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"Opening"
Hey guys, I'm a DJ in san diego and have a question about opening at events. Now when I play after another DJ and when there is a semi crowd on the dance floor I think I do great. I'm having a good time, the ppl are, and there's a lot of energy when I play. But when I open and start with zero crowd building up the night i feel like my sets dont have that same energy when I play peak hour. I want to start slow ofcourse but feel like the entire time I play its mellow or when I try to get more banging the ppl are not dancing or into it like when I take over. Can you guys give me any tips?
All the Best
Warming up well can be the hardest thing to do.
What I try and do is go for tracks with a groove but relatively few elements and not much of a "hook" as such, which means you can give things a bit of life without them being too energetic or too "peak-time". This kind of thing can be quite hard to find though because most producers just want to make anthems! You can always steal tracks from other genres - some tech house can work really well in a warm up for a trance night, it's just a matter of looking around, listening to lots and lots of music and seeing what you can find.
Try and avoid long (or even average-lengthed) breakdowns too - for me, a warm up isn't so much about going from mellow, chilled music to hands in the air stuff, it's about going from stuff with a bit of a kick that makes people want to nod their heads at the bar, to stuff which makes them want to bounce on the dancefloor. Leave the emotional stuff to the DJs playing later on (depending on how long your warm up set is)
My best advice and I think Mr Cox is saying the same is that it's got to have a bit of funk.
As stated, avoid breakdowns and yes borrow from other genres. A bit of funky medium paced techno can also work. Housey Breaks can also do the trick.
There is an art to picking out good warm up tunes and it does take some time to learn how to pick them. Just as warming up itself is an artform.
It also depends on the venue, music policy etc. Stu and I may warm up differently due to the venues we play but we would probably take the same principles with us. The advice he has given you is sound.
The thing I would add to his comments is that the other thing is that you have to be able to create an impression of building energy even if the set itself is quite understated so your ability to pick tunes has to accomodate this.
It's actually quite a bizare experience the first time you find yourself shopping for a warm up set.
Your goals are to get as many people comfortable with the idea of dancing and to take the energy to a level where the next DJ can follow on in a logical way.
The latter is a bit more the DJ after you's concern but you don't want to find yourself in a place where you are ending your set with the type of tracks that he would logically be playing in the middle of his.
Just create a groove, use a few modulation mixes when the dancefloor thickens with people a little and keep it bouncing.
Cheers
Nem
Talk to the guy you are setting up. Make sure if you are opening for a DJ that cost the club a pretty penny that you don't play his tracks and that you leave him in a position to be right were he wants to be when he gets on the decks. When the headliner doesn't have to reset the floor and ends up playing a legendary set that people talk about for a while to come, the opener doing his his job perfectly always tend to happen. You might not get the glory, but this is a skill that i personally think goes above what most touring dj's do. Communicate, know the expectations in advance (club,artist..ect) and follow through.
a good opening dj is worth their weight in gold, the only thing i can add to what nem and cox said is you want to get people grooving without having to get them on the dancefloor necessarily
pick tunes that aren't too overpowering but have that feel to them that'll get people tapping their feet and bobbing their heads while they drink and socialize
your job is to get the crowd primed to dance while they drink and have a good time before the headliner gets on
then during the last few songs, kick it up and get people on the floor
Nothin too fast, something groovy/funky that gets people in the mood. But really make a conscious effort to keep the bpm down.
Look around you and smile 
if you look at the people at the bar and such you'll see a bit of reaction to good tunes...just don't simply expect them to come to the dance floor too soon...
if you were them would you start dancing right at the beginning of the party?
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| Originally posted by Tony Morello nem and cox |
for the first few hours when a club opens, it's a given that people aren't going to dance.
the most important thing to warming up is to keep people there, and the way I believe that is done is by creating atmosphere and an electric sense of potential in the air.
The best thing you can do IMO is to play so that people feel the urge to dance but they don't want to because it would be social inappropriate for them to do so. You create this web of tension in the room where everyone is feeling the same thing.
Milk it for all you can.
Then when the room fills up just right, people have had some drinks, and the tension is really high, you make your move.
My favorite thing to do or watch is to pick one track ahead of time in the set that I know will be impossible to resist dancing to.
Drop this track dramatically in the set - use the drama of the track or mix it in such a way that gets people's attention.
One group of crazy girls or a couple or several will jump on the floor, a little buzzed. Keep it going and people will slowly accumulate.
It's like flash point in a room filled with gasoline. If you have lighting to work with, or an engineer, try to coordinate. Lighting has a huge effect. At the beginning ideally lights are low but not too low. Volume is low, people can talk/drink. Work up the volume and dim the lights at a point when the crowd is bigger. People will feel intimately connected to the music. Start playing things that catch ears more, and then use the lighting to create energy on that 'flashpoint' drop.
You need to still be focusing on creating atmosphere and tension.
