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What do you do if the person playing before you is banging it out?

I am curius if you guys have ever been in a situation where the person playing before you is banging out hard track after hard track..do you slow it back down or just bring out your hardest tracks so you don't loose the crowd?

you can either tell him before hand to bring it down to whatever bpm you want to start with (and give him time to do so, but not on your expense)... OR... you start banging it out too!!

I've actually had a lot of success bringing it back down abruptly. Once the guy before me was playing hard trance (in the 9-10pm slot), and I just mixed it into a breakdown on a progressive house track, and went from there. It worked well. It kind of depends though - if the crowd is really into it, then you should probably continue banging it out.

Don't play with dumb DJs.

quote:

Originally posted by Clovis Don't play with dumb DJs.

oh but I heard people say "f*ck the headliner .... as an opener I'm allowed to bang out and be cooler than the person before me".

Yeah stupid djs

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Originally posted by jdat oh but I heard people say "f*ck the headliner .... as an opener I'm allowed to bang out and be cooler than the person before me". Yeah stupid djs

+1. I wonder how they plan to get booked again.

lmfao...

i call this a DJ hijack

quote:

Originally posted by Clovis Don't play with dumb DJs.

Come on now Clovis, you as well as anyone should know that you don't always get to choose who's on the bill with you - there are quite literally millions of "dumb dj's" who get booked week in and week out at some of the nicest clubs in the world

I had a pretty massive issue with this a while back. I was playing 12:00-1:45, and the folks who were on before me were playing the most banging shit (and mind you, this is at a proper club where people playing out really should know better) - I think the Paolo Mojo Mix of "1983" was played at like 11.

It was awful - I wasn't ready to play out of that set, but I ended up just playing some slightly bangin' techno records to start out my set and slowly brought it back down to a kind of chilled out but dance-able groove before the headliner came on.

In any event, it worked out - but the whole situation was pants to deal with. My best advice is to try to do whatever you think you can to play appropriately for the situation - if the person before was banging it out and shouldn't have been, well then you've got to do all you can to bring it back to an acceptable cadence.

This is something I wondedered about...


So as an opener you can't bang it out, but just slowly build up for the headliner. Now if never bang it out how are u supposed to progress in your career???

I understand that you cant "outshine" the headliner. However, shouldn't the headliner be able to outplay any opener no matter how banging the set was?? I mean that is why they are the headliner. If they can't then I guess they should be the opener and let the guy who can bang it out better get the main spot..

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Originally posted by Cro_Addict This is something I wondedered about... So as an opener you can't bang it out, but just slowly build up for the headliner. Now if never bang it out how are u supposed to progress in your career??? I understand that you cant "outshine" the headliner. However, shouldn't the headliner be able to outplay any opener no matter how banging the set was?? I mean that is why they are the headliner. If they can't then I guess they should be the opener and let the guy who can bang it out better get the main spot..

Playing slamming tunes doesn't make you better than the headliner.

As an opener you have to get the crowd in the mood!
It pisses me off so badly if they are slamming that sh*t from the start of the night.
I want to chill, chat a bit, have a couple drinks in me before I can start my dancing for the headliner

quote:

Originally posted by Cro_Addict This is something I wondedered about... So as an opener you can't bang it out, but just slowly build up for the headliner. Now if never bang it out how are u supposed to progress in your career??? I understand that you cant "outshine" the headliner. However, shouldn't the headliner be able to outplay any opener no matter how banging the set was?? I mean that is why they are the headliner. If they can't then I guess they should be the opener and let the guy who can bang it out better get the main spot..

Actually, no. You progress in your career by acting like a professional, and going to a gig and playing music that is completely inappropriate for the timeslot you're playing is probably one of the least professional things you can do.

The art of the opening and respecting your timeslot seems to be dying a slow and painful death over the last few years. More and more often when we go out, it seems openers are taking a "Fuck you, I can do what I want" attitude towards their sets, and it really, really ruins the vibe of a night. You know why Danny Howells and Jimmy Van M are as popular and successful as they are now? Because they started out as some of the best opening DJ's people had ever heard - they played music that people wanted to hear at 10, 11, 12 o'clock at night.

The bottom line is that most of the people (promoters, club owners, other DJ's, trainspotters) you need to impress/keep happy in order to keep getting booked don't want you playing the new Eric Prydz track at 10 at night.

When that happens I just melt the retards track and start warming up the place my damn self. Also the look on the retards face who previously thought he was going to bang it out and steal the thunder when he gets his lunch eaten at 120 BPM by moi is priceless.

