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Spinning club nights...do you create a tracklist?

I will be spinning at a well known club in Los Angeles from 9PM-2:00AM. Creating a track list and a solid set really progresses the night very well (from my experience). In this case I would have to prepare about 45-55 tracks for the entire night (roughly a five hour set).

I feel that this works for me, but it is also VERY time consuming to create such a large set. Some will also argue that it may not necessarily flow with the night and what the crowd is feeling. However in my opinion, this also is dependent on whether or not the crowd is aware of who the DJ is as an artist (style, genre); in this case they are aware.

I would love to hear everyones opinion on this matter and if they find any flaws in it...I mean after all we are aware of many artists that prepare sets already in hand with a certain idea of how the night will flow.

Any comments would be much appreciated.

Instead of picking a whole track list what you should do is go at 9 i am going to play blah and at 10 i'll play blah blah etc. so that you can keep a flow but all the tracks in beetween you can play according to crowd responses and other shit.

hmm thats an idea to have a shot at..

so you are saying select a few significant tracks as markers, and base the rest of the mix off of them?

quote:

Originally posted by Sound O fTrance so you are saying select a few significant tracks as markers, and base the rest of the mix off of them?

Yeah that's not a bad approach.

Having a completely pre-planned setlist is fine, as long as you're willing to deviate from it if and when you need to. Personally, every time I've had any kind of plan of what I was going to play, it's gone straight out the window as soon as I've got on.

This is normally pretty heavily based on what the DJ before has done, so if you're playing for the whole night you won't have that issue, although the chances are you'll change your mind based on how the crowd react to previous bits of your set.

So take a lot of music and just keep an eye on the dancefloor so you know whether your setlist is working, or if you need to change your approach at some point.

I made a tracklist for the first time I ever played in public, but after that I didn't feel it was necessary. I feel it is a hindrance actually as you don't really know what you should play until you're there and you see the people, or at least that is how I feel.

Also, if it's like any of the straight up clubs down here, they don't start letting people in until around 11 at the earliest. Lounges are different of course. If that's the case over there, think about trying to save some of your better tracks for later.

yea you are absolutely right miamitrance, it starts at 9PM and it's at an upper lounge/bar. I don't expect people to arrive until 10:30-11PM

i think i will definitely create a tracklist because i hate to begin the night jumping from DIRTY HOUSE, to progressive etc. I always feel as though the progression into the groovier sound is what makes the night that much better...

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Originally posted by Zild I made a tracklist for the first time I ever played in public, but after that I didn't feel it was necessary. I feel it is a hindrance actually as you don't really know what you should play until you're there and you see the people, or at least that is how I feel.

In regards to my previous statement...what you are saying perfectly makes sense. But don't you think the roundabout is already based off of who you are as an artist and what is expected of your sound? I mean if you play hard house for 20 minutes and techno the next, thats fine.

But I don't feel you should have 3,000 songs lined up in case some people are not "satisfied". You play what you play (in context obviously)

quote:

Originally posted by Sound O fTrance But I don't feel you should have 3,000 songs lined up in case some people are not "satisfied". You play what you play (in context obviously)

Unless you're a Top Dj, that mentality is gonna get you nowhere. Remember your #1 Job as a DJ is to make the crowd happy and have them dancing all night.

I agree with everything Stu said. I don't create playlists, but I do go to the club with a style on mind. However, I also go prepared to change my style at any given moment. Not all crowds are the same. Like Stu said, most of the time playlists go out the window the moment I get there. Perfect example was Friday night. I played at an underground party. I had in mind a dark house set. However, the moment I got on, I realized that was the wrong crowd for that style. Than I switched it up to trance and BAM!!! Everyone started dancing. Quite honestly, I didn't wanted to play trance but I did just to make sure the people there had fun. Which they did cause they kept complementing me and making little hearts.

quote:

Originally posted by DjWoody Unless you're a Top Dj, that mentality is gonna get you nowhere. Remember your #1 Job as a DJ is to make the crowd happy and have them dancing all night. I agree with everything Stu said. I don't create playlists, but I do go to the club with a style on mind. However, I also go prepared to change my style at any given moment. Not all crowds are the same. Like Stu said, most of the time playlists go out the window the moment I get there. Perfect example was Friday night. I played at an underground party. I had in mind a dark house set. However, the moment I got on, I realized that was the wrong crowd for that style. Than I switched it up to trance and BAM!!! Everyone started dancing. Quite honestly, I didn't wanted to play trance but I did just to make sure the people there had fun. Which they did cause they kept complementing me and making little hearts.

