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What do you want from the tracks you play?
As a producer, I've been giving some recent thought to what impact tracks have on a dance-floor, recently. What I mean to say by that is that, for maybe six-minutes at the longest, the average track makes its appearance, has some form of affect, and then it's on to the next track in the list.
Leaving aside the patently obvious, which is that a track really ought to be danceable, what should a track be doing within your set. For instance, some of my favorite DJ's at clubs have played peaks and valleys within their sets. They start off slowly, and then steadily increase the energy until it's a frenetic pace, and then play back down to another valley, and then back up.
Other DJ's I've heard, have songs which build a bit of a nervous tension, in the crowd. Everyone sort of has a "should I really be here, right now?" sort of feeling and then slowly converts that energy into a more euphoric atmosphere - seeming to capitalize off of the erstwhile nervous energy with relief.
Still others tell stories. They relate to the crowd in a way which tells the DJ's real or even fictional story by playing songs which are suggestive of common themes. Somehow, even though there's no context available, psychologically I can relate to it. I often hear these from sets in the DJ Promotion Forum, here at TA.
That said, things are different when you're playing to a crowd. You have to be able to read and relate to them. I remember another thread, here, where a one or two DJ's spoke to that and one post, in particular, where the poster referred to certain people who helped motivate the rest of the crowd as "motors".
I'm not limited to the theoretical/emotional aspects of music, either. Psycho-acoustics also pertains to my question. One example I can think of is of the nerve-wracking effect of a 19 Hz hum. While most music is engineered completely cutting anything below 30 Hz, are there times when certain effects are used that bend the rules and if so, how?
I'm also definitely interested to read anything existing along these lines not related to the possible scenarios I've listed. Talk about how crowds love Super-Saws because of their psycho-acoustic interaction with MDMA, or whatever. My goal with this thread is to get some insight from the people whose boots are on the ground (and even those who'd like to have their boots on the ground), what songs have those desired effects, and how each song fits into a mix to create a contiguous result.
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Now with extra singles!
my old stuff, not quite up to snuff - but I still dig it - UPDATED 9/23/2012
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