alright lads, i have been producing for a few years and never djd because iv been terrified and cant seem to be as good as my mates. i know about how to dj and what to do but im stuck on;
-when to bring a track in
-track selection
-reading the crowd
etc etc, im mixing deep/tech house
any tips or good links to follow and learn more?
i got booked for a weekly gig in Ibiza this year so i really want t get it right!!
thanks
[quote]deanmau5 (16/05/2012)[hr]alright lads, i have been producing for a few years and never djd because iv been terrified and cant seem to be as good as my mates. i know about how to dj and what to do but im stuck on;
-when to bring a track in
-track selection
-reading the crowd
etc etc, im mixing deep/tech house
any tips or good links to follow and learn more?
i got booked for a weekly gig in Ibiza this year so i really want t get it right!!
thanks[/quote]
First of all, well done on the weekly gig! That’s top stuff.
Well I’ve been DJing for 12 years and professionally since 2005 so I have a pretty good idea what I’m talking about here, the only thing is it is pretty difficult to explain to you by typing, but here goes:
- Whilst there aren’t really strict rules per sé as to when to bring a track in in regards to where down the previous track you are, you still need to make sure it’s on time. For example every 16 bars there is usually a change in a track, so you make sure your mixes are only happening during those times. I usually like to start mixing into my next track after the final drop or in other words pretty much around the 2 minutes left mark, but sometimes it can be 1.45mins left. Somewhere around there there will be an audio que for you but it’s quite hard to explain this via text on a forum.
Just listen to around that time on your tracks and you’ll see what i mean. So basically at that time you start playing the track you want to mix in, then every 16 bars you start mixing it into the track playing out. Once your new track gets to around the 1 minute mark, that’s when you want the new track to be the main track playing.
Track selection depends on the crowd but also the time you’re playing, i cant really tell you this via text, it comes with practice of playing out and reading the crowd.
There are some basic rules however, think about the time you’re playing, where you’re playing and also if anyone is playing after you.
There is no point bashing out hardcore electro at 132bpm at 10pm, you need to build up the night and your sets, keep punters anticipated, during peak hours (usually 12-2am… although in ibiza this is a lot later lol) is when you bring out the big tunes and the bangers, but at the same time dont over do it, dont smash banger after banger after banger otherwise they lose their effect. Put in ‘filler tracks’ some places, that way when the big tune drops it has a bigger effect on the punters. Think of filler tracks like a track breakdown and the big tune like the drop. It’s about playing with peoples emotions. Again though to get really good at this comes with reading the crowd and also experience.
Reading the crowd… again it’s something that comes with experience, but in a nutshell look at the crowd with each track your playing, see how they’re reacting, are they going for it? Carry on with that sound, are they not? Try something else.
Reading a crowd is VITAL and one of the most imporant aspects to good DJing, and let me be honest with you here… it’s rare to see a DJ do this well, but when they do… it’s clearly obvious and they have the crowd in the palm of their hands.
If you can learn to read a crowd, you will become a good DJ.
If you dont bother to read the crowd, then you’re shooting yourself in the foot.
Unfortunately there are some things that drag & drop autobeatmatch laptop DJing can’t cover you for which is the above, that can only come with playing out lots and taking the time to stop thinking about what YOU want to play & hear and thinking about what the punters want to hear.
Remember you’re playing for THEM, NOT YOU.
wooh man, serious reply!! thanks that is exactly what i wanted to hear! ill take all that into account and just keep practising! thanks alot!
Congrats, but how the hell did you get the job if you’re asking for the essentials on mixing? Cause apart from beatmatching, I think timing of bringing a new track in, track selection and reading the crowd are quite important.
Besides that, they’re not quickly learnt either. Takes some time and ‘milage’ of regularly mixing for crowds to get it.
Rob’s tips are solid. And I couldn’t tell you differently.
