A local club owner asked me (trance/progressive) and another local dj(progressive/electro house) to DJ for them on one of their busy nights. Local “raves” (I ing hate that word) held at ty venues have big turn outs. Every local club in town tends to play the same hip hop 40 each week and the owner wants to experiment and try something new. So they asked us to play for them.
So here are the details.
Other than our local fan base pretty much everyone who's going to be there will have no clue on what EDM is. People are going to expect hip hop top 40. I got about a month to prep for this and I’m looking for some ideas on what to play because i doubt tracks i normally play at local edm shows wont flow with this crowd.
I play from 126 progressive to 140 uplifting vocal depends on my mood.
Between him and i they are going to give us 5 hrs (open to close).Whether or not they like us I’m still going to have fun because i love mixing especially on a loud system :) . But i really do hope they enjoy us and maybe make this a regular thing.
So I got a few ideas on what to play and want your input.
Mixing “classics” - tracks from 2000-2005. i think tracks from that era might work well. high bpm good amount of vocals. this is what got me into trance in the 1st place. Tracks like 3rd Earth from solar stone, Above & Beyond Essential Mix 2004 and AvB Universal Religion 2004 and older ISOS.
Vocal- a set comprised of 80% vocal tracks from Nadia Ali – Pressure (alesso remix) , A&B Sun and Moon to AvB mix of Spectrum. if i can get girls dancing i'm pretty sure guys will follow them.
Modern – Pretty much mix the stuff you hear from ASOT GDJB and TATW ( Group Therapy Radio) – my least preferred approach but whatever gets the job done best.
The usual that i have been playing in my recent sets – lots of markus schulz, ummet ozcan , khomha and mr.pit etc. This is what i have been playing a lot lately but i don't think this will translate well to this particular crowd.
Progressive and deep house – pretty much I play tracks like these all night .
i have a feeling im going hear "how do i dance to this?"....
Rodri Santos
Though decision... i'd let the other dj play first and see how it goes.
Commercial stuff (top 40 dance) could work as it pretty much works in every ineducated crowd but you could face antisystems that would hate this.
I'd pick dubstep, but not Skrillex, some vocal dubstep with simple and catchy melodies, not wobbles or even Skrillex, the rythm is very similar they won't notice much different. Liquid DnB...
Another thing that could work very well is deep house with male vocals and organic sounds like Saxo , violin etc...
This is what i'd focus in. In this kind of nights is where you learn to read a crowd and learn to be a good dj, the reason why so many djs suck right now is because they went from their studio straight to the booth of a festival without even clubbing and they can't think outside their own box.
itsamemario
Do not play trance. And especially not "classics" from 2000-2005. There's a reason why practically everybody jumped ship at that time.
Trance does not work with hip hop crowds, neither with pop, nor rock or in pretty much any of the other scenes that edm is comprised of. and that vocal armin bull is pretty much the worst of trance.
You could try, but you're gonna see people leave the dance floor quickly. There's a reason why trance is only popular still in areas where xtc is still widely available.
When I worked this mainstream club a couple of years back, I used to play some funky tech house with some balkan beats, mixed in with some funky house á la the kid creme re-edit of Shakedown - At Night, and whatever club mixes I could find of whatever was charting the lists. Layered with some techy grooves it can be tolerable for shorter amount of times :P Oh and deep house. Start out with anonymous deep house and you can take the night pretty much wherever you wanna go. But don't tell anyone, it's a trade secret!
itsamemario
just listened to the two tracks you posted. no. no. no. seriously. you cant play that to a mainstream crowd. it's soft sounding, but it's far from introductory edm. there's only a few paths that leads a musical taste down that alley, and the people you are playing to have not undergone any of those. if they had, they wouldnt spend their saturday night at a mainstream club.
nofx4021
Thanks,i'm starting to getting an idea on where to start
I'd say that's still far too trancy. i can see if i can come up with some track's i'd play, crossing my fingers i wont forget.
Rodri Santos
Avoid developed melodies. 4 beats, 8 beats melodies maximum.