+1

happens to me too all the time

quote:

Originally posted by DjWoody Unless you're a Top Dj, that mentality is gonna get you nowhere. Remember your #1 Job as a DJ is to make the crowd happy and have them dancing all night. I agree with everything Stu said. I don't create playlists, but I do go to the club with a style on mind. However, I also go prepared to change my style at any given moment. Not all crowds are the same. Like Stu said, most of the time playlists go out the window the moment I get there. Perfect example was Friday night. I played at an underground party. I had in mind a dark house set. However, the moment I got on, I realized that was the wrong crowd for that style. Than I switched it up to trance and BAM!!! Everyone started dancing. Quite honestly, I didn't wanted to play trance but I did just to make sure the people there had fun. Which they did cause they kept complementing me and making little hearts.

good point...I guess I should confess that I am also paranoid that I want to present a solid mix (not that this is not possible without a tracklist). But I guess its almost assured with something already in line for the night. Hmmmm I'm kinda annoyed now!

To Woody, just out of curiosity do you always play the night by ear? Or do you have somewhat of a style/genre you typically tend to play (I'm not sure if the situation you mentioned was just one night from the many gigs you have played)...I feel like what you mentioned is SO TRUE (regarding your #1 job is to keep people happy and dancing). But then again I feel as though the flexibility should be there to SOME extent with the idea that you stand as an artist/dj/producer.(I also may be doing a horribly wrong comparison to top-name DJ's).

I know of many DJ's that mash all genres of EDM and I just feel like it's not really appealing in most cases.

You're playing 5 hours, so you can afford to mix in a few different genres to not to bore people out.

Like others said, have an idea of what you want to play, but prepare to change your set on the fly if you feel that the crowd isn't digging it.

I've seen a lot of DJs who walk in with set tunes they want to play, but failed to read the crowd so it may be a perfect set technically, but because the DJ didn't read the crowd, turned out to be really shitty set.

Also, playing tunes that you think the crowd wants to hear is more imporant factor to consider than what you want to hear.

I have a feeling that I'm telling you how to suck eggs so I'm going to shut up now.

Good luck

45-55 tracks for a 5-hour set?! I drop that many tracks in one hour

quote:

Originally posted by Sound O fTrance In regards to my previous statement...what you are saying perfectly makes sense. But don't you think the roundabout is already based off of who you are as an artist and what is expected of your sound? I mean if you play hard house for 20 minutes and techno the next, thats fine. But I don't feel you should have 3,000 songs lined up in case some people are not "satisfied". You play what you play (in context obviously)

Yeah, if it's a relatively underground night then it's your "right" to put across your sound to an extent, but you'd be daft not to have quite a wide view of what your sound is... I think just about any DJ you can name plays some deeper stuff, some tougher stuff, some more uplifting stuff and so on, regardless of the genre, and they'll all have some more commercial stuff they can bring out from time to time, e.g. remixes of chart tunes, probably Coldplay haha

So while you might be a trance DJ for example, particularly if you're playing a set that long you need to take a selection of the full spectrum of what you play and adjust it within that band to suit the crowd and the time of night... it's not just a case of "they'll like trance" or even "they'll like deep techy house" - there'll be stuff with big hooks, stuff with vocals etc in there you'll need to be ready with to grab the floor if people start to get bored.