All I can say is practice and good luck!
because my mate is only starting to produce and i gave him a few tips and then he decided to organise a deep house night in viva in Ibiza,
next thing i know, he made the leaflet and put my name on it! so know i need to sort myself out!
i think i have a serious mental block with djing! i know how to do it but when i try beatmatch tracks i get really frustrated when i cant get it right! i mean aparently Paris Hilton can do it now, WHY CANT I?? haha
You could always just use Traktor if you’re struggling to mix.
Traktor still won’t sort your timing, crowd reading and track selection though, it’ll only beat match for you…
I realise that.
[quote]- Whilst there aren’t really strict rules per sé as to when to bring a track in in regards to where down the previous track you are, you still need to make sure it’s on time. For example every 16 bars there is usually a change in a track, so you make sure your mixes are only happening during those times. I usually like to start mixing into my next track after the final drop or in other words pretty much around the 2 minutes left mark, but sometimes it can be 1.45mins left. Somewhere around there there will be an audio que for you but it’s quite hard to explain this via text on a forum.
Just listen to around that time on your tracks and you’ll see what i mean. So basically at that time you start playing the track you want to mix in, then every 16 bars you start mixing it into the track playing out. Once your new track gets to around the 1 minute mark, that’s when you want the new track to be the main track playing.[/quote]
What he’s trying to explain is called phrase-matching. Everyone knows what beat-matching is (well, most people anyways), but it seems that only half of DJs use phrase-matching consciously, while others just do it and don’t know why. Phrasing is an essential part of music production and DJs can use it to their advantage because most (not all) electronic dance tracks have a very similar structure to their arrangement.
Like stated above, a phrase in dance music is normally 16 bars (or 16 four-counts). You will eventually have an internal (or subconscious) clock running in your head to where you will be able to tell how many counts into a track or phrase you are without having to consciously count it out. But for now, count each bar and observe the phrasing of tracks.
As for when to mix in: each genre has a “sweet spot” where most tracks can be started on the already playing track. For example, progressive house can usually be brought in right after the main breakdown/buildup ends and the track begins its second chorus. This is because most progressive house tracks will have around 1:30-2:00 remaining at that point and most progressive house tracks have around 1:30-2:00 of intro/buildup which, in turn, meshes perfectly to where the outgoing track ends just as the incoming track begins its first chorus.
Since you are going to be playing deep house, the same mixing rules still apply, but you have a lot more freedom if you want to break those rules. For example, if you key-match (or harmonically mix) your tracks, you can play two deep house tracks on top of each other for almost their entirety and they will sound great. This is due to deep house not having a huge spectrum presence, which allows for other sounds to blend on top of the track and not sound cluttered and confusing.
Like I’ve told those I’ve taught, though, if you just want to have safe mixes, mix in right after the main breakdown/buildup and you’ll almost never be wrong in almost all house-based genres. The only problem with this is if you do it too much, you become predictable and somewhat boring. However, since you’re a beginner, stick to this method for now and branch out once you get a better grasp of music’s flow of energy when you’re DJing.
[quote]Track selection depends on the crowd but also the time you’re playing, i cant really tell you this via text, it comes with practice of playing out and reading the crowd.
There are some basic rules however, think about the time you’re playing, where you’re playing and also if anyone is playing after you.
There is no point bashing out hardcore electro at 132bpm at 10pm, you need to build up the night and your sets, keep punters anticipated, during peak hours (usually 12-2am… although in ibiza this is a lot later lol) is when you bring out the big tunes and the bangers, but at the same time dont over do it, dont smash banger after banger after banger otherwise they lose their effect. Put in ‘filler tracks’ some places, that way when the big tune drops it has a bigger effect on the punters. Think of filler tracks like a track breakdown and the big tune like the drop. It’s about playing with peoples emotions. Again though to get really good at this comes with reading the crowd and also experience.[/quote]
I’ll leave reading the crowd out of this and cover it later. Track selection as a DJ is more of who you are in an electronic music setting than it is in a typical hip-hop/top40 environment. My rule for hip-hop/top40 clubs is “you want to get the girls to dance, and they really want to dance to the same **** they heard on the radio on the car ride over.” However, since you are trying to be an electronic music DJ, you get to choose what you like to hear. You are the DJ, you are the one taking people on a journey, so it’s your choice as to what gets played.
