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Please Share Your Secrets (pg. 2)
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| miamitranceman |
| quote: | Originally posted by sot
instead of buying the top 10 off beatport, djdownload and the likes. dig deeper. go into genres u normally do not. you'll find alot of gems if you look hard enough but end up going through alot of as well. that's the consequence you gotta pay for the rise of digital labels. |
+1. It's really true. I've found some great stuff in the prog house section on beatport just searching through labels n' stuff. It just takes some time. |
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| smakmagik |
just because other dj's plays a particular song, you wont play it regardless of whether the song is good or not ?
the 'biggies' will obviously receive these songs in advance from the producers, and with the way digital music is spreading currently, there s not many songs you'll find that a large number of listeners will be unfamiliar with.
play what you like, play what you think your audience will like
dont get too stuck on the whole 'ID - ID' thing. |
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| Michael May |
| quote: | Originally posted by smakmagik
just because other dj's plays a particular song, you wont play it regardless of whether the song is good or not ?
the 'biggies' will obviously receive these songs in advance from the producers, and with the way digital music is spreading currently, there s not many songs you'll find that a large number of listeners will be unfamiliar with.
play what you like, play what you think your audience will like
dont get too stuck on the whole 'ID - ID' thing. |
I will still play it if its a great song and I like it. But, I really want to start finding some banging tunes that are not on everyone elses tracklist. I just did a set not too long ago that I put on the dj promotion boards and a couple days later someone else put their set up and there was like 5 or 6 songs that we both had in our sets that were the same. Just made me think a little if maybe I have not been searching hard enough. Or, maybe I need to find out some other ways to get my tracks. I don't give a what someone thinks about me. Its not an ID thing. I am just really concerned that I may be letting alot of great tunes go by because I am not searching in the right spots or not searching hard enough, or doing something else wrong.
Anyway, thanks for all the respones so far. |
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| smakmagik |
| quote: | Originally posted by Michael May
I will still play it if its a great song and I like it. But, I really want to start finding some banging tunes that are not on everyone elses tracklist. I just did a set not too long ago that I put on the dj promotion boards and a couple days later someone else put their set up and there was like 5 or 6 songs that we both had in our sets that were the same. Just made me think a little if maybe I have not been searching hard enough. Or, maybe I need to find out some other ways to get my tracks. I don't give a what someone thinks about me. Its not an ID thing. I am just really concerned that I may be letting alot of great tunes go by because I am not searching in the right spots or not searching hard enough, or doing something else wrong.
Anyway, thanks for all the respones so far. |
as i said, finding tunes that are unlikely to appear on other dj's tracklist is becoming more and more uncommon, especially for a specific genre. maybe finding sets of dj's who think the same way as you??
could i also get a link to that set of yours? |
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| smakmagik |
oh, and one thing that has worked for me a few times is,
for a very small (and very flameable) example, everyone was churning out Lift by Sean Tyas...and I liked the track, but not that much to warrant the HUGE amount of playtime it got, and so i checked out a lot of Tyas's other tracks and a few like Remember, Candida are real bombs.
so maybe checking out not so often played tracks by the same artist might help too? |
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| Inertia |
the first thing is; chill. you do this for fun. if the stress factor overcomes the fun factor, it's time to quit.
then. pick your 100% absolute favorite track. who is it by? what label is it on?
if the answers for this were Tiesto and Blackhole, well, try again. not that these can't be good, but pick something that is not that well known. then, direct your browser to www.discogs.com, check out the label, what other releases it has, what artists are on it. check their releases. check their remixes. check who remixed them. check what labels this stuff is on. start again. keep going 'till you have amassed a nice collection of tracks not much other people are playing.
also, be on the jump for new releases. don't wait until its on 1000 compilation CDs to find out about it. bookmark sites with info of new releases (again, discogs.com is great for this) and constantly check up on your fav. artists and labels. many a time you'll play tracks first that later become huge hits.
also, find some DJs who are good but not that famous. listen to what they play. you might find some great stuff.
i guess it also kinda depends on what style you play. apparently, in trance, most of the good material gets whored time and time again. some of the bad material as well.
so much more variety in house and techno, that 2 DJs can spin 2 completely amazing sets with a similar sound to eachother, and not repeat tracks, and its possible for each to be spinning stuff the other has never heard of. probably true for trance as well, but you'll probably have to work harder for it too. |
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| Trance Android |
| quote: | Originally posted by Michael May
Do they have first dibs on these tracks? Do producers send these tracks to these guys first, before they are released to the general public? |
Absolutely. It's not uncommon to take months or even a year or more before they become available to be bought legally. Some brilliant tracks never see the light of day to grunts like us & I reached the conclusion some tracks are written by producers specifically for using themselves & for some of their producer/DJ buddies. Who knows, maybe they are trying out some of their own productions & ditch them if they don't get the right crowd reaction? ...I'm not convinced of that coz very often they're the best tracks in the set! ;)
| quote: | Originally posted by Inertia
find some DJs who are good but not that famous. listen to what they play. you might find some great stuff.
