What makes groups of girls go wild on the dancefloor to music they haven’t heard before? Understanding that secret can revolutionise your DJ sets.
In business, smart executives know that they often have their best ideas when they’re not at their desks, when they’re out in the “real world”. Not only that, but the truly excellent among them understand that to deliver what customers want, they need to get as close to those customers as possible – “if you want to understand me, walk a mile in my shoes”.
Today I’m going to show you how this kind of thinking can make you a better DJ. It involves getting out of the DJ booth or your home studio a bit more often, but it’s more than that: It’s a whole new way of approaching your music discovery. It can help you avoid having to play chart music if you don’t want to, while at the same time avoiding becoming one of those DJs who plays sets nobody likes.
What I’m going to share with you is something the best DJs in small clubs, bars and lounges the world over already do in order to play creative, fulfilling DJ sets that they enjoy and that their crowds love. It’s simple, but it can revolutionise the way you approach your DJing.
Before I tell you exactly what I mean, though, let me outline the problem.
The “specialist music discovery” trap
When you’re a “creative” DJ (as opposed to a mobile/wedding type DJ who has a different set of requirements), you realise you need to have a “better” music collection than the general public, right? That you somehow need to be more knowledgeable about new music, that you need to have “put the hours in” to build a great collection that you can draw on when you’re playing. It’s part of being an “original” DJ, isn’t it? We all know that.
‘Normal’ people don’t spend two days flat every week on Beatport, listening to obscure releases from about 50 different labels…
The problem is that often the way we do this moves us too far away from the people we’re eventually going to end up playing this music to! Why? Because “normal” people don’t spend two days flat every week on Beatport, listening to obscure releases from about 50 different labels, shortlisting and buying stacks of tunes at once, then congratulating themselves on having a “great” collection. (This is just an example. Think hours spent on SoundCloud, etc, and all the other types of DJ behaviour that “normal” folk never engage in.)
No, normal people get on with their lives, and music just kind-of seeps in. They get to hear some of it in clubs and bars, sometimes played to them by DJs – people like you. Friends recommend stuff. It can come from TV, from the car radio, from snippets heard in the street, from films and so on.
What I’m saying is that what “normal” people like and dislike is not shaped so much by trends or by conscious effort, just by music being a part of their environment. And trust me, even on the trendiest dancefloors, more people are like this than like music-fanatic DJs. (Nearly all the women, for starters.)
So how can knowing this fact make me a better DJ, you may be asking? Surely I shouldn’t stop hanging around Beatport or SoundCloud and all the other things I spend hours doing in order to stay ahead of the curve with my music collection?
Drink from the same cup as your audience
No, I’m not! I’m proposing instead you do something in addition to this that I’ve seen and done and that I truly believe in. What is it? It’s building a system for getting the best of the music that’s “out there” in public, right now, into your collection – fast.
I’m talking about the music that’s in the malls, on broadcast channels and on the tips of people’s tongues this second. The stuff everyone’s listening to without really realising it and that they don’t really know they like yet. There’s so, so much of it. You already like some of it (but just like the public, you don’t know it yet). But when you work out how to bag some of this stuff and start DJing with it, it’s solid gold for your sets.
Sites like tvadmusic.co.uk let you quickly look up the tunes used in current TV commercials.
I’ve observed time and time again that the DJs who firstly allow their environment to fill their heads with hooks, lyrics, beats and so on, and who secondly have a system for acting on that music, always play better DJ sets. (Don’t worry, we’ll get on to how to do this stuff in a bit.)
You see, in music, “familiarity” can be just as important as “good”. And one problem with locking yourself away for hours on end to build your collection is that you’ve often got no idea when, or even if, that stuff you choose is ever going to get any public momentum behind it. Worse, by “consciously” trying to decide if music is good or not, you can make mistakes. Now you’re buying music that’s not very good, and that nobody else will ever become familiar with or care about. Floor-emptying stuff. Big mistake.
On the other hand, a lot of time and money goes into selecting unique music for films, shop soundtracks, TV ads and so on. It isn’t left to chance.
A lot of time and money goes into selecting unique music for films, shop soundtracks, TV ads and so on. It isn’t left to chance.
Much of this stuff isn’t chart music (yet). Sure, commercial radio is, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg here. So by just being open to the music that surrounds you daily, you can bag “exclusive” tracks for your DJ sets that do the job on the dancefloor, often without resorting to filling your sets with chart fodder, or with the same dance tracks everyone else is playing.
Trust me, one good tune found this way is worth ten ill-considered specialist store purchases. And the beauty is, you’re already there! I am sure you watch films, go out to restaurants or cafes, hang out with friends in venues away from where you work, go to the mall and so on. You, too, are already acting like “normal” people do – the trick is now to “listen” to the music seeping into your life when you’re out and about and to allow this to influence your music collection.
How to do it
It can be as simple as making a quick note on your smartphone when you hear a tune on the radio you like. It can be Shazam-ing a house track playing in a clothes shop while you’re out shopping that grabs your attention, then heading off to find a remix of it that works in your sets as soon as you have time. It can be digging out the soundtrack of a film you enjoyed, or finding out what the music is on a TV ad when you like the voice of the singer.