This concept doesn’t come without some guidelines, though. If you like a certain genre, like deep house, each track has a certain amount of energy to it. Music is the communication of energy and emotion, so use it to your advantage while mixing. How do you do that? Know your tracks’ energies and have a big enough pool of them to create your own builds and releases.
Builds and releases are what make a DJ’s sets truly memorable. I’ve only ever seen this used a few times in person, but many of the greats do this constantly. An example would be a DJ playing very percussive tech house at the start of his set, then moving to something slightly more melodic with a bit more energy during the middle of the set, and finishing with a few percussive electro house tracks with high energy. What happens here is that the energy of the music starts low and builds throughout the set without having a release/climax until the end of the set.
Think of it like this since we’re all producers to some degree: playing a minor chord and then playing its major equivalent is a rudimentary tension-release example. You want to build your set to a climax, but you want to hold off on that climax as long as possible without turning people off. You want to be a tease without being a prude, and finally deliver the release that you’ve been teasing for so long. DJing is pretty much directly-comparable to sex.
[quote]Reading the crowd… again it’s something that comes with experience, but in a nutshell look at the crowd with each track your playing, see how they’re reacting, are they going for it? Carry on with that sound, are they not? Try something else.
Reading a crowd is VITAL and one of the most imporant aspects to good DJing, and let me be honest with you here… it’s rare to see a DJ do this well, but when they do… it’s clearly obvious and they have the crowd in the palm of their hands.
If you can learn to read a crowd, you will become a good DJ.
If you dont bother to read the crowd, then you’re shooting yourself in the foot.
Unfortunately there are some things that drag & drop autobeatmatch laptop DJing can’t cover you for which is the above, that can only come with playing out lots and taking the time to stop thinking about what YOU want to play & hear and thinking about what the punters want to hear.
Remember you’re playing for THEM, NOT YOU.[/quote]
I half-agree with the above. It’s all dependent on your environment/location and what kind of DJ you’re trying to be. For example, Carl Cox isn’t going to show up to an event, read the crowd, and play top40 because that’s what he thinks they want to hear. The roles are actually reversed: the crowd shows up wanting to hear what Carl Cox wants to play. He is an electronic DJ and producer, so his sound is what the crowd wants to hear. DJ AM shows up to an event and plays his music (or did, anyway) and the crowd responded to it. A top40 club is where you have to read the crowd and see what they respond to, then adjust accordingly. This will mean that eventually you’ll play music you don’t like because the crowd wants to hear it.
If you’re trying to be a DJ in the oldschool sense, you’re playing for YOU which also means you’re playing for THEM because it’s YOU they want to hear. In this case the crowd cares who you are and wants you to take them on a musical journey, playing tracks that they probably haven’t heard before; but since your taste in music is what they came for, they will still love it.
If you’re trying to be a DJ in the newschool sense (i.e. jukebox), you’re playing for THEM which means you won’t always be playing for YOU. In this case, the crowd doesn’t care who you are as long as you play music they’ve heard a million times already.
That may all seem a bit biased but I’ve had experiences in both realms and can say that playing MY music for people who show up to hear me play it is much more rewarding and ultimately more fun.
Also, as an aside, make sure you learn and understand not only the basics of DJing (beat-matching using a pitch fader for one), but learn and respect the history of DJing. Many people came before us and pioneered DJing techniques and we’ve learned from them. I can’t tell you how infuriated I become when I hear a “DJ” come on and trainwreck every transition. Not long ago, there was a time where if a person did that, they would be immediately kicked off the decks. Now, the only people who seem to care are those who have any respect for the music and the art of DJing.
Don’t be that guy who can’t beatmatch to save his life. Don’t be that guy who bangs out harder music at 8pm. Don’t be that guy who can only rely on his midi controller to mix.
As long as you’re not “that guy,” you’ll excel quickly!
Sorry for the long post! 
