This post stems from a few tweets that went between a couple of us last week, regards pre-planning of Dj sets. Maybe not the freshest topic but one I thought I’d throw out there to our readers. Tom touched on it before in this post where he talks about “action without thought” in terms of what happens during the gig. I’m gonna talk a bit about what goes on before the gig. Some dj’s will try and tell you that they do no planning for their gigs but I don’t believe them. The least you do is look at who you are playing with/what night it is etc and then you go through your records with that in mind. To say you do no pre-planning is akin to saying you go at your record collection with a blindfold on and just randomly grab records. You are heading for a disaster with that sort of carry on.
Personally speaking, my planning for gigs fluctuates. For one, the last 3 I’ve done would not have worked if I’d used the same record bag for each occasion so, in the very least, I had to unpack and think again about the next one. I do spend a lot of my spare time mixing at home, not specifically cause I have to practice for anything; I just still really enjoy it. This will inevitably lead to me coming across tracks that work well together (and vice versa) and they will likely stick in my head and they will go into my bag if I think they are suited to the next gig. It ain’t a crime to do this, and it certainly isn’t cheating either. Now, it’d be pretty boring if one was to just roll out a set of pre-planned mixes and it also throws your consistency out the window. Why go in with one killer pre-planned set and then follow it with a bunch of gigs where you don’t seem to have a clue what you are at? If it’s a last minute gig, or one where I’ve had no time to have a few mixes before hand, I’ll still take a good hour to go through stuff, give some of it a quick listen, dump things, put them back in etc till it looks like it might make sense (in my head at least). I feel a bit more comfortable having a few mixes but over doing it will stifle your creativity on the night.
Playing a pre-planned set takes nothing of what can happen on the night into the equation either. If a crowd ain’t feeling what your at but you don’t have it in you to change it up it leaves you pretty fucked, just like if you’ve got a bunch of records in your bag that you barely remember what they sound like. There will inevitably be a few you’re gonna be rusty on, but so be it. Just not a whole bag! Going back to Tom’s post about “action without thought” I’m not really sure how much thinking I do during a set. Sometimes I’ll get a track lodged in my head and I’ll frantically go through the bag looking for it, blocking out everything else, sometimes I’ll start flicking without really having much in mind for what to do next. I’d a pretty funny experience at a gig recently where, as I flicked through my bag, the guy I was playing with suddenly shouted at me to take out a 12 he saw – Suicide Commando by Dj Hell – and while I’d initially gone past it, I said “fuck it” took it out and the place went nuts to it. My point being; you never know what will happen during a night to make you decide to take a record out. Sometimes it’ll work, sometimes it won’t, but isn’t that half the fun?
So anyone else care to talk about their process? I’d also be interested to hear about digital Djs too. I always find the major flaw in Theo Parrish’s interviews is that he thinks that laptop Djs bring their whole music collection to a gig. Surely no one is that stupid? Theo has also made good points about how it takes years for someone to become a good Dj, so they know and really understand their music properly, before going out to play in public. So, in a way, whatever pre-planning you think you do for a gig, the process actually takes years…
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i’m pretty much right with you on this one Kenny. I do lots of leisure type mixing, after work, weekends, etc. And occasionally I will remember or place together two records I mixed together and worked especially well. And I may take those two out with me to a night. sometimes i forget which one went first though 😉 But in terms of preparing, it definitely is important for me to think through the night, my slot, venue, predicted crowd and try and plan for what will probably work best, but then also bring stuff I like and work that in too. Funnily enough often I find the stuff I thought would work best doesn’t and people dig the stuff I like more.
My technique? At home? Experimentation. Research. Study. At gigs? Shotgun approach.
Well I’m the one you don’t believe in. But I have my peers that I’m sure will comment upon reading this post that can lead credence to my stance, of just throwing some shit in a bag. I agree with you that the preparation for a gig or gigs takes years in the making, but I find that what works or me, is just being doggedly ahead of the curve of my immediate peers. I was that guy at the shop you hated, they even coined a term for said records “jwan allen pgh exclusives.” I spend most of the time just listening to music, usually while watching sports, Gig time i have a UR record bag, flight case and a smaller record bag. I have my standbys that never leave the bag, new(ish) shit, stuff I haven’t played in a minute and tunes I feel like hearing if the opportunity presents itself. My plan, is to have no plan at all, which usually works out pretty well. Gigs that turned out poorly are more of function of me over-thinking it. Its that delicate balance of dictating the action, but taking your shots with what the defense gives you…can you tell I’m watching sports at this very moment:)
For me, packing my bag IS planning my set.
