Playing to a packed private party in a club as the invited DJ is a privilege, and one worth conquering your musical single-mindedness and nerves in order to do.
Reader Tony Youll writes: “Hey, I’ve been asked to play a gig for a friend’s birthday. She has booked out a nightclub and everything so it’s going to be pretty high end. Be around 200 people there. At first I was all up for it, but when I’ve been talking to her more, I have a few worries.
Firstly, I’m a dubstep / electro DJ, which she likes. But she is also right into indie music and stuff so she wants that sort of stuff incorporated too. Just wanted to know how I could fit this into my current mixing style.
“Secondly, the party is 10pm to 2am. That’s four hours. I’ve only ever done a set up to 1.5 hours, and even then I was struggling with consistency as I haven’t done much in terms of ‘live performances’.
“I was thinking about potentially asking if I could maybe do an hour, or two at the most and possibly get someone else to do all the indie stuff? What do you guys think I should do?”
Digital DJ Tips says:
“If it were me, I’d take the gig and learn from it. You’ve got a chance here to learn about music you wouldn’t normally play, and learn a lot about DJing to boot. These kinds of gigs are invaluable for your growth as a DJ.
To get through the “four hours” bit, plan it as four one-hour sets if you like. Warm-up, getting there, peak and a party-time classics set to end, for instance. Just find a way of splitting it down.
It’s up to you as the DJ to guess this right, and play something for everyone, all the time looking like you know what you’re doing, even if you don’t…
Four hours is not over-long; most DJs when learning end up playing long sets, if only because they’re playing bars and lounges where they’re the only DJ for the night. I still do, actually – four hours is my regular slot as a resident.
It doesn’t matter what “kind” of DJ you are, or what kind of music she likes. What matters is who walks through the door, and what will make them dance and have a great time. So ask her what music ALL her friends are into. Ask who exactly will be there. Read between the lines and make guesses.
It’s up to you as the DJ to guess this right, and play something for everyone, all the time looking like you know what you’re doing, even if you don’t. Sounds hard? Sure, it is. But it’s also like no feeling ht the world if you get it right!
Don’t worry about “how” you’re going to incorporate unfamiliar music – worry about the music you take with you. Mix the tunes end-to-end if you like, nobody will care. You’re there to play great tunes to someone’s friends on her birthday, not be a superstar DJ. Mixing comes second, by a long way.
Finally, on the night, watch carefully. Be prepared to follow what the floor seems to like, and your instincts. And hold your nerve. You’ll have patches where you get it a bit wrong, but if you prepare and approach the gig in this way, you’ll have much bigger patches where you get it right. Good luck!
Have you been in a similar position? How did you deal with it? Are you happy mixing styles up for parties, or would such a set make you uncomfortable too? Please add your advice for our reader in the comments.
Now go to:
7 Big Mistakes I Made At My First DJ Gig (And Why It Was Still Great Fun)
Why Smart DJs Play More Than One Style Of Music
Over To You: Can A Club Set Have More Than One Style?
Want to escape the bedroom and play in public - fast?
Our 1000s-selling How To Digital DJ Fast video course shows you how.
Learn to DJ Free - email course plus bonus PDF book
Sign up for our weekly email course for beginners now...
Trouble choosing a controller? Visit the web's #1 guide!
DJ Controllers: The Ultimate Buyer’s Guide 2013.
Tags: beginner digital dj tips, dubstep djing, indie djing, party djing
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
I agree with everything Phil says in the article. I am a trance/progressive DJ originally and was very focused on THE MIX especially when I was starting out. I got a gig at a lounge where they asked me to play hip-hop, top 40, and downtempo genres and build up over the course of the night.
I was a fish out of water, but I learned so much from that gig. Namely, the music is most important– not the performance. No one cares how you mix, all that matters is if the next song doesn’t suck and makes some kind of sense.
Good luck, pal. Every gig is a lesson and experience, no matter how small.
[ link ]well said
[ link ]Here is my theory.. Cos I have had a similar situation on a few occasions.. The one thing I worked out from the few gigs that have been difficult for me is that to an extent, everyone likes a good old dance tune.. regardless if they are purely into indie or pop or whatever. They might not even realize they like dance music like electro. you see, I love electro and Dubstep, but very few people do unfortunately.