Scoop up these “finds” weekly into a list, and use that for the basis of your discovery sessions. (Of course, music discovery and management is one of the core concepts of digital DJing, which is why we go into it in greater detail than is possible here in our How To Digital DJ Fast course.)
A great thing about learning to discover new music like this is that when you’re busy doing other stuff, only the truly memorable music will jump out at you – the rest will sink back into the void and won’t waste your time. Your subconscious mind is doing some valuable filtering for you. (Suddenly, those two days spent on Beatport each week may not look like such a good investment after all…) At the very least, a shortlist found like this can tell you where to start looking in Beatport when inspiration has dried up.
Do you now understand why the best DJs (those who actually fill dancefloors in bars, lounges and small clubs in every city in the world week in, week out) are keenly listening in to what the public is exposed to?
You have to go shopping, right? So learn to use that as a music discovery session! I’ve picked up several great tunes by simply Shazam-ing shop sound systems – stuff I’d probably never have grabbed otherwise.
They know that in all of these situations, someone else has already done some of the work for them – getting a sound, a style, an individual track, lyric, melody, voice or beat out there in public, where it starts to seep in to the collective psyche. Where it starts to become familiar. They know that this means when they drop it on a dancefloor, even when people haven’t got a clue what it is, there’s a far better chance it’ll send the place crazy.
And once they’re rocking the floor with these well-chosen bombs that they seemingly plucked out of thin air? Well, then they’ve built themselves some trust with their audience, and therefore some space to drop some of those other tunes that they love that your audience may not have heard.
This, to me, is far smarter than mistakenly thinking that because you’ve put in the hours at a specialist online store or site, what’s arrived in your collection is therefore automatically excellent – and that it’s your audience’s fault if they don’t like your stuff. By simply acknowledging that part of your DJ sets should be constructed from music that’s infiltrating your city’s psyche right now, you’re going to play immeasurably better DJ sets, that please your crowds and give you a lot of satisfaction at the same time.
How do you try and discover new music that you think will connect well with your audience? What’s your trick for playing popular DJ sets without resorting to chart music? Please share your thoughts in the comments
Now go to:
12 Easy Ways To Get More Music Into Your Life
Your Questions: How Do I Build A Unique Music Collection?
5 Smarter Ways To Buy Music Online
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.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
I actually use a lot of music that has been used in TV programs (The CSI shows are really good for this) and incorporate that into my sets, as well as music from Nintendo and Playstation games…I try to keep it interesting.
It was a problem finding venues, but I’m receiving funding as a small business startup, so I’ve created a DJ service that specializes in high-end clients and niche markets and along the way discovered quite a sizeable audience that like that sort of creative DJing.
[ link ]Video games… Forgot that one.
[ link ]I’m currently working on a remix for a track I heard on FIFA 13
[ link ]i play ” Grand theft auto san andreas Online ” and it has a system that give u the oportunity to listen tons of radios across the world , and everytime a song pass the name get written above the screen . so whenever i caught somthing interesting , i save the title in my phone and get to continue playing , xD
[ link ]felt smart hahahaha
Nice idea Otis!
[ link ]Drunk girls don’t play video games.
[ link ]but their boyfriends do
[ link ]I always try to throw something in (once an hour, maybe even twice) that will have some kind of familiar hook or lyric. There are thousands of songs over the last 30 plus years that will have some kind familiarity with the “general” audience. I play a lot of electro sets and have plenty of songs with samples from The Who, Nirvana, Redhot Chilli Peppers, etc. People go insane when they hear a little slice of something from the past “modernized” for their drunk, dancing bodies.
[ link ]…and I think one point I didn’t emphasise in the article is that a lot of these tunes can be tools.. I mentioned remixes but there are also acappellas, instrumentals, cover versions, and then of course the opportunity to take a bassline, a vocal snippet, a drum loop from something familiar and use it as a bed or a DJ tool.
[ link ]Pretty much anything from the GTA series.
[ link ]Dammit, wrong comment thread.
[ link ]I like to use loops and acappellas from hip hop tracks in my minimal/tech house sets. It can help motivate the “I don’t like techno” crowd to shake it.
[ link ]Hmmmm Im not really following the logic of the article – perhaps because Im readign it from the standpoint of a guy-DJ-producer who focuses mainly on techno – underground-ish styles.
[ link ]I cant understand how to relate “not playing the same stuff everyone else plays” with “get notes from your everyday musical suroundings” because the latter is in fact “what everyone else plays”.
And secondly, frankly, the daily musical suroundings I have, music in mainstream bars, super-market music, film-music and TV-ads-music is not really the stuff Id play.
Im not disreagarding the validity of the article – but I think its miles away from applying to my personal (and believe some others’ too) way of working with music.
Of course I totally agree that an elitistic approach of a DJ to his track collection and putting hours of digging up the weirdest-underground-est tracks just to brag about it with no actual aesthetic result that can “move” the audience is not a correct approach.
Hey, I disagree with what you say about the stuff we hear on ads or on tv is not stuff you play. TOns of action scenes in movies and ads have in the backround hardcore tech playing. probably carefully chosen by a professional.
watched a movie the the other day one of the bourne identities, the closing track caught my attention so i googled it. it was moby extreme ways.
[ link ]Check out the Matador remix of Extreme Ways. I lubs it. Saw Matador Live at Escape from Wonderland this last Halloween.. awesome.