It's the same with any genre, any gig - you've gotta prepare to be flexible, even if it's only within "your sound" (which as I say should never be TOO restricted)


And there is no greater feeling than totally selling out for one tune (with Insomnia or something) and watching the dancefloor totally going off haha

I've never thought that was a great feeling, but to each his own. Everyone is different though. I would much rather play what I want at my own house for 15 of my close friends than cheese it out at the club to make random people I don't know dance, and line the pockets of some bar owner I couldn't care less about. Thats why I only take gigs where I know the crowd will like what I also like.

But if you're trying to make this your actual job then you will be at the mercy of the crowd. So make sure you come prepared.

If you learn how to mix harmonically you can cross genres at a whim and it will sound great.

quote:

Originally posted by Zild I've never thought that was a great feeling, but to each his own. Everyone is different though. I would much rather play what I want at my own house for 15 of my close friends than cheese it out at the club to make random people I don't know dance, and line the pockets of some bar owner I couldn't care less about. Thats why I only take gigs where I know the crowd will like what I also like.

That's why I said "for one tune"... throwing a "sell-out" tune into a set of underground stuff gets a much bigger reaction than it would do in a whole set of cheesey stuff, it's worth doing once in a while

The people I usually play for would all turn and walk out if I played something like insomnia in the middle of a good set.

At the very least I'd never hear the end of it from friends, other DJs, and maybe even promoters if it got that far. And in this business I better believe it will get that far.

quote:

Originally posted by Zild The people I usually play for would all turn and walk out if I played something like insomnia in the middle of a good set. At the very least I'd never hear the end of it from friends, other DJs, and maybe even promoters if it got that far. And in this business I better believe it will get that far.

Zild I have had the same mindset as you for a while now. But I am starting to realize that it is very limiting if you would like to start playing at renowned clubs (even if they solely host to electronic music). It is true that many DJ's do have harder/deeper/mellow styles all of which they may implement depending on the event, and crowd. I myself stand as a producer and DJ, and I most certainly have a style and genre which I play... varies from progressive/house/electro.

I think it is important to realize that until we reach a point as professional artists to be placed in a significant line-up for an event, we need to be able to flex our sound and have fun while doing it.

I have been anal building sets (playlists) over the past few years tempting to perfect my sound. I feel like by reading the crowd and selecting tracks at random my mixes won't be nearly as solid. But then again, what defines solid? (the crowd having fun all night while you manage to flex in the genres that you play? Or playing a dead bolt tracklist just to make things "FLOW"?)

quote:

Originally posted by Zild The people I usually play for would all turn and walk out if I played something like insomnia in the middle of a good set. At the very least I'd never hear the end of it from friends, other DJs, and maybe even promoters if it got that far. And in this business I better believe it will get that far.

I think you'd be surprised what you can get away with. Not everyone at an underground night is as underground as you might think, loads of them have been dragged there by friends etc, I think it's very rare that you get a crowd of which even 50% are so snobby that they wouldn't find it a bit of fun when something like that dropped in...

I'm not suggesting do it every time, and obviously the kind of tune you can get away with will vary depending on the crowd and the kind of music you're playing, but I guarantee there are tunes that you might consider seriously cheesy that the majority of the people there would enjoy for one track before returning to more underground stuff, if only dropped in for 30 seconds.

And who gives a fuck what your friends say if the majority of the people there love it? Nowadays I rarely hear "normal clubbing people" (as opposed to up-their-own-arse DJs) raving about how awesome an underground tune was... if I hear a good comment about a set, it's more often than not that the DJ had the balls to play something on the commercial side and it really worked.

But as I say, if you rinse a set with that you DO just become another cheese DJ... in my experience a lot of people want DJs who can play an underground set but aren't afraid to throw something in that literally everyone in the room will know from time to time, and it makes it more special when they do.

quote:

Originally posted by Sound O fTrance I think it is important to realize that until we reach a point as professional artists to be placed in a significant line-up for an event, we need to be able to flex our sound and have fun while doing it.

