into the local cliques of club folk, get feedback, and build a fanbase. When you get big enough, even locally, then you can dictate what’s played as opposed to the crowd dictating it to you.
[ link ]Just beware that many are also just plain anti-establishment…and will scoff at anything that even remotely comes to the ears of the “mainstream people”.
That’s because we have taste :p
And seriously, this is excellent advice. If you’re good and you put the work/practice in, there’s an absolutely enormous underground culture with an appreciation of good electronic music.
One caveat: the accessibility of this scene varies. In some places such as London, Berlin or San Francisco it’s trivially easy to find “underground” music culture. In some places (such as Wellington, NZ where I live) it’s a very small and barely-breathing culture. If you’re in one of the latter places you’ll probably need to move to a bigger city if you want to DJ on your own terms.
Currently I’m trying to decide whether to move to California, Berlin or Melbourne for exactly this reason
[ link ]Tough choice. Berlin or Melbourne both sound nice.
Cali I’m iffy on…but I think it’s because I’m more fascinated with cultures outside of the US.
[ link ]Hey!!
Thx for the advice!! Ofcourse i pick the venues im sending the promo mix according to the kind of costumers/listeners they have(in my hometown for now). once i get my name known i think ill get further.
Ive already been invited to some venues and my promo set is killing it. Im opening for some underground nights in lisbon!
your “How To Succeed At DJing” series have been (still are) really helpful by the way! thx alot once again.
here is my set. enjoy.
http://snd.sc/mvPPck
[ link ]1 lil tip fro home dj’s is.. dance!! keep dancing all the time.. during the breakdown, when it comes in, etc! coz you might like something but if you pay closer atention, by dancing, you’ll notice if there is something strange to dance to or not! it helps a bit…
[ link ]That was good advice! We have a short saying that basically means the same thing: “Never sacrifice selection for the mix.” And as it mentioned on this site repeatedly, You need to have your library organized properly. Especially in you case, since you are playing from so many genres.
[ link ]I wish more DJs would spin like that. Most of them just stick to one sound for the whole night, which is of course okay in its own right, but the greatest sets I know, come from DJs who are not afraid of diversity. Fatboy Slim, Armand van Helden, Felix da Housecat, those are guys who play old school Hip Hop and classic funk records, right next to the freshest house tracks and noisy acid sounds. Unfortunately it seems like they are only allowed to shift between five or six genres within less than two hours, because they are already stars!
A good DJ set should take the listener on a journey, but the average clubber doesn’t care these days and is satisfied with seven hours of always the same minimal beats or some shit like that.
I like to play more than just one genre in my sets either. The problem: It doesn’t really make me a DJ, that is on the consideration list of many clubs. I got a loyal fanbase, but it’s pretty small. My most played mixes on the internet are those, that stay in one genre. The ones, where I got the biggest reactions from my listeners, are those, where I even played some hair metal or a dubstep sounding acapella track. (Reggie Watts FTW!) These are the ones, where people come to me and tell me how much they liked what I did.
But my one-genre-only sets are the ones, that are played and downloaded up to three times as much as my genre benders.
All I can say is: Make sure your mix sounds fluid, doesn’t matter how many genres it contains. But if you play more than one, or let’s say two very similar sounding genres, be prepared for playing in front of a MUCH smaller audience.
[ link ]You cant mix the popularity of demo mixes with live acceptance. People like to hear one thing on their mp3 player and other when in a club, at least dynamic-wise.
[ link ]“A good DJ set should take the listener on a journey” – Absolutly agree with u my friend! thanks for the reply.
Heres a “journey” to Lisbons underground:
http://snd.sc/mvPPck
[ link ]Its all about the crowd!
[ link ]Just like a chef its no good serving up food that no one wants to eat.
Chose – do you want to play your sound, or do you want to play ‘for the crowd’…
Unless you already have a large fan base, the former is always going to be the harder slog. It’s the path I chose a long time ago, and I now don’t tend to get asked to play our that much.
However, I am also glad I am not a cynical and jaded as some of the ‘established’ DJs I often catch up with for a coffee. However, you may end up bitter anyhow, as you will realise that the scene has lost a lot of the individuality that it once had. Reality is, the customer does not always know best.
[ link ]Make no mistake, im playing for the crowd. the thing is ive been and still am part of the crowd every now and then and its all about the venue.
[ link ]pick the venue, pick the crowd. (at list at first times)
What Mr. Ferreira asks is very similar to my own worries. Thanks for the good advices, Phil. (And thanks for the great posts as well)
[ link ]Time for gigs, and gigs…
Diogo, we’ve got a one word answer for you: Yes!
We say do it. Variety is always a good thing – the fact that no-one else is doing it just makes it even more worthwhile. What’s the point in trying to do what the other DJs are already doing well? At The Cartel, we love variety (our club night is even called Eclectica), and we’re always on the lookout for new DJs and producers who embrace a variety of styles of music and get creative with formats. Our experience is that there’s not enough of that kind of variety around…
So, if you’ve got any mixes uploaded to sites like Mixcloud or Soundcloud then please do send us links – just drop a Facebook message to our A&R chief, El Cartel, at http://www.facebook.com/ECartel and we’ll take a listen
[ link ]Hey!!!
Good to hear from u guys!! thx for the reply. u can listen to my promo set at http://snd.sc/mvPPck .
It has been opening some doors for me and i hope u enjoy it at well!!
Props to Singapore!!
[ link ]Throw that “mini-mix” idea out.
It’s fine if you’d play one set during your life, but if you want to play on a regular basis, that won’t work.
I already see ppl talking “ahh cmon he’s playing a ready-made file from winamp and checking mails”.
Some things work better in certain way, but… Don’t try to be perfect, cause you’ll end up tired of djing.
[ link ]If you’r playing a pre-prepared mix, that’s true. But if time and experience has shown you little groups of two or three tunes that go really well together, there’s nothing wrong with repeating those mixes. No point reinventing the wheel every time you DJ.
[ link ]I like to bust out a ‘greatest hit’ mix every now and then, but never want to hear a regular come up and tell me he guessed I was gonna play that song next. Oh, the pitfalls of being a local ‘working’ DJ!
[ link ]Of course Phil, I’m not talking about the extremes… It’s nice to have some “regulars” (either as a resident or as booked DJ), but you’ll end up losing them if you play it the “minimix” way all the time.
[ link ]Oh… Edit option would be a nice feature.
And no, I’m not against the idea of having “little groups that go well together”, but totally against “The core of my set has tunes of very different styles which makes them difficult to mix any other way or with any other tracks than those I’ve practised”-ish thingy.
I’d rather go for entering tracks names into the comments of specific tunes to ensure quick searching. (If I remember correctly – that’s something you’ve suggested before)
[ link ]Defnitly got Phills back on minimixes strategy, and with time and experience im finding more ways(and tunes) to go around “the all way strait core” thing. but theres one thing that matters:
im not applying to play in bars or weddings! im going for venues i know my sound will probably suit better and i do my thing. and is working, im getting asked to play in other places fortunaly!
Thx for the reply!
[ link ]Thx Phill for the article! actualy the hole site its being really helpful!!
My promo set: http://snd.sc/mvPPck
Enjoy mate!
[ link ]cheers