[ link ]yup.. check out the Lincoln MKZ commercial .. it features a Massive Attaack track remixed by Gui Boratto .. at first you don’t notice it .. but drop it in a set and attention arises.. I’ve tried it
[ link ]YESS I NOTICED IT TOO!! Even tho I’ve been playing it for a while… Paradise Circle
[ link ]Fair enough! Perhaps Im one of the unlucky ones to live in a country where we will NEVER ever watch a TV ad with a Gui Boratto track! lol
[ link ]I took it as a Top40 DJ suggestion more than anything, though there’s obviously a lot of music in commercials and films that doesn’t fit within that definition.
If you are gathering a more underground crowd your mind is already (hopefully) in the right place; “Drink from the same cup as your audience” is something you’re already doing.
[ link ]I agree, digital DJ tips is very focused on playing in commercial bars and clubs really…
[ link ]Not necessarily, I was a club DJ for 11 years playing prog house, breaks & deep techno… but I do believe in engaging the crowd in front of you, however you find them to be. Pulling as big a crowd as possible into your style is a good skill to have.
[ link ]my favourite track from a film?
new order – confusion (pump panel reconstructioon mix)
brownie point for the film name… lol
[ link ]Blade… Sweetest little rave scene ever!
[ link ]Would this work for things like high school house parties? Even with all the top 40 most students listen to?
[ link ]As I said in the intro, these techniques are what I think are good for “creative” DJs who want to cross over to crowds outside their little enclaves, rather than disappearing down rabbit holes – but the general “ear to the ground” principle is best practice for all DJs, I’d sat.
[ link ]Good article. I’ve been doing this for a while now. As wedding DJ i tend to play a lot of the usual suspects but I also look around for tracks which are being used either on popular radio or on big TV shows such as the X-Factor, Dancing on Ice or Strictly Come Dancing, here in the UK. High viewing figureds on these programmes means there is a chance you’ll pick up a gem or two. Record appear back in the Top 40 after appearing on these shows on a regular basis, so they are really worth checking out.
Shazam is your friend!!
[ link ]sadly, they don’t play as much drum & bass at the mall as one might think
[ link ]Funny you should say that, as I tagged a really awesome drum and bass track when I was at Qdoba the other night, mostly because it was out of the ordinary to hear it there.
[ link ]Been doin’ this shit for over twenty years. One rule, play it for the ladies! If mama ain’t happy, nobody’s happy. Give people what they want, don’t be a cunt!
[ link ]YES! I agree completely!
[ link ]people won’t usually dance to unfamilliar music. ladies like to sing along with their gf’s. so show your skills mixing the tracks and transitioning. most people came to dance not to be a prisoner of the djs whims. you can be creative and still play the hottest tunes. jus saying…….
[ link ]… you cant apply this habbit to any Genre – like Michael above said, there´s less Electro Swing, TechHouse or so on in Public.
would be great to see a Mall filled with a Foottapping shopping Behaviour, smiling and a lot of easyness going around.
And Radio is no Option for elecronic Dance Beats …
cheers from Berlin
[ link ]“…then heading off to find a remix of it that works in your sets as soon as you have time…” says it all. Something may strike you as interesting even if it doesn’t fit your style. Then you can probably find a remix that DOES fit your style, or at least an a capella and mix it into your style. Then you get your style + bringing in something the audience may have heard in a completely different light earlier, and don’t even know they may like it!
[ link ]You misunderstand me. I’m not saying look out for stuff in your genres, I’m saying let music as a whole seep into your consciousness and start collecting tracks that are outside of your core sounds… trusting that they’ll find a way of infiltrating what you do, to the delight and surprise of your audiences.
[ link ]^This^
[ link ]I played a set last weekend at a cocktail party, and was specifically asked not to play “techno music.” I spent all week digging for funk / indie dance / indie pop / chillout music, and found SOOOOOOOOO many gems. I can’t wait to play some of the tracks I found in my typical minimal/tech house sets.
Great post. This has definitely reminded me to keep my ears open to what “everyone” is subconsciously hearing as opposed to shutting it out. I was getting into the habit of digging into more sounds only I was interested in and not what everyone else wants to hear or is exposed to on a daily basis. Refreshing and humbling concept that puts oneself in the audience’s shoes. Thanks
[ link ]I think there’s definitely a place for digging out the sounds you’re “selfishly” interested in, but also a balance is required.
[ link ]I’ve done this since forever. I’ve obssessed about music that would catch my attention anywhere, anytime, no matter what I was doing at the moment. Before internet, before Shazam or Soundhound or whatever, I’d chase down anything that caught my fancy for any reason like a maniac, and I don’t mean only “dance” music – it was like that with ANY music. Maybe that’s why I became a DJ.
But mainstream music is mainstream music. A mall or store hit is still a hit and will be played by everyone, heard by everyone, everywhere untill it wears out and gets replaced by another hit. Every DJ will have it by the time its out.
This kind of music is being carefully selected and cured by specialists anyway. Professionals – many times DJs – who take the time to dig good music and have access to upfront music. Some of it are good, most are fillers, some just suck. Like in a DJ set, really.
