I read on the blog some time ago about DJ Etiquette and where I tend to agree with most of it. The rules of the booth are a must or the whole night could be a disaster. Help eachother to get sorted to make the change over smooth but that's where it ends for me. Being a warm up DJ and setting the vibe for the DJ to follow I ain't down with that. If you're a chart DJ may be they're the rules "Don't play all the best tunes" but to be truthful DJing can be a dog eat dog world with a lot of Prima Donnas. Any reggae DJ's will know where I'm coming from when I say it's eat or be eaten once your behind those decks, take no prisoners. You've got to have that killer one off special cut or dubplate as they used to be called; that one tune could make or break the night. Back in the day £5000 for one master track was nothing I've been to clubs where if you don't go prepared to be the best you can be you'll be eaten by the crowd. If you have that killer tune get it played as that top line DJ should be able better anything you can do or he/she needs to change places. I play house Deep, Soulful, Tech these days and it's no different step up or step away is my motto. I'm not searching for the best tunes I can find and afford to not play them in my set. It's not the money you get paid or the headline on the flyer, if you're a the top DJ it's because you're supposed to be better than the rest and if you ain't "Hasta La Viva Baby" I seen headline DJ's turn down their top slot to allow their so called "warm up" DJ to continue playing. Now that's DJ etiquette. So what's you're thoughts, would you worry about the next DJ's ability to follow you or do you go in with guns blazing? What would you do if the DJ before you was rocking so hard you knew you'd only spoil the vibe?
a few years back I used to kick it at Golden in Stoke-On-Trent (ran for years in stoke, then manchester, then back in stoke, sadly now a car park). Unless I was out of town I was there with my mates every saturday night. There was a bank holiday where they put a night on with a few big name djs and tickets were £25 instead of the usual £10. Got there early first resident warming up with house music created a good vibe, looked like a good start. next DJ puts a right load of rubbish on and crocks it big time (judge jules) he finally gets a clue and comes off after an hour, on comes the next resident banging em out for a few hours, place is rocking. 2 am Ferry Corsten comes on drops some mellow trance tunes that ruined the whole buzz built up throughout the night. He should have got back in his car and gone home. As he didnt most of the punters did. speaking to the residents before he came and finding out what the crowd went for might have saved him, he didnt switch it up to recover the situation either. hows a warm up guy supposed to set him up for that?
I'm relatively new to the DJ scene seeing how I've only been djing for a little over a year but I tend to agree with what both of you are saying. I understand that you're supposed to warm things up for the Headliner but if the headliner sucks what was the point of all the work you put in. I read an interview with Armin Van Burren where he says that the warm up DJ shouldn't hold anything back, and should feel free to go hard. I'm inclined to agree. Why keep your best tracks to yourself? I can see if you're warming up for someone like Afrojack or Steve Angello where you don't want to play tracks by that particular artist but I feel that you should go hard or go home. You're there to get the crowd moving and make sure they have a good time. Why leave it up to someone else if your already there? *I think I started rambling half way through this post so I'm gonna point out the main things 1. Don't rely on the headliner to bring it. 2. Drop some of your best tracks (but don't drop the headliners tracks cause that's just rude) 3. Make sure you leave the crowd hype when your set is done.
I think it depends on the kind of night. If the promoters have developed a vibe that's above any individual DJ and book their DJs wisely, then you should respect that. We used to have a night where I warmed up, my DJ partner ended, and we had a guest in the middle (usually). We had a "formula" for the night, and we only really booked guests who "got it", and who played by our rules both musically (we had a proper "beginning-middle-end formula") and timing wise (ie get off the decks before the end, we finish the night!). But if it's a "10 DJs in 16 hours" public holiday theme park rave (for instance), I agree - you might as well bang it out and make your mark.
PS Great debate I'm going to write this into an article on the main site and credit you guys at the end (of course).
I totally agree with Phil on this one. I did a lot of this 3 DJs nights (in all slots) and really like it and usually the DJs at those events are pretty down with each other and sometimes we crossed over to the next DJ even with a small battle or friendly jam, just for fun. However on some festivals with 10-20 DJs, just bang whatever you like.
I mostly agree with what you already said, but I want to add one point for consideration. Where do you wanna go? 1. You do this whole stuff for fun, for refinancing your equipment, for being part of something. Then being fair and polite would be the right way for you. 2. You do this for a living and you want to be the next Armin van Buuren . In this case it's getting tricky. On the one hande you can't ignore your collegues but on the other hand you won't be successfull just being nice. At least it's highly unlikely. You have to advertise yourself strongly and this could include going all in. In this case it's just business and business is never fair. Maybe to a certain point but when (lots of) money comes into play you should be prepared putting Mr. Nice Guy aside.
I agree with the original poster, but there's a difference between performing at your best and playing all the hot songs of the moment just before the headliner comes on. Having said that, I feel you have to think about the crowd first, not the artist/dj. If I hold back my best tunes to spare the next dj, the crowd suffers. Besides, you never know if the headliner will bring his A-game, so better make sure the party isn't a complete flop if he doesn't have his day.
Interesting one, I think it depends on the statement you want to make, a good warm up DJ will structure there set to hit its peak just as the headline act is just about to step up, and i suppose if that means playing a track that is a banger then so be it. I remember playing a gig the first DJ was a trance DJ, he slowly built up a nice warm up set by midnight the floor was bouncing, he handed over to me with a full dance floor baying for more banging trance to which I swiftly started my set with a remix of a bossa nova type jazz track! As predicted everyone stopped looked up at me and 80% walked off the dance floor but within half hour the floor was full again down the right choice of tracks. So I would say don't be afraid of playing the big guns, if the DJ is worth there money they will be able to whip any audience up into a frenzy!!!
