DJ Menno

I was using sync in the beginning because I couldn’t beatmatch. Now I don’t like using it because the synced beatmatching isn’t tight enough in some cases (and I’m not gonna grid 4700 songs manually, that’s just not feasable…)

So for electronic mixing I go sync (there’s no point in beatmatching a fixed computer-generated rythm pattern anyway…it’s always gonna be 128.00 BPM), and for R&B, funk, disco, rock, I go manual beatmatching (primarily because the tempo is changing all the time).

Although I do love mashups and original ways of mixing, I must say I’ve seen to many DJ’s overdo the mash-up and other tricks… So you get to listen to 30 seconds of a song, and because the DJ is bored of hearing it, he switches or mashes up…

Makes me go “Hey ! I wasn’t finished enjoying that first song, I’m missing the bridge after the chorus !”

You just got to have taste, class, musical education, and character… and a sync button 🙂

It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while now, you just convinced me to do it… 🙂

I wanted to take a break for the month of January. Listening to jazz, playing the guitar… But here I am, listening to bangers and preparing playlists in my head, and staring at my controller with desire… haha

So I’ve offered my local bar (like the one I’ve got all my friends in…) to DJ every Thursday, and they said yes.

So basically yeah it’s addictive 🙂

p.s.: I do advice taking a break to put things in perspective, helped me a lot reshaping my aspirations as a DJ. I’ve decided to play where I wanted to play rather than where I could eventually be needed…and understood that you can’t make artistic compromises for money…

Classics, classics, classics. Michael Jackson, Madonna, Abba, you name it. Single ladies by Beyonce etcaetera. don’t think dancefloor, think classic pop music everybody likes.

My first wedding was a catastrophy, I was playing the top 40 hits and at one point a guy comes to me and says : Do you have something we can dance to ? Rock, funk, disco, salsa… very danceable music.

I had a wedding where the husband was italian. I’ve played sicilian tarantellas, the dancefloor went nuts. Then I played some zouk caribbean music, then rock and roll. they don’t care about the “flow” of the mix, they want to be entertained and know the songs. They’re not there to discover new songs. Ask them what artists they like and build from there

And prepare a bit of lounge/jazz/blues music for when they’re eating.

my golden rule is : verse-chorus-verse-chorus minimum, and more if they’re really into it.

On an instrumental (electro, minimal) I’ll just wait for any bridge around the end of the song

Here’s some old dutch courage for you : “wie niet waagt wie niet wint” (who doesn’t take risks doesn’t win)

😉

Merry christmas to all, may 2013 be filled of gigs indeed !

I once went to the bathroom only to come back and find a guy mixing on my tables, saying he’s a DJ and stuff. Man was I angry ! don’t…touch…my…stuff !!

He’s probably not gonna go very far in the showbiz given his attitude…. 🙂