Some are fresh and coming to the surface, gaining momentum and grabbing attention. Some are old and good, though never-been-hits (I’d pick as an example the excellent, cool and even playable/danceable “Waiting For A Train” by the somewhat obscure 70′s band Flash And The Pan that was used on Rock’n'Rolla’s soundtrack… who also did the awesome classic Walking In The Rain later reinterpreted by Grace Jones and also remixed into one sick underground hit by Gemo & Fabrice… but I digresss).
I’m not sure I got your point in this post Phil, but I agree that being tuned to music that surrounds us is the way to go for any kind of DJ. I’m not sure I made my point clear either (lol) but I’d bet it’s what most of us do anyway, professionals and amateurs, club and bedroom.
I also wonder how many here do this (curate and mix or just record background music selections for restaurantes, stores, malls, fashion shows, etc.). I do it professionaly and that’s why I’m curious and would guess many do too, exactly because imho it is all conected to the modern (Beatport, Soundcloud, etc.) digging, it’s just another part of the same cycle.
[ link ]Funnily enough, I do mixes for places I DJ for when I’m not there.
Now, “Waiting For A Train” – there’s a tune…
[ link ]Somebody said would this work for….well thats the main part of being a dj deceiding would it work for me etc, only you can deceide that and if you cant then dont mean to be harsh but maybe you should think….i’m not really a dj yet.
[ link ]As far as beatport goes I very rarely buy from them and very rarely find any of their tracks last the test of time.
On the other hand anyone remember this Guetta track on a car advert http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg_OnmaQ1aI thought that might be fun.
HeHe way always some think this is not a gueata track as original! The Egg – Walking Away (Tocadisco Remix) is the Track, whit a better vocal (is darker).
A friend of gueate was done the edit of the gueata track and this, gueata be come fame for it.
To the article most of the Music a discover my music on BBC Radio 1 (frayday night). And alway so very good Poodcast.
Music from Ad and TV Show i do not Like becouse most of them are played to often. Most of them are played in club and so on 3 Years ago.
[ link ]Shazam! Yep, I do it. Do it all the time. Parties. Bars. I always have Shazam ready.
[ link ]I use Soundhound right now, but I’m looking at getting Shazam to see if it can pick up the many songs/remixes that Soundhound doesn’t recognize.
Regardless of the app you use, this is SO money!
[ link ]because walmart is always banging out psytrance…
but seriously this is an interesting idea. maybe you could take the one part that grabbed your attention and just use it as you would a DJ tool if it doesn’t match your style or have any good remixes. It could be interesting taking an indie rock track from an ad, putting a high pass filter on the chorus and dropping that over the breakdown of a nu disco track. Now only if I had shazam…
[ link ]Meh…screw the public. We’re here to lead not copy and follow.
[ link ]I’m more of the opinion expressed by one of the commenters below – “As a DJ, you really have to get attention and good will from the audience, if you want a crowded dancefloor and a good party”. Earn that goodwill and you then have the right to experiment with your sounds. For me, it’s a balancing act, and working the crowd to where you want them is really the whole point – they’re not there to be ridden roughshod over.
[ link ]like the old saying: no pain (leaning towards the interests of the crowd), no gain (playing your own stuff successfully and with fun).
[ link ]man, I probably need to read the article again, I got lost a few times.
I think it’s about putting recognisable stuff in the music so the crowd get easyer swept away…
Well, thats already like in about 80% of house music.
They call it samples and are usealy taken from old commercial tracks that are very recognisable and where very popular.
Like all the old disco stuff and pop songs.
Sometimes its is a very recognisale sample, often its a subliminal sample. The last is what I prefer (of those 2) so you still have some original track.
Or maybe I understand this article compleetly wrong, after a few senteces I started reading the article diagonal and then vertical…
I agree with leetenant for that part…
[ link ]Good article. As people point out, there may be stumbling blocks when it comes to specific genres. However, digging a little deeper, you may find that certain tracks (more often than not these days) will have been remixed to suit your style. Your audience will have the familiarity of a particular lyric or hook but to a beat more in tune to what you are used to playing. Failing that, you could remix it yourself.
[ link ]As a 45 year ‘young’ female ‘creative DJ’ I trawl around beatport for days….. I feel like some kind of unique misnomer, no one in my social network understands or is interested in listening to my mixes, genre of music – underground deep house, Audio TonicⓇ I may as well DJ up a mountain in the Galapagos islands and play to the giant tortoises…. It’s hard enough been A WOMAN over a certain age, all my peers listen to the charts, Enya or..Lionel bloody Richie… You know what I’m up against! Lol maybe I’m just strange
[ link ]I think you’re the one who’s normal. Enya? Lionel?
[ link ]LOL.. not ready to cart me away in a white van yet then?
[ link ]Very good analysis. I completely agree with your point of view – In my circle of close friends, I’m the only one into techno, minimal and progressive house. All the others listen to reggae, indie, rock, brit pop etc. Creating a set for our parties is not an easy job. I always tried to convince them that they have to broaden a bit their conservative horizons of listening to the same stuff for years. Actually, I had to as well. I only succeeded when I combined the two sides and interests. Having a techno mix of Max Romeo’s “Chase the devil”, some house bootleg of Coldplay’s “Cloks” oder pushing Blur – “Song 2″ to 128 BPM always worked. And in betweeen, I can play some 3 or 4 trakcs of my own collection, which will blend in just fine and people start realizing “it’s actually really good”. As a dj, you really have to get attention and good will from the audience, if you want a crowded dancefloor and a good party. And for that, you have to be open to listen to what other people are listening, and integrate those sounds and songs that work for them into your own mixing style. And if you’re good, your own style won’t even change a lot and you can keep your thin red line of concept. It works and it’s fun! Cheers!