What I have learn’t, is that you start off at there pace, play what they wana here, as painful as it might be, and as the night goes on, and the booze gets flowing, and people slowly start to progress to that state of “they will dance cos they partying and they love dancing, that is when you will catch them.
As said before, use music they like, and then progress to music that sounds like the stuff they like but has that under tone of dance music (or your choice of tunes).. point is, the beat is all that matters… then as it goes on, you drop a lighter version of the stuff you would like to play in amongst their music, and they will barely even know the difference. point being, if you give “them” (the crowd) enough time, and you slowly phase it in bit by bit.. when you finally go full out and jam what you choose to jam (within reason) they will dance and party out like you hoped they would, without even remembering that you changed it up to music that they would normally not listen to… I have had it happen on at least 4 occasions, where I snuck up the electro on the crowd and they party’ed real hard.. cos at the end of the day, people just want a good rhythm to jam to. However, I can’t vouch for Dubstep, cos that has a noticeable beat difference and is appreciate by the few and knowing…
That’s my theory…
[ link ]This is a great opportunity for Tony even if it’s intimidating and seemingly difficult. Phil’s most important point is that “it doesn’t matter what ‘kind’ of dj you are.” Many new DJs are getting into the art today through Dance music (with all its niche sub-genres and the explosion of producers), which is great, but the danger lies in limiting themselves to one “genre.”
I miss DJs who mix it up and play great music regardless of genres and labels. There is a lot of fear and pressure to limit your song selection and style, especially in club settings here in the U.S.
Tony, take this as an opportunity to break out of your comfort zone and, like Phil said, expand your musical horizons. I got into playing Latin music recently because I saw how much fun the crowd had dancing to various requests I played. I never knew too much about Latin music, but learning about it reminded me of our responsibilities as DJs to explore music, take chances with song selection, and introduce dancefloors and crowds to music they like that they may have never heard otherwise.
Spinning records is a two-way street: learn about music and mood from the crowd, and share or recontextualize tracks for them as well. Ultimately, have fun and help the crowd have fun too!
[ link ]Phil’s spot on here, that’s exactly what it’s about – the tunes and the people you’re playing them to, not the mixing.
I’ve been a DJ for 10 years and I started off just playing house. Then as I matured I got opportunities to play bars/clubs/parties where it was essential for me to be able to play other stuff too – chart, party tunes, indie etc.
Although my passion recently has been for Drum ‘n’ bass, I hold down two weekly residencies – one where I play in a bar and put on a mixture of hip-hop, soul, reggae and rock ‘n’ roll, and a club where I play indie, rock and a bit of chart stuff.
It’s easy enough once you have the tunes, the mixing isnt an issue – I dont actually think, with 10 years experience under my belt, that it’s possible to mix indie or rock tracks together like you would with dance. They’re just not designed for it. The skill comes in picking the right song for the right moment, and seemlessly blending in and out of tracks to keep the flow going.
My advice would be to google some things like ’100 Best Indie Tracks Ever’ or whatever and start downloading some classics – RHCP, The Killers, Kasabian, Oasis, Kings of Leon etc etc and just start building up a little collection of tracks which will get your crowd singing along!
Good luck!
(And as Phil said, don’t be afraid to f**k up, it’s not the end of the world – it’s the beginning of your learning curve…)
[ link ]I don’t know shit about it, but the abovementioned seems to sound ok.
One thing I have heard though: watch the women…. the most important thing is to get the women dancing (meaning throw in a couple of vocal tracks… especially at the start) because the men always follow the women.
P.s. I understand where you’re coming from. I don’t have any top 40 tracks at all. Simply don’t have ‘em. As I hate the kind of music.
[ link ]So even if I wanted – I’d have a problem as I’d have to find a way to obtain the tracks
I had a friend who was getting married. They set up a songlist and i consisted of like best of 80′s and eurovision songs. Well i brought those songs but i also brought with me current popular songs (like uk top list) and some clubsongs that i know are popular. Because i knew what they wanted to hear but i also know from experience that the guests are a mixed pack but normal radiohits joins them together as long as the ladies like to dance. Sure enough, i started of the party with some songs from the weddingcouples favourite list so they started the party and most knew theese songs were their favourites. After that i started playing more popular hits and suddenly all were on the dancefloor having fun. After about 90 minutes i took a break and they came to me and said it was the best fun they’ve had and were thankfull that i didnt listen to them and instead followed my experience. Day after all talked of how fun they had and that the music was so good. And you know what…i had fun too, didnt even mix…just followed my playlist danced with them and switched music before the track ended. So as Phil says, play music that they all like but start off with the birthday girls wish so she starts off the party and then you take over with what you think is best to keep it running. Promes she will have fun as long as her guests have fun, thats your mission.