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Originally posted by Zild Also the look on the retards face who previously thought he was going to bang it out and steal the thunder when he gets his lunch eaten at 120 BPM by moi is priceless.

I know this feeling all too well.

quote:

Originally posted by Clovis Don't play with dumb DJs.

I wish there was a choice sometimes...unfortunately there always are people that want instant gratification and will be banging out peak hour anthems at 10:30pm .....

i've watched professionals come out of this many times in respectable clubs from openers who get too excited opening for someone big

usually they ride the wave of excitement that the opener has created plus the crowd's interest in their appearance, and play some really banging tracks and then they always bring it down create a proper beginning, building it back from the ground up

works really well and usually causes a wave of people to buy drinks

working in a club, that's another thing you need to keep tabs on, dumping the dancefloor for the bar every now and then, otherwise you have unhappy club owners

as for the opening dj

a good opening dj is worth their weight in gold

you want to get people grooving, not so much on the dancefloor yet, but when you see people bobbing their heads and the odd person busting out by their table you know you're on the right track, then near the end of your set, start coaxing people on the floor with some more intense tracks and set it up nice

this is the point where people are getting their drink on, don't mess with that

The best opening DJs make me love records I would normally find boring.

quote:

this is the point where people are getting their drink on, don't mess with that

definitely. i always look at the first hour or two when i play the whole night as provoking people to buy drinks and feel sexy. the last thing you want to do is tire people out to early. I look at it as a sort of tantric thing where you keep a constant fine, tense balance of wanting to dance and wanting to chill out and enjoy the sound. what happens is if you keep the early ones interested and constantly feeling like it's going to pick up at the next track - they stay and then when the others arrive they think 'wow this is a great party' and then buy drinks. meanwhile the first group is already feeling it and starts the dance cycle.

drinking + feeling sexy = flirting, talking, trying to look cool, thinking oneself is cool, thinking someone else is cool, dancing, buying drinks, more dancing...etc

deejaying is a lot of psychology and one thing that's important to realize is most people in the crowd are trying to impress someone else and get laid, get rubbed up on, or get flattered.

it's nice to think that music is the driving force in a club (and sometimes it is), but mostly you're playing a game of psychology and social patterns.


if you can't tell - i love opening sets. it's really fun to play them and feels great when you do it right. also my favorite tracks are always the deep, sexy, dubby, chill tracks

To go along with that, generally, the best opening sets I've heard always keep you wanting a little bit more, with each track.

quote:

Originally posted by RJT Come on now Clovis, you as well as anyone should know that you don't always get to choose who's on the bill with you - there are quite literally millions of "dumb dj's" who get booked week in and week out at some of the nicest clubs in the world

pisses me off

i have seen this happen more and more these days. opening dj's that bang it is crap. but here is something you can do.

select a song that has a break down that could sound like an intro.
something that builds slow but ends up banging. let the asshole's track play out bring your track in during the last few measures. but still make sure your timing is on so when their last kick hits its still lined up right. playing an intro to your set lets the crowd
know its all about you now. usually the crowd wont care if you change the bpm now that they know that the dj they came to see is now playing. but only do this when your the headliner!
if you do it right it will be gold!

First and foremost they would not bring the BPM beyond 132 because i told them so.I am the superstar DJ and anything they would play in there opening set would have to be aproved by ME.

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Originally posted by clubamerica First and foremost they would not bring the BPM beyond 132 because i told them so.I am the superstar DJ and anything they would play in there opening set would have to be aproved by ME.

So if youre superstar dj you should know that its not only BPM that makes track bangin'

Re: What do you do if the person playing before you is banging it out?

You bang him out. Blat.


See what the crowd are like... by the time they've got used to him playing hard as nails at 10 o'clock they might be up for it to continue, although that normally results in everyone leaving pretty early so the venue might not be too happy when the bar takings plummet around 1am.

Definitely don't feel it's your job to now perform the set he should have performed - say you take over at 11 or 12, you should at least play an 11 or 12 o'clock set (I've seen people follow a silly warm up set with a load of 9pm tunes at midnight and it just kills the atmosphere).

Also I'd try and avoid doing a deck stop - while that might be the easiest way to bring things back down, it makes it look like you're openly saying "what the fuck is this kid doing?" and again, while that may feel like it needs saying and the crowd are likely to agree, it doesn't give the impression that you're all working together as a team so can lose a bit of professionalism (on top of what he's just lost by being a twat)

The answer to this question is :
Put a break, start a bit slow, and rise the bpm up gradually and at 40% of the set, put some banging tunes, some Mark Norman and Wippenberg remixes help, and trance the shit out of the crowd until they scream your name over and over

Something like this :
people v ............... you v

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