I’ll pick a varied bag of records that I think will work well and be appropriate for a particular night. I would never go with a track for track, pre-planned set in mind because I’d find that boring. It’s more interesting when a DJ is spontaneous and keeps you guessing as to what is coming next. If you yourself don’t know what way your set is going, the people you’re playing to definitely won’t; shit like that keeps it interesting!
I’m with you Kenny. I think the key is practice, so that everything that goes into planning a gig becomes an almost subconscious act. In the word planning I mean choosing what tunes to bring before you leave your house or studio to selecting what record to play 1st and so on. My process is to practice and get to know any new additions to my collection as well as possible. If I like a mix between 2 records or more I’ll bare them in mind for playing them out at the next opportunity.
It can be incredibly boring hearing a DJ play a meticulously planned set flawlessly. That’s not to say it doesn’t always work, because sometimes it can work very well in terms of getting a crowd going. Also, a lot of folks I get to play to don’t really consider this, or for that matter really care about the DJ process at all. In my experience with type of crowds I get to play to, there’s no sense of patience and they generally want you to go for the throat off the bat so to speak. This can be problematic because I like the idea of letting the crowd coerce me into playing for their vibe, but there’s something so vacuous about just banging it out from the start.
For me as a dancer though, I do try to understand where a DJ is coming from and what they’re actually doing about selecting their tunes. DJs who work on the fly and play to the situation will get my appreciation even if their mixing may not appear as flashy as a DJ who has every second of their set planned out.
I think packing the crate can be an opportunity for ‘no-mind’ as much as the set itself. Flipping through shelves (and crates and loose stacks), pulling out things without thinking ‘how will this work?’ If you’ve been doing this for more than a minute, you don’t have to think consciously about every choice.
I’m always doing that in a hurry anyway, so I would have time to sweat each inclusion anyway.
Then when I get going in a set, I usually find out half of what I brought never seems to fit, and the mix ends up taking unexpected directions.
the only home dj’ing i do is when i buy new music. i end up buying 8-9 new records at a time and just mix the shit out of those for a bout a week to get their feel.
Harvey says here that he just puts in his bag stuff thats worked within the last year:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1KmU7tCB9w
Ive been wanting to record a mix latly so maybe ill start pushing my shelves around after all.
I’m finding I like to have a very good idea of the first hour or so, based on my knowledge/assumptions about the venue, the crowd and what I feel I’d like to play for myself on the night…the rest of the bag is more about creating different paths I can potentially follow or not, based on what actually the place turns out to be like …basically that first hour is a sort of statement of intent on my part, the rest then is dictated by the vibe I get off the peeps and the amount of drink taken, if the decks/monitors are working properly and all that, you know the craic yourself Kenny.
I plan most of my club sets. I rarely stick to that plan but its good to have a backup just incase you just can’t get a good flow going naturally – everyones had a bad night where they aren’t feeling it and can’t get into it.
i think its lame when people plan their sets. you aren’t a dj if you dont know how to work a room or choose songs to work that room at that moment, if you have already decided what you are going to play to them. if you are a producer, furry muff. play your own shit and use traktor to match beats for you. lolz.
and my process is grab a whole bunch of cd booklets of songs from 95-2011 that i’ve loved and bring them and then frantically choosing songs at the club.
if i am going to mexico i know they like it a bit funkier/harder/techno-ish… playing in seattle more hyped up and progressive funky. etc etc. knowing where you are going to play and to who is greatly important, totally agree.
I’ve made the mistake of pre-planning a set too much beforehand. Had a load of lovely house music set up to play and everything – only to be told when I got there I was playing after 3 O’Clock (in Belfast, requires you to hammer it out). Was playing some Moodymann etc, and some gluebag came up and told me to ‘play some fuckin takno m8’.