[ link ]Although I’m a mobile/wedding dj and not a ‘creative’ dj so to speak, I can still identify with your article Phil. I often find myself sourcing songs from movies, radio, tv ads etc. to use in my cocktail/dinner sets at weddings if they suit the mood. If I find a catchy cover of a very popular wedding dance song then I sometimes even throw that into the dancefloor mix eg. Imelda May covering Soft Cell’s Tainted Love or Buble covering Queen’s Crazy Little Thing Called Love. One can’t afford to get too radical though as this is a wedding crowd you are playing too who normally only appreciate very well known songs. There is something satisfying though about seeing a crowd dance to a song you ‘discovered’ that’s a little different to the same old same old wedding songs that always get played on those evenings.
[ link ]I guess what I’m saying is that it’s the “creative” types who wrestle with this issue of playing to their own tastes as opposed to playing to those of their crowds. I’m trying to show how there IS a third way. It’s stuff mobile/wedding DJs etc I think do a little more instinctively than specialist DJs.
[ link ]Great article. A touch of familiarity can help get even the most stubborn dance floor moving.
[ link ]It’s a good article Phil, in that it also teaching people about different genres AND different eras. Why play a set with 50 smart tracks? Listen to an old sasha set from 1990 and accapellas, vocal house, Italian pianos, techno the full kitchen sink. Jeremy healy was similar in the mid 90s. He would drop non house tracks alongside commercial club tracks and pumping white labels(his critics called it cheesey but had oakenfold tried it…….). I think the article applies mainly , but not wholly to commercial DJs. I’m a function dj but will play funky house versions of disco & 80s as well as originals from that time which allows more scope to bring in the 90s records and more recent tracks and back again.
[ link ]YouTube is also a fantastic source to locate remixes official or otherwise.
I meant SAME tracks folks.
[ link ]Thinking about it…I actually did a couple of mashups of popular tv and advert songs, such as the big bang theory, the show had only just come out and the new theme tune from the Heineken advert featuring the asteroids galaxy tour (2011) both were really popular, even though the genres weren’t my cup of tea. I got loads of folks downloading and playing them, the really underground stuff I like more, didn’t get touched.
[ link ]The overwhelming majority of people will only dance to what they are familiar with. This is precisely why you have to grab their attention first and then deftly work your style and taste into the set. As a new DJ, this is one thing that I was stubborn to at first because I am the type of person that can and will dance to anything with a good beat, regardless of whether I’ve heard it before and regardless of genre (country, pop, rock, house, etc.)
When you realize this, the game actually becomes more fun because the “sell” becomes as much fun as the music, and it becomes an integral part of your performance. Sticking to my own tastes seems more like just listening/practicing/mixing at home…which I do most nights anyway.
[ link ]agree. that’s my weakness and strength-I think it’s the role of the dancer to not be the snob, and most end up being more finicky than me, as I can break the ice an make a fool of myself with just about any music. But what I like most about this advise is that it’s a way to reappropriate music for the dance floor. we’re inundated with sound everywhere that my theory has been that people have acclimated to NOT dancing, because they hear these great tracks when they are on their rumps or shopping. But now I can give them an excuse to freek out on these popular references rather than trying to stop modern life from happening.
[ link ]One of the reasons I fell in love with Industrial Music (not whatever they’re calling Industrial now-a-days) was that the musicians were creative about where they got their samples from and typically they would sample from public sources. Songs like Front 242 – Work (01), and Skinny Puppy – DigIt, very creatively infused what we already knew as familiar (at least at the time). Granted, this was the hey-day of sampling other peoples’ work, but the rules are different for DJs than they are for Performing Artists. Familiarity DOES tickle peoples’ fancy and it’s more compelling than something they’re not comfortable with. I use sample shots in strategic areas on my mix because I want that level of involvement.
[ link ]I love Skinny Puppy. “Dig it! Dig it!”
[ link ]Do not forget about older songs. Some of them can be not more played in public for some years eg. 7 years. But can realy worked again.
[ link ]For example electronic music is cyclening all 10 years.
Yes! Was just talking to Darude tonight about this exact tactic.
[ link ]I usually start off a party with a few pop tracks and slowly mix in one remix of a pop track then bak to pop tracks and then a few more remixes with an original dance track in there. And of course on New Years Eve a few LMFAO drinking tracks before diving right into pure dance tracks with a pop remix here and there to keep people singing along and out on the floor. Worked out well for the six plus hours on NYE. And always play to the ladies as when the ladies are on the dance floor the guys will eventually make it there.
[ link ]I’d respectfully challenge the idea that people dance to familiar tunes or that only those work to captivate the public’s attention or trust. I’ve seen many a DJ kill the vibe and clear a dancefloor using this tactic. There are so many variables between public and the DJ himself that it can be considered more art than science, so such formulas don’t necessarily work all or even most times.