[ link ]I think you can mix the best of both worlds by finding dubstep/electro remixes of indie tunes. That is one possibility. And indie tunes are going to be hard to find remixes of, but it’s still worth a shot to look for them.
[ link ]Never limit yourself.
Don’t stick to one genre. Anything is fair game.
Dubstep/moombah/trap/etc were all created because the originators DIDN’T stick to just one genre/style, you feel me?
[ link ]I dont know if this would be a big problem but Armin van Buuren did an interview with djtt and he kind of addresses this issue and he has pretty cool mix trick that might help with the mixing of different types of songs.
[ link ]It’s a great interview that one, I advise all new DJs to go and watch it.
[ link ]Yeah, it is isn’t it? He cuts through all the crap and debate that seems to be going on at the moment and reminds us what it’s all about. And he seems like a nice chap.
[ link ]this could be you
http://youtu.be/Q7Z31vy4otk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKEedVwASLo
[ link ]Alright heres a question.
[ link ]I do lots of genres and I think I’m pretty dang good honestly. Dubstep, electro, glitch, house, pop, hip hop. But my friend is having a wedding and wants me to DJ. And she wants alot of country. First off I hate country and rarely listen to it so I don’t know anything about it. 2nd I don’t have that much country music. Maybe like 20 songs.
How do I play abuncha country music for a wedding party??
Weddings are not something to be taken lightly. There’s a whole art to DJing them and it’s nothing to do with EDM or mixing, trust me on that one! (It’s nothing to do with country, either, although that’s not to say you won’t play some country at your friend’s wedding. Just that stuff other than music genres really does dictate how wedding DJs should behave).
That’s what our Complete 21st Century Wedding DJ book is all about, and if you’re serious about making a good job of a wedding, do your bridge/groom and yourself a favour and get an experienced wedding DJ to talk you through it (or just grab our guide). It’s too important a day for those folk to get any aspect of it wrong.
[ link ]If you’re not into it, don’t do it. Everyone can tell when a DJ plays music they don’t like and it will be a disaster for you. Don’t ruin their wedding because you feel you have to play something for them… instead let someone who WANTS to play the music they want for their once-in-a-lifetime day.
[ link ]I totally agree with your comment. Play something that you like or just leave it.
In my experience, mobile DJing is normally very good source of cash income, but sucks as a DJing experience. Middle age posh tarts, booze flowing and an accessible DJ booth is a recipe for disaster.
I always consider myself a versatile DJ: I played bars/clubs for a few years and jumped through multiple genres of music (from trance to D&B, techno to funk/soul, house to indie/rock, electronica to disco)
Yesterday, I was booked to play background music in a brand new (very posh) tapas bar in Sitges (in the south cost of Barcelona, Spain). Apparently, soul and 70s rock on the menu, so I chose some lounge music to complement this, jazzy vibes.
Showed up and soon I was surrounded by a crowd of 50-something posh jerks getting smashed on the free booze. Not long after, the organizer came to harass me, asking me to change the mood for something more danceable. Good start.
Tempo risen, funky 70s music blowing through the speakers and 10 minutes later the same lady comes to inform me that that is not dance music for their age. She wants commercial dance music. Cool. Let´s hit them with some cool funky house, see how it goes… She´s back with the same drunken comments:
- What kind of music do you want exactly?
- Marilyn Monroe and Pitbull
- WTF!!!
From there I tried everything:some 80s hits (Madonna, The Bangles, Michael Jackson), 70s classics (Queen, Donna Summer). Nothing worked for that woman. She was so drunk, she couldn’t log in her own Spotify account! She came with a pen drive and asked me to play her friend´s music, a hard techno set! I refused. A world of pain for 2 hours.
The party finished at 2AM, everyone left to Pacha Sitges. Good luck!
PS – Big respect to mobile DJs. BTW, the bar manager offered me a permanent job.
[ link ]Hi Aguya, had a big smile on my face reading your story – I don’t think any DJ in the world could have pulled that one off! sounds like you did as well as anyone would have. By the way, we’re in Spain, too (Andalucía).
