Trance at a school dance, wow.

What you play I guess does depend on the audience and what they would like, like mentioned already I'd recommend more dancey tunes. Some of those songs do have long quiet parts in the songs and if people want to do dance and there is huge gaps it may be abit weird (eg. Adagio for strings) - though I do praise you for thinking of that track as it owns.

Here's dance tunes recommended for a school dance in MY opinion:

Mylo vs Miami Sound Machine - Doctor Pressure
Chromeo - Needy Girl (Original & zdar dub mix)
Beatfreakz - Somebodys Watching Me (Hi Tack Club Mix)
Supermode - Tell me why
Moby - Raining Again (Steve Angello's Vocal Mix)
Quesh - Candy Girl
Madonna - Sorry (Extended Club Mix)
Freeform Five - No More Conversations (Mylo Rmx)
Dave McCullen - Bitch (If your principal approves )
Deepface - Been Good (ivan gough & grant smillie remix)
Arman Van Helden - Into your eyes

Some of my recommendations

With that tracklist you will bore them to shit.


Sorry chief- but that would rock Twilo sure, but not a high school dance.
You need most of the following
1) vocals
2) familiarity
3) danceability
4) happy

Yes its a 'cool' tracklist and a couple of the trainspotters will love you for it- but the majority of people just want to dance, get pissed and get laid. Its a very proggy list- and to the majority of people prog is just plain boring.

Try some remixes of well known tracks, some house bootlegs or some big house tracks.
Big breakdowns=not good

remember- for the most part, you are playing for the crowd-not for you.

dj chili - break out, release me (wravetraxx remix (sp?))


if you play that then the crowd will deff go wild....I played this song to a group of kids that only liked hip hop and they were jumping and going crazy. But the music was banging the whole night and there was a lot of energy.

Also no matter how good a song is...if the crowd is not into it then the song will be ineffective. I have had a gig that ended up like this....i played some really good songs but i wasn't feeling very energetic that night so most people would dance for like a couple of songs and sit back down and even when i played some good popular songs...most people wouldn't dance to them...i hate some of the crowds i work with

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quote:

Originally posted by FuzzyChicken Those dont look very danceable to me. I would start with some stuff they are familar with and build their trust and then move to some bangin tunes that are fun to dance to with energy and just build from that. Some popular tones that are danceable Benny Bennassi - Satisfaction Rachel Starr - Till there was you (G&D Mix) maybe? Mylo - Drop the pressure or Mylo vs. Miami Sound Machine - Doctor Pressure Justin Timberlake - Rock Your Body (Sander Kleinenbergs Just In The Club Dub) possibly Underworld - Born Slippy (good closer that everyone knows) Eurythmics - sweet dreams some mashup or remix (everyone and there mother knows this tune)

Hmm, thanks. I'll look into these. Is there a version of Born Slippy that doesn't have all the cheesy crowd noise? ;p
EDIT: Okay, got it. Nevermind.

quote:

These are just ideas Im throwin out. But again I think your list is too poppy and people wont know how to dance to that as well as more house or hard trance type tunes.

Thanks. I'm planning to completely rewrite the set list from scratch, primarily just for better flow and to fix the harmonic transitions, and I'll definitely try working some of your suggestions into it.

EDIT: Oh hey, there's a page 2! I've read all your suggestions and am looking into them, thanks.

EDIT 2: Once I get another draft of the track list done, I'm planning to send a ~60-minute sampler mix to a few people from school to gage their opinion. Also, for tracks with inordinately long breakdowns without percussion, I may fade in a looped kick drum or something to avoid the "huh...okay, I was dancing before...now what?" issue. I'll play around with it and see how it sounds. :\

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-esselfortium

Last edited by esselfortium on Jun-05-2006 at 19:03

quote:

Originally posted by Freak remember- for the most part, you are playing for the crowd-not for you.

The number one rule of Djing that almost everyone seems to ignore...

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why is harmonic mixing #1 for you. I mean thats fine but to me that would be secondary. Rather your tracklisting and mixing should be number one, if it mixes harmonicly then good. But for this type of event and your skill level it wont matter, the kids wont know the difference and nor will they care. You could spin trance you just have to choose ones that are a bit harder and less airy (Marcel Woods/Sander van dorn type stuff). But it might be easier to play house/breakbeat type stuff. Also you dont have the play the entire song, if it has a long break down just play a bit of it and mix into the next. Depends on the song but it keeps the variety going.

Also, remember to have fun and dance when your up there. The more energy and crazyness you release the crowd in return feeds off that and it snowballs. So just remember to go nuts and hopefully once the crowd gets familar after the first ~3 songs they will realize that its fun and dance.