Even discerning clubbers won’t recognize familiar sounds, samples or even vocals used in dance music. Not even taken from classics. A revealing example: When Layo & Bushwacka’s “Love Story” was dawning after being a huge hit for long months I remember someone coming to ask me if the vocals where Nina Simone… And no one ever asked about the samples in there from a Devo song… But the fact that Love Story was a brilliant, accessible and irresistible tune made it big and made people dance to it everywhere from the start (we played the white label for a long time before it even got that name and it never, ever failed to fill the floor).
Of course parts, samples and vocals from big pop hits are instantly recognizable. But even then it’s not guaranteed to make people dance. Imho the music must have quality above familiarity, and that is relative to the public at that moment.
[ link ]This article is wrong. Before, DJs used to be trendsetters. Now you’re saying we should leave this job to advertisement companies.
[ link ]If you’re a good Dj enough, you can find enough good underground music to get the dancefloor full and happy.
If you read the article fully, you’ll see I am not saying do this INSTEAD of spotting your own sounds, I am saying it is useful to keep an eye on this stuff AS WELL.
[ link ]Yeah, I didn’t get that impression…
[ link ]^^ by that I mean I didn’t think you were implying that we should play commercial stuff all the time…
[ link ]yeah, I have no resistance to you on this advise because I think it’s about context. here’s a spark for a different topic: once I take an audience where I think only I can go, I think it’s fun to return to common, novel tunes people hear in real life. if I’ve done my job, it’s like a palette cleanser, and folks can hear a tune as if for the first time or as if it gave them new meaning.
[ link ]I LOVE that idea. It’s about context – WHEN to drop a tune. Well said.
[ link ]I agree. As an underground DJ, I absolutely make no question to have stupid SHM or Guetta fans enjoying what I play. I´m a DJ, not a jukebox.
[ link ]It is simple; play for the crowd that is in front of you. If your audience is techno, play familiar techno music new ones and the classics, Hip hop; same formula etc etc. If you have a mixed crowd, mix it up. Stop playing music for yourself because you are not the one buying the drinks, it’s your audience. Know all the classics in your genre and keep abreast of the new hot music that is coming out. It’s not rocket science.
[ link ]Amen.
[ link ]have a “classics” box filled with 250 best “genre” tunes of all time, and a “floor fillers” box which you keep updated whenever you drop a new tune and the place goes nuts.
Then you’ll always have a nice safety blanket for when you play out.
Surely you can play with the psyque of film n’ videogames, the soundtrack gives you power over the mental state of people, i think it doesn’t matter if you are indie tecno underground dj, or club wedding etc, there is always a soundtrack for each audiences, Nice Article.
[ link ]R2DJ2 extra Noob DDJ jaja
The essence of this post is…a dj plays music his audience likes. And not his own favourite stuff.
[ link ]Not really, you just described a jukebox. It’s not that simple…
[ link ]This is a really good article. I’ve done this, mostly from snowboarding videos. I’ve also “shazam-ed” many things on TV and in restaurants. I guess I never thought about it, but yeah, that is a good way to get new tunes!
[ link ]I have four words: “Follow people on spotify.”
That’s the most easy thing in the world, becuz you get to see their favo playlists, last played tracks and if you are a real dj you could judge if that song is dancefloor worthy. Btw almost every dj has a party animal friend, who alwayd has the news hits..
[ link ]Thanks for the tips, I really enjoy your articles. But I have to say, that I can’t understand, why you think women have less interest in music than men? (I’m referring to “(Nearly all the women, for starters.)”)
From my experience, there are just as many women that enjoy listening to music and digging through beatport/youtube/soundcloud/ whatever, as men.
I think, that by proposing this, you’re scaring away DJanes from reading your articles (or at least making them feel pissed off), which isn’t something you wanna do I suposse.
Greetz
[ link ]I look at it this way: Most women seem to have better things to do than trainspot for 2/3rds of their waking hours. No offence to those who do.
[ link ]The video game “Wipeout XL” is the primary reason I started listening to Electronica. “Run Lola Run” highly influenced me also. Commercials & video games are a gold mine. You wouldn’t believe how many new tracks and new artists I discover from playing video games. It’s unreal.
My other place I go for ideas are niche club/bars/venues that have nothing to do with what my upcoming gigs are. If I’m playing a hip hop show soon, ill listen to a lot of electro and Nu disco. If I’m playing an electro gig soon, Ill listen to alot of rap music and classic rock. Getting ideas for mixes, edits, remixes, etc is a lot easier than we make it out to be sometimes. By nature, the human brain is the best computer in the world, and if we just sat back more often and listened to our surroundings more often, our brains do the hard part (which is picking out the songs that we like and avoiding the ones we hate).
Oh and commercials are great for ideas too. In the U.S., most of the stuff on TV is complete garbage lol. BUT the good thing is that usually there’s a few good background tracks on commercials these days. Google the credits to TV shows, movies, etc.
[ link ]This is a great and very eye opening article for me! I myself and guilty of falling into this trap as well and I admit to spending hours on end searching for that obsure track I “think” will fill a floor. As a DJ community, the public reaction to our sets is a two way street. On one side, we educate them and show them new, awesome tunes we hope they like! On the other side of that street, they let us know “hey, we want to listen to the stuff we like too!” I like to attend other clubs and just hang out in the back or at the bar and just listen to what the public is saying about the current DJ or the set they are playing. You will find out a lot by doing this every so often!