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Great point from Inertia, thats what I try & do. IDing the track/artist can be difficult, but actually finding these hidden gems for sale somewhere is where the real fun begins - see point 1 above, repeat this process forever ;):tongue2 |
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| Michael May |
| quote: | Originally posted by smakmagik
as i said, finding tunes that are unlikely to appear on other dj's tracklist is becoming more and more uncommon, especially for a specific genre. maybe finding sets of dj's who think the same way as you??
could i also get a link to that set of yours? |
Here ya go. http://www.tranceaddict.com/forums/...threadid=381940
You can't download the set anymore cause it has expired. But, when I get home from work I will upload it again and send you the link.
Mike |
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| Stu Cox |
Remember quite a few of the big names have "A&R" staff - i.e. people they trust to plough through all the tunes they're sent and pick out stuff for them to play. But yeah, as soon as any of the bigger labels sign a new tune they'll send it out to the top end DJs for support (if the artist hasn't already done so) - the only way to get a piece of the action is to be huge yourself or know the producers... and even then, once the track's signed most producers won't hand out any more copies even to mates through fear of pissing the label off.
There's also the distribution promo side of things - when a label signs a tune they might send copies out to a dozen of the top jocks then wait for a response before deciding whether or not to put it out, but then once a release date has been agreed, about 2-3 weeks before full release copies go out to the promotional mailinglists which will span a much wider range of DJs than the top of the top. But still to get on these lists you need to persuade the labels that sending you the tracks will benefit them - i.e. if you're playing out at a lot of large events, have a popular radio show etc to give their tracks coverage. They also usually ask for feedback on the tracks so you need to be prepared to put a couple of minutes aside to jot down some comments on each release, whether you like it or not.
Also, don't just restrict yourself to looking through the new releases on one site - every week I go through just about every trance/prog/techno/breaks new release on Juno, Chemical and Trackitdown (that's a good 500 odd tracks or something), plus every time I hear someone mention a tune on a messageboard etc that I haven't heard, I make a note of it and when I get a minute I have a hunt for a sample.
Even if you don't play vinyl, I find it's still worth going through new vinyl releases on Juno & Chemical cos quite often I'll find a track there which I then search for and find on Beatport/Trackitdown etc (and if not I just buy it on vinyl), plus a they have albums: I often find tracks I like on albums and compilations which may or may not be out - if they're not, I just make a note and keep an eye out for it so as soon as it is out (or even when a shop gets a couple of promo copies in) I spot it and make sure I get a copy.
Out of that I still only buy about 5 or 6 tunes a week and maybe get sent (promos from labels or directly from producers) 1 or 2 tunes I'll deem playable if I'm lucky (most of it's crap, not that I get sent a massive amount anyway)... but at least if I cover all the new releases, I know I'm not missing anything and I'm pretty confident that I end up with a few good less-known tunes every time.
Anyway, that's how I find the tunes I play! |
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| DJ_Progrezz |
might also wanna check out www.decks.de, www.juno.co.uk and other online vinyl stores, if you find some nice tunes there you can try to find em on mp3
also a nice trick is, listen to mixes of dj's and genres you like, look for a tracklist and search for the tracks you like
if you like an artist and you don't know much tracks from him you can look after him, if you see some nice remixes, start looking after that artist
if you hear a nice track, search for the tracks on the same label
and so on, it might become a vicious circle, but this is also a nice way to discover good tracks |
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| T-Soma |
I don't know if this has already been said but if you want to be unique it wont entirely come from the tracks you play.
If you want to sound different you need to have a style of doing some cool effects or just good progression in your set.
If you want to sound so completely special then start learning to produce your own.
Point is that your not ever going to find enough exclusive tracks to make you feel special. |
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| Freak |
dont read tracklists until after you have listened to a set and then want to find the name/artist of a particular one.
dont look at the charts on download/vinyl stores and view them as essential purchases.
dont follow the crowd.
dont pigeonhole yourself to one style or genre and ignore certain tracks because tiesto/*insert random name here* wouldn't play it. Forge your own sound and style.
If YOU like it buy it, not just because some nob bought/played/plugged it. If you don't like it then pass on it.
Too many sheep in this business (or any business TBH) and its bollocks.
This is just another of the reasons I personally hate digital download sites and avoid them where possible.
It's just a giant binary bandwagon |
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