[ link ]@ AGUY@
I’ve been in that situation many times before! At the end of the day, I understand that I’m there to play what people want, but if one person is hassling me for shit that dont fit, I’ll usually just end up telling them to f**k off. Regardless of who they are, I dont care, I have a job to do – and the majority to look after – so if you stop me doing that, you can f**k off. Simples.
[ link ]Definitely take the gig – preparation should be easy – join a bunch of nu disco and indie groups on soundcloud and check out mixes and free tracks there.
[ link ]Whenever I’ve agreed to do a gig that’s outside my focus I’ve deeply regretted it. These days I’d always choose no gig after a gig that’s wrong for me.
DJs are artists, and it is a necessary part of being a professional artist that one does not allow others to editorialize one’s work.
[ link ]I totally in the same mood as you Will. (with the same DJ Setup haha ^^)
I prefer to refuse now some gigs instead of to play some “things” I don’t want to.
I have done that for many years before, especially in clubs or private party like Tony will probably do.
Anyway,it’s good for experience DJ Sets when you are not a regular DJ.
But Tony, you must be ready to feel that you’ll be like a “Jukebox” in this future gear !
If you want to play YOUR tracks or YOUR style, find gigs were you’ll be an artist, and not a DJ.
[ link ]I love all of the positivity and encouragement Phil and the other commenters have expressed here. They are definitely words to take to heart. However, I felt compelled to respond, as I wanted to project a bit of a different view on this topic. I agree with Will (above).
I was in a very similar situation just two weeks ago. I consider myself a pretty diverse DJ who plays and truly loves all sorts of genres of music. I constantly am digging for new gems and old classics in lots of areas. Any given night, I play at least 5-6 main genres and several more sub-genres to give the crowd a diverse musical experience, and hopefully include something for everyone.
Now, one thing I just thoroughly do not enjoy or am any good at (despite trying a lot!) is playing Top40/Pop/Radio or Electro/Trance remixes of Pop stuff. I’ve tried over and over again to challenge myself to take these gigs to learn how to play music I strongly dislike, but to please the crowd (really, that’s the DJ’s job.) and it hasn’t worked well.
Two weeks ago, at my company’s product launch party, a 4 hour gig, what usually happens, happened again. It was requested that I play whatever I want early but Pop/Top40/Electro/Trance late. Early in the night all was fine and several complemented me on how the vibe was right but when the “dancing hour” (whatever that means) hit, and I started playing the stuff requested of me, that’s when things fell apart. I played the right songs. I mixed them well. I believe I cultivated the right ebb and flow on the energy levels. But no one was dancing. No one even paid much attention. A few looked confused. It’s as if they could sense I wasn’t into it, so they weren’t into it. I tried to switch it up. Nothing worked. Perhaps I didn’t know enough of the songs. I did days of research.
See, I have a hard time cultivating the right energy wave if the music I’m playing is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me or if I have no clue about the genre. The result for the night was a C- in my book…I didn’t get complaints (a few frowns from some music-forward folks), but its was a miserable experience because I didn’t enjoy it, AT ALL. The crowd didn’t seem to really have any fun, at least not with the music. I was counting down the hours until I was done. I was left feeling empty and dejected and the crowd might as well have been listening a Clear Channel radio station. Or maybe just to random static, I’m not sure.
I feel that the pinnacle of DJing is playing stuff that you love but that which the crowd also loves. Both parts to this equation are equally important. This requires very very careful gig selection.
My recommendation is to bring a buddy with you who is a pro at DJing Indie stuff. 4 hours of preparation for a genre you aren’t comfortable with can be difficult. Plus, its a lot more fun to mix with someone else anyway…helps give you a second perspective on where you should take things musically throughout the evening.
[ link ]Hi Andrei – “I feel that the pinnacle of DJing is playing stuff that you love but that which the crowd also loves.”
Couldn’t agree more. the point is, though, exposing yourself to new music might just end up in you liking it. Take a look at this post where we discussed exactly that: http://www.digitaldjtips.com/2012/02/the-4-types-of-dj-which-are-you/
[ link ]The best indie stuff I’ve come across is honestly stuff that’s been remixed from the 80′s -Discotech, Classixx, and even A-Trak has some outstanding remixes that would slot into danceable indie (familiar enough for girls to dance to, but indie enough for them to be like “That guy has some taste!”). hypem has lots of good indie tracks if you have time to listen to music and just blog surf.