Know now to bring a good mixture of stuff with me.
for a gig i’m playing this Saturday I pulled out about 100 records and have spent the last few days culling them down to around 70. about 30 are slowish midtempo records that will sound very nice even if played to an empty dancefloor. the other 40 are a mix of tunes relatively in the same bpm bracket (give or take a few % on the pitch slide) and will sound very good to a hopefully rammed dancefloor. i’ve been reacquainting myself with the intros, outros, breakdowns, skips and scratches, coupling the odd pair of records and generally that’s as far as i go with planning out a set.. and that’s probably way too much preparation given it’s only an hour long set =P
I generally pack my bag a couple hours before I have to leave. While packing, I keep in mind a few different sounds that I want to explore through the evening while not planning record for record (more like “a few electro records here, a few dubby records there…”).
During my set, I try to have my next two or three records in my mind. I find that this helps me create a more cohesive “journey,” if you will.
Most of my preparation really happens at home. I try to spend a few hours every week just “stream-of-consciousness” mixing through my record collection. Over time, this has provided me a technique and knowledge of my music that I can rely on when I’m out.
i mean, the difference in what you do is that 90% of your records are close enough in BPM to be played with each other. if i grabbed random stacks before rolling out the door, i’d be playing half neo soul and half ambient most of the time.
Being a digital DJ for the most part (either Traktor Scratch through control vinyl or CDs depending on the situation: *booo, hissssss*), I tend to make a folder of 50-60 tracks that I think would work well in the set and focus on that. Any more and it’s a joke trying to get a decent flow to both your set and your thinking. The bonus with digital IS Theo’s gripe that I have my entire collection at a gig which I’d dip into should a song come into my head that I want to play. It’s on my laptop, I can find it in 5-10 seconds, load it up and away we go.
For CDs, I tend to burn tracks with no regard for style, genre or bpm although I only make CDs from tracks that I supremely love so each is carefully chosen. Of course, this is risky business which can make finding tracks a chore at times so I usually write up a longlist of songs that would work well and throw it in the back of the case should I need it. The benefit of the lack of order, in my view, is the unpredictability of what might catch the eye when I’m browsing my case as I like to, within reason, go through a gamut of genres in a set. I never pre-plan sets in terms of track order but I’d usually work out in my head what progression style-wise I want to take it (although that more often than not goes out the window)
personally i spend an awful lot of time preparing for a gig, but would have alternative routes prepared to go down if the crowd is different or not feeling a certain sound etc.
i think it all depends on your styles of music/style of mixing. if you’re switching between genres a lot and going doubletime on bpms etc, or playing tracks that are only a couple of minutes long its just not going to work well if you’re not prepared.
also, often you will think in your head that 2 songs will work perfectly together but when you actually try it they dont work. there is too much “poetic license” given to djs when it comes to tracks matching harmonically. i dont mean people should use mixed in key or any software like that (i don’t) but at the same time why is it ok for a dj to mix two tracks that are completely out of tune with each other? in no other musical field is that acceptable. with that in mind i think its important to prepare and know what tracks dont clash musically, or where there’s a drum break that you can bring any track in on etc etc. sorry for the ramble
Plan, deviate, plan, deviate.
I’m with mr miyagi. It’s easy to say that real dj’s don’t prepare mixes but the majority of dj’s who say this tend to play tracks that are designed for mixing. What happens when all your precious 32 bar/beats-only intros and outros aren’t there? Try mixing that stuff unprepared at your peril. The majority of DJ’s who don’t get an easy mix handed to them just won’t play the records are bit more challenging
Do a little prep and you’ll be able to play much more interesting music in my opinion.
^^ thats when you as a dj get creative. its not hard either if you know your songs inside and out. you know what works. practice at home. get the vibes with the music and don’t plan sets. if you plan then you are a performer. a dj doesn’t plan. they take a bunch of music and go for it.
