Michael M. Hughes

Start off nice and slow and easy. If it’s cocktail music, some jazzy stuff, Al Green, or even 40s standards, Sinatra, or Elvis works wonder(unless your mom’s family is very hip—remember, you’ll likely have a very diverse audience). Volume should be loud enough to sound good, but not so loud it inhibits conversation. Walk around and check it out.

You want the music to be energetic but not overbearing. Again, unless your Aunt’s guests are all pretty sophisticated EDM fans, save the house set for the end. You’re warming up, really, so your job isn’t to pack the dance floor. It’s to make everyone feel welcome and boost the general vibe. You can always work your way up in vibe/bpm (and you should), but if you start out too fast too early you’ll alienate your audience. Watch the crowd. Get the old folks tapping their toes—a lot of DJs neglect that audience, but it’s critical and often ups your tips.

And as Drew and others have suggested, just relax and have fun. The crowd is primed to dance, they’re drunk and forgiving, and unless you completely botch everything, the night will be successful and you’ll learn invaluable lessons. Play songs you like, but also remember that your job is to please as many people as possible. Smile and be part of the fun.

Good luck!

Does anyone use an iPad as a controller? It’s been a while since I’ve looked at what’s available in the app store. I’d love to see NI make an iPad interface with Traktor. I’d be first in line to buy that (anyone at NI listening?).

I may actually write about this topic more extensively at some point, but I’ll try to be brief here.

EDM, and its precursors going all the way back to 70s disco (and rock, too, but that’s a different subject), has always had a strong association with drugs. Why? Because the human desire to experience altered states of consciousness is hardwired in our physiology (in many people, but certainly not all). Dancing by itself can lead to a highly altered state, which is why human societies going back to the dawn of time have embraced ritual dancing. Shamanic societies, in particular, often use dancing along with psychoactive plants.

What we witnessed with the birth of the acid house scene was really just a new take on a very old phenomenon. It was, in fact, a rebirth of shamanic dance on a global scale, albeit with modern electronic and pharmaceutical tools rather than plant concoctions and goat skin drums. I’d go so far as to say that many of our current styles of dance music (especially trance and most definitely psytrance) wouldn’t exist if it hadn’t been for the fortuitous collision of MDMA (Ecstasy) and house music.

And MDMA is finally being taken seriously as a medicine by mainstream science… because it is medicinal, when used properly. The chemist who popularized it among therapists in the 80s, Sasha Shulgin, called it “penicillin for the soul.” And that’s an apt description. Current studies have shown that it is extremely helpful for people who have suffered psychologically—rape victims, soldiers with PTSD, and the like—far better, in fact, than any other form of therapy. Before it became criminalized, it was widely used by therapists to help couples with problems to become closer. Why? Because it breaks down psychological defenses, promotes a sense of well-being and insight, and creates warmth and empathy between people. Sounds great, right?

Well, yes. And combined with a group of people (also on E) and incredible music and dancing, the experience can be transformative—which is why it swept the globe. But the problem is, as with all substances, people can misuse or abuse them. Instead of taking E once in a while for special occasions, clubbers started taking it multiple times over a weekend, chasing the ever-elusive good feeling. And then taking it multiple times *every* weekend, for weeks at a time. Rinse and repeat. And that’s a recipe for serotonin-depleted E-hangovers and depression during the week. Just like having an occasional night of drinking can be fun and relatively harmless, but an all-out bender can wreck your life, it’s a matter of being intelligent and responsible and balancing yourself with necessary sobriety. Then came impure E created by unscrupulous chemists or non-E peddled as E adulterated with all sorts of crap, and the scene, in many places, fell apart.

But here’s the bright spot: those deliciously blissed-out, empathic altered states are still possible to obtain, even without drugs. Especially for those who have previously experienced pharmaceutically-enhanced dance euphoria, the proper setting—good lights and visuals, great beats, an amped dance floor—can reawaken that feeling. I know I can play or dance to certain tracks from my past and feel that rush—it’s imprinted in my consciousness and in my cells. I can feel it.

I’ve been throwing parties for older crowds, many of whom were early ravers but for whatever reason don’t touch anything heavier than alcohol. In my main party gig we don’t even sell alcohol. But those folks are reaching that mind-melting plateau where they’re jumping and screaming with pure joy, pumped full of natural endorphins. It’s no different than 4,000 years ago in a primitive tribe somewhere deep in a rainforest.

TL;DR: Drugs were crucial to the formation and spread of EDM as we now know it. There’s nothing wrong with intelligent and responsible use of psychoactives (except illegality, of course) and they can definitely enhance the music/dance experience in novel ways—hence the popularity of the synergistic combination. But they’re also not necessary by any means and the same ectastic states sought by drug users are accessible without drugs.

I like using sound effects and other weird noises as bridges between music (especially if I’m really changing the mood/bpm). One example: using a rumbling thunder and rain before cueing something edgy and dark. Gives the dancers a chance to breathe and builds expectation.

Saving up for a Mac is worth it. I can’t imagine using anything else, for DJing or otherwise. The extra you pay initially is quickly repaid by stability, build, ease-of-use, and lack of need for annoying (and frequently buggy) drivers for every piece of equipment you buy, viruses, malware, etc.