Don't blow your load too early - it's not about you. No one cares about you. Resist the urge to play peak-time music even at the end of your opening set. All the music should have an upward direction as you go into the main set. If you 'joyride' the crowd and play a bunch of peak time music and leech off of the headliner's crowd and bounce around/jesus pose it just looks unprofessional and lame.
Opening sets are the most fun for me. It's really like a game of psychology. It helps that I tend to play more atmospheric/chill music
all this is easier when you play for a good crowd full of freaks
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| Originally posted by Stu Cox That's our collab name sorted haha |
Back in the day when I would buy LOTs of vinyl records every monday & friday, I would pick out tracks specifically for the warm up.
I KNEW I would never play them later on in a night, but they had a kind of warm up-y vibe to them...they built nicely, had a good groove, and no long breakdowns. There was a box with just warm up tunes- and some of them stayed in there for a long while.
Don't be afraid to drop some older tracks- familiarity can work very well.
The best word I would use to describe the perfect warm up atmosphere, is 'tension'- you should be able to feel it building and building, until right near the end of your set, you let them have it- by that I dont mean drop some huge anthem, just a track that will release that tension.
Also, dont forget to build the volume -on the master ideally. Blasting it out at max volume early doors when the room is empty will sound HORRIBLE.
You can either do this well, or you can't- thats why I get rather irritated sometimes when mr big DJ whos had a couple of big selling downloads is suddenly headlining.... no concept of paying your dues anymore, which myself, Nem, Stu and Tony, and thousands of others in the past had to do.
Any cnut can get on at peak time and bang out the latest wankport top ten. however, getting people to dance to unknown or lesser known tracks when the floor is empty and people are not yet toasted is an artform.
I firmly believe still to this day, that getting a warm up residency is where you REALLY learn the art of Djing properly and it will stand you in good stead for your career.
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| Originally posted by nefardec all this is easier when you play for a good crowd full of freaks |
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| Originally posted by ******** get it started. you might like to play really sick sick music with a sick groove and tribal esque etc.. that will inspire any dancing bone to shake. It's all what you have I guess but I think tribal tech and house are the best groove sounds to get into the groove with.. but I guess it in part may be what the crowd likes.. but hip hop etc.. seems popular around these parts. Personally I think house is my favorite fresh groove music... trance is more the 3 hours later stuff. Good techno is alright too.. For some it may not be as inspiring to get into a 160bpm track from the ignition.. for others anyhting goes.. I've always been someone to go to the dancefloor even if there wern't people or few people on it. You could try screaming to people GET YOUR A#*'S ON THE FLOOR!!!! then get some hardcore going to that maybe.... or some gabba/terracore.. etc.. nothing like 360bpm to get people in the mood to dance. it might now work in all environments.. some dj's even dance to their own music... play some name of your dj.. then anything may go after that. so many tracks.. get yourself going.. then work with what you got on the floor or otherwise. it'll warm up regardless.. if time and space provides see if you can do two sets in the night.. one warm up and other when it is fresh. (at the least it might be entertaining) I think it depends on venue and audience |
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| Originally posted by Nemesis44 Kewl! What are we making by the way? :P |
games and prizes? i dont think the thread starter is playing a sweet 16 or a highschool prom where people do the electric slide
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| Originally posted by ******** Hey before you attack me you might like to try it atleast once. Don't take my word for it. My other advice was to have free drinks at the front of the booth/floor but I thought that might get expensive. The two combined could be outright dangerous if they are bottled drinks. ----- I'm having major dejavu for some reason... none the less whatever. If people don't feel like dancing you won't you need to know there taste. People are there to have a good time, etc.. and that is what matters. Anyway the least you can do is be entertaining. Everything else is moot. As for what clubbers are looking for I could care less. I think the dj's role is to provide entertainment and background... depending on venue this stuff could differ drastically. I would go into a long rant, and personally it is mind numbing. It is a no brainer... if you'd like more people in open the doors earlier wave cover to x number of people if applicable.. get some games and prizes on the dance floor other activities, put on a show so people wanna get close.. play good music .... etc.. |
ok...
To me the point is more that the warm up doesn't have to be about getting people dancing as soon as possible - everything you've said is geared towards getting people on the dancefloor as a matter of urgency, but most people simply don't want to dive straight into it, so massage this a bit - let them stay at the bar for a while but get them interested and nodding their heads / tapping their feet while they order drinks and chat to their mates.
And if people don't feel like dancing of course you still need to know what they like, because it's your job to slowly start persuading them to dance.
You mention that a DJ's role is to provide entertainment - of course it is, but that could go either way for a warm up DJ. On the whole, people aren't going to want to walk into an empty club to see some twat jumping around like a tit in the corner or shouting into a microphone. I have, however, thought in the past that having a turntablist on as you enter a club could be quite cool - not the kind of thing you'd dance to, but something quite cool to watch while you're having a drink etc. The only problem is it would need quite an open minded crowd (not a trait of your typical house/trance clubber unfortunately!)