Even then, do you think PVD still likes For An Angel, having played it 3 or 4 times a week, week in week out for the last 10 years? I bet he's fucking sick of it (although I expect he's still quite proud of how popular it still is) - but he plays it because people expect it. Same goes for Ferry and all of the old System F classics etc

Its all a question of who you want to DJ for.

I always follow my mates advice when I play out.

ALways know your opener, and the next two tracks to follow, just to give you time to get used to the set up and crowd. Then play whatever else feels right at the time.

Also helps if you know what you're gonna end on, but this is not so important when you got 2 hours to chose.

Static playlists are a no no, unless its like major major festival, in which case you'll knwo how to flow a set together.

quote:

Originally posted by Stu Cox I think you'd be surprised what you can get away with. Not everyone at an underground night is as underground as you might think, loads of them have been dragged there by friends etc, I think it's very rare that you get a crowd of which even 50% are so snobby that they wouldn't find it a bit of fun when something like that dropped in... I'm not suggesting do it every time, and obviously the kind of tune you can get away with will vary depending on the crowd and the kind of music you're playing, but I guarantee there are tunes that you might consider seriously cheesy that the majority of the people there would enjoy for one track before returning to more underground stuff, if only dropped in for 30 seconds. And who gives a fuck what your friends say if the majority of the people there love it? Nowadays I rarely hear "normal clubbing people" (as opposed to up-their-own-arse DJs) raving about how awesome an underground tune was... if I hear a good comment about a set, it's more often than not that the DJ had the balls to play something on the commercial side and it really worked. But as I say, if you rinse a set with that you DO just become another cheese DJ... in my experience a lot of people want DJs who can play an underground set but aren't afraid to throw something in that literally everyone in the room will know from time to time, and it makes it more special when they do.

We are on a completely a different page. I wouldn't play somewhere if I knew half the people there don't like electronic music and were just dragged along by a friend. And really my friends would be the majority of the people there. After years of clubbing almost everyone in the place is your friend in one way or another.

quote:

Originally posted by Zild We are on a completely a different page. I wouldn't play somewhere if I knew half the people there don't like electronic music and were just dragged along by a friend. And really my friends would be the majority of the people there. After years of clubbing almost everyone in the place is your friend in one way or another.

I'm not saying they wouldn't necessarily like electronic music, they're just not necessarily used to nights like that, or they don't know enough about it to have an opinion of what's cheesy and what isn't - they're probably having an awesome time, but throw it a tune they might know and it'll make it their night of the year.

That's nearly always the case over here at least, maybe not half of the people there but enough people to make it worth bearing in mind. Maybe across the pond you've got the luxury of having crowds who only respond to the latest, most underground stuff.

And to be perfectly honest I think you're talking shit if you're saying you'd turn down an gig if you knew that anything another than 100% of the people there were proper hardcore underground ravers, but...


Anyway, my point in the first place (before I wandered off a little bit) was that you should just prepare yourself for eventualities like that. Everyone has classics they like to play every now and again, everyone has tunes that will be better known or more recognisable than others - just be prepared to pull these out if the crowd turns out to not be as underground as you might think.

quote:

Originally posted by Stu Cox I'm not saying they wouldn't necessarily like electronic music, they're just not necessarily used to nights like that, or they don't know enough about it to have an opinion of what's cheesy and what isn't - they're probably having an awesome time, but throw it a tune they might know and it'll make it their night of the year. That's nearly always the case over here at least, maybe not half of the people there but enough people to make it worth bearing in mind. Maybe across the pond you've got the luxury of having crowds who only respond to the latest, most underground stuff. And to be perfectly honest I think you're talking shit if you're saying you'd turn down an gig if you knew that anything another than 100% of the people there were proper hardcore underground ravers, but... Anyway, my point in the first place (before I wandered off a little bit) was that you should just prepare yourself for eventualities like that. Everyone has classics they like to play every now and again, everyone has tunes that will be better known or more recognisable than others - just be prepared to pull these out if the crowd turns out to not be as underground as you might think.

stated quite well...

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