Cheers! +DJ Medik+
[ link ]One of the biggest tips I give other DJ’s is my personal “holy grail” of DJ Secrets!:
I ONLY play tunes that rock my world!
ONLY tunes that make me want to get up and dance or even better: Tunes that I have no choice but to groove/dance/etc. to.
I’ve come to find that when I’m going crazy for a tune, other people tend to think its pretty dope too
[ link ]Good article + Loki Cocepeli are just spot on!
I would add that take your time checking out all strange requests you get through a night later on at home, real gems come this way as a lot of clubbers are really that and know their stuff! Never underestimate them. /Casca
[ link ]Good point!
[ link ]Ok…. It’s like this…. When I started out DJ’n over 24 years ago music wasn’t the same as it is today….. And in the town I grew up in the scene was at least 4 years behind the times…. I hated dance music when I first heard it in the 80′s… It was all too mechanical and there was no live presentation other than vocal hooks….. So at all the dances and weddings I got stuck playing classic rock and country tracks that the older crowds at the time liked…. I learned quick to play to the women…. Because they keep the men dancing…. Sometimes even if they don’t want too……
….but as the years went on and more and more younger kids became grown ups music shifted again…… I noticed as MTV and Much Music would put out there top hits every month and bigger radio stations like The Fox and LG73 started to started to leak those songs into their daily routine that things were about to change….. Now I personally started as a metal/hard rock guy and later on became interested in the industrial movement….. When I moved to Calgary/Edmonton/Vancouver I learned to play and wright Dn’B and electronica…. Then I got into chill, house and trip hop…. Now things have come around full circle as it does in the music scene with electro, Dn’B, metal and hip hop all making huge comebacks the next logical step would be the hard edgy sound of DubStep…… The reason for this is because cross over fusion of other styles is the future…. For example DubStep was written by Dn’B guys that got tired of that sound…. So they half timed the drum n bass beats of old…. Mostly throwing in the feel from Dub and threw variable rate LFO on the bass…… Are you following me? Now fast forward to 2013 where every one has Internet and radio with TV and Movies……. The best way to get your hands on the for sure floor fillers is too pay very close attention to what’s being played across all forms of Medea…. If it’s played on all those Medea outlets… Then there’s a good chance that the public is being force fed the music that they themselves are being told to like…… Best way to fill your floor is to get the “it” songs for every year that you have the general age of patrons in your venue…. And only drop the most common tracks played across that generall age demographic….. You can sample chunks of those songs into the sections that you wanna work with and key mix those tracks into the songs that really pump….. Doing so will keep you all more original and you’ll get a much broader understanding of how and why those songs were good in the first place…… Now some of you are probably like ya whatever dude…..but take it from a guy who’s had several residencies across Canada….. Done live sound for top artists in many big venues….. Played in over 21 bands since I was 13 years old…… This isn’t rocket science…….. I started at the age of 13 and now am 37 with my own studio and have given tips to at least 2 of the dominators in the electronic music scene…. As well as up in comers in the hip hop scene…. And Dubspot and Pavi watch me very closely – ApexDuBB
[ link ]Great article here
[ link ]A lot of times I find that just having an open mind to different music Is more than enough to bump up your set list. I do a lot of private parties and you would be amazed at some of the requests I get. which is always a huge pain in the b*** because I end up going in buying 1 song for the 1 time I’m going to end up using it. but like I always say it’s not about me it’s about the customer
[ link ]Mostly play to crowds who prefer the music the way it’s on the radio. I use ITunes because it syncs all my music I download to all my computers and the genius feature matches the style I am looking for. I specialize in playing country music. Known for playing music with a certain beat that is not charted yet. I do Mud Bogs and I tie all my music to the crowd with interaction. I know its right when they ask “who is that?” or when they sound hound and shazam. 29 Years Strong!
[ link ]Brilliant article. Perfect example in the UK would be if you hear a dj drop Willy Moon – Yeah Yeah. Had a resurgence due to TV ad, crept back onto radio playlists, so in the public’s subconscious. They don’t actively seek it out but may hear that song 3-4 times a day without realising.
[ link ]People love familiarity. Remixes of a popular song to fit what your playing does not always work…trust me. Find a way to fit the original into your set if possible. Don’t force music on your crowd…ease it in. It will be easier to have it accepted much more. And don’t be afraid to leave your comfort zone every once in awhile. Remember you’re playing for your audience, not just for you and your little circle of friends.
[ link ]When I first started DJing back in the 90′s, I was into heavy industrial techno/Acid.
[ link ]I had lots of friends, and a party a night to dj at every weekend. thing is, I’d be having a marvelous time, then look up 20 mins later to see I’d cleared the room, except for one obligatory sweaty skin head who’d be going bonkers dancing in front of me.
So I learned pretty quick that you have to get the girls dancing first. Then the blokes start dancing (cos they want some nookie later). So I started playing vocal house and tech-house.
Decades later, it’s like Jimmy Carr doing a standup routine. He will get ruder and ruder until he senses that he is losing the audience, and then realises where his threshold is. It’s the same with mixing out. Get them dancing, then start dropping more leftfield/pureist tracks, and look at the reaction.