I heard once that in some clubs in Italy they used to (and maybe still do) play an hour or two of ambient/chillout stuff to start a night off, so people would actually come in, get a drink then sit on the floor relaxing to the music, until the first big tune was dropped, when everyone would get up and start dancing (already being on the dancefloor)... slightly odd but an interesting concept! I've always wanted to do something pretty similar for a closing set tbh, but I know most people would just think of that as their queue to leave, rather than hanging around, taking it easy and having a rest.
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| Originally posted by ******** I think you are mistaken though.. I think that many people will stick around for a twat on stage. |
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| Originally posted by ******** Hey before you attack me you might like to try it atleast once. Don't take my word for it. My other advice was to have free drinks at the front of the booth/floor but I thought that might get expensive. The two combined could be outright dangerous if they are bottled drinks. ----- I'm having major dejavu for some reason... none the less whatever. If people don't feel like dancing they won't you need to know there taste. People are there to have a good time, etc.. and that is what matters. Anyway the least you can do is be entertaining. Everything else is moot. As for what clubbers are looking for I could care less. I think the dj's role is to provide entertainment and background... depending on venue this stuff could differ drastically. I would go into a long rant, and personally it is mind numbing. It is a no brainer... if you'd like more people in open the doors earlier wave cover to x number of people if applicable.. get some games and prizes on the dance floor other activities, put on a show so people wanna get close.. play good music .... etc.. I could post a long long rant... and I really don't have time to... there are tons of factors, and people go out not only to dance. Just provide some music that fits the mood and bring it to a higher level. Either you are trying to create an environment or not.. but the night itself can have lots of factors.... it all depends on what you are going for. |
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| Originally posted by Stu Cox I heard once that in some clubs in Italy they used to (and maybe still do) play an hour or two of ambient/chillout stuff to start a night off, so people would actually come in, get a drink then sit on the floor relaxing to the music, until the first big tune was dropped, when everyone would get up and start dancing (already being on the dancefloor)... slightly odd but an interesting concept! I've always wanted to do something pretty similar for a closing set tbh, but I know most people would just think of that as their queue to leave, rather than hanging around, taking it easy and having a rest. |
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| Originally posted by nefardec It's really not unheard of other places too - I go almost weekly to Francois K's deep space party here in NYC and get there about 9 PM. From 9 until 12 it's all dub, chillout, ambient, and downtempo music. Sometimes they serve food on themed nights. People trickle in, and all of these people are simply in love with the music that he will be playing (it's a monday night after all) and they just chill out and relax with one another. There are a lot of very free souls that dance and express themselves on the dance floor. some may call them freaks. i look forward to their personalities every week. at some point francois k decides to make people dance and when he does, it is an unmistakable force aided by light, volume, musical phrasing, energetic mixing, etc. i absolutely love it |
congratulations, you just might be the biggest idiot on the internet. (********)
something im surprised no one mentioned is when you want to bring the people out there, one of things that seems to work is to throw on some classics that everyones knows and loves. you got some serious tension goin, now you want em out there..the adventurous girls (who are almost always the first to step out on the floor) are just waiting to hear "their" song so they can cut loose. where the girls go the guys follow..
i wouldnt worry about feeling too cheesy playing that daft punk song because (at least around where i live) most arent there to train spot or
only hear the most underground songs ever. their there to dance and have fun! and for the music elite, your playing an opening slot so you can play those weird unreleased rarities early on that appeal to them.
easier said than done, and event and location permitting of course.
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| Originally posted by moodywang something im surprised no one mentioned is when you want to bring the people out there, one of things that seems to work is to throw on some classics that everyones knows and loves. you got some serious tension goin, now you want em out there..the adventurous girls (who are almost always the first to step out on the floor) are just waiting to hear "their" song so they can cut loose. where the girls go the guys follow.. i wouldnt worry about feeling too cheesy playing that daft punk song because (at least around where i live) most arent there to train spot or only hear the most underground songs ever. their there to dance and have fun! and for the music elite, your playing an opening slot so you can play those weird unreleased rarities early on that appeal to them. easier said than done, and event and location permitting of course. |
im not saying play a full set of cheap thrills, but one classic might be just the right push if your trying to bring a bunch of people from the bar out to the floor. if it gets em dancin it gets em dancin.its not a cut and dry formula for instant success, but once in a great while i enjoy hearing a familiar song. as an opener your supposed to warm them up and get em out there. when you have an empty floor and an twenty minutes before the headliner goes on id be more concerned about getting them out there than worrying about people knowing that the song doesnt come out until next month.i understand what your saying and i agree and in some situations or places it could come off as desperate, but if there was ever a time for a classic or a trick wouldn't that be it? maybe you know from more experience and its a naive thought of mine, i dunno just throwing it out there. anyone agree...disagree?
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