I agree with what was said about too many DJ’s trainwrecking mixes these days. I started in the late 90’s and you would have got laughed out of the clubs if you couldn’t mix then. Half the bars I go into these days have bad DJ’s playing music too loud and hammering the mixes in at the wrong times.
I don’t wanna sound like a killjoy but if you can’t DJ, you shouldn’t really be playing in Ibiza, although if someone had offered me the chance when I first started out I would have taken it as well so fair play for having the bottle to do it.
I’d been DJ’ing for years before I got my first gig in a big name club and I was still nervous as hell!!
Nice post Ksonic, I do agree with you to an extent but in all honesty unless you’re a ‘name’ DJ you can’t really play for yourself and expect that the punters are there to see YOU play because half the time they’re not, particularly if you’re a resident DJ / up and coming DJ.
So to say playing for the crowd is only left for Top40 DJing is not entirely correct dude.
Oh and Dean, I wouldn’t worry about Viva, I’ve DJed there before, it’s a small workers bar at the top of the West End, it’s a nice place to start out really.
Also the people don’t tend to go there for the DJs, they go there because it’s a workers bar and they get discount drinks.
Ive trainwrecked a few mixes in the biggest clubs in the world… Oh the fun. I near fell in to the pool under the dj booth at privilage. I think only the 5% nerds at the front give a toss about mixing, the rest just ana hear a few bangers.
Now a days tho you have no excuse not get get the beats matched etc with traktor… Also you can see the waveform so you know when the drops are comming so you really dont have an excuse for mixing in the wrong place either.
With decks you had to know the tracks well and have some skills which i never really had… Especially as i was always so nervous i was usually so drunk i was seeing double.
Good luck tho… Playing in Ibiza is top notch fun.
[quote]Roben (17/05/2012)[hr]Nice post Ksonic, I do agree with you to an extent but in all honesty unless you’re a ‘name’ DJ you can’t really play for yourself and expect that the punters are there to see YOU play because half the time they’re not, particularly if you’re a resident DJ / up and coming DJ.
So to say playing for the crowd is only left for Top40 DJing is not entirely correct dude.
Oh and Dean, I wouldn’t worry about Viva, I’ve DJed there before, it’s a small workers bar at the top of the West End, it’s a nice place to start out really.
Also the people don’t tend to go there for the DJs, they go there because it’s a workers bar and they get discount drinks.[/quote]
yeah i know man i spent the summer in Ibiza last year and it was my local! but i remember going in there, it wasnt too packed but full of deep tunes and people really seemed to know their stuff! never ever would i attempted to dj in amnesia or anything! dont even think im getting paid haha
thanks so much for all the info lads, really top notch stuff you couldnt get anywhere else… i just have always dreamt of the feelin when u drop one of your own tracks and the crowd react well, hopefully it willhappen this year!
I’m sure it will Dean! It’s an amazing feeling take it from me! I’ve had some serious response to around 3 of my tracks now and the high you get is like a drug.
I’d imagine a few people in there will know about music and how to DJ, after all a lot of people are out in ibiza because they love DJs and in this day and age, everyone seems to be a DJ… lol. To be honest, i think it would be next to damn impossible to play anywhere where there isn’t going to be at least someone who knows his/her stuff, but who gives a sh*t, just enjoy yourself.
I remember when i first used to play out, was nervous as hell, it’s just building up your confidence in yourself and that only comes with playing out regularly… which is what you’re going to do this year! So enjoy it and look at this as a learning experience for you.
I wouldn’t worry about people giving you stick even if you do a dodgy mix. People have said all sorts to me over the years. Just remember they are in a bar listening to you, not the other way around, if they were that good, they’d be DJ’ing themselves.
The first time I DJ’ed, I couldn’t sleep afterwards because my heart was racing so fast from adrenalin!
yeah lads that has calmed me down a lot in terms of nerves! im just picking out tracks id like to play now! i think a lot of it in confidence too, like if i was just so hung up on finding a beat when djing, id probably freak out and panic! be relaxed, prepared,aware and confident… yeah?