About dubstep, this to warm up:
(Basically this is music designed for hip hopers but you take the risk here of them saying "what the hell is he doing to hip hop tracks? he is ruining it)
In the middle of your set:
This could work as i've seen it working on this kind of crowds a number of times
discobiscuit
Sounds like you put all ur eggs in one basket bro. Why not just play good music all night? Aside from the pros with a following, genre labels and set planning is pretty lame. Give the people what they want. Read the crowd. Do ur job.
discobiscuit
I do these kinds of gigs all the time im gonna give you a tracklist when i get home of stuff id play. Good remixes, a lot of vocals, good beats. Go on youtube and type mimosa remix. Ill post in a couple hrs...
discobiscuit
Here are some people who remix a lot of hip hop their remixes are solid:\
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glitch mob, d.veloped, cryptex, gramatik, dynu, opiou, cr^nkn, slim thugz, aylen, rusko, skrillex, zeds dead, hulk, datsik, dc breaks, excision, bare noize, bar 9, evol intent, noisa, run dmt, nero, dosvek, dj kue, kraddy, figure, crizzly\
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here are some tracks i would play if you have a hip hop crowd:\
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zeds dead - out for blood, xv & wiz khalifa - gobstopper/ figure dubstep remix, wu-tang clan - biochemical equation/ datsik & excision remix, wtf dead prez - it's bigger than hip hop/ totally dubbed remix, wiz khalifa - when i'm gone/ kraddy remix, wick-it the instigator - bang bang feat notorious big and krs one, wale - bait/ cr^nkn remix, tyga - snapback back/ dubstep remix, rusko - da cali anthem, rusko - pro nails, pantyraid vs kid cudi - pursuit of beba/ boreta mashup, pantyraid - get the money, opio - get low/ rusty meeks mashup, opiou - monkey crunk/ ill gates and samples remix, notorious big - juicy/ glitch mob remix, still ballin/ mimosa remix, niggas in paris/ mimosa remix, mimosa - block party, mgmt - kids/ datsik remix, login - dat ass/ crizzly remix, linkin park - waiting for the end/ glitch mob remix, lil wayne & kanye - lollipop/ nasty ways remix, lil wayne - a milli/ excision & datsik remix, kreayshawn - gucci gucci, kid cudi - day and nite/ rusko remix, kid cudi - soundtrack 2 my life/ tyr & cr^nkn remix, jay z - 99 problems/ glitch mob remix, kanye west jay z flux pavilion - i can't stop / benzi & dja edit, hulk - ass & titties, hollywood undead - i don't wanna die/ borgore remix, gorillas - dare/ gangsta fun dubstep mix, freeland - do you/ pantyaid remix, evol intent - paradize city, emalkay vs notorious big & method man - the what, dub swing - i put a spell on you/ mimosa remix, dosvec - win gold dust, dj bahler - roll it like you stole it, dissent ft. nick minaj - slugga, diplo - you don't like me ft. lil jon/ datsik remix, datsik - fully blown, d.veloped - iz you rollin ft gucci mane, cryptex - the glitch anthem, crizzly - big booty bitches, crime mob - knuck if you buck/ styles & complete remix, wale - bait/ cr^nkn remix, collie buddz - come around/ mimosa remix, beastie boys - intergalactic/ psymbionic remix, arn:mkl - nasty days, wiz khalifa - on my level/ alextejas remix, afrojack ft wiz khalifa - make the floor shake, 2 pac - still ballin/ mimosa remix\
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most of these tracks are at 70-110bpm I'm sure you have the higher bpm tracks on lock since thats your specialty. if you're gonna play house i'd keep it electro and vocal. Id play vocal breaks if it was up to me its hard not to dance to breaks. i play all genres and can usually keep any crowd happy mixing hip hop and edm together is challenging and fun.\
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these are mostly all hip hop songs infused with glitch and dub step i think they will satisfy your crowd.\
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good luck\
Rodri Santos
i was about to suggest you to play mashups/remixes of intemporal hip hop hits:
-Cypres Hill - Inside in the brain (Laidback Luke Mix)
-House of Pain - Jump (Mashup,Bootleg...) there are hundreds
-Dr Dre,Wizz Kalifa just check the most famous tunes and for a bootleg or a mashup.
Again there is the risk of people thinking "what the did he do to this brilliant classic?¿" hopefully 80% of the people would love it.
