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Putting together a set

So when deciding on your tracklist, how should it go? Do you play the more mellow songs first and slowly build up the energy in your set? Or do you try and peak somewhere in the middle?

I guess it would depend on how long you are spinning for, but is there a general rule? And what about mixing in genres. Say I wanted to play some house/hard house in my set? Is there a good place to put it, or just wherever sounds good?

Re: Putting together a set

quote:

Originally posted by inflight101 So when deciding on your tracklist, how should it go? Do you play the more mellow songs first and slowly build up the energy in your set? Or do you try and peak somewhere in the middle? I guess it would depend on how long you are spinning for, but is there a general rule? And what about mixing in genres. Say I wanted to play some house/hard house in my set? Is there a good place to put it, or just wherever sounds good?

No rules, just music... Some folks preprogram a bit, but live, as far as I'm concerned, it doesn't get any better than improvising...

Don't try to let rules define you... define yourself, you'll figure out the directions you want to take once you've had some more time at it....

well, it depends. i was once given only 70mins to spin live, so i decided to sort of preprogram it a bit, and came up with a tracklist. ended up followuing it to the letter because it was flowing beutifully. but that's been the only time. i normally know what sort of tracks i'll play at the begin, what tracks i might throw at peak time, and what towards the end, but thats just a general notion.

its good to KNOW your tracks. know them and know them well. that will help you when spinning. it will:

a) help you select what the first record to mix in will be, in case the DJ before you isn't the same genre as you. that way, you can either blend something that will make the mix go smoothly, or mix something in that is attention grabbing and different, without clashing.
b) it will help you know when is a great moment for a certain track. when the vibe goes in a certain direction, something just clicks and tells you to play that record now.
c) if the crowd isn't digging it, it helps you pick something else that might be their cup of tea.
d) it just helps you create great mixes, where you know what is the best record to play next.

other than that, i almost always have a great opener or closer in mind. since i spin a big messy melange of genres, shit just flows. i'll be in some chilled minimal house, and suddenly go to acid techno. the key is finding that flow, that even when you did a mix of genres that sounds ludicrous in theory, sounded great in practice and the crowd loved it.

lee burridge, to name one, is great at this. he'll be hitting you with prog house, switch to some craaazy electro, switch to some dark tribalish tech house, and then to some deep and melodic tune, and you won't know what hit you at all.

quote:

Originally posted by Inertia other than that, i almost always have a great opener or closer in mind.

Word. If anything, I have a thought as to good openers or closers... I almost always have a great idea what I'm going to open with before a show (Whether it's a week before or an hour before), but in general, if I step to the decks and something else feels different I just go with that...

Usually i would start up with a high Bpm and try and mellow it down in the middle (this is where i also switch back to house or tribal, if im doing a longer set). I always, ALWAYS try and close with high and upbeat tracks (hard trance, progressive etc).

But then again, as other members have stated, it's all about the crowd and more often than not you have to switch to their tastes and keep them on the damn dancefloor!

i'd just listen to other dj's sets for the way they put their sets together. you can get a good idea of what good openers and closers are, as well as how they manipulate their mix throughout the set. eh... a good example of a bangin' opener is sasha's essential mix in 2000... he started off with scorchio (dub) and mixed it into scorchio (original) which made the crowd go nuts... you'd have to hear it to understand what i mean.

Well I haven't mixed lately much to tell you the truth, as I am buying new equipment. How I have in these past four years I've learned to mix, is let it flow. Mixing a set is an individual thing, but to me it is how you feel and how the crowd reacts to it. If your just trying to come up with a set on your own, and not playing live or for people, then I'de say put together in your mind the mood or feeling of the tracks. Sometimes it might correspond by your own feelings at the time. Like somedays I'm feeling like playing a set that is really ethereal...trippy...progressive, so I put together in my mind what tracks have that certain feel and then build on to it. You can always change the mood half way through. It doesn't matter if you start off slow, or start off banging, but allowing for different feelings in your set is the best way to go in my opinion. I feel that DJs that only play music that is uplifting, or only play music that is dark, don't really play the range of emotions that I think are vital to a good set.

Thanks guys for all the advice.

What about mixing old tracks with new ones? Do you pay attention to how many of each you play in a set?

Honestly a great song wether old or new doesn't make difference. The real problem is spinning those highly over rated and over played anthems that the crowd is sick and tired off. The Great old, rare and hard to find tunes blend right in any new tunes or set, people don't really know the difference. Those who do, always seem to appreciate the good music.

yeah true....i like to start off slow and proggy and then build up

What about playing two songs from the same DJ/group in one set? For instance, would it be alright to play two Cosmic Gate songs in one set? Back to back?

quote:

Originally posted by inflight101 What about playing two songs from the same DJ/group in one set? For instance, would it be alright to play two Cosmic Gate songs in one set? Back to back?

A lot of DJs do this, but usually it is of their own productions or remixes. I don't see anything wrong with playing two songs from the same producer/group together back to back or in a set, however make sure the tracks sound different. Some artists tend to make similar sounding tracks and it's kind of boring when both tunes are pretty much the same. Cosmic Gate does have some vocal stuff so that would be cool to play, and then play one that is a little harder and instrumental. You can also play a remix from them (or producers) and then a production from them, or a remix of one of their tunes with one of their tunes. Either way though I don't see anything wrong with it...

I just think anymore than two songs is over kill i saw this guy once play about 4 or 5 brooklyn bounce songs in a row then three from some other artist and it wasnt like it was something special for those artists. He just thaught it sounded good.

i try to build the intensity and keep the momentum going. Unless you're already past the peak, or waay before it.

many times during a mix recorded at home, i have a climax in the middle and one at the very end.

quote:

Originally posted by DJ Lucas many times during a mix recorded at home, i have a climax in the middle and one at the very end.

LOLOLOL i'm gonna throw that in my sig

i do do a little bit of planning before my set, just to make sure i get some sort of flow going(either gaining in terms of energy or winding it down). however i don't make a fix playlist of what i'm going to set. i bunch together a couple of tracks which have roughly the same energy level and on the day itself i pick the one which would suit the crowd best.

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