You should consider your breakdown into a few different sets- Opening (10-11:45), middle (11:45-1:40 killer songs go here), and closing (1:40-close) and how to correctly roll from each of them into the next and to read the crowd. Biggest thing about being the only one playing all night is SERIOUSLY going to be reading the crowd and learning how to get people to dance. You’ll learn a lot, enjoy.
[ link ]Brandon – thanks for highlighting the dividing the set up angle of this – it certainly makes a long set less intimidating.
[ link ]I’d say take it, you will learn heaps. And the main thing is you want to feel confident when you take to the decks on te night. And the best way to do that is through preparation and knowing you have your bases covered with the styles of music you’ll need. Maybe even have it more “scripted” than you normally would. The best advice given here is to remember its not about you, its about the music. Good luck. Have faith in yourself and you will nail it. I’d love to hear how it turns out, so please post back here – we are rooting for you!
[ link ]I totally agree with Phil! I also believe that a dj playing at a birthday party should play known tunes, stuff that people will be able to recognize and sing along. House, Techno, Electronica and dubstep are stuff people would not usually expect at a birthday party, but still playable. I love private parties because they are very demanding in terms of music selection: you are not gonna play in a club (usually clubs are known for a particular genre of music so people know what to expect from you) so it makes it much harder but it’s also more interesting! You can use harmonic mixing as well as chops, brakes and so on to introduce a totally different tune and so on. Man, you are gonna make it!!!
[ link ]I think that there’s an elephant in the room that no-one seems to have noticed. What sort of DJ do you want to be?
Personally, I’d have turned the gig down as soon as it was made clear I was expected to play what I’m not used to playing.
As a trance DJ (Occasionally tech-house/techno), all the music on my hard drive is house trance techno. To be expected to play outside of that would mean I have to pay for music I don’t like, to play a gig and unless I’m being paid enough to make a profit, it ain’t worth it IMHO.
One thing I have to point out though, I’m not DJing to make a living; I’m doing it for enjoyment. I’d much rather cut down the number of gigs in favour of quality ones I’ll really enjoy playing.
And this is my point. Decide now if you want DJing to be your job from the off. If it is, the advice here is pretty solid so suck it up and play that indie!
[ link ]I don’t think we’ve skirted round this at all. The thing is, I find two things going on when I’m asked to DJ: 1) Is it my kind of gig? And 2) Do I want to do it? Often I want to DJ even though it’s not my kind of gig, so I’ll stretch myself, maybe change my style a bit. Sometimes, frankly, I get offered a gig that means I can play “my thing” – but I turn it down for whatever reason.
So it is possible for a DJ to reach outside of their comfort zone, and especially early on in your career, it is often absolutely the right thing to do, in my opinion.
[ link ]I guess my only concern would be that you don’t know enough about indie music to (a) have the tracks (b) know what tracks you should get? I’d guess dubstep isn’t going to go over well if it’s an indie music crowd so you’re going to need to have something on your laptop to please them.
[ link ]I got the exact same request recently. “Can you play Indie at a club?”. I said “No” outrightly.
I tried a gig like that once, it was a Zimbabwean function and they got me to play. I thought since I play Afrobeat I should be able to swing it. I also had a good number of South African tunes with me, foolishly thinking that “the two countries are neighbours and should share musical tastes”.
Long story short…I was so outta my depth and I’m sure they will never ever book me again.
I was sweating like I was reducing a fracture.
someone said earlier on that it will be a good learning curve…What I learnt from that experience was that I will not move out of my comfort zone again. They can always get a “specialist dj” for that.
Don’t for the sake of “playing out” ruin someone else’s day/celebration.
If you have a buddy that can play the specific genre or even listens to that genre then you can bring him and you can watch him play or let him help you with the playlist.
My €0.02
[ link ]To be fair you are not a “Dubstep DJ” you are a DJ who likes to play Dubstep. Playing other types of music will only improve your skills. If you are finding it hard to pick tunes because you dont listen to indie music here is a setlist for you. Although I think you should listen to as many different types of music as possible. Limiting yourself to one genre of music is a bad idea and it is boring.