Never sell out, stay true to what you like and play it. It’s all about timing.
“Never sell out, stay true to what you like and play it. It’s all about timing.” – nice words.
[ link ]What a great post, honestly, I work in the IT business and know many companies who specialize in something called BI (Business Intelligence) most people however have absolutely no idea what BI actually does.
Have you heard of structured and unstructured data? The charts would be a great representation of this, the list, is structured, the bit inbetween one song being number one and the next is unstructured.
This is the bit where word of month, marketing all collaborate together to become the google in your brain, when you think of a song that you like a result pops in, your brain works mainly “unstructured” but when you have a room of “unstructured” people what do they vote for?
I.e. what do you play on the club floor?!
I can help you with a few little secrets that can revolutionize how this goes down and the comments in this thread and the article itself only further this.
There are trends, and if you look online hard enough you can find these trends from specialist companies that do this, some are free, others are mega expensive – I know of several clients that spend several million per annum in order to have a BI solution that tells them what there customers want before there customers even know… think of big retail chains for example… they all use this method.
I’m not going to reveal any sources, but for those that have a genuine interest in making things happen, try a little digging online, find the type of venue you like to play at, maybe find out what portion of FB users happen to like that page and then start looking into the unstructured data they create (twitter posts, facebook posts) anything that links back to them.
Analyze the data and identify trends, if you’ve got cash to spend there are companies that will do this for you.
Think of going to a club, there is a tune thats been making its way around but not chart worthy as no official release etc. etc. imagine knowing that X number of people have mentioned that song who also have liked the venue, or similar venues… now imagine going to that venue and playing that tune… I’m sure you can see where I am heading with this…
The world is all about trends, and you have to bank on these trends to be successful (almost every brand out there does). Creativity is definitely a great thing, but variety is more important, being able to capture an audience that is grossly interested in the trends and then through in a bit of creativity, their pyscology will be in a positive, accepting mindset, thats when you wanna hit the creative button on the decks and through out some crazy mash up with everyone going, damn, that was unexpected but amazing!
Just thought you’d like a little insight into how the big corporates do it, unfortunately us wee mortals don’t have the pockets to make it fool proof, and even the big spenders still get it wrong from time to time.
This can be as big an audience or as specialist as you like, so long as your got the right maths behind it!
Oh. yeah, some people are gifted with a natural talent to combine structured and unstructured which makes them amazing as a DJ, artist, what ever… but there is no harm in us average people making the most of technology!
[ link ]Interesting idea, Turnation. I, too, work in the field of BI, but I’d never really thought of applying such concepts to identifying what might go down a storm, where, when.
In some ways, maybe’s it’s a bit of a ‘cold’ way of doing it – but it’s nothing more than a larger and more structured version of what most people do anyway – know your audience. Or rather, try and know them!
When I’m doing more ‘casual’ DJing, running Spotify for a small party, or playing a house party, I ALWAYS keep a note of EVERYTHING that’s requested (even if I don’t play it). And I keep a note of what went down well with the crowd. If I’m using Spotify, I just create a playlist (I have loads called ‘Party4′ and other such useful names). The number of times I’ve looked back at the next day and found an awesome gem that’s turned up that everybody loved that I would never have thought of playing, that’s then proved an inspiration for something I’ve mixed in, that’s triggered another great request – it’s more often than you’d think.
Then of course, there’s the half hour you went to the fridge for a chat and someone’s jumped on and put ‘We Are Young’ on 3 times. Yeah. Thanks for your help. But still, I’m building a database that I can leverage (I was just sick a little in my mouth when I wrote ‘leverage’ then).
Imagine, though, that you had a residency at a club. You play every Saturday night for 6 months. That’s a lot of potential data you can grab – positive and negative from that. Make notes. Be objective. That night it was pumping and everyone went mad, maybe that was because you dropped some amazing tracks. Or maybe it was because the bar had half price drinks that night and you could have played a Bewitched megamix and no one would have noticed. Maybe you thought you had a quiet night, nothing special, but the club’s FB page got 300 new ‘Likes’ the next day; that’s probably a sign people really had a great night. There’s not that many variables you’d need to track; likes, tweets, bar spend, requests, full-floor % (guess), crowd decibel level (erm…), no. of people still in club at throwing out time, no. of times you see people Shazaming. Track all these things against your set list each week, you might see some interesting patterns… Good way to market yourself too. “You should give me a night at your club because I increase bar spend 30%, keep people in the club 20% longer and keep the dance floor, on average, 86.4% full”. Easy
DJ Analytics. You heard it here first…
[ link ]Phil:
Thank you for your insight in this area. I know I don’t do what you suggest, but I believe I am aware of blending familiarity with new music, whether it’s commercial or not.
I tend to use acapellas, instrumentals, and other types of samples that have been used as hooks in the past to create my own bootlegs. My goal is always to bridge the gap between what is familiar and what is not. If a song is missing a hook, I will incorporate one to it. If a song is too hard, I will add some breaks or use a popular vocal so as not to lose the audience. I will work the song in a way that will make it unique yet familiar. I think that is a good formula as well.
[ link ]That’s a great way of doing it, you’re definitely on the right lines there.
[ link ]