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First off, I spin trance and only trance and for me, it very much depends on what I am making the setlist for. If I am making a promo cd, I usually have about 12 tracks on an 80min cd. Whether the cd is for a promo or if I was to actually fullfill my dream and have a label sell it for me, I treat the set the same way for both. I try to pick out the cds that I have that I used to listen to all the time, like Kimble Collins - Generation Trance 2000 and really think about what made me love that cd so much. I believe that it's because it's upbeat and hard-hitting right from the begining! That's the way that I try to arrange my sets when I'm making a cd. The first couple of tracks will be "intro" tracks. For example some of the intro tracks I've used are Cj Stone - Shining Star, Armin Van Burren(rising star) - Clear Blue Moon, Chicane - Autumn Tactics and Miller and Floyd - Colours.
Some of these tracks are pretty intense for "intro" tracks, but you have to be able to grab the crowd's attention and make them dance! If a DJ switchup is about to come up and I'm making the descision of which room I want to dance in at a rave or a multi-room club, I will only stay for a couple of tracks before I make my descision. Also, if you are a more famous DJ, I'd be really excited and want to start dancing immediately once you started spining. If you drop some really slow tracks at the begining or ones that have a lot of breaks, the dancers stop during the breaks, yet they aren't tired yet! Wait until 3-4 tracks in to give them a 15-30 second break in the beat. This way they won't get bored and leave the room. Think back to the best parties and dj that you've attended. Do you remember the DJs that played pretty good tracks that were great to chill to, or do you remember the DJ's usually a little bit later in the night that started with upbeat tracks and moved quickly into hard-hitters.
There is also a great difference between hard-hitting tracks and epic trakcs. Hard hitting tracks don't even have to have that much "energy" in the track as long as the track is pretty decent, the beat doesn't stop and there are always several instruments playing.
Anyway, I've moved on from cd's to live sets without finishing what I have to say about cds. I gave examples of my intro tracks, from there I usually have a good, but mostly unheard-of track to keep the listener interested. Then I start brining it up quickly so that I hit my first peak at the 6th track (half way through the cd). Since you've been listening to the cd for almost 40 mins now, you deserve a peak, but this is not the most intense peak. I bring it down just slightly on tracks 7 and 8, then way up to the max on 9 and 10. From there I bring it down a bit on track 11 and then up again on the last track. I do the dip on the 11th track because then the listener thinks that the cd is winding down, when in reality, I've got another banging tune lined up. Some exapmles of the last track pairs that I've used include: B&J - Cream (great track, but not too intense) followd by Roland Klein - Nexus Point, and my favorite exit: Surreal - Always on my mind (lange vocal mix) followed by Lost Witness - 7 Colours (angelic mix).
I try to maintain the same type of composition for live sets, but it also depends if the DJ before me was spinning trance or if I have to get the crowd into it myself and also when in the night I'm spinning. If I am in the begining, then I usually don't bring the peaks quite as high very quickly. I play tracks that are still upbeats, but not to intense like Marc Aurel - running (dumonde mix) and Jose Amnesia - The Eternal. This way the crowd can get into the trance and I'm not waisting my floor-fillers like: Spacey & Vaughan - Earth, Rhythm of Life - You put me in heaven with your touch, Agenda - Heaven (lange mix), The Morrigan - Remember etc.
If I'm spinning a really long set (2-3h), then I will usually save those tracks and play them all in a row to never let the crowd stop! Sure there will be a lot of people that will need to take breaks often, but the floor will always be filled. And most importantly, the goal of every DJ should always be to get the crowd wondering who the DJ is! Because you will never get popular and spin as a headliner if no one remembers who you are. Even if they remember your set, if they don't remember your name. Remember, people love free shit. Give them copies of your demo cd, get glowsticks with your name and email printed on them and hell, even wear a shirt with your name on it! Just get your name branded onto the music that you spin.
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My 2 cents