As far as digital djing goes, having your whole collection with you digitally is a big plus if you suddenly think of a track like Stan mentioned. On the other hand looking at and browsing through thousands of songs you sometimes get the feeling that there is everything but nothing there, exactly that strange feeling of not knowing what to do next if you can do about anything. So it comes down to organizing, chopping the collection up, grouping tracks that work well together, which happens anyways by practicing. And you don’t practice with your whole collection, your’re doing it with a few dozen current tracks. So I guess at that point it is not that different from wax…
I’ll play the devil’s advocate and argue FOR planning/practicing an entire set. If we are including laptop DJs or DJs with any added controllers, the changing technology continually moves the DJ’s role toward live performance. You could consider DJs to be musicians or artists. Why hold a DJ to a standard of improvisation that you wouldn’t expect in a band or concert pianist? If you view the entirety of a DJ set as a performance, the journey ‘from’ record A to Z is just as important as ‘what’ record A and Z are because the music is continuous. Three minutes of poorly planned outro/intro overlap can kill a dancefloor vibe just as much as a poor record choice. For the sake of argument I’ll posture that a DJ, flexible to a fickle dancefloor, is only a self conscious artist. And, if you consider a DJ to be a musician or artist, why would you even want them to cater to the dancefloor – you just paid a $30 cover to see the DJ do his or her thing. (You wouldn’t want your favorite band to play Free Bird just because that drunk guy thinks it’s funny to continually scream the request, would you?) If the DJ’s playing a planned set, buckle up and enjoy the ride. Judge the totality of the experience. Compare that to the last time you liked EVERY record a DJ played when mixing on the fly.
(Okay, maybe the irony of Radiohead covering Free Bird wouldn’t be that bad.)
Defo, I understand where you’re coming from. BUT, is a DJ really a musician or artist when their playing or performing? This is probably a little off topic and perhaps food for another discussion. In my view DJs are not wholly responsible for the vibe and they need to be able to react to the other elements if the event is to have that certain spark that a really good dance experience needs.
@ Mr Miyagi – I hear you, but there in lies the difference between a good and a bad DJ no? A good DJ should intuitively know what key and tempo their tracks are in and mix them accordingly. this is where practice at home or the studio comes in.
I can excuse mixes being out of tune a bit, tho not constantly. it’s fun working eqs trying to squeeze a dodgy melodic clash into making sense.
fuck the crowd or reading the crowd. does anyone really do that? how exactly? feel the emotion? count the number of ‘whoops’ per track? dancers per sq/m ? and then what – play a rake of stuff that sounds exactly like that track ? sounds a bit neo-hippy rave shit to me – reading vibes etc…and not very far away from taking requests. is the ultimate goal of this to have the crowd hold up signs with ‘tune’ on them – handy to read if nothing else. maybe other ones with ‘more bass’ ‘something with a percolator noise’ etc would be helpful for dj’s to read the crowd more accurately.
picking a bag of records a bit like what kenny and others outlines is surely basic common sense. the night, the time, the venue etc. then add in whatever else pot-pourri – a record you bought that week, something you heard in another mix, something you read about, something you found again .. something old, something new, something borrowed etc etc.
tbh, i like the creative restriction of not being able to carry more than a bag of vinyl out – makes me think a bit more about it. but each to their own – it’s what you’re used to – vinyl/cds/digital/shovel from m-people by your side on the bongos… whatever makes you happy playing music out loud.
if i get there and they’re not really into it – so what, i am – they’re the records i like that i thought would work on the night. whoever the promoter is they booked me cos of what i play so that’s what the party is getting. reading the crowd to keep emhappy? fuck em – i’m the dj & i’ll play what i want.
@ platinum ray yeah pretty much. when i say preparing i’m including knowing your tunes inside out cos you’ll only remember where that break is if you’ve waited for it before. i think knowing what key they’re in intuitavely is a bit too much to ask tho,not sure if most people could do that.thats perfect pitch shit.
@ oconmhaigh not meaning to sound like a dick but i think a good dj will of course read the crowd. thats part of being a good dj… no hippy shit, you can generally tell from a look around the room what people will be looking for.
“fuck em – i’m the dj & i’ll play what i want” yeah but there’s a lot to be said for knowing how to play what you want but in such a way that they’ll still be dancing all night. is that not simply just better craic than playing to yourself?
edit: i meant knowing intuitively as in without hearing it
Yeah, I can’t really agree with what your saying here. It’s all about playing stuff you like in a way that gets the crowd working. So are you telling me that if you completely clear a floor at a night, you’ll just ignorantly go “fuck them”? We’ve all cleared floors but we do our best to fill it then, no?