Here are a couple more house tunes that might work:
Tomas Andersson - Washing Up (Tiga Rmx)
Soulwax - E Talking (some remix ?)
Coburn - We Interupt This Program
Deep Dish Vs Dire Straits - Flashing for Money (Sultan Remix)
The Killers - Mr Brightside (remix of your choice)
Coldplay - some song that HS kids like
Pyrda - Aftermath or Bigtop - Sub (sounds great on a nice deep sound system)
68 Beats - I Want Satisfaction (Robbie Rivera mix maybe?)
Yoshimoto - Du What U Du (Trentemoller Remix) (a bit slow can be used to build up or end a set possibly)
Cicada - You got that feeling (coburn vocal remix)
Hyper - Twisted Emotion ??
Ian van Dahl - Inspiration (Krafty Kuts Mix) ???
MV - Mr. Roboto (whatever remix)!! should go off well possibly.


As for artists Robbie Rivera, Mylo make some good stuff. Find tunes that are house or have a breakbeat to them. And most importantly they need to have lots of energy in them. And build your set up and try to maintain that energy for a bit, keep your mixes tight so as to not lose energy either. Know your songs!!

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Personally i wouldn't be worried about mixing in key, or even really anything outstanding technically. PLay songs that people will go off to and you'll be loved. You could play a technically perfect set, all mixed harmonically , but if people don't recognise the songs, or can't dance to it. Everyone will think you suck .

I play at a club, and am hired to play cheesy cheesy commercial house. I don't like it. I could think of 1000 things i'd rather play. But i go there, play it and get payed. The crowd loves it, and thinks i'm awesome, casue i'm playing there, on radio 1000 times a day song.

If i was in your position, and wanted to play trancey type songs. I'd throw in the 2 pryda vs black eyed peas songs. aftermath/my humps 123/pump it. Sure there cheesy, but people love them and you can ease your mind knowing underneath the vocals is a quality song :P.

Apart from that why not just arrange your set by playing some cheesy house like supermode - tell me why, something everyone will know, then the black eyed peas things. Then play what you want. If you get people up at the start in a positive mindset they'll view the rest of the set differently. If people don;t lkike your first few songs, they'll close there minds to the rest of your set.

And most of all just enjoy it

Normally i'd say you don't have to program shit to play out for the first time. But because this is a 3 hour set, it needs some planning
But how the hell did you get a 3 hour slot on a school party, when you haven't played out yet ?

Anyway, i would recommend to start with some cheesy house tunes, that everyone knows from the radio or smth.
Like the black eyed peas bootlegs as mentioned above, or Mylo (Doctor Pressure), Deep Dish (Flashdance), Dave McCullen - Bitch maybe, or even something from Madonna's new album. Just look in your local top50, and see what the popular house-tunes are there. (If they like this, you should see if you could go on with playing more of the floorfillers that are less-known, like Till West ft DJ Delicious - Same Man, Phunk-A-Delic - Rockin')
Then you could move on to 3 or 4 songs that are more tranzy, more energy (stay commercial tho, eg Tiesto - Love Comes Again, or some other sing-a-long trance), and see if they like that. If they do, you could try to play a more underground trance-track (or a bit less commercial), like Helsinki Scorchin' or AM - Arise (Hammer&Funabashi Remix). If you see they feel this, and it doesn't empty the floor, consider yourself a lucky man. Now you can play some more (real) trance, and occasionally a more cheesy track, like Adagio For Strings, Traffic, Synaesthesia, As The Rush Comes,..
And remember to finish your set with a real floorbanger (something like Underworld - Born Slippy), so people won't forget you when you leave the decks. Be sure to thank your audience too, if they liked it, they deserve your applause.

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quote:

Originally posted by DJ Sid Normally i'd say you don't have to program shit to play out for the first time. But because this is a 3 hour set, it needs some planning But how the hell did you get a 3 hour slot on a school party, when you haven't played out yet ?

When all your friends know you're an electronic musician and they all see you give a live performance (in this case, at a school talent show), it seems that they trust your technical skills pretty well. In addition, a friend of mine who happens to be the treasurer for the student government association was the recipient of my first attempt at a trance mix cd earlier this year.

Based on the suggestions I've gotten in here, I'm planning to start out with a few recognizable tracks and remixes and then try moving into legitimate trance and hope the crowd doesn't start complaining. If it goes over well, I play more trance. If it goes poorly, I play more house. If it goes well, maybe I'll be asked to DJ the next dance too

Thanks DJ Sid and everyone else who has replied since my last post. I wasn't expecting nearly this many responses, you guys rock.

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-esselfortium