Yuck – Get Away
Warpaint – Elephants/Undertow
Vampire Weekend – Giving Up The Gun/Holiday
Two Door Cinema Club – Undercover Martyn/Something Good Can Work/I Can Talk
Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs – Garden
The Strokes – Under Cover Of Darkness
Squarehead – Midnight Enchilada
Sleigh Bells – Crown On The Ground/Rill Rill
Santigold – Go feat. Karen O
The Rapture – How Deep Is Your Love
Not Squares – Asylum
The National – Terrible Love (Alternate Version)/Anyone’s Ghost
The Naked And Famous – Young Blood
Maximum Balloon – Tiger
Metronomy – The Bay/The Look
Lykke Li – Get Some/I Follow Rivers
Local Natives – Airplanes/Sun Hands/Wide Eyes
Little Dragon – Ritual Union
LCD Soundsystem – Dance Yrself Clean/Home
Lana Del Ray – Video Games
Junior Boys – Banana Ripple
Jai Paul – BTSTU
The Joy Formidable – Austere
PJ Harvey – The Words That Maketh Murder
Gold Panda – You
Foster The People – Pumped Up Kicks
Foals – Blue Blood/Spanish Sahara/Miami
Feist – How Come You Never Go There
Egyptian Hip Hop – Moon Crooner
The Drums – Let’s Go Surfing/Forever And Ever Amen/Money
Deerhunter – Revival
Darwin Deez – Radar Detector
Cults – Abducted/Go Outside
Civil Civic – Less Unless
Chad Valley – Now That I’m Real
Cat’s Eyes – Face In The Crowd
Caribou – Odessa/Sun/Leave House
James Blake – Limit To Your Love
Broken Bells – The Ghost Inside/The High Road
The Black Keys – Howlin’ For You/Tighten Up
Best Coast – Crazy For You/When I’m With You
Beach House – Norway
AVI Buffalo – What’s In It For?
Austra – Lose It
Arcade Fire – Ready To Start/The Suburbs
That is a winning setlist, add some classics like the cure, the jam, beastie boys and drunk people messy sing along songs and your half way there, and James Blake is technically Dubstep so everyone is happy
[ link ]Blimey, that’s thorough! Thanks Owen, you’ve given me a Spotify playlist for no reason other than I like the 20% of songs I know off that list so I’m likely to like the rest
[ link ]Ditto!
[ link ]Great work and really helpful for the OP and me!
Very welcome lads
[ link ]if you feel confident enough to hold it down solo, then do it! you’d be surprised at what you can do with a little preparation and confidence. however, if you’re unsure then you should get a DJ friend to help. either way, you’re bound to learn a lot!
[ link ]I do have one tip for dealing with drunk hecklers.
[ link ]I was DJing at an Australia Day party on the Hudson in New York a few years ago and the crowd was evenly divided into two opposing groups; those who wanted serious dance music and those who wanted Aussie rock and roll classics, (and a third, small faction of cute African American kids who kept politely asked for reggae.) I just had to jump back and forward trying to keep all groups happy, but wound up with an angry drunk hater abusing me for not playing his music. It was on the brink of getting ugly and violent with this guy and then as he yelled that the music sucked, I sucked, the world sucked – I started AGREEING with him. Confused the hell out of him, his brain short circuited and he wandered off and I never saw him again.
Finally I gave up, and just played for the kids who were really sweet, great dancers and actually appreciated the music.
I know this is off topic, but I was inspired by Aguya’s night of hell, posted a bit further up, and maybe I’ve given you a tactic if things go south!
Also, ditto on the idea of bringing a buddy, especially if they know the genre better. But even if they don’t, they can help fend off the projectiles while you pack up and skiddadle!
Despite seeming slightly nerve wracking these are the kind of gigs that serve only improve your confidence when it comes to playing out in public
I used to commute down to London monthly to play six hour sets at a bar my mate managed in Shoreditch (I live in Manchester) and this was before the whole digital explosion so I literally lugged down two very heavy bags of vinyl with me. Nowadays you have the luxury of being able to cram 1000′s of songs on your hard drive which will let you take your set in pretty much any direction you choose. Six hours sounds like a long time, you could even equate it to being nearly a full day in the office but once you got started it’d actually fly by pretty quickly. Instead of focusing on the negative aspect that you may be out of your element look upon it as an opportunity to gorge yourself on new music, maybe discover some stuff you never knew you liked and basically cram that HD full of as many tunes as you can think of in every genre.