The last gig I was at was in Belfast this weekend. I arrived and the warm up dj was lashing it out. Pretty innapropriate for the act he was playing before, but he kept on at it. If I was that promoter I’d not get him back for a similar gig, and if you just played away for yourself while the crowd weren’t digging it, well as a promoter, I’d not ask you back either, so is it really that smart to play like that all the time?
i see that as yeah maybe naive on the dj or bad booking from the promoter. like you say, it’s natural evolution – maybe they chap won’t get asked back again until he learns better.for better or worse though, that’s who he is and that’s what he plays and how he like to play it.
maybe the question is why are the crowd not digging it. i’ve played loads of times to an empty floor and then soon as the name comes on – it just fills up on the strength of a face, not the music…or else i’m deluding myself here 🙂
I think it’s inevitable that a floor will fill up more when the big name comes on, but I’ve equally seen warm up djs slowly draw people on to the floor before the main act, which is doing the warm up properly. Warming up is imo a lot more difficult than the headline slot and the true mark of a good dj.
I’m not saying the gift (or curse) of perfect pitch is required. what I mean is having a more broad basic intuitive sense of pitch. if you listen to your records and get to know them without pitching them up or down you can pick up on the key they’re in and what notes the first big hook hits. then you can start to figure out *roughly* how they’ll fit with other records given each of their position on the pitch controller, intuitively, not in an academic way. the same can be said for timbre. and, for me mixing is as much about contrast as it is about a smooth transition.
@ oconmhaigh, I admire your stance of playing what you want. unfortunately for me as a part-timer, the kind of crowds I get to play to are a really mixed bag (no pun intended). my sets would die on their ass if I played exactly what I liked all the time. the challenge for me, and it’s a welcome one, is to play the music I love in such a way as to get the crowd interested. I do a warm up sets for artists and DJs I might not necessarily like, but having that occasional gig where the crowd responds really positively makes it worthwhile. the reason why I get asked to do these shows is because the promoter knows I’ll show some respect for the crowd that’s there. having said that, you know you’re doing something right if some grumpy idiot starts shouting at you to bang it up a little.
so a dj isn’t a performer? and a well put together set doesn’t count as djing? what about turntablists that plan sets to perfection, are they not djing? for me it depends, if im playing at a night where i know there’ll be more of a ‘music crowd’, ill plan more and put together at least part of a set where the tracks really compliment each other, and build / go somewhere, as the crowd are more likely to appreciate it. other nights il just see what the situation is like on the night, and bring a good selection of house, techno and stuff that bridges between the two if i think i need to take it up a notch quickly. there doesn’t have to be, and shouldn’t be, any strict rules as to how to go about a dj set, different approaches work for different people and in different situations / times.
For me, packing my bag IS planning my set.
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same with me
“It’s easy to say that real dj’s don’t prepare mixes but the majority of dj’s who say this tend to play tracks that are designed for mixing. What happens when all your precious 32 bar/beats-only intros and outros aren’t there? Try mixing that stuff unprepared at your peril. ”
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that’s not true, for example I like to play old disco, funk, etc, with live drummers, etc, as well as house, techno, etc… doesn’t stop you playing on the fly. HOWEVER, the key is knowing your records and the more you practice (not specific mixes), the more comfortable you will be doing things on the fly. Of course, just by practicising regularly you will know a lot of the records that will go together anyway. So doing things on the fly doesn’t mean you’re unprepared either.
Why hold a DJ to a standard of improvisation that you wouldn’t expect in a band or concert pianist?
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but I DO expect improvisation from bands/musicians if I go to a concert. yes, I expect them to be well rehearsed but I don’t want to hear the exact same things they do in studio
I tend to pack a bag of assorted 12s based on what I *think* will work, based on whose night, what time, then ram a thick handful of slower stuff incase it’s less intense, and harder stuff incase that’s what’s needed. Then on the night it’s very unplanned, always searching for the next tune or two at the last minute, mostly about the energy, what is interesting, does it need going up or down a notch, and 2 most important things for me (1) how is the dancefloor taking it and what does that tell me, and (2) how long do I have left and where do I want to leave it hanging for the next guy taking into account the overall length of and time of night so the whole night has a chance of hanging together.
So I might find a beauty of a 2-record junction at home, but it only gets played out if it fits the shape of the night on the spot…