When faced with playing a long set it’s all about pacing really. There’s no point slapping down all your bombs in your first hour and in my case I played 2 – 3 hours worth of Hip-Hop to start with just to ease people into it. There’s no point cranking it up at the start as you’re just background noise while people chat so don’t get fed up if the floor is empty for the first hour or so. Get too gnarly early doors and people will just walk in then walk out again
Don’t feel under any pressure to mix every single song either as the majority of people don’t really care (majority of Indie stuff would end up sounding a total mess if you attempted to blend them together)
Many times I’ve dropped what I consider to be a clanger in the mix, shook my head a little red-faced thinking I can’t believe I just did that, looked around to see no reaction whatsoever. It really doesn’t matter
Also bare in mind that it’s impossible to please everybody as you’ll always get somebody moaning at you so don’t take it personally. I’d occasionally have to buy stuff I wouldn’t normally touch for these gigs but as soon as you’d switch genre to please some particularly vocal punters a few others would always come up asking for you to switch it back to what you were previously playing. Fickle bunch
Make sure you have a few obvious party tunes for the end of the night too Deelite, House of Pain, Oasis, Nirvana etc. Stuff you wouldn’t normally play but you know will pack the floor out if you feel you’re beginning to flounder. You mentioned that she was into Indie but you have 199 other people to play to aswell who won’t have idential tastes to her (actually that’ll probably just stress you out more …. it shouldn’t
Have fun anyway …. what’s the worst than can happen?
[ link ]heres my current favs outta my indie dance playlist
The Locarnos – make up your mind(alex metric remix)
The Gossip – yr mangled heart (tiga’s congabreak mix)
Adam freeland – under control(alex metrix remix)
Adam freeland – borderline feat. brody dalle (original mix)
Tiga – what you need (proxy remix)
Tiga – you gonna want me (12 inch dance mix)
Justice – dance(mstrkft remix)
Poni Hoax – hypercommunication (joakim cartoone muscles edit)
Roxy music – love is the drug (todd terje disco dub)
Human league – the things that dreams are made of (tiga remix)
And some thing a little harder
the presets – My people(dim remix)
the presets – down down down(digitalism remix)
Franz and shape – eyes like knives feat.kill memory crash (original mix)
And something completely unrelated
Zedds dead – unda yuh skirt feat mavado (original mix)
Hope these help m8
[ link ]This actually happened to me lastnight. And NOT by choice. I started DJing about 5-6 years ago. Lucky enough for me I live in Los Angeles and am friends with a lot of promoters who have booked me for their events. So I’ve been a club DJ for a few years now. But I just recently started headlining/closing sets. Well lastnight I had a gig and specifically requested an opening set due the fact I had to be up at 6am the next day for the good ol’ 9-5. The DJ who was closing was there long before me setting up because he had a daytime event in the same area. Literally a 4 block radius of clubs. He was very cool allowed me to use his laptop stand, needles and vinyl. Even made sure I got my free drinks etc. Well times comes for him to go on and he had words with the promoter. Says some mean things on the mic about her and storms out leaving w/ everything. I ALWAYS bring my own gear, especially because I use traktor. So I set up and had my girl friend on the mic for a bit MCing and hyping up the crowd they loved it. Well suffice to say I ended up DJing a whole 4.5 hour set…doing ALL hip-hop. Now another point I just discovered I have a knack for hip-hop. Put out a mix and have been bombarded with top40/hip-hop gigs. I started w/ techno, electro and some tech house. I’m comfortable w/ doing a 2hr set of hip-hop but I have NEVER done more than that. Well in a nutshell it was a hit and also a HUGE learning experience. Reading a crowd for 4+ hours is a bit tough but if you pay attention to what they respond to and how they respond to it in the beginning the next few hours will be a bit easier. Whenever I’m doing a closing set I like to be there an hour early to read the crowds energy. Last night I had people dancing till the lights came on. So my ADVICE IS DO IT!!! You might rock it and there is NO GREATER feeling. Good luck.
[ link ]Think about covers and how musicians play other else compositions with their own style, so dont think in how to force and rape your set instead of creat beats and melodies as a references in your own music mix up style
[ link ]So Tony, did you take the gig? How did it go?
[ link ]When i got to play genres Im not familiar too and too scared to try anything good, I just cue the song before the chorus and play it to the end, doing the same for the next one. Playing for start to end also works but with longer tracks it can get boring, so for these longer ones I do as I said before, cue near the chorus. Works specially well with indie As the chorus and the ‘solo’ generally come in that order
[ link ]